Here's a gear lineup you'll want to know about before your 30s.
By
Bethany Allard
Lead Shopping Reporter
Bethany Allard is a Los Angeles-based shopping reporter at Mashable covering beauty tech, dating, sex and relationships, and headphones. That basically means she puts her hair through a lot, scrolls through a lot of dating apps, and rotates through a lot of different headphones. In addition to testing out and rounding up the best products, she also covers deals for Mashable, paying an especially obsessive amount of attention to Apple deals and prices. That knowledge comes in handy when she's covering shopping holidays like Prime Day and Black Friday, which she's now done for three years at Mashable.
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Credit: Sidney Raskind / Mashable Photo Composite
VidCon is a premier global convention for content creators, influencers, digital media brands, and fans. The event features creator panels, networking opportunities, live entertainment, meet-and-greets, and discussions on trends shaping the creator economy.
Sidney Raskind may have many, many life hack trials under his belt, but he only keeps one bag for all his content creation essentials.
Known online as Sidney Raz, the 30-something-year-old creator made the phrase, "Here's something I wish I knew before I was in my 30s" unmistakably his own, testing out hacks on everything from how to properly extend sun visors in cars to how to turn an Allen key. His short videos blew up on TikTok in 2021, and he's been a full-time content creator for nearly five years.
Though he may be newer to knowing how to properly open mail, he's been in content creation for almost 20 years, working both in front of and behind the camera. All this to say, he knows his way around a good kit for producing content. We caught up with him at VidCon 2026 to learn about his favorites.
iPhone 17 Pro
Raskind told us that one of the best parts of modern content creation is that the barrier to entry when it comes to gear is much lower than it used to be: "You can do everything on a phone, and you can get a refurbished one for hella cheap." He personally uses an orange iPhone 17 Pro.
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A great mic for audio
"Good sound quality enhances everything," Raskind tells Mashable. That's why the content creator carries around not one, but two kinds of microphones: the Rode Mic Go and the Rode Wireless Pro.
Sidney Raskind's microphone kit
A truly portable tripod
Raskind gave Mashable a full demonstration of this ultra-portable tripod. "That is a tripod you can set up anywhere!" he said, pulling the card-shaped metal device out of his pocket.
"Oh he's lying, it doesn't work, it doesn't work," he quipped as he unfolded it. "Yes, it does!" he proclaimed triumphantly as he set his phone up, leaving it standing on its own, on the now unfolded and functional tripod. (And it's on sale for Prime Day).
$39.96
at Amazon
$49.95
Save $9.99
A bag to carry it all
Raskind came into Mashable's VidCon booth with this weather-proof bag that contains all his essentials for content creation. "I have a panel coming up tomorrow that's all about my one bag," he told us.
Mashable is reporting live from VidCon 2026 in Anaheim. Follow our coverage for creator interviews, panel highlights, and the biggest moments from the convention floor.
Bethany Allard is a Los Angeles-based shopping reporter at Mashable covering beauty tech, dating, sex and relationships, and headphones. That basically means she puts her hair through a lot, scrolls through a lot of dating apps, and rotates through a lot of different headphones. In addition to testing out and rounding up the best products, she also covers deals for Mashable, paying an especially obsessive amount of attention to Apple deals and prices. That knowledge comes in handy when she's covering shopping holidays like Prime Day and Black Friday, which she's now done for three years at Mashable.
