Spyderco Paramilitary 2 vs. Endura

I was going through my collection and had the Paramilitary 2 and Endura sitting next to each other. I never realized how similar in size they were until now. I'd like to do this comparison post to show how similar they actually are.

As you can see in the last two photos, the handle lengths are about the same size. This really surprised me considering how much bigger the Endura's blade is. The Endura has FRN, while the PM2 has the G10. Both are acceptable handle materials, but in knives this big, the FRN keeps the Endura very light. The Endura is a large knife that carries like a mid-sized knife. What really hurts the PM2's weight is the liners and G10. The PM2 is so much heavier despite it being a smaller knife. The ergos of the PM2 suck, because the edges of the scales are squared off. The Endura's ergos are definitely a lot more comfortable for me. I do like that both knives come in lot of different color options and variations. If I had to pick the Endura or PM2 based on the handle, I'd go with the Endura for the light weight and better ergos.

Here are the blades side by side. The Endura's overall blade length is 3.75" with a cutting edge of 3.44". The PM2's overall blade length is 3.44" with a cutting edge of 3". I much prefer the blade shape of the Endura over the PM2. The PM2 has the choil, which obviously takes away from the cutting edge. The PM2 has the better steel, CPM S110V, over the Endura's VG-10. However, VG-10 is a totally fine steel for most EDC tasks. Spyderco always has knives with weird blade-to-handle ratios. That's one of the reasons I didn't like the PM2. The blade-to-handle ratio on the Endura is closer to normal. I think it's weird that the PM2 has the same size handle, but a considerably shorter blade than the Endura. If I had to pick the PM2 or Endura blade, I'd pick the Endura's blade.

Lock wise, the PM2 wins without a doubt. The compression lock will always beat the Endura's lockback in terms of strength. 

Both knives use the same hourglass clip. The knives carry well, but the Endura carries better because of its lighter weight. 

All in all, if I had to pick between the PM2 and the Endura, I'd hands down choose the Endura. It's a lighter and better knife in my opinion. Plus, the Endura is about half the price of the Paramilitary 2. If you're looking for a good EDC knife, I'd go with the Endura. The Paramilitary 2 is overhyped in every way. Hope you enjoyed the comparison. Thanks for looking!

Book Review: A Burglar's Guide To The City

I recently finished A Burglar's Guide To The City by Geoff Manaugh. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but I did learn a lot of interesting things. 

I'll never be a burglar myself. I do admire them, because they think in a very creative way. I was drawn to this book, because I wanted to gain insight into how burglars think. This book gave me exactly that while also focusing on topics I didn't necessarily care about. I think it was a pretty well written book. Geoff Manaugh has a lot of research and evidence for his claims. He talked to a lot of police officers, burglars themselves, and a number of other different types of people. He talks about how burglars have to manipulate architecture in order to succeed with their heists. Manaugh also talks about a number of successful heists, which I found pretty interesting.

The book consists of a lot of side stories. The chapters are pretty long, around 30 to 40 pages each. Each chapter is broken into small sections with various subheadings. I didn't like how long the chapters were. At times, the book was so dense that it was pretty hard to read. It dragged on at points as well. It covers a lot more than just burglars, which I didn't like at first but then some of them grew on me. For instance, Manuagh talks a lot about designing the perfect city. That indirectly relates to burglars, since burglars have to use the city to pull of their crimes. Manaugh also goes on and on about the laws surrounding burglary, theft, etc. Some of my favorite sections were about safe rooms and the tools of the trade.

Overall, this was a pretty good book. I enjoyed reading it and think I learned some useful things. It wasn't quite what I expected, but still good overall. I'd recommend it if you're interested in heists, burglary, architecture, or want to gain new perspectives. Thanks for looking!

Olight S10R Baton II Thoughts

I was expecting this Olight S10R Baton II to be the perfect EDC light. It's perfect in almost every aspect. The one aspect it's not perfect in, the UI, makes everything I love about this light disappear. It doesn't matter how small, bright, or great a light is if it is not easy to use. The UI is so annoying and not user friendly in the slightest. I really wanted to love this flashlight, but I just can't get used to the user interface. I don't personally recommend it. If you're willing to learn or are already used to Olight's UI, then this would be a wonderful EDC flashlight.

I guess I'll talk about the UI first, since that is what I have my biggest issue with. I like lights where you can access the modes by clicking or twisting once to turn on and then keep clicking or twisting after that to get brighter and brighter. To me, that is very straight forward and easy to use. With this light, you press once to turn it on. Then in order to go to the next mood, you have to hold down the button until it gets to your next desired brightness. I suppose as I'm writing that out, it doesn't sound all that complicated. For me though, I just can't get used to this mode selection. I like lights where you click once for low, twice for medium, and three times for high. I don't want to have to mess around with pressing and holding. I'm not sure if Olight does this on all their lights or if it's on select models. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the new lights on the market are using modes like this. Maybe that's the way the industry is going, but I have to say, I'm not a fan at all.

Other than the UI, this light is pretty perfect. The clip kinda sucks. The light is a nice, compact size. The max output is 500 lumens, which is the perfect max brightness for an EDC light in my opinion. The blue accents on the button and head look sweet. I love that there's splashes of color on this otherwise boring, black light. The rechargeable feature is why I wanted this light in the first place. I don't want to buy batteries for my lights anymore. For $60, I felt like this was a good deal. It charges via a little USB base that comes with the light. This light will also take any CR123 batteries if you can't recharge it somewhere. I love that there's a magnetic tailcap. I honestly didn't think that'd be a useful feature, but boy was I wrong. It's so convenient to be able to stick it onto random magnetic surfaces. This flashlight has some nice knurling on the body that provides some extra grip. The beam has a nice tint to it as well. 

All in all, everything about this light is great except for the UI. On paper, it looks like the perfect light yet no one ever mentions the horrible UI. I really was hoping this light would end my search for the perfect EDC flashlight. Unfortunately, it didn't, but it did give me a better idea of what I personally need in a flashlight. I wish I wasn't so bothered by the UI. I like things that are easy to use, and I don't think the UI fits that criteria. It's a shame a perfect light is ruined by a crappy user interface. There's a lot of people that really seem to love this light, so again, I could just have an unpopular opinion. Thanks for looking!

Spyderco Paramilitary 2 Thoughts

In my opinion, the Spyderco Paramilitary 2 is one of the most overhyped knives on the market. I've not been a very big fan of this knife, so this will not be a glowing, positive review of this blade. Everyone else seems to love them for some reason. I don't personally recommend it, but tons of other people do.

As a whole, this knife is great quality. When you're paying more than $100, that's what you should expect. Spyderco knows what they're doing in the quality department. I've got no issues with the quality or fit and finish of this blade.

I also don't have any issues with the steel. This is the CPM S110V version. It's a very nice, higher-end steel for sure. I like that Spyderco does lots of different versions of this knife with different blade steels. You can always count on Spyderco knives coming extremely sharp.

My biggest issues would have to be the blade-to-handle ratio and the handles. The blade-to-handle ratio on Spydercos is always pretty off. On this knife though, it's really bad. There's not really a big issue with an uneven ratio, but aesthetically, it doesn't look good at all. This knife is very handle heavy, which is not something I like either. My issue with the handles is how squared off the edges are. I'm not sure if I just got a bad one or if a lot of Spydercos have squared off edges. Whatever the case may be, this knife is extremely uncomfortable for me to hold. The handles dig into my hand a lot. I could easily round off the edges myself, but for a $150 knife, I shouldn't have to do that. My last big complaint about this knife would have to be closing it with the compression lock. The compression lock itself is awesome. I have no issues with that whatsoever. It's a durable and great lock. However, I've found that I have to be very careful with how far in my finger goes on the lock or the knife will not close properly. If my finger is too far in, the choil bounces off my finger, and the knife remains slightly open. Not sure if that makes sense or not, because I'm not really sure the best way to describe it. It is an issue in my opinion. I've had knives with compression locks before, and I never once had to think about where I placed my finger on the lock. This issue could be easily solved if Spyderco ground down the choil ever so slightly. I should never have to consciously think about where my hand is on the lock.

Those are pretty much all the reasons I hate this knife. I think it's very overhyped and just an average knife at best. There's really nothing that fancy about it. There's tons of other EDC blades out there that are cheaper and function even better. I will not personally recommend this blade. However, there are so many raving reviews from pretty much everyone else, so maybe I just have an unpopular opinion. I think I had too high expectations for this blade. It was fun to try, but it's definitely not a perfect knife. Look elsewhere if you want a great EDC knife. Thanks for looking!

Recommended Gear of 2016

I've tried a lot of gear over the course of 2016, especially in the last few months. I'd like this post to highlight all the best gear I've tried this year.

Some of my favorite knives have been the Spyderco Ladybug, Victorinox Classic, CRKT Jettison, Kershaw Launch 4, Kershaw Cinder, and the Mora Eldris. All of them are pretty small and relatively inexpensive. The Ladybug would have to be my favorite all around knife this year, while the CRKT Jettison would have to be my favorite new knife.

I've also tried a lot of flashlights over the course of this year. I'm still trying to find the perfect light for my EDC. Some of my favorite lights this year are the Nitecore Tube, Thrunite T01, Olight i3e, and FourSevens Preon 1. They all have pretty similar outputs for the most part. I like the Preon for it's color and sleekness. The Thrunite and Olight are cool for simple, cheap lights. The Tube is awesome for a keychain rechargeable light. 

Lastly, some of my random gear favorites would have to be the Case Logic camera pouch and the Pilot Metropolitan. Since my pockets are non-existent, I've always struggled to find a way to carry my gear in one place. I had tried various pouches with no luck. I finally saw someone use a camera pouch for EDC and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. This little pouch is awesome. It was like $5 and holds everything I need it to. I highly recommend getting a pouch like this to keep all your smaller gear in one place. This year I decided to give fountain pens a try. The first one I picked up was Pilot Metropolitan, and I'd have to say it's my favorite. It writes like a charm, comes in tons of different colors, and is less than $15. It's the best fountain pen I've tried for sure.

Those are all the pieces of gear that I'd recommend this year. I'm also posting a video about them that goes a little more in-depth on each piece of gear. What are some of the best pieces of gear you've tried this year? Thank you all for watching! Have a happy New Year! 

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy spending time with your friends and family and maybe get some cool new gear too! I appreciate all the support you all give me!

Books I've Finished Lately #1

Now that I'm finally on break from college, I've had a lot more free time to do stuff I've been meaning to do, like read. I have a ton of books I haven't gotten around to reading yet, so hopefully I can catch up over this break. I finished two books lately that I'd like to talk a little more about. The first is Yes Please by Amy Poehler, and the other is I'm A Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson.

Yes Please was pretty good. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was still enjoyable and parts of it were funny. I absolutely love Amy Poehler in Parks and Recreation. That show is probably one of my ultimate favorite TV shows. This book talks a little about Parks and Recreation, but mostly it's about Poehler's life in improv, SNL, and Hollywood. She offers some solid advice in this book too. If you're an Amy Poehler fan or just like to read books about celebrities, this book is worth the read.

I'm A Stranger Here Myself is a collection of short articles from a guy that lived in America, moved to England, and then moved back to America years later. It's interesting to hear about the differences between America and England. The chapters are all around 3 pages, so you can read them pretty quickly. None of the chapters relate to each other, so you can kind of pick and choose which ones you read. I read them all, and there were definitely ones I didn't enjoy. For the most part though, they all were pretty interesting. He talks about different aspects of America, like the weather, our holidays, the people, etc. It was fun to read, so I'd say it's worth the read.

That's it for these books. I'll probably keep doing these sort of posts as I finish more books. It's nice to diversify the types of posts I do on here. Hopefully I'll be able to recommend you all some good books to read too. Thanks for looking!

Beginnings Of My Car Emergency Bag

I recently decided that I wanted to put together an emergency bag for my car. I'd like to be more prepared, and I figured building an emergency bag would be a step in the right direction. I'm trying to build this bag using pieces of gear that are relatively inexpensive. Here's some of the things I've picked up so far.

The pouch on the left is the Vanquest FTIM Husky. I'm going to use this to hold all the smaller pieces of gear. I also picked up a pretty basic first aid kit on Amazon. It's not anything to crazy, but it does have lots of band aids and other basic stuff. I got a cheap blanket to wrap stuff up in, to keep warm, etc. 

These are some of the smaller things I've picked up so far. I got a headlamp for hands-free lighting. I really like the concept and can't believe I didn't pick one up sooner. I also got 100 feet of paracord for tying stuff together. The knife I decided to pick up for this kit is the Mora Companion. It was around $10, can take a lot of beating, and will be pretty strong since it's a fixed blade. I also got a whistle.

That's everything I've picked up so far. I'm hoping to slowly add more and more stuff to the kit as time goes on. I'll post updates as the bag gets closer to being finished. Thanks for looking!

Vanquest Pouches First Impressions: FTIM Husky and EDCM Huge

I picked up these two Vanquest pouches on Black Friday. They were both less than $15 which was too good of a deal to pass up. The one on the left is the FTIM Husky, and the one on the right is EDCM Huge. I got both pouches in the larger sizes, so I'd be able to fit a lot of gear in them. They do certainly live up to the Husky and Huge size. I think they're hold lots of gear for sure.

The FTIM Husky lays out flat when unzipped which is an interesting design. I'm not sure how I'll like it compared to the EDCM. The EDCM is reminiscent of Maxpedition's various pocket organizers. I do really like the EDCM more than the Maxpedition pouches, because they have an extra row to hold your gear. It'll be interesting to see what design I like better.

Both pouches seem to have great build quality. The zippers are extremely stiff, but I'm hoping they'll loosen up over time. Other than that, these pouches seem like they'll be pretty good. I'll be sure to let you all know how I like both. I'll eventually post something about how I load these things out. Thanks for looking!

Huge EDC Gear Sale Preview

These are all the pieces of gear you all can expect to see in my sale video. I'm not sure when I'll exactly get that video up, but it should be on or around the new year. I'm going to try and keep the prices fairly low if I can. Stay tuned for the video! It'll be coming on my channel within the next couple weeks! Hopefully you all will be able to score some cool gear for cheaper prices.

How College Changed my EDC

Over the summer, I wrote this post about how I thought my EDC would change while I was in college. I just finished up my first semester, so I thought it'd be fun to look back on those predictions and see what I was right and wrong about.

Prediction #1: My carry will revolve around small gear.
This prediction is right. My carry has been and will most likely always revolve around small gear. I own more small gear than any other sized gear. It's the easiest for me to carry and is non-threatening.

Prediction #2: My carry will be more focused on defense type options.
This prediction was pretty wrong. I do keep pepper spray in my backpack, but that's the extent of my self-defense options. I don't actively think about having the pepper spray, so it's almost like I don't carry it. Luckily, I haven't been in any situations where I've felt unsafe.

Prediction #3: All my gear will be carried in my backpack, not on my person.
This prediction is half right and half wrong. My EDC pouch is always in my backpack no matter what. However, during these cooler fall and winter months, I pretty much always have a jacket on. That means I have extra pocket space to carry a few extra things. The winter and fall months are pretty much the only times where I carry my EDC on my person.

Prediction #4: My EDC will be a little more extensive.
This prediction is mostly right. My EDC didn't become more extensive in the ways that I listed in the prediction post, but it is more extensive in other areas. I carry a lot of practical stuff in my bag that make my EDC more extensive, like a backup battery, stuff for my classes, etc. I didn't add a full-sized multitool or first aid kit to my bag like I predicted. I've also gotten more interested in expanding my EDC to other aspects of my life, like by building a car emergency bag and more in-depth EDC kit.

So there were all my predictions. I enjoy and appreciate my EDC a lot more in college. It was cool to see how right and wrong my predictions were. Thanks for looking!

CRKT Folts Minimalist Thoughts

The CRKT Folts Minimalist is a small neck knife. It's pretty average on every level but is nice to try out to see if a neck knife/small backup fixed blade would be a good addition to your EDC. It's not something I'll personally recommend. It is a decent knife for the price though.

My favorite part about this knife would have to be the blade. The wharncliffe blade shape is just awesome. The steel, 5Cr15Mov, isn't anything too fancy, but it does cut when you need it to. I'm not sure how long the bead blasted finish will hold up. I've heard that people always have issues with this finish rusting. If the wharncliffe blade isn't your thing, CRKT has a number of other blade shapes, like tanto, bowie, karambit, etc.

My least favorite part about this knife would have to be the handle. I absolutely hate the ergos. I love my small knives. For some reason though, this blade doesn't feel good in my hands at all. The three finger grooves fit my fingers perfectly fine. I'd rather this be a knife that fits your whole hand. Since the finger grooves are so pronounced, there's really no other way to hold this blade. I think the grooves should be more subtle so that you could potentially fit your whole hand on the handle if your hands are small enough. I don't like being forced to hold a knife a specific way if that makes sense. I've had knives with handles this size before, and it's possible to get a full four finger grip on them. Maybe this handle would fill out your hand better if you had bigger hands. For me, this handle just doesn't work out.

Besides the ergos, everything else regarding the handle is fine. The Micarta scales are nice and feel good in the hand. I really like the green and black color combo. I think it's cool that the scales can be easily removed with the torx screws. CRKT makes it extremely easy to pimp this knife. There's also some jimping on the spine of the knife that adds some extra grip.

The sheath is great. It's just a plastic type material, but it fits the blade quite nicely. There's rivets all around it if you want to add a belt loop attachment or some paracord. Mine came with the belt loop attachment thingy in case you do want to belt carry it.

For the price, $20, you really can't go wrong. It's not made with the best materials. I see this knife as something you buy to figure out whether you'd realistically carry a neck knife in your EDC. It's extremely lightweight and easy to carry because of the size. It's not the knife for me personally, but it is a decent knife overall. I've seen plenty of other people that highly recommend this blade. Check it out if it interests you. Otherwise, I'd say skip it. Thanks for looking!

Big Skinny New Yorker Wallet Thoughts

I needed a slim wallet with 2 ID card slots to take to college with me. I did a lot of searching around on the internet and eventually came across this Big Skinny New Yorker wallet. This wallet is everything I need in a wallet. I highly recommend it. 

I like the overall design of this wallet. It is very simple and to the point. I've got around 11 cards in it at the moment, and it still remains very slim. The 2 ID card slots are essential for me, since I have my college ID and my driver's license. I keep my college ID in the outside ID pocket for quick access. The 6 card slots and 2 ID card slots are more than enough for me. I have 3 cards at most in each slot, and there's no issues at all. Big Skinny recommends 3 cards per slot, so you're looking at a wallet that can hold about 18 cards in the card slots and a couple extra in the clear pockets.

I also like this wallet for the price. It's very inexpensive coming in at around $15. For the high quality product you are getting, the price is right on the money.

Speaking of quality, the quality of this wallet is pretty good. For the most part, it's perfect. However, there are a few places where the stitching is coming undone. It's not an issue for now, but considering I've only had the wallet for about 5 months, it's something to keep an eye on.

Another thing worth mentioning is all the color options. You can get this wallet in this awesome purple like me, or other colors like blue, green, black, or red. There's also a leather option if you don't like the nylon. The card pockets have this anti-slip material so your cards don't fall out. I haven't had any of my cards fall out yet, so I guess that material works pretty well. I keep my cash folded in half in one of the inner pockets with no problems.

Overall, I don't really have any major issues with this wallet. It's a nice minimalist wallet that does everything I need it to do. If you're looking for slim wallets, give Big Skinny's wallets a look. They have a lot of models in case this particular one isn't to your liking. I like this wallet a lot and don't see myself getting a new one anytime soon. Thanks for looking!

My First Auto: Kershaw Launch 4!

I just posted a video about a new knife I picked up, the Kershaw Launch 4.

I saw this on sale on Blade HQ for Black Friday. It seemed like a cool knife to try out for the discounted price. I've never really owned an auto before, so I thought it'd be an interesting experience. This one appealed to me because of the size and color. You all know I love my small, colorful blades. The color combo on this knife is killer. The black blade and purple scales look awesome. The blade is just under 2", which I've found to be the perfect size for EDC. The ergos are great, and the action is really smooth/fast. I think this is a knife that I'll keep in my collection for a long time. Stay tuned for more posts/videos on this thing in the future. Thanks for looking!

EDC Pouch Dump: Next 3 Weeks

I'm headed back to school tomorrow, which means I had to decide what EDC gear is coming back with me. I'll be coming back home in three short weeks, so I figured I didn't need to bring my entire rotation. This led me to fill my EDC pouch with the following items: Olight S10R Baton II, Spyderco Ladybug, Victorinox Classic, and Leatherman Squirt P4.

I think I'll be perfectly fine with just these four pieces of gear for three weeks. I don't expect to do much except study for finals and work on final projects. I feel like most of my bases are covered. If not, I guess I'll just have to make due with what I've got. I hope to do more of these pouch dumps in the future. Don't expect many posts on here until about mid-December. Then prepare yourselves. I have a lot of videos and posts that I'll be getting up after that. Thanks for looking!

Updates

Hey everybody! I've kinda been slacking lately here on the blog. I've gotten 8 posts up this month so far, but I still feel like I could be doing a lot better. My main goal was to start posting a ton of reviews. Unfortunately, I have not been able to follow through with that yet. It takes a lot of time to do reviews. You have to test the product and then write the review/take photos of the product/make a video review. This is a lot to handle while I'm here at college. I really want to get a review up on the Olight S10R Baton II. That's been my goal ever since I got it. I don't like it at all and want to be done with it so I can sell it. I've got a ton of gear I want to sell, but can't do so until I get reviews and videos up. I just haven't gotten enough use out of the S10R to give it a fair review yet. For me personally, I like to test products for at least 2 weeks. During these 2 weeks, I need to be getting a decent amount of use out of the piece of gear. While I've been here at college, I really haven't had the opportunity to use my gear much either. I think I'm still afraid of my what fellow peers will think about my gear. It's totally normal to have a knife, multitool, or flashlight, so I don't know why I'm so afraid of what anyone thinks.

Something else you all might have noticed is that I deleted my Instagram. I've always been bored of Instagram as a social media platform, so I decided getting rid of it was best. I definitely miss seeing photos from certain people. Honestly though, all the photos are the same to me. I've deleted my account several times now, and I feel like that's the sign I don't need to make a new one anytime soon.

Going forward, you may or may not see less posts on here. I've run out of ideas at the moment/lack the motivation to put some cool posts together. I'd like to focus on school until I get to go home for Thanksgiving break. It's a lot easier to take photos/videos in the comfort of my room at home. I don't want to disappear completely, so maybe I'll try to find a way to make it work before then. I haven't posted any videos in forever either, which makes me kind of sad. I love making videos, and I feel like lately the ones I've made aren't the best. Hopefully that changes soon. Thank you all for continuing to check out this site! It means a lot to me! Sorry for always posting these update posts. I'll try to get some real posts up soon!

Knife Company Talk: Boker

Boker is a company I buy from very infrequently. They do offer some cool knives that appeal to me. For some reason though, I never seem to pick any up. I've picked up two Bokers recently. I hope that these will help get me more interested in Boker.

These are the DW-1 and DW-2. They're newer offerings from Boker that caught my eye because of how small they are. You all know how much I love my small knives. When I see a company make a new small knife, chances are pretty high that I'll pick it up. I've been really impressed with these two knives. They're actually decent quality wise, which surprised me. Normally, Bokers are terrible quality wise for me. I had a Keycom a couple years ago that completely fell apart. After that, I never got anymore Bokers. Their Boker Plus line is the one I buy from most often because of the low prices. Those low prices usually come at a cost when it comes to quality though. The DWs have been perfectly fine, so maybe Boker is stepping it up. 

I've never really liked Bokers designs. For the most part, they all look the exact same to me. They don't seem to ever introduce new color options to their knives either. Prices can be pretty high for knives that aren't very special. I'll occasionally buy Bokers if they make something interesting, like these DWs. Honestly though, they're not a company I keep a close eye on. I probably buy from them the least of any production company out there. Spyderco, Kershaw, CRKT, and Cold Steel are all companies I'd rather buy from. Who knows though. Maybe you'll eventually see a lot more Bokers on this blog. Thanks for looking!

Knife Company Talk: Kershaw

Kershaw isn't one of my favorite companies. All the knives I've tried from them are either hit or miss. The quality isn't the best, but I guess that's what you can expect for the price. I'm a fan of some of the stuff they do. As a brand though, they're not one I like to buy from that often.

These are the three Kershaws I have in my collection at the moment, the Cinder, Shuffle, and Half Ton. They're all pretty new, so I can't talk about how good or bad they are yet. The Cinder seems to be the real gem out of all these three though. I'll try to get reviews up sometime before the end of the year. The reason I bought these three knives was because of the cheap price and small size. Kershaw does cheap knives very well. They have tons of knives out there in all kinds of different designs. None of these knives look that similar to me. Unlike some companies, Kershaw doesn't just stick to making one type of knife. I think they have the best variety of any company in all the designs they offer. They do tons of cool collaborations with other companies and designers. The Kershaw-Emerson knives were awesome for people that wanted an Emerson experience without dropping a couple hundred dollars. I also love that Kershaw keeps putting out colorful knives. This purple Shuffle looks so cool!

One thing I don't like about Kershaw is the SpeedSafe knives. I won't purchase a lot of their knives, because they're spring assisted. The Leek has always been on my radar, but it's not a manual flipper. I will never again buy any SpeedSafe knives. I think it's obnoxious and is completely unnecessary for my lifestyle. The Groove was one of the best flippers I used. I don't get why Kershaw doesn't do more manual flippers. They obviously have the means to do them well.

I shouldn't write off Kershaw completely as a brand. They do make knives that appeal to me every so often. They're proven in the knife community. I'll try to keep trying some of their knives. I think they're great options for people that want affordable, quality knives. Thanks for looking!

Knife Company Talk: CRKT

I used to do these knife company talk posts about how I feel about certain knife companies. I tried to find some old ones on this blog, but I guess I did all of them on my other blog. It's kind of cool to talk about why or why not I like a company. This knife company talk will be about CRKT. I've recently gotten back into them as a brand, and I've been really impressed by them.

These are the two CRKTs I have with me at the moment, the Squid and the Folts Minimalist. I also have the Jettison, but that's not with me here at college. I didn't used to be into CRKT for some reason. After I tried the Jettison, I knew they had some cool stuff to offer. I love small knives and luckily CRKT is starting to offer more smaller knives. The Jettison and Squid are both newer options from CRKT. I think CRKT is putting out some really sweet and interesting designs. They offer affordable knives, which is a nice change from some companies out there. Their IKBS flippers have such great and smooth action. All the knives I've tried from them have been great quality wise. Quality, price, and size are probably the three most important things I look for in a knife. I'm glad CRKT is able to offer these three things in their knives. I hope that CRKT keeps making some great knives. They're a company that I'll definitely keep buying from. Thanks for looking!

Sennheiser CX300II Earbuds Thoughts

These Sennheisers have been my trusty earbuds for the last few years. They finally sort of died, so I thought I'd briefly talk about them. Sorry this isn't my typical topic for reviews. I'd like to branch out and review different things that I use everyday. Good headphones are something I need every single day.

I believe these earbuds retail for around $30. I think they're a pretty good value for that price. Like I said, they've lasted several years, which I found is a typical lifespan for earbuds. I buy pretty cheap earbuds, because they all die eventually. I don't see a need to spend tons of money on them. 

I'm not much of an audiophile, so I can't exactly talk about how good or bad the sound quality of these earbuds is. As an average user, they've been perfectly fine for me. They sound great to me personally. I've never had any issues with listening to any sort of music through them.

The quality was pretty great. They lasted way longer than I expected. They didn't seem to tangle that easily, which was nice. One of my biggest gripes was the different lengths of the left and right earbud wire. I tried to get a photo of the difference, but it was kind of hard to do. The right earbud wire is about double the length of the left wire. I'm sure there's some reason for it, but I found it mostly annoying. It helped easily seeing which one was which, but that's about it. It's odd to be using them and having the longer wire get all up in your face. I think that was my biggest complaint though.

Overall, they were pretty good earbuds for me. I enjoyed them while I had them, but I probably wouldn't buy them again. I always like to try out different earbuds to see if there are any better ones out there. I do recommend them if you want to try something new. They're probably pretty average when it comes to headphones, but they were perfectly fine for me. Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed this different type of review post!

Boker DW-1 and DW-2 First Impressions

I recently saw these two Bokers in the new section of GP Knives. I normally try not to impulse buy gear, but these looked too cool to pass up. I love that more knife companies are making small knives.

These knives are very small. They're comparable in size to the Ladybug. I was surprised to see how small they actually are. The DW-1 is the one on the bottom, and the DW-2 is on the top. I don't know the specifications at the moment, so just look them up if you're interested. I'm going to try to get up a review on both sometime in the next month or so.

I feel that the DW-1 is sort of like the Spyderco Bug. It is almost too small to actually be useful. It's a fully functioning knife, but it just seems to be too small. It's pretty much impossible for me to open one-handed. I can fit one or two fingers comfortably on the handle. The ergos are surprisingly decent considering how tiny this knife is. I think this one will be more of a novelty piece for my collection.

The DW-2 is definitely something I could see myself carrying. It is like a better quality version of the Keycom to me. It's pretty easy to open one-handed. The ergos are great. I can fit three fingers on the handle. The jimping is actually pretty effective too. It's definitely going to give my Ladybug some competition.

The quality of both is very impressive. I don't usually have the best luck with Bokers qualtiy wise, but both are what you'd expect. Lockup is pretty solid, and there don't seem to be any issues as of now. The steel, AUS-8, isn't anything fancy. Luckily, they both come decently sharp. Both are framelocks and have clips. The handles are just plastic, but they feel pretty nice in the hand. I do wish they weren't black, because it's nice to have colorful knives. 

I'll keep you all updated on how I like both. They seem pretty nice considering they were under $20 each. I believe the DW-2 is around $19 and the DW-1 is around $16. I think these are going to be great options for backup or keychain knives. Expect reviews sometime in the future! Thanks for looking!

Moleskine Volant Extra Small Notebook Thoughts

I have not been too fond of these Volant extra small notebooks or Moleskine as a brand. Moleskine is a very overhyped brand in my opinion. Their products are not made with the greatest quality considering the price you are paying. They are extremely good at marketing and have established quite a name for themselves. I recommend you look elsewhere if you want notebooks with better paper quality. They may seem fine to you, but trust me, there are definitely better notebooks out there for a better value.

My biggest gripe with Moleskine is the quality of the paper. The paper is not nice to write on with any sort of pen, whether that's ballpoint, gel, or fountain pens. No matter what type of pen I've used, I've always had issues with smearing, feathering, and bleedthrough. That is not typical for ballpoint pens at all. Moleskine simply uses crappy paper that can't handle any pens whatsoever. I've been trying notebooks from Rhodia and Clairefontaine, and the difference in quality is extremely obvious. Don't skimp on paper.

Other than the paper, these notebooks are just like any other pocket sized notebooks. The covers are slightly thick cardstock type paper, which I'm not a fan of. I expected a softer cover. They've held up well, but then again, I've never pocket carried them. They always ride in my backpack. The pages are perforated if that's important to you. I have no idea how many pages these have exactly. There are a decent amount, so that's good. I'm struggling to fill both of these up, because I can't stand the paper. I do like that Moleskine offers tons of color options in their notebooks. These purple ones are awesome!

Overall, you aren't getting anything special considering the high price. I paid $6 for these two notebooks, and I'd say that's a ripoff. I would definitely not recommend picking them up at all. Get some nice Rhodia notebooks that actually have decent paper. You're better off buying generic notebooks. Try lots of different notebooks. I promise you, these Moleskine ones will be some of the worst you've ever used. Thanks for looking!

My Sharpening Setup

I sold all my sharpening stuff a while ago. I just now got around to picking up some stones. When I did have a sharpening setup, I freehand sharpened my knives with the Spyderco Sharpmaker. I really like the versatility of the Sharpmaker stones, because you can sharpen on the points or the flats of the stones. I thought it'd be a good idea to simply buy two of the Sharpmaker stones to use as my main sharpening stone setup. That's what I did, and it's working out quite well. As of now, I only have the medium and fine stones. I might pick up an ultrafine stone eventually, but those two are doing fine for now. It cost me about $20 for the two stones, which I think is a pretty fair price. It is really easy to hold one end of the stone in your hand and freehand sharpen your knives. I'll probably make a video of this setup sometime soon. I really like how simple and inexpensive it is. Thanks for looking!

October Updates

Hey everybody! I wanted to do this post to give you all some updates on what to expect on here over the course of the month. The blog is doing really well, and I'd like to continue getting out tons of posts. I appreciate everyone that checks out this site! Thank you so much for supporting it! My monthly views keep increasing, and that's just so awesome!

As far as what posts you can expect to see this month, I'd like to post at least two review posts and some other EDC related stuff. I yet again picked up a couple of new things, but I think I'll wait to post about those until I get around to the other new gear. Overall, I've been very disappointed with the amount of reviews I've posted this year. I'd like to pump out a ton of reviews before the end of the year. It's fun to document what I've tried and tell you all whether I believe a piece of gear is worth it. I've picked up lots of gear in the past month or so, just so I could have stuff to review. I don't normally like to do that, but I figured it'd be a good investment for the blog and YouTube. A lot of the things I picked up are actually surprising me so far. I've been really focused on budget gear lately, and it's always cool to find a gem for a great price. I'll have quite a few gems to show you all in the coming months. That also means I'll be having a pretty big sale/trade towards the end of the year. More info on that probably in November or December.

I'll be filming a couple videos this week, so stay tuned for those over the next few weeks. I've also been disappointed with the lack of videos I've been uploading. It's hard to find times where my room is quiet or when I have free time. I don't want to make excuses, so know that more videos are coming soon.

I guess the last thing I want to say is that I highly encourage any of you to start your own blog. I absolutely love doing this! I can talk about anything I want. It's really cool to look back at my old posts. If you have any questions about starting a blog, I can try to help you as best as I can. The blog I use is completely free, so you might as well try it. If any of you end up making one, please let me know so I can check it out. I'm in desperate need of some new EDC related sites to check out. That about wraps it up! Thanks again to everyone that keeps up with this site! It means a lot to me!

I'm No Flashlight Expert

This is going to be a preface for some posts I'll be doing in the future about flashlights. I don't have a lot of technical knowledge on flashlight. I mostly just care whether they light things up, are easy to use, hold up well over time, are a good size, etc. I don't care so much for the type of emitter, exact runtime numbers, and things of that nature. I've been trying to find some reviews of certain flashlights recently, and they're all very technical and filled with random jargon. I use my gear. I don't buy things solely because of their specifications. I'm not sure what type of audience reads my posts, but I'm guessing you all are just users too. As long as something works for what I need, I'm fine with it. That is sorta my philosophy for everything in life. I don't care for reviews that go on and on about what type of emitter and show graphs of what happens when a flashlight is running for 72 days. Yes that last part is an exaggeration. Still, I don't see the use in knowing those sorts of things. For example, all the reviews I've read on the Olight S10R Baton II fail to mention how stupid the UI is. I never knew Olight doesn't make some of their clicky lights very user friendly. Maybe it's just a few of their newer lights, but it was still something I was unaware of. Had I known this, I definitely would not have bought that light. I like to do lots of research on gear. It saves me a lot of money in the long run. When I get something that is disappointing/doesn't perform as well as it should, I get very angry. People are so wrapped up in specifications that they fail to talk about the real world use. Anything can look good on paper. Once you actually get in your hands though, it better be just as nice. I guess the point of this post is to let you all know that my flashlight reviews specifically will be talking about my real world experiences. It's not like you go out in public and think "oh dang, this XP-G2 emitter is really what makes this flashlight great." I don't even know the emitters on most of my flashlights anymore. It's just meaningless for the person that needs gear that simply works. Anyways, don't expect my reviews to be focused on meaningless things anymore. I think my actual experiences with gear is more important than certain specifications. I'm not afraid to bash gear if it sucks or is overhyped. I'm not a flashlight expert by any means. However, I do hope what I have to say about lights will give you all a better insight into whether you should get something or not. I shouldn't be the only person you listen too, but I do think I give an interesting and slightly valuable perspective on gear. Prepare for a lot more reviews soon! Thanks for looking!

Gear I'd Like To Try Soon List #1

When I enter a new school year, I typically can't carry any of my gear. This year is extremely different than the past 10+ years of my schooling, because I finally don't really have any restrictions on what I can carry. Sure I can't carry certain things, like a 15" blade, but at least I can have something. Luckily, everything I carry is small anyways, so I don't ever have to worry about keeping my EDC to certain restrictions. Anyways, with all that said, now I don't think I'll lose interest in EDC since I can carry my gear all the time. That's given me more motivation to try different gear, because I know that it'll get carried. In the past, I may have carried my gear for 2 days of the whole week. It's kind of a waste to buy tons of gear if you're only going to carry it for way less than half of each week. I'm on the hunt for perfect gear for my EDC now. Here's a short list of some stuff I'd like to try in the near future. I'm hoping some of these things could potentially be part of my "perfect EDC."

Nitecore Tip
Nitecore Thumb

These Nitecores appeal to me, because I love the Tube I have, and both of these are just better versions of the Tube.

CRKT Folts Minimalist
SOG Snarl

Both these blades seem interesting, because I feel like I've never given neck knives/small fixed blades a chance in my carry. I've heard good things about both, so I figured I'd start with them.

That's all I've got on my list to try at the moment. I'd like to do some more research on the gear that's out there, so the list will probably grow. I'm hoping to try this stuff out after I review all the new stuff I've gotten recently. Thanks for looking!

What I've Been Binge Watching Recently: Beginning of September

I absolutely love Netflix. When I get into new TV shows, I binge watch pretty much the entire thing in the span of a short amount of time. I didn't really start any new shows over the summer, but now that I'm here at college, I've started a few new ones. Watching stuff on Netflix is just a nice way to escape from the real world for a little bit. I'd like to do these sorts of posts to let you all know what exactly I've been watching recently. You may or may not be interested, but I think it'll be cool to talk about. Maybe you'll be able to hear about new shows or tell me ones that I should watch.

The two shows I've finished recently were season 1 of Stranger Things and seasons 1+2 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I found both to be pretty entertaining to watch. I'd say Stranger Things was definitely my favorite of the two. The plot is incredibly interesting and creepy. The cast was well- rounded. It's something I recommend to everyone. I can't wait until season 2 is out.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was extremely funny at times, but very dull at others. I still enjoyed watching it. I just wished they had spiced it up a bit more. Season 1 was better than the 2nd one in my opinion. If you want to watch something funny, keep this as an option. I wouldn't say it was the best, but it was still cool.

I've got a whole lot more shows to watch, so I'd like to keep doing these sorts of posts in the future. I really like that I'm able to show all my interests on this blog. It keeps me from getting burned out on posting. I'll keep doing the knife and EDC posts of course. There's going to be a lot of cool posts in the future. Thanks for looking! If you ever have any suggestions for what I should watch, feel free to let me know.

Finally Moving Towards Rechargeable Batteries

One of my goals as of recently was to only use rechargeable batteries with my flashlights. I've held off on doing this for such a long time now. I've finally managed to pick up rechargeable batteries and even a couple flashlights that are rechargeable themselves. It seems like it will be a great move in the long term. I'll no longer have to go out and buy batteries. Instead, I can just recharge the ones I have and call it a day. There's quite a few rechargeable lights on the market right now, which is good to see. I picked up the S10R Baton II from Olight recently, and the biggest factor that drew me to it was the fact that it was rechargeable. I've also got the Nitecore Tube as one of my rechargeable lights. Both are great lights, and I'm glad they're in my collection. I've been getting into flashlights more and more, so it's good I'll have some options as far as batteries go. I just got these Eneloop batteries in, and I'll have to see how they perform in my lights. Buying rechargeable batteries or lights may cost more money initially, but over time, you'd definitely save a ton if you use your lights a lot. Stay tuned for more posts regarding flashlights. Thanks for looking!

My Gear Storage At College

As I've been getting new pieces of gear recently, I realized I didn't have a good way to store all the gear I wasn't carrying. All the gear I originally brought with me easily fit in my little EDC pouch. I just threw the pouch in my backpack and didn't have to worry about any additional storage. Unfortunately, in my huge amounts of free time at college so far, I've managed to spend some money on new gear. I wanted to find an easy and cheap way to store my gear in my dorm room, since I have my Pelican 1120 sitting at home. I bought some plastic containers to store my food and discovered they are the perfect size to store all my tiny gear. I apologize if any of the following pictures kind of suck. Here's what I'm currently working with as far as storage goes.

As you can hopefully tell, the plastic container holds all my extra gear with no issues whatsoever. My actual EDC stays in the black pouch and all the rest goes into the container. I really like this setup. If you have some extra Tupperware type containers lying around, I definitely suggest you try to use them as gear storage. The plastic is nice, because you can easily see what exactly you have in the container without having to necessarily open it. I think I paid like $2 or $3 for 5 of these small plastic containers. It's a great and cheap way to store your gear for sure. Thanks for looking!

New Gear Purchases Part 3

I've finally received all the gear I ordered, so here is the last part of this little mini series I've been doing. To end it all off, I've got two pieces of gear to show you. Those two pieces of gear are the Kershaw Half Ton and the Kershaw Cinder.

The Half Ton is a pretty old knife and not talked about too much anymore. I've always wanted to try one out, so I figured I might as well just go for it given the low price. It seems pretty neat. I need to loosen the pivot before I can carry it though. I'll try to talk more about this blade when I get around to carrying it. I do really like the color of the scales. I don't believe I've ever had any red knives.

I'm actually very excited to carry the Cinder. After taking it out of its clamshell packaging, I was immediately impressed. It is definitely a lot smaller than I expected. It's very comparable in overall length to the Spyderco Ladybug, but the blade is a lot shorter. I love knives in this tiny size range, so I'm thinking it will get a lot of carry. I really like the design, and the ergonomics are surprisingly great considering the size.  It's a really solid knife so far. I think this will be one that you'll hear a lot about. It's pretty new, and for the price, less than $10, it's a great buy.

On a side note, I just realized a lot of the new knives I got are from Kershaw. I'm not typically a fan of them as a company, because I've found that the quality of their blades is not always the best. I guess I wanted to give them another shot, so I picked up a few of their smaller blades. I'm hoping those three blades will change my mind about Kershaw as a company. Thanks for looking!

New Gear Purchases Part 2

Here is part 2 of my recent gear purchase haul. I picked up a CRKT Squid and Thrunite T01. Both caught my eye because of their low prices and small size. I haven't even used either one yet, so this post will be fairly short. I can't carry the Squid yet, because the pivot came too tight and I don't have my torx driver to fix it. I also can't carry the T01, since I didn't bring any batteries with me. I'm hoping to get these into the rotation soon. I like them so far, but I can't make too many judgments until I actually carry either. I should have two more pieces of gear coming in the mail within the next day or two. After that, that will be the end of the new purchases. I went a little crazy with all this shopping recently, but luckily the majority of the gear was very inexpensive. I'm already thinking that most of it will be traded or sold in the future just so I can keep trying out new gear. Stay tuned for more posts on these pieces of gear. Thanks for looking!

My College EDC: Backpack Dump

Here's the whole overview of what I've got in my backpack for college at the moment. I don't think the contents will change too much. I think I've done a pretty good job of not carrying around a lot of unnecessary things. 

So for the purpose of this post, I'm only going to show more in-depth photos of the items that are interesting. As far as school items go, I've got my computer, planner, notebooks, folder, etc. That's very basic stuff and not too interesting, so I'll only talk about the cooler items. I also always have a water bottle with me.

Here's a closer look at some of the more interesting things in the bag. On the left side of the photo, I've got my calculator, iClicker, and an Anker portable battery. I've got a variety of cheap pens, mechanical pencils, and a Sharpie. I don't bring any of my nice pens with me to class, because I don't want them to get stolen or lost. I've also got an EpiPen for my nut allergy and pepper spray for self defense. I keep an extra small Moleskine Volant to write quick notes, things I have to do, grocery lists, etc. Some headphones and a couple flashdrives are also in the bag for obvious reasons. Last but not least, I've got some Post-it notes and a hairband. I haven't used either yet, but when I really do need them, they'll come in handy for sure.

This is everything I've got in my EDC camera pouch thingy. I'm still playing around with the setup of this pouch. The only items that will stay in it for sure are the Spyderco Ladybug and Victorinox Classic. Those two items get far more use than any of my other gear. The other objects are subject to change as I try out new gear or need different things. At the moment, I've got these items in the pouch as well: Olight S10R Baton II, Wenger EvoGrip 11, Gerber Shard, and Fisher Bullet Space pen. I've got some additional gear that I can rotate, so maybe I'll try to change the items up on a dailyish basis.

That's about it as far as my backpack goes. Some days I'll need extra things, but this is the base setup. I'd like to do a video of it eventually, just so you all can get a better idea of how all this fits in the bag. I'm not sure when I'll get around to that. For now, I hope you enjoyed seeing this sort of post. Thanks for looking!

New Gear Purchases Part 1

Quick side note: sorry for the kind of crappy picture quality that I've had these last few posts. I'm still trying to figure out the best setup in my dorm room to get good photos. Bear with me, I promise I'll figure it out soon.

These three pieces of gear are just a few of the things I've purchased recently. I've got a few more things coming in soon, so there will be several additional parts that will be posted once those come in. The three items you see in the photo are the Olight S10R Baton II, Kershaw Shuffle, and Olight I3E. I've been looking to upgrade parts of my EDC and just try out new things in general.

The S10R is definitely the piece of gear I was most excited to get. I wanted to get one really nice flashlight, and I think the S10R is the answer to that need. There's a couple of things I'm not liking about it initially, but I think I just need to get used to it. It's a very cool light for sure. I love the form factor, and the fact that it is rechargeable.

The Kershaw Shuffle is something I wanted to try for fun. I like small knives and have heard some interesting things about it. I honestly don't think it will stay in my collection long term though. I love the color, but that's about it. One thing I've noticed is that Amazon ships out the knives with the pivots really tight. I've gotten two blades from them recently, and both have insanely tight pivots. This kind of gave me a bad first impression of this blade, because I can't even open it one-handed. Normally the tight pivot wouldn't be a huge deal to me. However, I totally forgot to bring my torx driver, so I can't loosen up the pivot. I'll either just buy one or wait to carry these blades until I get home for Thanksgiving.

I wanted to try the Olight I3E, because it was cheap, small, and purple. I want to review more gear on here soon. I thought it'd be a good idea to start getting cheaper items to review, so it's less of a hit on my pocket. This is a pretty neat light for the price. It's pretty bright, coming in at 90 lumens. I'm impressed with it so far. It's definitely a good option for a keychain or backup light.

As I get to carry this stuff some more, I'll be sure to keep you all updated on how I'm liking everything. You can definitely expect to see reviews and videos on it all in the future. Thanks for looking!

What I'm Currently Reading: September 2016

I'd like to do these sorts of posts occasionally to talk about some of the books I'm reading at the moment. I'm not going to be doing much talking about how I actually like the books, because I haven't started them yet. These posts will mostly just record what I have to read next and maybe introduce you all to a new book. If I end up really liking any of these books, I'd probably do a whole separate post on them. I absolutely love to read, and I'd like to keep finding ways where I can talk about books on here.

Here's just a quick side story on these books. I've only started The Heart and the Fist. I've enjoyed it so far. The author's stories are very entertaining and interesting to hear about. The other four all managed to catch my eye when I was strolling through Barnes and Noble. I haven't really heard of them at all, so hopefully they're pretty good reads. Thanks for looking!

The Books
The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL by Eric Greitens

When to Rob a Bank: ...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The Fever by Megan Abbott

Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone by Bo Burnham

Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown

Spotify Is Awesome!

I recently subscribed to the music streaming service, Spotify. If you told me a year ago that I’d be a Spotify subscriber, I would’ve laughed in your face. For my whole life pretty much, I’ve always either downloaded music form iTunes or through either means. This got pretty pricey after a while. I’m becoming less and less of a fan of Apple, so I wanted to get away from their ecosystem. I started purchasing CDs when I realized I no longer wanted to support iTunes, but this didn’t really work out either. I’ve always heard people talking about Spotify, so I started researching it a little bit. I found they were doing a deal where you got 3 months for $0.99. I figured that I might as well give it a try for a buck. It’s definitely something I’ll be staying with when the deal runs out. I think the price jumps to $9.99 a month or if you’re a student like me, you can get it for $4.99 a month. If you listen to a ton of music, it pays for itself pretty quickly. I’ve got access to millions of songs. Sure I don’t own them, but honestly I don’t need to own my music anymore. I’m all about convenience as of lately, and Spotify is pretty dang convenient for me. I’ve been able to find out about a ton of new artists, which is cool too. If you see a deal similar to the one I found, I recommend you at least give it a try. You may end up really liking it. Thanks for looking!