About
Everything has to fit in the van.
I'm a dad in an apartment with my wife and three kids. We don't have a yard or a garage, so anything we own for getting outside has to fold, pack down, or come along in the mini-van.
There's no shed to put things in and no basement to forget them in. When we moved in, that ruled out most of what people normally buy for cooking outside or spending a day at a field. So I started over with one rule: if it doesn't pack down, it doesn't come in.
That constraint is bigger than it sounds. Portable versions of most things exist, but the reviews for them tend to be written by people who have a garage. They'll call a grill lightweight without mentioning you have to carry it across a parking lot. They'll print a battery capacity without telling you what it actually runs, or for how long.
What's on here
Most of what I buy comes down to three situations:
- Days out with the family. Parks and beaches, and making a whole day work away from home.
- Kids' sports. Ball fields with no facilities, where whatever you need has to arrive in the van and go back in it afterwards.
- Cooking away from home. Which around here means charcoal, because none of the parks near us allow gas.
Reviews cover one product I own. Buying guides cover the ones I compared before choosing, and which is right for which situation. Field notes are shorter posts about gear I'm still working out.
How this gets paid for
I buy everything myself. Nothing here is sponsored, nobody sends me samples, and no company has seen a review before it published. That's the whole reason to trust any of it.
Some links are affiliate links, mostly Amazon. If you buy through one I earn a small commission and you pay exactly the same price. That money goes into the next thing I test. The disclosure page spells out the rules I hold myself to.
What I hope you get out of it
Not having space doesn't mean missing out. That's the point of the whole site. Some of the gear that makes it work is genuinely good, some of it isn't worth the money, and the difference is rarely obvious from a product listing.
If something here saves you from a purchase you'd have regretted, or gets you out somewhere you'd written off, that's the job done.
Say hello
Corrections, arguments and requests to test something are all welcome at hello@misterportable.com. If I get something wrong I'll fix the post and date the change rather than quietly editing it.