Favourite Kit: Winston Binch

1. DJI Phantom 2 Vision+

I was introduced to the DJI last winter, and it immediately captured my imagination. My first thought was ‘Instagram in the sky’. It’s a big innovation for filmmakers and hobbyists. You no longer need a helicopter to do aerials. We have one in the office now, are honing our flight skills (trying not to crash) and trying to dream up ways to apply it to our client business.

2. Garmin Fenix

It’s a solid GPS device that tracks your runs, bikes, swims, ski days etc. And the battery life’s very good. It looks and feels cool and is a great option for the athlete who likes to do a mix of sports and track and share them. We all want supercomputers on our wrists; I’ve tried most and this is my favourite.

3. POC Octal Helmet with ICEdot

POC’s Octal looks amazing but also has better ventilation and is more comfortable than anything else I’ve tried. You can pair it with the ICEdot crash sensor. After a crash, it detects the impact and sets off an alarm on your phone. If you don’t turn it off, it notifies your emergency contacts and gives them your GPS coordinates.

4. adidas Climacool Boat Lace

Living in LA, I do a lot of sailing. Much of boat fashion and shoe tech is stuck in the past. adidas has changed that with their Climacool shoes. They’re light, well ventilated, feature recycled materials and look great.

5. Patagonia Primo Jacket

Patagonia’s gear comes at a premium, but it’s worth it. The Primo is made out of tough, 100 per cent recycled GORE-TEX fabric, has plenty of pockets, and a two-way adjustable hood.

6. GoPro Hero 3+

I was a late GoPro adopter, but now I’m a steady user. There’s just no denying how transformational this technology has been for action sports culture. It’s democratised filmmaking and is a super easy and fun way to document memorable experiences.

7. Marshall Stanmore speaker

I used to play in a touring band before I got into advertising. These days I do a lot more listening than playing, but it’s good to still have a Marshall nearby. The Stanmore Bluetooth speaker has a big sound and comes with two standby modes to minimise the environmental impact when it’s not actively in use. John Varvatos sells these in his stores. Enough said.

8. MacBook Pro, Retina, 15.4-Inch, 2.3GHz Intel Core i7 

It’s a mobile world, but I still rely heavily on my laptop. It’s my main work instrument and entertainment tool. This machine is fast, has a ton of storage, is relatively light and looks sharp. It would be tough to imagine life without it.

Apps

FitStar

My busy travel schedule makes it hard to maintain a workout routine. FitStar is a virtual and video-based training app that makes it easy. You don’t need weights, you can use it anywhere, and you only need 10-15 minutes. What’s cool is that it gets more challenging the more you use it.

Dark Sky

This mind-bogglingly accurate weather app offers ‘hyperlocal’ weather info. I was in Salt Lake City recently and it predicted we’d get torrential rain in ‘one minute’. It’s also simply and beautifully designed.
 

Fuelcaster

We do a lot of driving in LA so you pay attention to the price of fuel. To help US drivers save money we created Fuelcaster for Esurance, a mobile web app that tells you when to buy, or not buy gas, depending on the actual and predicted price of fuel. A dead simple and useful mobile web tool.