Watch, Read, Listen

After 13 years pulling shots on heat-exchanger machines, I’ll admit I waited far too long to bolt a thermometer onto my group head. The day I did, everything changed. A group head thermometer is a small temperature sensor (digital or analog) that screws into the M6 accessory port of an espresso machine’s E61 group head,…

I’ve spent years hauling combo amps to gigs and recording sessions, and one upgrade changed everything more than any pedal or pickup swap: a proper guitar amp stand. After testing 10 stands side by side for 60 days across bedroom practice, studio tracking, and live rehearsals, our team ranked every pick by sound projection, stability…

I have spent the last three months pushing 10 of the most-talked-about guitar combo amps through their paces in bedrooms, basements, rehearsal rooms, and on two small stages. I wanted to find out which ones actually deliver when you strum a chord at midnight versus when you’re fighting a drum kit at a bar gig.…

I have leaned my guitars against amps, couches, and one very expensive radiator for longer than I want to admit. After losing a finish to a tipped-over stand last year, I started taking guitar stands seriously, and our team has spent the past three months side-by-side testing the most popular models to put together this…

I spent the last six weeks sitting, swinging, and (honestly) dozing off in 12 of the best hanging egg chairs for patio setups you can buy right now. A hanging egg chair is a suspended pod-style seat shaped like an oval or cocoon, hung from either a freestanding metal stand or a reinforced ceiling beam,…

When I started mountain biking fifteen years ago, a hardtail was the only choice for budget riders and that was about it. Today, the best hardtail mountain bikes in are being ridden by World Cup XC racers, weekend bikepackers, and first-time riders who simply want a reliable front-suspension rig without the headaches of rear shocks…

I still remember the night my hearing rang for two hours after a single gig. That was the night I stopped treating headphones for drummers like an accessory and started treating them like hearing protection. After testing 10 models across acoustic kits, V-Drums modules, and 3-hour practice sessions for , I have a clear shortlist…

I’ve been building HO scale layouts for over 12 years, and I still get the same excitement cracking open a new Bachmann box as I did with my first set. After our team spent 6 months running, derailing, and stress-testing 10 of the best HO scale model trains currently available, this guide is the result:…

The best home aquaponics systems for beginners are closed-loop setups that pair a small fish tank with a grow bed so fish waste feeds your plants and the plants filter the water back to the fish. After six months of running 8 starter kits in my own home and workshop – cycling water, growing basil,…

After 90 days of testing across our sewing workshop, our team’s pick for the best industrial sewing machine is the Juki DDL-8700 ecosystem of lockstitch machines. It balances production-grade speed (up to 5,500 stitches per minute on the 8100e variant), legendary Juki reliability, and a real US-based service network that smaller Chinese manufacturers can’t replicate.…