CamelBak H.A.W.G I bought mine at least 10 years ago. I used it over the years as a day pack carrying a laptop and camera gear within separate pouches or when flying or mountain biking …

To this day it shows absolutely no sign of wear whatsoever. I do t have the largest size but what was back then the medium sized version. The layout has changed slightly over time. Best and most durable backpack I ever had.

These are soft packs and depending on how you pack them they can be slimmed down or blown up in volume with a strap system. The zippers are amazing and after all these years of abuse are still smooth and never failed.

I would always buy one of these again without a question. I have a plain black one for discretion so it does not scream military. The level of utility with its webbing and combination of good quality pouches (I like to use old school Domke cotton camera gear pouches) to pack this backpack is amazing.

SIGG aluminium water bottles.

I never broke any of mine.

Nothing complicated or creative about it I am afraid. In my old apartment I simply 3D printed a bezel that held an iPad mini with attached charger cable, held in in place with the cable hidden.

Essentially I “immobilized” the tablet and had it it in the cable 24/7.

It was still attached to my apple account and ran WeatherPro. It was really very simple.

Once these devices get old and get replaced one has to make a judgement call if selling them for nothing or handing them to someone for whom they are not really helpful (dead battery) or using them for something else.

I have been using smartphones since they 1990s and iPads ever since they came to market. In all these years with all these different devices I only cracked screens twice.

Both devices at the time were already well out of their extended warranty period. I cracked an iPhone screen when it slipped out of my hand while leaving my car - it didn’t have a case, the screen cracked, the phone worked without issues, I had the screen replaced the next day. The iPad was a large iPad Pro and Someone threw it. It was expected to be broken by the impact.

If you treat iPhones and iPads in a reasonable manner they are tougher then anyone could expect them to be, particularly iPhones. I am always amazed by how tough they are when I see sone people who have dropped them dozens of times.

I am sure comparable Samsung devices are similar.

If you are worried about breaking them, don’t get the large screen variants and definitely keep them in a sturdy case.

Stone tablets. You think of stone tablets.

But seriously. Either you do something seriously wrong or tablets just aren’t for you. All iPads I have used so far have been tough and have easily outlived their designed product life to the point where after many years they have taken on other uses such as second monitors, weather stations, permanent GPS map screens in vehicles etc…

Go get one, stick it in a robust case from day one, make sure to get a warranty extension from day one that also covers accidental damage and use it like a human. If beyond that it doesn’t work for you then these devices simply are not for you.

And no, tablets cannot be BIFL by design. They are designed to become obsolete just like any other electronics gadget eventually.

Yes I still use the exact same HewlettPackard scientific calculator I used since school 30 years ago … sure … maybe an iPad with proper care and some DIY battery replacements down the road will be usable like that too but who wants to be using 30 year old electronics gadgets?

I actually prefer the simple can opener of my old swiss army knife or off a Leatherman. I also prefer a simple corkscrew bottle opener with knee joint to any of the highly complex new fangled jobs. When my girl told me her favorite bottle opener she ever used was one of those battery powered alibaba automatic bottle openers I genuinely jumped 2 meters backwards and made a screeching sound. I like things simple, things that are made to last.