I've been talking with some people about borrowing some gear, and a lot of it has shown up all at once. I've got quite a bit of new stuff to show you all. It's very flashlight heavy, as I'm trying to decide whether I want to invest in some nicer AA/14500 lights. I gotta give a huge thank you to Jacob, Tactical Cats, and Tom! Jacob and Tactical Cats are loaning me some gear for videos, and Tom super generously donated some knives to the channel! I can't thank each of them enough! I greatly appreciate them doing this for me. It saves me a lot of money and gives me the chance to check out a bunch of cool gear. It'll be interesting to check it all out over the next month or two. Stay tuned for lots of videos and blog posts on all these things soon. Again, thanks a ton to those three guys! They've all been long-time supporters of the channel that I always enjoy talking to in the comments. Let's get into all the awesome gear! I'm still figuring out the flashlights' UIs/outputs, so I'll mostly focus on my first impressions when it comes to design/size.
So from Jacob, I got a lot more options than I expected. The only knife of the bunch is the Benchmade 940 Osbourne. This is a knife that's always been on my list to try, though I never wanted to fork over the dough for one. Honestly, I'm not blown away so far. I had my expectations set very high since this knife is always hyped up around the EDC community. I wouldn't feel inclined to go pick one up on my own. There's something about it that just seems off to me. The thumbstud is too close to the handle for opening it cleanly, the handles have a weird texture to them, and the desisn isn't as appealing in person to me. It's much bigger than I expected too. Stay tuned for my more in-depth thoughts on it in the coming weeks.
Getting onto the flashlights, starting on the left side and working my way down, I'm trying out the Surefire Titan Plus, Thrunite Archer 1A V3, Eagletac D25A Ti, ReyLight Pineapple, Zebralight H52, and the Thrunite T10T. The Surefire is the only AAA light of the bunch. All of the others use AA/14500 batteries. I've recently been debating between going the 14500 or 18650 route for my next rechargable battery. I can already tell I'd be comfortable going for the 14500s. At least if they died, you could still swap in an easy-to-find AA light, though you won't get as impressive outputs. Size wise, they're not as big and bulky as I expected. A lot of them aren't that much bigger than my Preon P1 surprisingly. The two heftiest ones are definitely the Surefire and the Pineapple being that they're both made of brass. I don't think either one would be serious contenders for my next light purchase especially due to the weight. The Eagletac and T10T seem similar in terms of design and outputs. I believe both are older lights, so they're not the greatest in terms of flashlight tech anymore. I don't expect them to wow me, yet they do seem solid.
The two that I think will be my favorites, and maybe ones that I eventually pick up, are the Thrunite Archer 1A V3 and Zebralight H52. I've always loved the design of Zebralights. They look pretty different than your typical flashlight designs. I've never tried one of these right angle flashlights before. So far, I dig the concept. It allows you to easily turn this flashlight into a headlamp using the included headstrap. I want to pick up a backup headlamp eventually and think I'd much rather go this route since you can use it as a regular flashlight as well. Output seems impressive off the 14500. I'm very interested to see how it does after some more pocket time. The Archer stands out to me due to the side switch to change the modes. I was worried it wouldn't feel natural to switch modes but it's perfect. Again, the output seems great. My biggest complaints with most of these lights so far is the lack of color options. You all know I love to carry colorful gear over the plainer black or silver stuff. If you'd like to hear more about each one, keep an eye out for posts on them over the next few weeks. Thanks again to Jacob for the chance to try all these out!
This next group of gear is on loan from Tactical Cats. He's lending me a few of his bigger flashlights and two neck knives. He also threw in some awesome paracord bracelets and extra paracord that you might see in an upcoming summer EDC update. Flashlight wise, I'm trying out the Surefire G2X Pro, Olight S2A Baton, and the Fenix E12. The Surefire is a 2CR123 light, which I don't think I've tried before. I absolutely hate the stoutness of 1CR123s, yet 2 of them isn't that bad. This and the Olight are two I see as potential self-defense type options since they're brighter and bigger. Sure they're not the most tactical without all the crenulated bezels and what not, but that's not what I want in my carry. I just need a light that's bright enough to temporarily blind an attacker, so I can safely get away. I could see it being a good bag/purse/jacket pocket light. I'm impressed with its simplicity so far. The Olight is basically just the 2AA version of the Batons. Again, I've never tried this form factor before, but I like it thus far. I love the rubberized section that adds a bit of color and allows you to differentiate what part of the light you're grabbing. It has Olight's typical UI, which is mostly press and hold with specific clicks getting you specific modes. Honestly, I didn't like it on the S10R Baton I had, and I don't expect that to change now. I will try to get over my stubbornness and get used to the UI. Press and hold UIs are becoming a lot more popular these days, so it's time I attempt to embrace them. Luckily, it does have mode memory, so you can mostly avoid having to change modes if you're using the same mode all the time. The tint on the S2A is very clean, and the output seem impressive. Last but not least is the Fenix E12, which is a AA clicky. I was shocked to see that it was about the same length of my Preon, just slightly thicker. That's one reason I've avoided AA lights for so long, as I thought they'd be way too bulky. I will absolutely be picking up a few AA lights for collection in the future. I like the improved runtimes/outputs in a still easy to carry size. The E12 doesn't stand out in terms of design, but it seems like a totally functional light. The UI is straight to the point and works well. I do see some of these being contenders for lights that I'd eventually like to pick up for myself. We'll have to see after I carry them some more.
Onto the neck knives, the really neat green one is the Smith & Sons Shrew and the one with the crazy blade shape is the Arizona Bushman Julu. I think the Julu is for more outdoorsy stuff. The blade shape is weird, and I'm not entirely sure what its best purpose is. I'm not completely in love with the ergos. It is very thin and compact, so it'd probably be better for neck carry than the Shrew. I don't like having things around my neck, especially stuff on the bulkier side like most of the neck knives I've tried. I'll give them a try around the neck, though I mostly think they'll get carried in a bag or jacket pocket. I love the look of the Shrew! It's extremely high quality and has solid ergos. It's not the most practical for my EDC, yet it should be fun to check out. Again, thanks a ton to Tactical Cats for letting me borrow these!
And finally to round out this already long post, these are the knives that are now a part of my collection: the CRKT Drifter, Benchmade Proper, and Spyderco Cat! Tom went above and beyond with these three! They're all perfect for me size-wise. I had a G10 Drifter when I first got into knives many years ago and missed having one in my collection. It's a simple design that works well for EDC. I like the stainless steel scales on this one. It's quite smooth and flicks open nicely. I was surprised to see that its a little bit smaller than my Rat 2. One flaw I can see right off the bat is the tip-down only pocket clip. I've always been more of a fan of tip-up personally. I might end up taking off the clip and carrying it in my EDC pouch or bag. For the $20ish, these are such a great budget option. Next up is the Proper. I had no idea that Benchmade did slipjoints. I've never gotten into slipjoints much, mostly because I always think of traditionals when I think of them. This is a great example of a more modern-looking slipjoint. I do think there's a time and place for slipjoints, so I'm happy to finally have one to keep in my collection for the rest of my life. I'm so blown away by this knife! The ergos are fantastic! They have some of the best rounded off edges on the handles that I've seen. It feels like the knife just melts into your hand. They remind me a lot of my Rat 2's ergos, which are also some of my favorite ergos ever. I used all three to cut up the boxes all the packages of this gear came in last week. They all performed very well! I also love the red G10 on the Proper. It's nice to finally have a red knife for my collection. And the last piece of gear here is the Spyderco Cat. This is one of Spyderco's classic, compact knives. I've always heard nothing but positive things about them over the years. I never ended up getting one, mostly due to finding other smaller knives that are actually colorful. My biggest gripe with it is the black scales. If I ever get some access to decent tools, I might have to try my hand at doing some pimping. It'd be awesome to make some of my own colorful handles for this knife. It's pretty nice in every other way though. I love having the wire clip on a knife again! It's definitely my favorite clip that I've ever tried. The ergos are comfortable for me, and I love the leaf blade shape. I see why people still enjoy these so much today. All seem like great knives so far! Thank you Tom! That's about it for this long first impressions post. Stay tuned for reviews of all this stuff by the end of the summer hopefully. Thanks for looking!
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