My First Fidget Thing

Fidget things of all different varieties have been the latest trend here in the EDC community. There's tops, spinners, doodads made with bike chains, strings with beads, etc. People have really gotten behind this trend. Titanium tops are being sold for hundreds of dollars, which I think is insane. None of these fidget things are exactly necessary in my mind. I don't understand the need to fidget with something throughout the day. I swore I'd never buy anything of the sort, but I got this cool thing in the mail from someone I bought a knife from.

I've seen these around Instagram and didn't exactly understand the point of it. Now that I've got one, it's kind of fun to play with. If I were considering getting some sort of fidget thing to add to my EDC, this is the one I'd get. It'd be pretty simple to make yourself, or you could just buy one from someone on Instagram. I believe most people sell them for less than $10. I don't think I'd ever carry this with me every day. It's mostly just something I'd keep on my desk for when I'm doing homework or something. Maybe I'll show it in a video sometime. Thanks for looking!

Spyderco Native 5 LW First Impressions

I've always wanted to try out a Native of some kind. Once Spyderco released these Native 5 lightweights a little while ago, I figured they'd be the ones I tried. I bought this one off of someone I follow on Instagram. Thanks a ton to @lexis_fez for selling this to me. This is the Native 5 in the dark blue FRN with the CPM S110V steel.

Sorry for the crappy photos. I'm back at school now, and my room has horrible lighting for photos. This knife is pretty sick so far. I'm a lot more impressed with it than I thought I'd be. The ergos are amazing. I definitely think this is a better mid-sized EDC knife than the Para 2. I'm excited to carry this blade! I'm happy I got this version, since the scales aren't black. I don't necessarily care about the steel, but the dark blue is a really nice shade. Thanks for looking! Stay tuned for some posts and videos on this knife in the future!

Newish Addition To My Keys

My buddy, Laura, sent me a sweet Victorinox Classic a little while ago. It was too cool to leave sitting around, so I figured I'd throw it on my keys.

In all my time in the EDC community, I've never once decided to put something on my keychain. I figured I'd give this a go. It's not the best, so as of now, I'm leaning towards taking it off. I don't like where the keyring attachment is. The knife opens towards it, so it's very awkward to cut stuff open. The keyring also makes it so the tool doesn't sit flat against the keys. Instead, the edge of the tool is what touches the keys, which ends up making my keychain even bulkier. Not sure if that description makes sense, but once I get an EDC update video up, you should be able to see what I'm talking about. It's a super cool tool, but it's surprisingly not that well suited for keychain carry in my opinion. I love the color, and I'm surprised at how well the finish is holding up. It's been fun to have it on my keys, but I'm thinking it will come off sometime in the future. Thanks for looking!

FourSevens Mini Mk II First Impressions

I recently picked up this FourSevens Mini Mk II. Before I get into talking about my first impressions, I apologize for the super crappy photo. The lighting in my dorm room is terrible, so this is the best I could get with my phone. 

I'm on the hunt for the perfect EDC flashlight this year. I saw a couple of these on Instagram and thought they looked pretty neat. FourSevens is doing a combo package, which is what I got. It includes the light, a custom rechargeable battery that allows the light to have a max output of 1,020 lumens, and a charger for that battery. I paid $55 for the whole package. That's a pretty fair price, considering most Olight has the S10R Baton that retails for around the same price. I believe this is the brightest flashlight that runs on a CR123 battery. You can only get the 1,020 lumens if you use FourSevens' special battery, so you might as well just buy the combo package. If you buy the light alone without the special battery, you'd pay $40. Otherwise, it puts out 550 lumens from a regular CR123. That's still pretty bright for a flashlight this size. I'm very impressed with it as a whole so far.

There's definitely some things I don't like about it, like the clip and the color. The clip is really weird and juts too far off the light for my preferences. I took it off immediately. I wish they put this out in a couple of different colors. This is a newer light, so maybe that will happen down the road. They have a couple special editions in titanium/copper that offer colors other than black, but those are $85. This is a cool light, but it's definitely not worth $85. The threads aren't the smoothest either, so that's made the light a little stiffer for me to turn on/off. I'm sure it will loosen up as time goes on. I don't really have any glaring dislikes about it straight out of the package.

I do really like the size and the fact that it's rechargeable. The charger is pretty simple and to the point. The max output is pretty dang impressive too. 1,020 lumens in a light this small is crazy. I don't know if it actually looks like a 1,000 lumen, but it's super duper bright. I need to go out at night and see how good of job this would light things up. I'm going to try to get a fair amount of usage out of this light before I get a more in-depth video or post up. I'll probably just wait until March when I go back home for Spring break. I'm not immediately in love with this light, but I do see a lot of potential in it. It could be the answer to my quest for the perfect flashlight. I'll keep you all updated on how I like it. Thanks for looking!

GunGirlAlly?

I think this will be the year I finally get a gun. I've been thinking a lot about guns lately, and now that I'm 18, I'm finally old enough to buy a shotgun or rifle. I'll be living in my own apartment in the fall, and I'd like to have something to defend myself. I've heard so many horror stories about what happens to college-aged girls. I know absolutely nothing about guns at the moment. I'm going to do a lot of research, but hopefully I can find a gun I like by the end of the year. I'm leaning more towards a shotgun for my first gun. When I turn 21, I'll definitely be getting a handgun and CCW permit. The focus of my channel won't change at all. You could probably expect to see at least a few videos of whatever gun I get. I don't think this will happen anytime within the next few months. Like I said, I have no knowledge about anything gun related, so I have a lot to learn before I buy one. If you all know of any good resources I should look at, feel free to let me know. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking!

How To Get The Women In Your Life Into EDC

There aren't many women that are into EDC. It's pretty unfortunate to be honest. I'd like that to change, so I'd like to give some advice on how to get the women in your life into EDC. EDC is a wonderful hobby, and I think many women would benefit from it. I don't propose that you initially get your wife, girlfriend, daughters, sisters, friends, etc. a full-blown EDC with ZTs and fancy flashlights. My biggest tips are to start with small and colorful gear. I haven't yet tried to get any of the women in my life into EDC, but this is the way I'll be doing it in the future. Any women you know may only want to carry small gear, and that's fine. I've built a pretty complete EDC kit with lots of small gear. As long as they have something that helps them be more prepared, then that's all that matters.

The reason I suggest small gear is because first, most women have smaller hands compared to you dudes out there. What's considered a mid-sized knife to you all would be a huge knife for us girls. Smaller knives have better ergonomics for people with smaller hands. The other reason I suggest small gear is because women always find small or miniature gear cute. You don't want a knife to scare a girl. You want her to embrace using it. Whenever I pull out my Spyderco Ladybug, every woman that's ever seen it thinks it's very cute. If I pulled out an Endura, the reaction was much different. The last main reason I can think of to carry small gear is that it's easier to carry. Women typically have little to no pocket space. We normally throw all of our crap in our purses or backpacks. Since we already have so much stuff in our purses, we don't want to carry some 5 pound titanium framelock when a tiny Victorinox Classic would do the job perfectly fine. Smaller gear is non-threatening and super easy to carry. Plus it's generally a lot cheaper than bigger EDC gear, so that's a benefit as well. You don't have to break the bank when you're trying to get any girl's foot in the door when it comes to EDC gear.

The reason I suggest colorful gear is because it's also less threatening. An all-blacked out knife looks a whole lot more scary than a purple knife. Everyone loves to own things in their favorite colors too. A lot of EDC gear companies are starting to produce gear in colors other than black. I will say, please do not get women anything pink unless that is indeed their favorite color. I think it's demeaning when companies put out gear for women that only comes in pink. Women like other colors besides pink. It's pretty easy to find gear in every color of the rainbow nowadays. If you give your girls anything colorful, it will make this hobby a lot less intimidating and a lot more fun.

So there you have it. You don't need to go crazy when trying to get the women in your life into EDC. Start with simple, small, and colorful things first. If you women you're trying to get into EDC seem to really like their starter EDC stuff, that's when I'd recommend you dial it up a bit and give them some more substantial gear. Even if they don't like the idea of EDC, at least you can say you tried. I'd say just getting them to carry a Victorinox Classic and small flashlight would be a win. Also think about practical things they'd use everyday, like first aid kits or backup batteries. You know the women in your life better than I do. Personalize your gear contributions according to their preferences and lifestyles.

I think I'm going to do another post about what specific gear I'd recommend giving to the women in your life. Until then, maybe put together an EDC keychain with a couple small tools on it. An EDC is much more than a knife/multitool/flashlight, but that's where I'd start initially if you're trying to get people started with EDC. I'm no expert by any means. I am a girl though, and I like to think I know how most women feel. If I wasn't already into EDC, then I'd definitely just want small, practical tools. I guess that's all I have to say for now. If you try to get any of the women in your life into EDC, let me know how it goes. If my advice is terrible, also be sure to let me know. Thanks for looking!

CRKT's New Offerings For 2017

I've been really impressed with the direction that CRKT is going lately. I'm pretty excited about some of their new offerings for 2017. I figured I'd do this post to talk about some of the things I'll most likely buy from this year. Click here to see all the new things from CRKT.

Unfortunately, most of their new knives are much bigger than what I typically carry, but there are a few that stand out to me. One of the ones that really impresses me is the Snicker.

photo from CRKT

The Snicker is a smaller flipper. I don't like that the scales are black, but the size and flipper is perfect. I think it's going to be pretty affordable too. 

Something else that I'll probably try out is the compact Snailor. I love one piece multitools, and this is one design that I've always wanted to try. I'm happy that CRKT is collaborating with Jesper Voxnaes on these, because his regular ones are ridiculously priced. This Snailor will be cool to try without breaking the bank.

photo from CRKT

The last thing that really stands out to me is the bolt action pen and pencil.

photo from CRKT

I'm probably going to go with the pencil, since it comes in this cool red color. I love my colorful gear, and I've always wanted to try a bolt action pen. They'll retail for around $30, which is a pretty fair price. 

That's about all the main things that stand out to me from CRKT's new offerings. I think it'll be fun to try out all of these things when they're eventually released. Stay tuned, because the chances are pretty high that I'll be picking them up. Thanks for looking!

New Knives: Spyderco Cricket and Spin

I'm a sucker for good deals. This ends up being pretty bad for my wallet but fun for me personally. I saw these two Spydercos were $50 each on Amazon, so I decided to pick them up. I've always wanted to try out a Cricket ever since I got into knives. The Spin was more of a why not purchase. I never really considered trying it out, but I love my small knives. I especially love that blue Nishijin handle.

So far, I definitely like the Cricket a lot more. The ergos are great. The blade shape is wicked cool. I've really got no complaints about it so far. I'm surprised it's in such good shape, because this was an Amazon Warehouse deal that was supposed to have lots of cosmetic wear. It has no scratches whatsoever. If you ever see one of those deals, definitely go through with it. The Spin's ergos are pretty terrible. I always hate two finger knives. Since my hands are smaller, my fingers don't really fit in the grooves that well. I'll see how it goes when I carry both, but for now, the Cricket seems like it will be the winner between the two. Stay tuned for more posts on these blades! Thanks for looking!

New Knife: Spyderco Ladybug Hawkbill

My first knife purchase of the new year was this Spyderco Ladybug Hawkbill. I've kind of got mixed feelings about it so far. I think it looks really cool, but it's probably not the most practical for my everyday life. I wish Spyderco would make a version of this with a plain edge instead of the serrations. It's pretty much like any other Ladybug besides the blade shape. This one is very tight and has terrible action. I hope it just has to be broken in, because my other Ladybug is so smooth. Even if it doesn't stick around, at least it was fun to try out. Thanks for looking!

The Beginnings Of My EDC Kit

This year I'd like to give a dedicated EDC bag a shot. I have my school backpack, but half the time, that's filled with all my school crap. I'd like to have a separate bag that holds all my EDC goodies for those times I'm not in class/on the weekends. Plus if I really like the concept of an EDC bag now, I'd already be used to it for the summer. I haven't yet decided what I'll be keeping in this bag. I think it'll be something that I'll continually work on for a while. Bags are harder to get together than an EDC in my opinion. An EDC is pretty simple and is limited by what you can physically carry on your person. EDC bags can get a lot more complicated and generally will contain a lot more stuff. I don't want to weigh this bag down with unnecessary stuff, but I also want to be prepared for a large variety of things.

Now for the actual point of this post. I'm putting together an EDC kit to go in this EDC bag. I think this kit will probably be the core of the bag. I'd like to keep all the tools/gear in the kit, so it's all together and can easily be switched from bag to bag. I've started adding a few things to it, but it's definitely a long way from done.

The pouch I'll be using for this EDC kit is the Vanquest EDCM Huge. I wanted a big pouch that would effectively organize all the small bits and bobs for this EDC bag. I think this pouch will fit the bill quite nicely.

I've started throwing in a few pieces of gear that I had laying around my room. As you can tell, the pouch is barely full, so I have a lot of room to work with. I don't want to overstuff the pouch. Some of the things I've got in it now are a bandanna, notebook, pen, knife, flashlight, lighter, prybar, and scissors. I've also got an Altoids tin that I may put some of the smaller gear in. Again, this kit has a long way to go, but I'm hoping it will contain lots of little tools and gear that may be of use to me on an everyday basis. I've seen a lot of cool kits that people make with these pouches. Instagram has been a really good resource for me to see what other people are carrying in kits like these. As I get more stuff for this kit, I'll be posting updates for sure. I hope this kit and the EDC bag as a whole prove to be useful to have. If not, at least I'll have given them a fair shot. Thanks for looking! Stay tuned for updates on the kit and bag! 

EDC Pouch Dump: January 2017

These are probably going to be the contents of my EDC pouch for the month of January. I think I'll start doing different rotations every month, so I can get more carry out of my gear. Once I find a setup I really like, I tend to stick to it. I'd like to change that this year, because ultimately, change is always good. This pouch normally rides in my school backpack. I'm still loving the pouch setup, and I'd recommend it to anyone that wants to have all their EDC gear in one place. 

For this month, the pouch's contents are a Fisher Bullet space pen, FourSevens Preon P1, Leatherman Squirt P4, Victorinox Classic, Spyderco Ladybug, Gerber Shard, and Moleskine Volant extra small notebook. I think I've got all my bases covered without going too overboard. None of these things are particularly large or heavy, so that also helps. The Ladybug and Classic would definitely be the two things that get used the most in here. Thanks for looking! I'll try to do pouch dumps every month as I switch up the rotation.

Goals For 2017

Happy New Year everybody! 2016 was a great year for me personally, so I hope that continues into 2017. I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions, but I do have goals I'd like to accomplish this year. I figured I'd talk about the gear and EDC related ones.

One of my goals this year is to be more consistent in my posting of videos and blog posts. It's hard to balance with college and all that but not totally impossible. I really do enjoy talking about EDC stuff, so I'd like to work harder to get more posts up for you all. In 2017, I'd like to get up reviews of all the gear I currently have. I'd also like to get up blog posts with more variety like you've kind of been seeing me do. My other hobbies include reading, photography, hiking, longboarding, and technology to name a few. I'd like to get more posts and videos out on those topics to help diversify this site and my YouTube a bit. Expect a wider range of posts along with a greater quantity of posts/videos in 2017.

Another goal of mine is to get my EDC in near perfect order. I need to find my perfect flashlight out there. This goal could be prevented by whatever flashlights are on the market, but I'm sure there's at least one light out there that I'd consider the perfect light. I'd also like to come closer to completing my emergency bag for my car as well as a little EDC kit I just started putting together.

The last goal I'll talk about involves my knife collection. I have a ton of knives but don't use close to half of them. My goal for the year is to weed out whatever knives I don't use from my collection. This will be better for me, because I'll have extra money from selling those knives, and my collection will be smaller/consist of only knives I know I like to use and carry.

Those are all my gear related goals for 2017. I'm sure I'll think of additional ones as the year goes on, but at least this is a solid start. I hope 2017 is a good year for the YouTube channel and this blog. I really love talking about EDC, so hopefully I'll be more active this year. I hope 2017 is a great year for all of you! Thanks for looking!