When you want to add a little more warmth but are seeking greater freedom of movement than a jacket allows, a vest is the perfect cozy addition. To find the best insulated vest to keep you warm on your most active days, we sent 22 adventurers with 25 vests to nine states and two countries. After all of those adventures, we’ve determined that the Patagonia Down Sweater Vest (men’s and women’s) is the best down vest both for technical performance and for everyday commuter or office use.
Taking care of yourself isn’t just about adhering to a convoluted skin care routine or engaging in exhaustive cleaning marathons. Increasing your comfort and well-being can also be done with a few easy, practical improvements.
Few things in Americana are at once as commonplace and unique as peanut butter. Twist the lid off a jar and the smell is unmistakable; for some of us, it’s a time machine back to the elementary school cafeteria. If you’ve loved this pantry staple since childhood, you probably have strong preferences: smooth or chunky, natural or classic, sweet or salty (or somewhere in between).
I’m a budget-pick kind of person whose sunscreen of choice—for me and my face, as well as for my family and all of our body parts—is one of Wirecutter’s picks for the best face sunscreen, the not-so-budget-priced Supergoop Play Everyday Lotion SPF 50. This remarkably lightweight lotion has proven its value—especially in its family-friendly, more economical 18-ounce jug, which is on sale now.
The best media streaming device connects you with the video and audio content you want in the fastest, most helpful way. The Google Chromecast with Google TV is our favorite thanks to a menu design that better reflects how people watch video these days, and it feels completely modern compared with the competition.
If you ride a bike and wear a helmet, you may have heard at some point—perhaps for vague reasons having to do with foam degrading, or maybe corrosion from salt or sweat—that helmets expire. Which is why we were surprised to learn, in the course of researching our bike-helmet guide a few years ago, that John Larkin, an industrial designer specializing in helmets (including some iconic ones, such as the Giro Reverb and Schwinn Atlas), hadn’t replaced his helmet in more than 20 years.
“I ride a 1998 Trek Photon,” he mentioned via email, “which is the first helmet I ever designed. Light, good ‘perception of ventilation’ and ‘vintage’ all at once!”
Now Larkin may be an extreme case, but even the most trusted helmet safety resources do not agree on when to retire a seemingly undamaged bike helmet. The government testing body in the US, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), recommends replacing a bicycle helmet every five to 10 years. The Snell Memorial Foundation, which also certifies helmets for safety, states a firm five years. And many manufacturers tell you to get rid of your helmet after as little as three years.
So do helmets actually deteriorate or what? They do, but perhaps not in the way you might think. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to replace your helmet.
Replace it if you crash
The one steadfast rule when it comes to helmets: regardless of wear, if you crash while wearing a helmet, replace it. Cycling helmets are single-use safety devices. Once you compress the foam underneath the helmet’s plastic shell, it can no longer protect you. That’s true whether your helmet is 20 years old or you just bought it yesterday.
Any physical damage to the foam means your helmet can’t do its job. So you can and should, on a regular basis, inspect your helmet for damage or hairline cracks and replace as you see necessary.
But the problem is that you can’t see through that darn shell, which is why you should err on the side of caution after a crash: Even if the helmet remains visibly intact after a crash, the foam underneath the shell may have crumpled to absorb the force of the impact. And there’s no good way of telling if that foam has been compressed. So if you’ve crashed in a helmet, get rid of it. (We recommend cutting its straps off, so that no one can fish it out of the trash and use it or try to resell it.)
We cut open a helmet I crashed in several years ago ... Photo: Eve O’Neill
Remember, even if your helmet shows no visible signs of damage after a crash, you may very well have hit your head and not even know it.
“Bear in mind that if the helmet did its job, most people would tell you that they did not even hit their head, or did not hit their head that hard,” writes Randy Swart, the former vice chairman of the helmet and headgear subcommittee for ASTM International, a non-profit organization that develops technical standards, and one of the experts involved with the all-volunteer Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute.
It seems hard to believe at first, yet when I look back on my first major accident—I barreled into a truck turning in front of me—I do not remember the hit at all, and my helmet didn’t have any obvious signs of damage. But I hit the pickup truck hard enough to crumple its passenger-side door, so it seems that regardless of my foggy memory the helmet did something to protect me, and I should have replaced it.
We used a bandsaw to cut a few used helmets in half, and then we inspected the interiors. Photo: Eve O’Neill
Foam doesn’t wear out, but the rest of your helmet can
The EPS foam in helmets hardly degrades at all. It’s the same type of expanded polystyrene used to make foam cups and cooler insulation, and enjoys a lifespan on this planet that can only be measured in geologic time. Basically, helmet foam doesn’t wear out—as long as the foam hasn’t been physically damaged, age doesn’t make a difference. In fact, “The standards do not permit manufacturers to make a helmet that degrades from sweat, and the EPS, EPP or EPU foam is remarkably unaffected by salt water. Your helmet will get a terminal case of grunge before it dies of sweat,” writes Swart.
A crack that appeared as soon as we cut the helmet shell. We don’t know if it was already there, or caused by the cutting, but this is a good illustration of how important the shell is for preserving the structural integrity of the foam. Photo: Eve O’Neill
But just because EPS foam is stable, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about wear. It’s the shell that maintains the structural integrity of the foam underneath. Remove it, and the foam is quick to fall apart. And that shell is vulnerable to UV light, so it can become brittle if exposed to extensive, around-the-clock sunlight. For this reason many manufacturers add UV inhibitors to the plastic, so if the color of your helmet shell has faded, there’s a good chance that it’s seen too much sun. It’s therefore more likely to break, split, or otherwise fail in a heavy impact.
Chin straps can also wear out because of sweat and salt and general grunginess, and that’s a problem. One of the tests the CPSC performs when certifying helmets for sale is something called the retention strength test—that’s the CPSC trying to knock a helmet off a head over and over again. So if you can’t tighten a strap because the slide adjusters have broken, or if the chin strap is precariously attached because a blade has broken off of the buckle, the helmet is practically worthless. Get rid of it.
Likewise, if the retention system is worn out—the dial doesn’t ratchet, the foam inserts have lost their loft, or you find any issues that prevent you from keeping the helmet from moving around on your head—get rid of the helmet. A helmet can work properly only if it fits and stays in place.
So a helmet that’s used only occasionally may well last for many years. If you ride often—with all the sweat and general wear and tear that entails—replacing your helmet every once in a while seems like a good idea, as it may sustain damage along the way that you can’t see (or can’t remember).
Even Larkin, who was still riding with his 20-year-old helmet, admitted that “not knowing how people treat their helmets … it is not a bad idea to get a new one every once in a while.” So keep an eye on the straps and buckles, and inspect your helmet regularly, but there’s no reason to put a perfectly good helmet in a landfill every couple of years.
There is a little ritual I do before every run. After the required prelude of lacing sneakers, applying Body Glide, and patting pockets to confirm the custody of keys, I put in my earbuds, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and press play. In that moment, I shrug off the worries and responsibilities of the day. For the time being, there is only me, the music, and the movement. The act of propelling your body forward through space can have significant benefits to your physical and mental health, but the hardest part is taking that first step.
As people get older, many may need a support system, including family, caregivers, and a residence that has been outfitted to accommodate the common frailties of age, such as reduced vision, decreased mobility, and increased risk of falls. Smart-home devices—including small sensors, discreet cameras, smoke alarms, and voice-activated speakers—can make everyday life safer, more convenient, and more social for older adults.
Many kids are notoriously picky about their undies, and for good reason: Irritating wedgies, itchy tags, chafing trims, and scratchy fabrics make a lot of underwear no fun to wear. We spent four months testing 37 styles from 15 different brands. And we’re confident that the soft, durable Classic Unders from Hanna Andersson are the least likely to leave kids whining about what’s covering their behinds.
Easter is just around the corner, which means that retailers are offering up loads of cheap chocolate, plastic grass, and junky toys—all angling for a spot in your kid’s Easter basket. Most of these gifts seem destined for a quick trip to a landfill. If you want to cut the crap but still have a magical holiday, we’ve rounded up some special children’s books, durable toys, engaging activities, and delicious candy, and some high-quality, reusable baskets and bags for presenting them. (Planning to decorate real eggs for the festivities? Here’s our guide to the best Easter egg-dyeing kits.) Hoppy hunting.
Classic, cool, and … yellow under the armpits? Though a great white T-shirt is an effortless wardrobe staple, keeping it looking fresh over the long haul isn’t always easy. But with a little know-how and the right arsenal of cleaning products, it’s possible to revive even the dingiest shirts in your drawer.
If you’re looking for a compact kitchen appliance to bridge that gap between a microwave and a conventional oven, a pod-shaped air fryer might do the trick. An air fryer crisps food like an oven does, but it also functions quickly and conveniently, like a microwave. We’ve tested dozens of models since 2017, and we believe the Philips Premium Airfryer HD9741/56 is the best model out there. It is easy to use, cooks food more evenly and consistently than other pod-shaped air fryers, and doesn’t take up too much counter space.
The Wirecutter Deals team scans the virtual aisles of the internet, searching for great discounts on Wirecutter-recommended products so you don’t have to. In our deal blog posts (like this one), we highlight the discounts that we think Wirecutter readers will love. For more deals information, check out our Deals page, follow us on Twitter @WirecutterDeals, and subscribe to our daily deals newsletter.
After checking into a motel in Berkeley, California, many years ago, my husband and I began a well-rehearsed ritual. We left our two young kids strapped in their strollers, pulled back the bedding, and scanned the surface of the mattress. Poking into the deep seams of the mattress’s pillow-top padding, I found what we feared: a multitude of brown-black flecks.
Bedbug stains.
The motel manager offered to move us to a different room, but instead we drove to a relative’s house that night. That experience taught me that it’s worthwhile to take two minutes to check the mattress before you unpack. A 2016 survey of 100 US hotels, conducted by Orkin, found that 82 percent of them had been treated for bedbugs in the previous year; bedbugs have also been found on airplanes, cruise ships, and public transportation in recent years. And according to research published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, bedbug infestations peak in the summer, coinciding with vacation season.
But don’t let bedbugs, or the fear of them, ruin your summer travel. Despite the statistics, the chance of encountering bedbugs in any given hotel room is “pretty darn unlikely,” said Michael Potter, a professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky. Here are some simple steps you can take to make sure you don’t run into bedbugs on your trip.
Know your enemy
In a survey of more than 2,000 hotel visitors conducted by Potter and two other University of Kentucky entomologists, fewer than one in three could correctly identify an adult bedbug.
Look at guides published by the Environmental Protection Agency, which show the size and appearance of bedbugs at different stages in their life cycle. Bedbugs are flat, wingless, and slightly teardrop-shaped, with tan, brown, or reddish-brown coloring. They range in size from 1 mm (nymphs) to 5–7 mm (adults), and their eggs look like tiny, white grains of rice.
Bedbugs leave behind fecal stains of digested blood, which resemble “little black spots that look like they’ve been made by fine felt-tipped marker,” according to Dini Miller, an associate professor of entomology at Virginia Tech. (These were the spots I discovered in the Berkeley motel.)
Inspect the area (but don’t tear the room apart)
Whether you’ve checked into a luxury resort, a modest motel, or an Airbnb apartment, spend a few minutes inspecting the beds and surrounding areas for signs of bedbugs.
Pull back the sheets and look closely at the surface, sides, and seams of the mattress near the headboard. “That tends to be the hottest area of the bed” for bug activity, said Potter. Miller suggests running a sticky lint roller over the areas you’re checking, so you can pick up any potential evidence.
Pack a small, strong flashlight to help you see into crevices and behind the headboard if possible. (We recommend the ThruNite Archer 2A V3 in our guide to the best flashlights.) “We know in hotels that bedbugs like to get behind the headboard. The reason for that is it’s the least disturbed area,” Miller said.
Though small, bedbugs and their fecal spots are visible to the naked eye, so if you don’t find anything after a cursory inspection, you can rest easy. “I’m not going to yank the whole bed apart, flip the mattress,” Potter said. Miller agreed: “If you don’t see anything, nothing’s there.”
Bites or skin reactions alone are not a reliable sign of bedbugs. It can sometimes take several hours for a person’s skin to react to an insect bite, so mosquito or sand fly bites from, say, dinner may not show up till morning, Miller said.
“You can’t look at a bite that I have, and a bite that you have, and even say that they’re the same thing, because everybody’s immune response is so individual,” Miller said.
Potter says it's prudent to store your suitcase on a hard surface, such as a dresser or luggage rack, which bedbugs are unlikely to be able to reach. If you’re staying for only a night or two, avoid unpacking your clothing or spreading items around the room. Packing cubes can help you stay organized and access your clothing and belongings without having to remove everything from your suitcase. (We recommend the Eagle Creek Pack-It Reveal Cube Set.)
Miller suggests using a lint roller to check for bugs on your suitcase as well, especially after air travel. “Think about your suitcase and how many other bags it meets on your trip,” she said.
Simple and solidly constructed, this three-cube set keeps your bag organized. The cubes can help you avoid needing to fully unpack while traveling, which limits potentially exposing your items to bedbugs.
This super-sticky paper picks up lint, hair, and dust with just a few swipes. Roll it over your suitcase, or along the surface of a bed, to check for evidence of bed bugs.
If you’re in a hotel and find evidence of bedbugs, alert the staff right away and request a new room, either on a different floor or several rooms away. If you’re in a vacation rental or Airbnb, you may have fewer options. A representative from Airbnb said the company has a 24-hour customer service line, which can help with refunds and rebooking in the event that an issue like bedbugs arises.
If you think you’ve been exposed, you can take steps to prevent bringing any hitchhikers home. Jeff White, an entomologist and owner of a pest control training and consulting company, suggests keeping a few large garbage bags in your car to store your luggage in. Once home, carefully inspect the inside and outside of your suitcase (the lint roller can help). Run your clothing and other dryer-safe belongings through a hot cycle in the dryer, which will kill any bugs and eggs (washing is unnecessary).
It’s worth remembering that bedbugs don’t pose the public-health risk of some other pests. “Don’t let bedbugs take over your mind,” Miller said. “The housefly landing on your salad is way more dangerous than having a bedbug walk across your bed.”
After making and tasting over 100 espressos, lungos, latte macchiatos, and cappuccinos, we’ve determined that all Nespresso machines make identical drinks. We don’t love the flavor of Nespresso, but for those who prefer espresso drinks to drip coffee, a Nespresso machine is the fastest and most convenient way to make something like them at home—though if you want to make real at-home espresso, we recommend these beginner setups instead. We like the compact Nespresso Essenza Mini because it makes the same quality coffee as machines that cost hundreds more, without any extra frills.
