Travel gadgets abound. Some are useful, some aren’t, and you often figure out which are which when you’re on the road. Like everything else, learning what you need during your travels and what you can leave behind, is a process.
One thing my travel packing process has taught me: I don’t travel without my Heroclip.
A little more than a year ago, I reviewed the original Heroclip. The heavy-duty hook/carabiner combination lets you hang things weighing up to 60 pounds. The functional carabiner has a hook that rotates 360 degrees and folds at two joints for maximum versatility. The 2-ounce package is easy to tuck into a backpack or a suitcase (I carry mine on my backpack’s exterior daisy chain), and when it’s closed, it measures 3 inches wide by 3.75 inches long.
But since then, Heroclip has introduced two new sizes. The Small can hold items up to 50 pounds, weighs 1.1 ounces, and collapses to 2.4 inches by 3 inches. The Mini has a maximum capacity of 40 pounds, weighs 0.7 ounces, and folds up to 1.9 inches by 2.25 inches. So now, you have a choice. Which one will become your unforgettable travel item?
Instead of carrying one Heroclip with me on my trips, I now carry two. Which two is always the question, because sometimes I know I’ll need the original (now called Medium), and sometimes it might be too much. But that’s the new process—not whether to bring one, but which ones to bring.
If you rig weird contraptions to hang your jacket or toiletry kit in your hotel room, your clothes up to dry, your gear from the right spot in your tent, your backpack from your hammock, your bag from the icky public bathroom floor, or other frequent travel scenario, you might need a Heroclip, too.
The Heroclip comes in three sizes: Mini ($14.95-$18.95), Small ($17.95-$22.95), and Medium $19.95-$24.95). The price variations come with choices of color, which are many, and multicolor choices carry the higher price tag. All are available on the Heroclip site. They’re also available at REI.