I believe I've mentioned before that I love to read. I hadn't really made it a priority this year until I recently found a cool challenge on Reddit. Side note, Reddit is awesome! There's so many different sub-Reddits on any topic you could imagine. The EDC one is really cool. Maybe I'll make a post about all the cool Reddit pages I keep up with. Anyways, the sub-Reddit I found is called 52book (link here if you wanna check it out). The name is pretty self-explanatory, but people attempt to read 52 books in one year. If you read one book a week, then you've completed the challenge. Some people have higher or lower goals, but the main point is that it pushes people to read more than they usually do. When I was a kid, I definitely read at least 52 books a year. Now that technology is quickly taking over our world, I'm reading less and less each year. There's so many amazing books out there, and I want to read as many of them as I can. From looking at that Reddit page, I've added hundreds of books to my list to read eventually. I want to decrease the time I'm mindlessly looking at the internet, and I think this challenge will help me accomplish that.
Sorry for that rambling tangent there. I found this challenge over Spring break and realized I had a lot of catching up to do. My total book count for the year as of now is 12 books. I've finished a good amount of books (6 if my count is accurate) this month, so I figured I'd tell you all some of the ones I've read and how I liked them.
The first book I'll talk about is Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Honestly, I didn't expect to like this book much, but I was pleasantly surprised. Classics are always hit or miss for me. Not sure how many of you know the plot, but essentially it's all about this guy getting stranded on an island for 20+ years. The book goes through his day-to-day life and his thoughts about his situation. It was really cool to hear about what this guy did to survive/what went through his mind. It was a good book, and it was worth reading in my opinion.
Next up, I read Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge. I love murder mysteries/thrillers, so this book was awesome to read. It was kind of messed up, but that's what made it unique. Basically, there are strings of double kidnappings, where one of victims is alive and the other ends up dead. This lady kidnaps these two people, leaves them in abandoned locations with a single bullet in a gun, and will only let one of them go when the other is dead. Most of the people go a week or so before one of them kills the other. The main character has her own problems, but she's able to track down the killer in the end. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it if you like murder mysteries.
I've been trying to read more non-fiction lately and finished Bullsh*t: How to Detect Junk Science, Bogus Claims, Wacky Theories, and General Human Stupidity by John Grant. I found this on sale at Barnes & Noble and figured it'd be interesting to read. Honestly, it was pretty sub-par and not worth the read in my opinion. There were some cool things mentioned, but I pretty much already knew the gist of everything he mentioned. The book mostly talks about climate change, how Earth came to be, astrology, etc. The author was well-researched and wrote a nice quality book. It just wasn't really what I expected. It was a quick and easy read at least.
The last book I'll talk about is Deception Point by Dan Brown. At this point, I think I've read the majority of Dan Brown's books. This one was good, but didn't come close to his other books. I've come to realize now that most of his books follow the same format. There's some conspiracy theory/controversy that has to be unwound by a main character with the help of some other people. Dan Brown always drops hints about who the person behind the conspiracy theory is, so by the time it's revealed, you pretty much knew exactly who it was. This book specifically deals with a meteorite that NASA "discovered" in the Arctic circle. The main character gets dragged into the mess and has to figure out what the deal is with this meteorite. Overall, I'd say the book was good and enjoyable to read. It was pretty predictable, but still worth the read nonetheless.
I guess that's about it for this post. It was a lot of fun to write this out, so I'll probably keep doing these monthly updates. If you're into reading, I suggest you check out the Reddit page. It's super cool to hear everyone's thoughts on what they're reading. Thanks for looking!
Friday, March 31, 2017
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
CRKT Squid Thoughts
I'm not too fond of the CRKT Squid. I heard a lot of positive things about this knife, so I figured I'd really love it. It's a pretty good quality knife, but I don't really like the design. The stainless steel scales make it way too heavy for my EDC. It's an okay knife, just not one I'd recommend.
The quality is pretty good. I had a lot of issues with it being too tight and gritty initially, but over time, it's smoothed out a lot. I haven't had any other issues besides that though.
I like that this is a small knife. It seems like more knife companies have been releasing small knives recently, which is something I always like to see. However, this knife isn't the best small knife I've tried. It's way too stout, and the stainless steel makes it way too heavy. If you're going to have a knife in this size range, it can't be of comparable weight to a large or mid-sized knife. My Endura felt lighter than this thing, and it was so much larger. Obviously, that has to do with the materials used, but still. I would have liked to see CRKT use a different handle material. It seems like a lot of the knives they make in this size range have metal scales, like the Jettison and Pilar.
Speaking of the metal scales, they give this knife terrible ergonomics. I don't like metal scales for the reason that they always have hotspots, and this knife is no exception. The edges of the scales dig uncomfortably in my hand. The handle feels pretty cramped too. That's pretty weird, because I've had knives in this size range that can fit a full four-finger grip. I don't know what is exactly, but this knife feels awful in my hand.
The blade is good. I don't have any major issues with it. I don't personally like the thumb stud, but it functions exactly as it should. The steel, 8Cr13MoV, isn't the fanciest. It's what you would expect to get in a budget blade like this. My Squid is sharp and has retained its edge very well. I like the blade shape. It's nothing fancy, but it works for all your basic tasks. The thumb stud is kind of hard to access, and the jimping on the spine is pretty much worthless.
The hefty weight of this small blade doesn't make it that nice to carry. It's very noticeable when I carry it. When I carry a small knife, I want it to disappear in the pocket. I hate the deep carry clip, but that's just personal preference.
For $15 to $20, it's not a horrible knife. I thought I'd like it a lot more given how well the EDC community seems to like it. It would be a good option for a classy knife. I don't like it at all, but it's not the worst knife I've ever tried. I think there's a lot better small knives out there on the market that actually carry like small knives. I'd rather have a Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite or Spyderco Dragonfly as my small knife option over this blade. I don't personally recommend it, but there does appear to be a lot of other people that would. Thanks for looking!
The quality is pretty good. I had a lot of issues with it being too tight and gritty initially, but over time, it's smoothed out a lot. I haven't had any other issues besides that though.
I like that this is a small knife. It seems like more knife companies have been releasing small knives recently, which is something I always like to see. However, this knife isn't the best small knife I've tried. It's way too stout, and the stainless steel makes it way too heavy. If you're going to have a knife in this size range, it can't be of comparable weight to a large or mid-sized knife. My Endura felt lighter than this thing, and it was so much larger. Obviously, that has to do with the materials used, but still. I would have liked to see CRKT use a different handle material. It seems like a lot of the knives they make in this size range have metal scales, like the Jettison and Pilar.
Speaking of the metal scales, they give this knife terrible ergonomics. I don't like metal scales for the reason that they always have hotspots, and this knife is no exception. The edges of the scales dig uncomfortably in my hand. The handle feels pretty cramped too. That's pretty weird, because I've had knives in this size range that can fit a full four-finger grip. I don't know what is exactly, but this knife feels awful in my hand.
The blade is good. I don't have any major issues with it. I don't personally like the thumb stud, but it functions exactly as it should. The steel, 8Cr13MoV, isn't the fanciest. It's what you would expect to get in a budget blade like this. My Squid is sharp and has retained its edge very well. I like the blade shape. It's nothing fancy, but it works for all your basic tasks. The thumb stud is kind of hard to access, and the jimping on the spine is pretty much worthless.
The hefty weight of this small blade doesn't make it that nice to carry. It's very noticeable when I carry it. When I carry a small knife, I want it to disappear in the pocket. I hate the deep carry clip, but that's just personal preference.
For $15 to $20, it's not a horrible knife. I thought I'd like it a lot more given how well the EDC community seems to like it. It would be a good option for a classy knife. I don't like it at all, but it's not the worst knife I've ever tried. I think there's a lot better small knives out there on the market that actually carry like small knives. I'd rather have a Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite or Spyderco Dragonfly as my small knife option over this blade. I don't personally recommend it, but there does appear to be a lot of other people that would. Thanks for looking!
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Hiking #1
So about a month ago I went for a hike. I love to hike, but for some reason I've never done any posts about it. I took some photos out on the trail, so I figured I'd post them here. I'm trying to diversify the blog a bit more, which means you can expect to see more posts like these when I go hiking.
As you can tell by the photo, the place I was hiking is called Bald Knob. My hike was only a mile round trip, but it was pretty tough. You pretty much hiked around 400 feet straight up the mountain in half a mile, which is not what I was expecting. I'm in pretty decent shape, but it kicked my butt for sure. The view at the top was amazing. There was a really nice breeze at the top, so I chilled there for a while just admiring the view.
This was my first time using this Camelbak bag as my hiking pack. I've had it for years now, but haven't used it much. It did very well. It was super comfortable throughout the whole hike. It held everything I needed it to with no issues at all. I'll definitely keep using it for hiking in the future. I didn't bring much with me besides some water, a light sweatshirt, snacks, etc. Luckily, where I go to school is a great area for hiking, so you'll definitely see more cool hikes from me in the future. Thanks for looking!
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Fisher Cap-O-Matic Pen Thoughts
I've had this pen for a few years now, but for some reason, I never have talked about it much. Despite it not getting much use, it's one of my favorite pens I own. It's a very simple pen that won't break the bank. I would recommend it if you're looking for a pen that can write in many different conditions.
Like all of Fisher's pens, the Cap-O-Matic is great quality. I believe all their pens are made in the USA, so you're getting a high quality product. I've had no issues with mine at all.
The design is very simple. The entire pen is smooth, which I really like. It's sometimes nice to have a machined grip area, but honestly it's not necessary on this pen. The pen is a clicky, and the clicky is surprisingly quiet. The clip is made of the same metal as the body and seems pretty sturdy.
The writing experience is pretty nice. The pen is extremely comfortable to write with. The Fisher refills are great, because they're waterproof, can write upside and in space, and all that crazy jazz. It's probably not necessary for most of us out there, but it's nice to know the possibilities are there. I like how the Fisher refills write. I've found they take a little more pressure to get the ink flowing nicely. They're not the most amazing refills, but they work decently enough. The pen has a nice weight to it. It's not too light and not overly heavy.
Honestly, I think that's about all that I can say about this pen. It's a simple pen, so there's really not much Fisher could have messed up. I like it a lot, and I'll probably throw it in my survival bag for those times when I might need waterproof ink. For $10, you might as well pick one up. You'll get the great Fisher refills in a quality pen. I do recommend it for EDC. Thanks for looking!
Like all of Fisher's pens, the Cap-O-Matic is great quality. I believe all their pens are made in the USA, so you're getting a high quality product. I've had no issues with mine at all.
The design is very simple. The entire pen is smooth, which I really like. It's sometimes nice to have a machined grip area, but honestly it's not necessary on this pen. The pen is a clicky, and the clicky is surprisingly quiet. The clip is made of the same metal as the body and seems pretty sturdy.
The writing experience is pretty nice. The pen is extremely comfortable to write with. The Fisher refills are great, because they're waterproof, can write upside and in space, and all that crazy jazz. It's probably not necessary for most of us out there, but it's nice to know the possibilities are there. I like how the Fisher refills write. I've found they take a little more pressure to get the ink flowing nicely. They're not the most amazing refills, but they work decently enough. The pen has a nice weight to it. It's not too light and not overly heavy.
Honestly, I think that's about all that I can say about this pen. It's a simple pen, so there's really not much Fisher could have messed up. I like it a lot, and I'll probably throw it in my survival bag for those times when I might need waterproof ink. For $10, you might as well pick one up. You'll get the great Fisher refills in a quality pen. I do recommend it for EDC. Thanks for looking!
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Nitecore Tube Thoughts
The Nitecore Tube is one of the coolest lights I've tried in a while. I didn't think I'd be impressed with it, but it's awesome for the money. I highly recommend you pick one up.
The quality of this light is great. I've had issues with mine whatsoever.
The design of this light is very simple. It has a plastic body with a clicky button. I do wonder about the long term durability, considering it's made of plastic and has an exposed LED. I haven't had any issues, but it's something to consider. It's got a keychain attachment at the end. I think this light would be perfect for keychain carry, because it's so light and small. It's comparable in size to the Victorinox Classic. The clicky works flawlessly. It comes in tons of cool colors too. I like that it's a translucent plastic, so that you can see the insides. It's pretty cool to see all the parts. Nitecore also offers this light in a ton of different beam varieties, like UV, red, or green light for example.
This is a rechargeable light, which is really awesome. I believe this was my first rechargeable light, and since then, my goal is to turn my whole flashlight collection rechargeable in some form or another. It charges via a USB cable. That's pretty handy in this day and age where everyone has access to a USB port at most times. It charges pretty quickly and has an LED indicator on the bottom of the light that will turn off when the light is done charging. The charging process is very painless and works well. It's so nice to not have to ever buy batteries for this light.
The light itself has two modes, a high and low. The low mode puts out 1 lumen for 48 hours, while the high mode puts out 45 lumens for an hour. That's not the brightest output on the market, but it's perfectly fine for EDC tasks. The beam is a pretty nice tint. It kind of looks slightly purple to me, but that's not the end of the world. Compared to most keychain lights that don't use AAA batteries, that's a very bright output. Something like the Streamlight Nano or Speck Spotlight will only put out about 10 to 15 lumens. Anyways, the Tube can also do momentary on and is infinitely variable. Those are both features I absolutely love in a light. The momentary on works by holding down the button and then releasing when you're done with the light. To do infinitely variable, you press the button once and hold until it puts out your desired brightness. It will keep cycling through all the levels of brightness over and over until you release the button. I dig all the features this light has. None of the UI is complicated, which is something I like to see.
For about $10, this is a killer light. It has so many cool features, and it's even rechargeable. What more could you need in a light? Sure it's not the brightest thing in the world, but for a simple keychain light, it's great. I highly recommend it. If this isn't bright enough for you, Nitecore released a bigger and brighter version that's made of metal called the Tip. I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my list to get soon. I'm sure it's great going off of how awesome this light is. I can't say enough good things about this light. Go pick one up. Thanks for looking!
The quality of this light is great. I've had issues with mine whatsoever.
The design of this light is very simple. It has a plastic body with a clicky button. I do wonder about the long term durability, considering it's made of plastic and has an exposed LED. I haven't had any issues, but it's something to consider. It's got a keychain attachment at the end. I think this light would be perfect for keychain carry, because it's so light and small. It's comparable in size to the Victorinox Classic. The clicky works flawlessly. It comes in tons of cool colors too. I like that it's a translucent plastic, so that you can see the insides. It's pretty cool to see all the parts. Nitecore also offers this light in a ton of different beam varieties, like UV, red, or green light for example.
This is a rechargeable light, which is really awesome. I believe this was my first rechargeable light, and since then, my goal is to turn my whole flashlight collection rechargeable in some form or another. It charges via a USB cable. That's pretty handy in this day and age where everyone has access to a USB port at most times. It charges pretty quickly and has an LED indicator on the bottom of the light that will turn off when the light is done charging. The charging process is very painless and works well. It's so nice to not have to ever buy batteries for this light.
The light itself has two modes, a high and low. The low mode puts out 1 lumen for 48 hours, while the high mode puts out 45 lumens for an hour. That's not the brightest output on the market, but it's perfectly fine for EDC tasks. The beam is a pretty nice tint. It kind of looks slightly purple to me, but that's not the end of the world. Compared to most keychain lights that don't use AAA batteries, that's a very bright output. Something like the Streamlight Nano or Speck Spotlight will only put out about 10 to 15 lumens. Anyways, the Tube can also do momentary on and is infinitely variable. Those are both features I absolutely love in a light. The momentary on works by holding down the button and then releasing when you're done with the light. To do infinitely variable, you press the button once and hold until it puts out your desired brightness. It will keep cycling through all the levels of brightness over and over until you release the button. I dig all the features this light has. None of the UI is complicated, which is something I like to see.
For about $10, this is a killer light. It has so many cool features, and it's even rechargeable. What more could you need in a light? Sure it's not the brightest thing in the world, but for a simple keychain light, it's great. I highly recommend it. If this isn't bright enough for you, Nitecore released a bigger and brighter version that's made of metal called the Tip. I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my list to get soon. I'm sure it's great going off of how awesome this light is. I can't say enough good things about this light. Go pick one up. Thanks for looking!
Thursday, March 16, 2017
FourSevens Classic Preon P1 Thoughts
The Preon P1 may not have the brightest output for an AAA light, but its design is one of my favorites of all time. I've tried to find better EDC lights than the Preon, but I always come back to the Preon every single time. There's a huge obsession with getting the brightest light possible in the smallest size possible. You've got the realize that a light like that may not be the best suited for your needs. Sometimes you need to sacrifice brightness and runtimes for a killer design that you absolutely love. The Preon P1 is the light that is the closest the my perfect EDC light so far. It's a light that I highly recommend.
Quality wise, my Preon P1 is perfect. I have no issues with the build quality. The threads on mine are extremely smooth.
I love the design of the classic Preons. It's a shame FourSevens recently introduced new Preons with a slightly different design. The classic Preons are so sleek and classy looking. I didn't think I'd like that there was no machining on this light, but I actually love how smooth it is. It's such a simple design that just works. All the different color options are awesome. The blue really pops out. The AAA size is perfect for EDC.
Despite having no grip on this light, it's extremely easy to operate. It's a simple twisty light. Typically, I prefer clickys over twistys, but there's just something about this light that I love. It's easy to operate one or two-handed. There's no fancy features like mode memory or anything. It's not necessary to me, so I'm glad it doesn't have features that will just complicate such a simple UI.
I honestly don't know the specific outputs. You can look those up if you want. I believe the max output is around 80 to 90 lumens. It's definitely less than a 100 lumens. This is not the brightest AAA light on the market by any means, but I've found that it's a perfectly adequate amount of lights for all your basic tasks. You don't necessarily need a crazy bright light for your standard EDC tasks. It's got your basic low, medium and high modes, along with your special modes like strobe, beacons, and SOS. I've never felt limited when using this light. It's provided all the light I've ever needed. The beam is a nice tint too.
A lot of people hate the clip, but I haven't had any issues with mine. Granted I don't carry this in the pocket ever. It seems pretty sturdy. I've heard a lot of issues with people losing the lights since it's so slick or because the clip snapped off.
The only real negative I have about this light is that FourSevens pretty much discontinued them. You can still manage to get one by buying the parts from FourSevens website directly. You might not be able to get the exact color option you want, but it's better than nothing. I wanted a classic P2, which is the 2 AAA version, and buying the parts separately for that worked out very nicely. You'll probably pay around $30 to $35 by buying the parts individually. That's about what you'll pay for flashlights on the market anyways. I definitely think it's a good value, since this is such an awesome light. If you want one of these, you might wanna act fast, because there's no telling how long FourSevens will have the parts in stock.
All in all, this may be the closest I get to my perfect EDC light. The only knock I'd give it is that it's not the brightest light. Honestly though, I'll sacrifice the brightness for this design. I really like FourSevens as a brand, and I think they really knocked it out of the park with this light. I'm bummed they upgraded the Preons, but I guess they were due for an upgrade. If you can get your hands on one of these lights, I highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite flashlights I've ever tried. Thanks for looking!
Quality wise, my Preon P1 is perfect. I have no issues with the build quality. The threads on mine are extremely smooth.
I love the design of the classic Preons. It's a shame FourSevens recently introduced new Preons with a slightly different design. The classic Preons are so sleek and classy looking. I didn't think I'd like that there was no machining on this light, but I actually love how smooth it is. It's such a simple design that just works. All the different color options are awesome. The blue really pops out. The AAA size is perfect for EDC.
Despite having no grip on this light, it's extremely easy to operate. It's a simple twisty light. Typically, I prefer clickys over twistys, but there's just something about this light that I love. It's easy to operate one or two-handed. There's no fancy features like mode memory or anything. It's not necessary to me, so I'm glad it doesn't have features that will just complicate such a simple UI.
I honestly don't know the specific outputs. You can look those up if you want. I believe the max output is around 80 to 90 lumens. It's definitely less than a 100 lumens. This is not the brightest AAA light on the market by any means, but I've found that it's a perfectly adequate amount of lights for all your basic tasks. You don't necessarily need a crazy bright light for your standard EDC tasks. It's got your basic low, medium and high modes, along with your special modes like strobe, beacons, and SOS. I've never felt limited when using this light. It's provided all the light I've ever needed. The beam is a nice tint too.
A lot of people hate the clip, but I haven't had any issues with mine. Granted I don't carry this in the pocket ever. It seems pretty sturdy. I've heard a lot of issues with people losing the lights since it's so slick or because the clip snapped off.
The only real negative I have about this light is that FourSevens pretty much discontinued them. You can still manage to get one by buying the parts from FourSevens website directly. You might not be able to get the exact color option you want, but it's better than nothing. I wanted a classic P2, which is the 2 AAA version, and buying the parts separately for that worked out very nicely. You'll probably pay around $30 to $35 by buying the parts individually. That's about what you'll pay for flashlights on the market anyways. I definitely think it's a good value, since this is such an awesome light. If you want one of these, you might wanna act fast, because there's no telling how long FourSevens will have the parts in stock.
All in all, this may be the closest I get to my perfect EDC light. The only knock I'd give it is that it's not the brightest light. Honestly though, I'll sacrifice the brightness for this design. I really like FourSevens as a brand, and I think they really knocked it out of the park with this light. I'm bummed they upgraded the Preons, but I guess they were due for an upgrade. If you can get your hands on one of these lights, I highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite flashlights I've ever tried. Thanks for looking!
Monday, March 13, 2017
Lamy Safari Thoughts
This fountain pen gets a lot of love from fountain pen enthusiasts. I thought it'd be an amazing pen, but honestly I don't like it all that much. It's a good quality pen. I don't like materials used or the way it feels in my hand. I still think the best beginner fountain pen would have to be the Pilot Metropolitan. I don't really know a good way to talk about fountain pens, so I'm going to jump around and talk about different aspects.
Quality wise, the Safari is great. It's an extremely well made pen. Mine works flawlessly. I've had no issues with the nib skipping when writing.
I don't especially like that this pen is made of plastic. It makes it feel very cheap to me. I guess the use of plastic is nice, because it keeps the pen very light. Luckily, there is an aluminum version available, but that costs a little bit more.
The cap stays on very firmly. I've never had it accidentally fall off. I'm not the biggest fan of the clip. It's way too big. It does seem to be pretty sturdy though. I don't have any fears that it'd snap off.
The pen itself is of course full-sized, so there'e plenty to hold when writing. I love fountain pens for the fact that they write so smoothly. However, the nib on this pen is very scratchy. My Metropolitan writes very smoothly, but this one not so much. That's just something to note, as I guess there's nothing wrong with a scratchy nib. I don't like grip at all. It's a triangular shaped grip and is kind of meant to show you how to hold a fountain pen. I don't like it at all, because you have no choice but to write the way Lamy intended. The grip is only comfortable in that one way. What if I held my pen differently? Then you're screwed. I don't know if that makes sense at all. I just feel as if you're being forced to hold the pen in one way only.
These pens retail for around $20 to $30. Mine is a special edition colorway for 2016, which is pretty neat. Lamy always puts out a special colorway Safari every year if you are a collector of these. The black on purple looks awesome to me. The Safaris come in tons of colors as well. I guess that's the benefit of using a plastic body. You can get plastic in practically every color and shade.
These pens are pretty popular, but I wasn't all that impressed with mine. I prefer the Pilot Metropolitan, which feels better in the hand, writes better, and is only $15. I don't personally recommend it. Tons of other people seem to enjoy it, so maybe it's just a preference thing. Thanks for looking!
Quality wise, the Safari is great. It's an extremely well made pen. Mine works flawlessly. I've had no issues with the nib skipping when writing.
I don't especially like that this pen is made of plastic. It makes it feel very cheap to me. I guess the use of plastic is nice, because it keeps the pen very light. Luckily, there is an aluminum version available, but that costs a little bit more.
The cap stays on very firmly. I've never had it accidentally fall off. I'm not the biggest fan of the clip. It's way too big. It does seem to be pretty sturdy though. I don't have any fears that it'd snap off.
The pen itself is of course full-sized, so there'e plenty to hold when writing. I love fountain pens for the fact that they write so smoothly. However, the nib on this pen is very scratchy. My Metropolitan writes very smoothly, but this one not so much. That's just something to note, as I guess there's nothing wrong with a scratchy nib. I don't like grip at all. It's a triangular shaped grip and is kind of meant to show you how to hold a fountain pen. I don't like it at all, because you have no choice but to write the way Lamy intended. The grip is only comfortable in that one way. What if I held my pen differently? Then you're screwed. I don't know if that makes sense at all. I just feel as if you're being forced to hold the pen in one way only.
These pens retail for around $20 to $30. Mine is a special edition colorway for 2016, which is pretty neat. Lamy always puts out a special colorway Safari every year if you are a collector of these. The black on purple looks awesome to me. The Safaris come in tons of colors as well. I guess that's the benefit of using a plastic body. You can get plastic in practically every color and shade.
These pens are pretty popular, but I wasn't all that impressed with mine. I prefer the Pilot Metropolitan, which feels better in the hand, writes better, and is only $15. I don't personally recommend it. Tons of other people seem to enjoy it, so maybe it's just a preference thing. Thanks for looking!
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Q&A #1
To celebrate reaching 1,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel, I wanted to do a little Q&A. All these questions came from a video I posted a couple days ago. This is the first time I'm using questions from YouTube to do a post on here, so hopefully you all like the format. Thanks to everyone who asked a question! Let's start answering them!
Q from Shiny Knife: Did you ever decide on what gun to buy?
A: As of now, I'm leaning more towards getting an AR-15. I'd like to do a build over buying one, but we'll see how that goes. I didn't realize how expensive guns were, so I need to get a lot of money saved. Hopefully, I'll have one by the end of the year.
Q from PREPFORIT: Will you do a hiking/camping video?
A: That's a pretty good idea for a video. I wouldn't mind doing something like that, but I feel like having to film when I'm out hiking or something would take away from the experience if that makes sense. I go hiking to escape the world/all the technology that surrounds us. If I can figure out a way to film that doesn't take over the whole hike, I'd definitely go for it. I take a lot of pictures when I'm hiking, so taking a few short video clips wouldn't be that hard either. I'll definitely consider it. I live in a great area for hiking, and it'd be cool to show some of it off. I could do some blog posts showing some of the photos I've taken so far as well.
Q from PREPFORIT: Do you play any survival video games like 7DTD?
A: I do play video games, but not any survival ones. I honestly didn't know they were a thing. I'll have to look into this game though. It sounds pretty cool. I play more Nintendo stuff than anything. I have a PS4 and have been looking for some new games to play over the summer. That'd also be cool to make some videos on in the future.
Q from steyr proof: Biggest regret purchase?
A: I've regretted a lot of my purchases lately, but the biggest regret was the Spyderco Paramilitary 2. I had a lot of excitement for that knife and was extremely disappointed in the end. When you pay that much for a knife, you expect to love it. It's a shame, but at least I got to give it a try.
Q from Elias Cervantez: Are you a truck or car girl?
A: I've exclusively driven cars, so I'd guess that makes me a car girl. Trucks are cool and all, but I don't have much use for one. I'd rather have a small car that gets good gas mileage.
Q from Bailey Reyna: Where do you live?
A: I live in the good ol' state of Virginia.
Q from CedricAda Gear and Outdoors: What are you three favorite gear channels and three favorite general channels on YouTube?
A: Not gonna lie, I really don't watch any gear channels anymore. All the people I used to watch stopped posting, and I haven't ever found any new channels to replace them. One channel I recently found that I really like is Fun With Knives. He posts a lot of good knife videos that are fun to watch. I definitely need to find some more gear channels to watch. I do watch the occasional GideonsTactical video. I know you post a lot of videos, so I really need to check those out soon.
As far as general channels go, I watch a lot of vloggers mostly. I try to watch people in college, since I find their videos more relevant to my life. One of my favorite channels is Josh Katz. He's a skater, but he also does videos on books, photography, hiking, and vlogs. I like how much he diversifies his channel, because there's no way I'd be subscribed if he just did skating videos. I'd like to have my channel be that diversified eventually. I also love the Saturday Night Live channel. All there sketches are hilarious. The last channel I'd say is MissFenderr/MissAlaynaa. Those are her two different channels, and she covers a lot of topics on both. I really like her personality, so that makes her fun to watch.
Q from North Florida Girl: Is there anything about college life that was better or worse than you expected?
A: College isn't exactly like I expected it to be, but I still really enjoy it. Most of it's been pretty good. The thing that's worse than I ever expected is my roommate. I don't want to get into a lot of details, but it's a terrible situation. Luckily, I'll never have to see her again in two months. I absolutely love the freedom and independence of college. The classes so far are kind of eh, but that's to be expected since they're all general classes. I'm very much looking forward to the summer.
Q from deckard313: Since you're a college girl, any thought on your major?
A: Yeah, in fact I got into my major back in January. I originally went in undecided, but I always knew I wanted to do something involving math or computers. My major has a really long name, but essentially it's a combination of statistics, computer science, and math.
That's it for all the questions. I really enjoyed answering the questions like this, so I definitely think I'll do another one in the future. I'll probably alternate between doing video answers and blog answers. Thanks a ton to everyone who asked a question! I really enjoyed answering them all! Stay tuned for more videos soon! Thanks for looking!
Q from Shiny Knife: Did you ever decide on what gun to buy?
A: As of now, I'm leaning more towards getting an AR-15. I'd like to do a build over buying one, but we'll see how that goes. I didn't realize how expensive guns were, so I need to get a lot of money saved. Hopefully, I'll have one by the end of the year.
Q from PREPFORIT: Will you do a hiking/camping video?
A: That's a pretty good idea for a video. I wouldn't mind doing something like that, but I feel like having to film when I'm out hiking or something would take away from the experience if that makes sense. I go hiking to escape the world/all the technology that surrounds us. If I can figure out a way to film that doesn't take over the whole hike, I'd definitely go for it. I take a lot of pictures when I'm hiking, so taking a few short video clips wouldn't be that hard either. I'll definitely consider it. I live in a great area for hiking, and it'd be cool to show some of it off. I could do some blog posts showing some of the photos I've taken so far as well.
Q from PREPFORIT: Do you play any survival video games like 7DTD?
A: I do play video games, but not any survival ones. I honestly didn't know they were a thing. I'll have to look into this game though. It sounds pretty cool. I play more Nintendo stuff than anything. I have a PS4 and have been looking for some new games to play over the summer. That'd also be cool to make some videos on in the future.
Q from steyr proof: Biggest regret purchase?
A: I've regretted a lot of my purchases lately, but the biggest regret was the Spyderco Paramilitary 2. I had a lot of excitement for that knife and was extremely disappointed in the end. When you pay that much for a knife, you expect to love it. It's a shame, but at least I got to give it a try.
Q from Elias Cervantez: Are you a truck or car girl?
A: I've exclusively driven cars, so I'd guess that makes me a car girl. Trucks are cool and all, but I don't have much use for one. I'd rather have a small car that gets good gas mileage.
Q from Bailey Reyna: Where do you live?
A: I live in the good ol' state of Virginia.
Q from CedricAda Gear and Outdoors: What are you three favorite gear channels and three favorite general channels on YouTube?
A: Not gonna lie, I really don't watch any gear channels anymore. All the people I used to watch stopped posting, and I haven't ever found any new channels to replace them. One channel I recently found that I really like is Fun With Knives. He posts a lot of good knife videos that are fun to watch. I definitely need to find some more gear channels to watch. I do watch the occasional GideonsTactical video. I know you post a lot of videos, so I really need to check those out soon.
As far as general channels go, I watch a lot of vloggers mostly. I try to watch people in college, since I find their videos more relevant to my life. One of my favorite channels is Josh Katz. He's a skater, but he also does videos on books, photography, hiking, and vlogs. I like how much he diversifies his channel, because there's no way I'd be subscribed if he just did skating videos. I'd like to have my channel be that diversified eventually. I also love the Saturday Night Live channel. All there sketches are hilarious. The last channel I'd say is MissFenderr/MissAlaynaa. Those are her two different channels, and she covers a lot of topics on both. I really like her personality, so that makes her fun to watch.
Q from North Florida Girl: Is there anything about college life that was better or worse than you expected?
A: College isn't exactly like I expected it to be, but I still really enjoy it. Most of it's been pretty good. The thing that's worse than I ever expected is my roommate. I don't want to get into a lot of details, but it's a terrible situation. Luckily, I'll never have to see her again in two months. I absolutely love the freedom and independence of college. The classes so far are kind of eh, but that's to be expected since they're all general classes. I'm very much looking forward to the summer.
Q from deckard313: Since you're a college girl, any thought on your major?
A: Yeah, in fact I got into my major back in January. I originally went in undecided, but I always knew I wanted to do something involving math or computers. My major has a really long name, but essentially it's a combination of statistics, computer science, and math.
That's it for all the questions. I really enjoyed answering the questions like this, so I definitely think I'll do another one in the future. I'll probably alternate between doing video answers and blog answers. Thanks a ton to everyone who asked a question! I really enjoyed answering them all! Stay tuned for more videos soon! Thanks for looking!
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Kershaw Shuffle Thoughts
The Kershaw Shuffle is one of the worst knives I've ever tried. They seem to be very popular in the EDC community, but I can't figure out exactly why. Mine is terrible quality, and the design isn't all that great. The only two positives I can say about this knife are the price and color options. Everything else really sucks. This post will be pretty short, as I don't have much to say about it.
Quality wise, my Shuffle is terrible. The action is extremely tight and gritty. No amount of Benchmade Blue Lube or loosening of the pivot could fix that. It pretty much made the knife unusable for me.
The blade is perfectly fine. I've got no issues with it. The steel isn't anything fancy, 8Cr13MoV, but that's what most of these budget blades have. For less than $20, it's suitable for me. The blade shape is nice and simple. It does well with all your basic cutting tasks. The choil is nice to have on a knife this size. I especially love the black finish. It looks very nice when paired with all the different color options Kershaw offers.
Speaking of the color, this purple is awesome. I always talk about how companies need to put out more colorful knives. Props to Kershaw, because they're one of the few companies that consistently launches their knives in various colors. If purple isn't your thing, they have tons of other colors.
The handle is pretty lacking in my opinion. The K texture in the scales is fine. I don't have any issue with that at all. My biggest issue with the handle would have to be the ergonomics. They are very bad. The bottle opener digs into my hand a lot, and the ergos simply don't feel good at all. I could very well be picky, but there's something about the way this knife feels in the hand that I can't get behind.
The idea of the bottle opener on a knife is cool, but is pretty unnecessary for my lifestyle. I typically have a multi-tool with me at all times, so I've already got a bottle opener covered.
The Shuffle carries okay. It's a pretty heavy knife considering how small it is. I don't dig the deep carry clip.
Overall, I don't think this a good knife at all. I've seen much better budget knives out there. I usually try to avoid Kershaws if I can. I find there knives are very hit or miss when it comes to quality. If you're looking for small EDC knife, look elsewhere. I recommend something like the Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite over this crappy Shuffle. There's so many other great budget and small knives out there are in the market. Avoid this knife at all costs. I do not recommend it at all. Thanks for looking!
Quality wise, my Shuffle is terrible. The action is extremely tight and gritty. No amount of Benchmade Blue Lube or loosening of the pivot could fix that. It pretty much made the knife unusable for me.
The blade is perfectly fine. I've got no issues with it. The steel isn't anything fancy, 8Cr13MoV, but that's what most of these budget blades have. For less than $20, it's suitable for me. The blade shape is nice and simple. It does well with all your basic cutting tasks. The choil is nice to have on a knife this size. I especially love the black finish. It looks very nice when paired with all the different color options Kershaw offers.
Speaking of the color, this purple is awesome. I always talk about how companies need to put out more colorful knives. Props to Kershaw, because they're one of the few companies that consistently launches their knives in various colors. If purple isn't your thing, they have tons of other colors.
The handle is pretty lacking in my opinion. The K texture in the scales is fine. I don't have any issue with that at all. My biggest issue with the handle would have to be the ergonomics. They are very bad. The bottle opener digs into my hand a lot, and the ergos simply don't feel good at all. I could very well be picky, but there's something about the way this knife feels in the hand that I can't get behind.
The idea of the bottle opener on a knife is cool, but is pretty unnecessary for my lifestyle. I typically have a multi-tool with me at all times, so I've already got a bottle opener covered.
The Shuffle carries okay. It's a pretty heavy knife considering how small it is. I don't dig the deep carry clip.
Overall, I don't think this a good knife at all. I've seen much better budget knives out there. I usually try to avoid Kershaws if I can. I find there knives are very hit or miss when it comes to quality. If you're looking for small EDC knife, look elsewhere. I recommend something like the Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite over this crappy Shuffle. There's so many other great budget and small knives out there are in the market. Avoid this knife at all costs. I do not recommend it at all. Thanks for looking!
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Zero Tolerance 0566 Thoughts
I am really not a fan of this knife at all. It's a great quality knife, but the design isn't really my cup of tea. I don't typically like Hinderer designs at all. They're way too boring for my tastes, and I feel as if they all kind of look the same. Also, you all know I prefer my small knives, so this was never going to work as an EDC knife for me. It's way too overbuilt for my tastes and not worth the money in my opinion.
First of, I should mention I deassisted mine and the scales are custom. The typical 0566 comes with black G10 scales and is spring assisted. It's extremely easy to deassist this blade. Just take out the torsion bar, and you are good to go. It flips pretty nicely once you deassist it. It takes a little more effort to flip, but it's much nicer than having it spring assisted. I'm not sure who made these custom scales, but they are very nice. The color is sweet, and they feel good in the hand.
Like I said at the beginning, the design isn't really my thing. I don't like framelocks all that much. This one is a stainless steel framelock, not even titanium, which makes me think it's extremely overpriced. I believe these retail for $144 on Blade HQ. I'm sure you can find them cheaper, but still, for that price, it's definitely not worth it. That seems like a lot for the sub-par materials you are getting. Most framelocks over a $100 are usually titanium, not crappy stainless steel.
The blade is nice. I've really got no complaints there. It's the only part about this knife that I don't absolutely hate. It's nothing special by any means, but it handles everything you'd need it to. The Elmax steel is nice. Mine is super sharp and has retained its edge well. The thumb stud is mostly for show and just a blade stop if anything.
The handles are pretty nice. I definitely would not have liked the original black G10 scales. There's nothing wrong with them. I personally prefer having colorful knives. The ergos are pretty bad. There are a lot of hotspots, which make the knife extremely uncomfortable to hold. That's a big reason why I don't like framelocks or most metal knife handles for that matter. The edges on metal handles are usually much to sharp for my preferences.
The knife is so heavy that it doesn't really carry all that well. The clip is a deep carry clip, and I'm not a fan of those at all. As to be expected, the knife is very handle heavy. I could never get behind carrying this knife that much, because it's way too heavy for what it is. If I'm wanting to carry a mid-size knife, I need something a lot lighter than this beast.
All in all, I really don't have many good things to say about this knife. I'm not the biggest fan of ZT, because it seems to me that they only make these titanium or stainless steel framelocks. They have little to no small knife options. I know a lot of you dudes love ZTs, and I think that's the case because they're not that hard for you carry and you all have bigger hands. It's not a terrible knife in terms of quality, but it is a terrible knife in terms of design. I'm kind of bummed it didn't work out for me. It makes me want to steer clear of any ZTs in the future. I don't think this is anything special, so save your money for a better ZT. As far as value goes, this knife is an awful value. I definitely do not recommend this as an EDC knife. Thanks for looking!
First of, I should mention I deassisted mine and the scales are custom. The typical 0566 comes with black G10 scales and is spring assisted. It's extremely easy to deassist this blade. Just take out the torsion bar, and you are good to go. It flips pretty nicely once you deassist it. It takes a little more effort to flip, but it's much nicer than having it spring assisted. I'm not sure who made these custom scales, but they are very nice. The color is sweet, and they feel good in the hand.
Like I said at the beginning, the design isn't really my thing. I don't like framelocks all that much. This one is a stainless steel framelock, not even titanium, which makes me think it's extremely overpriced. I believe these retail for $144 on Blade HQ. I'm sure you can find them cheaper, but still, for that price, it's definitely not worth it. That seems like a lot for the sub-par materials you are getting. Most framelocks over a $100 are usually titanium, not crappy stainless steel.
The blade is nice. I've really got no complaints there. It's the only part about this knife that I don't absolutely hate. It's nothing special by any means, but it handles everything you'd need it to. The Elmax steel is nice. Mine is super sharp and has retained its edge well. The thumb stud is mostly for show and just a blade stop if anything.
The handles are pretty nice. I definitely would not have liked the original black G10 scales. There's nothing wrong with them. I personally prefer having colorful knives. The ergos are pretty bad. There are a lot of hotspots, which make the knife extremely uncomfortable to hold. That's a big reason why I don't like framelocks or most metal knife handles for that matter. The edges on metal handles are usually much to sharp for my preferences.
The knife is so heavy that it doesn't really carry all that well. The clip is a deep carry clip, and I'm not a fan of those at all. As to be expected, the knife is very handle heavy. I could never get behind carrying this knife that much, because it's way too heavy for what it is. If I'm wanting to carry a mid-size knife, I need something a lot lighter than this beast.
All in all, I really don't have many good things to say about this knife. I'm not the biggest fan of ZT, because it seems to me that they only make these titanium or stainless steel framelocks. They have little to no small knife options. I know a lot of you dudes love ZTs, and I think that's the case because they're not that hard for you carry and you all have bigger hands. It's not a terrible knife in terms of quality, but it is a terrible knife in terms of design. I'm kind of bummed it didn't work out for me. It makes me want to steer clear of any ZTs in the future. I don't think this is anything special, so save your money for a better ZT. As far as value goes, this knife is an awful value. I definitely do not recommend this as an EDC knife. Thanks for looking!
Friday, March 3, 2017
Quick Update For March 2017
Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't post much in the past week or so. I was just finishing up midterms, so I didn't have much time to get any posts together. Luckily, I'm on spring break now, and my goal is to get a lot of videos and posts put together. I really want to get a lot of my gear sold over the next week, but that all depends on how many things I can get reviewed. Hopefully I can at least get a few things reviewed and sold.
That's honestly the only real update I've got. I know, that's pretty lame and makes for too short of a post. I'm enjoying the flashlights I'm borrowing for the next couple weeks. Check out the previous post if you don't know what I'm talking about. I also recently purchased a classic FourSevens Preon P2, so expect to see that in some videos eventually. I recently finished a few books too, so I might do some type of book reviews on those. Other than that, expect all the typical posts I've been doing. If I actually get a lot of reviews done, expect the next month or two to be heavily focused on review posts. It feels like I haven't made any in-depth reviews in a while, so I need to get back on my game. Stay tuned for more videos and what not! Thanks for looking! Sorry this post wasn't full of too many cool updates. I promise more cool stuff will be coming!
That's honestly the only real update I've got. I know, that's pretty lame and makes for too short of a post. I'm enjoying the flashlights I'm borrowing for the next couple weeks. Check out the previous post if you don't know what I'm talking about. I also recently purchased a classic FourSevens Preon P2, so expect to see that in some videos eventually. I recently finished a few books too, so I might do some type of book reviews on those. Other than that, expect all the typical posts I've been doing. If I actually get a lot of reviews done, expect the next month or two to be heavily focused on review posts. It feels like I haven't made any in-depth reviews in a while, so I need to get back on my game. Stay tuned for more videos and what not! Thanks for looking! Sorry this post wasn't full of too many cool updates. I promise more cool stuff will be coming!
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