A field notebook for backpackers who already know the difference between denier and DCF. Each note is researched, drafted, and stress-tested against the conditions it claims to survive.
A few pieces caught our attention this season. We tested each on real trail, in real weather, with a real pack — then wrote down what we wish someone had told us before we paid for them. Notes follow, plates and margins included.
Plate 01 A plain-language breakdown of the top restaurant POS systems for 2025—covering real costs, hardware, and which system fits your specific operation, whether you run a sit-down dining room, a fast-casual counter, or a bar.
Plate 02 A plain-language breakdown of the five best point-of-sale systems for small businesses in 2025 — with real pricing, honest verdicts, and a clear winner for every type of shop.
Plate 03 A plain-language breakdown of every Clover plan, hardware bundle, and processing rate — plus the reseller pricing trap most owners don't see coming.
Plate 04 Square, Loyverse, and eHopper all offer genuinely free point-of-sale software — but each one has a different tripwire. Here's the honest math on what you'll actually pay.
Plate 05 A plain-language breakdown of what a point-of-sale system actually costs each month — software, hardware, payment fees, and add-ons — with three real-world example builds.
Plate 06 A plain-language breakdown of which POS systems actually sync cleanly with QuickBooks Online, what each integration costs, and which one wins for your business type.
Plate 07 A plain-language breakdown of Square and Toast POS pricing, hardware, processing fees, and restaurant features — with a clear winner for each type of operation.
Plate 08 A 14-day migration playbook for operators who need to exit their current POS contract, export their data, and go live on a new system without a catastrophic cutover weekend.
Plate 09 A point-of-sale system is how your business takes money — but modern POS systems do a lot more than that. Here's everything a first-time buyer needs to know, in plain English.
Plate 10 Everything you need to ring up sales, print receipts, and take card payments at a single retail register — three vetted bundles at budget, balanced, and pro price points, with real component costs and compatibility notes.
Every note starts on trail. We carry the gear in the conditions it claims to survive, document the failure modes when they happen, and write down what we wish we’d known before we paid for it.
Citations are inline and named — REI test reports, OutdoorGearLab teardowns, Section Hiker mile-by-mile journals, the backcountry guides who told us what to fix. If a claim isn’t sourced, it didn’t make it past the draft.
Corrections live at /corrections. Methodology in detail at /methodology.