Zebralight H52 Thoughts

I've always absolutely loved the look of Zebralights. They don't look like your typical flashlight to me. I've been eyeing one for quite some time now, so I'm glad I've gotten the chance to check out the H52 on loan from someone who watches my videos. It's a neat light and makes me want to check out more of these right angle flashlights in the future. They're just so versatile. The Olight H1R Nova is one I'm hoping to check out soon too. I love having a headlamp in my EDC and have been wanting to add a second one to my collection. I'd much rather go this route, since these types of lights double as flashlights and headlamps with the included headstraps. The H52 looks great design wise, but I've been annoyed with a few aspects of it. I'm not sure I'd entirely recommend it. As an EDC light, I've had better options.

Like I mentioned earlier, I love the design of this light. The grooves look cool and help give you some extra grip. I like that it's more of a gray color instead of the boring black most flashlights come in. It uses a AA/14500 battery. I normally prefer AAA lights for EDC, though the H52 is still more than compact enough to carry. You can also tailstand this light if you need to. I've had no quality problems with it either. I've heard Zebralight makes some great lights, and this one is no exception. It's been perfect when it comes to design and quality.

Getting onto output, this light has all the typical low, medium, and high modes, along with various strobes. Zebralight does the configurations levels, like Foursevens does on their newer lights, though Zebralight uses sub-levels as their terminology. The three main levels are high, medium, and low. Then you have the choice of different sub-levels for each main level that adjusts some of the lumens. While this is an interesting concept, I never find them to be executed well. You have to repeatedly click about 6 times to start the configuration. Anyways that's besides the point for now. I'll touch more on the UI in a bit.

For the output off a AA battery, the high puts out 300 lumens for 0.9 hours, the medium is 54 lumens for 7.5 hours, and the low is 2.9 lumens for 4 days. Like I said earlier, these can be further adjusted if you need to. I wouldn't want to change these numbers at all though. You've got a nice range of output with each mode being what you'd typically expect. The one I've been using must be on the second sub-level, because the low is essentially a moonlight mode. It's super dim and half the time I don't even realize it's on. It's almost too dim to be usable which is weird to say coming from someone that loves to see moonlight modes on my lights. I do like that the medium mode is around 50 lumens and that the true low is less than 5 lumens. That's what I prefer in my EDC lights personally. The 300 lumens is more than bright enough for EDC tasks. Since this is meant as a headlamp, the beam is one of the wider ones I've ever seen. It has a ton of flood and gets you a good amount of light in your field of vision. I believe it's the cool white tint which looks natural. If you use a 14500 battery, the brightest the H52 will get is 535 lumens which will ramp back down to 300 lumens after a minute. I've had no problems with runtime. Besides the too dim low mode and the weird sub-levels, the output is what you'd expect in a AA light like this. I believe these are older (at least a couple years old), so you can probably find something a little brighter nowadays with the always improving flashlight technology.

The button itself is great. I like that is has a rubberized texture to it. It's a firmer clicky with no ability to do half presses or momentary on. That's a huge bummer for me, as those are two things I love to have on my lights personally. The button does work as it should so that's all you can really ask for.

Zebralight has a lot of info about the UI on their website. There seems to be a lot of random click combinations you can do to check the battery life, change the configurations, etc. I'm just going to focus on the main elements of the UI I've truly used. On a quick side note, I hate how complicated UIs have become. I dislike the trend of all the 3+ clicks that are required to access certain modes or to change the configuration. FourSevens is guilty of the weird access to the configuration levels as well. I've never found it to be necessary personally.

Anyways, so one click gets you high, two gets you medium, and three gets you strobe. I hate how it comes on in high first, because most of the time, I don't need that much light. Again, as a headlamp flashlight, coming on in high first makes sense. The strobe mode has been a major annoyance to me, because at times, I've meant to turn off the light but must have triple clicked and the strobe comes on. There's a slight delay before the strobe starts, so you think the light is off and then you see strobe start. I've never been a fan of strobe modes on my EDC lights. I understand they can be helpful for rescue; however, for day-to-day stuff, it's unnecessary for me.

From the above, you can see that you only have access to three of the modes through clicks. If you only need a little bit of light, you need to press and hold to get access to the low. I hate that. I want access to low from the get go. When you do the press and hold, you can access all the modes (low/medium/high) by holding until you get to your desired mode. This is meant as a headlamp flashlight, so I guess the way the UI is done makes sense for that purpose. There's no mode memory either which is a huge bummer for me. I hate having to do press and hold for the low mode that I'd use the most often. I've definitely had my annoyances with my UI. It's not been my favorite clicky to use because of it.

Thanks to its compact size, it has carried well. It normally does come with a clip. It still carries fine clipless and I probably prefer it that way. I can't clip any lights in my nonexistent pockets anyways. The headstrap that it comes with is very comfortable too. I stupidly forgot to take a picture of the light in the strap before I sent it back.

These are a bit on the pricier side in my opinion, normally around $64ish on Zebralight's site. Since it's not a perfect light, I wouldn't want to pay that much for one. It is on sale for $49 at the time I'm writing this post. That seems like a much better deal.

I really wanted to love this light but the UI has been irritating to use. I don't like all the double/triple clicks and the press and hold. I'm much rather have a light where I can individually click for each mode or at least do half presses to change modes quickly. Mode memory would have been great to see as well. Compared to other flashlights I've tried, I ultimately wouldn't want this specific one in my collection. I do love the concept and hope I can find one with a better UI. I don't personally recommend it, though there are many others in this community that love their Zebralights. It's a great quality light, but there's too many weird quirks for me that I don't want to get used to. Thanks for looking!

Thrunite T10T Thoughts

The T10T is a discontinued model from Thrunite. I wish I could say it was a shame it was discontinued, but honestly this isn't a very memorable light. Don't get me wrong, it's performed perfectly well. I've just preferred other lights I own more. I've had this one on loan, and like the Eagletac D25a I talked about in a previous post, I wouldn't feel inclined to pick one up had they still been available. I've always been impressed with what Thrunite does for the price. They've probably got a better model available than this one nowadays.

Since I mentioned the D25a earlier, I might as well say this is a very similar light. Both are titanium flashlights that have more of a plain design. The T10T here lacks any knurling along the body. Honestly, that's fine with me. I've never felt like the light was too slick for me to grab onto. The quality has been great like all of the other Thrunites I've tried. It runs on a AA battery and is not much bigger than a typical AAA light. I was always worried that AA lights wouldn't be as pocketable as AAA ones, yet that's not the case at all. This one is very compact and relatively light. It does have the ability to tailstand too.

Running this light on a normal AA battery, the max output is 208 lumens for the cool white version and 169 for the neutral white. I honestly couldn't tell you what version this one is. I've never been able to tell much of a difference between all the beam tints out there besides the yellower ones. Speaking of beam tint, it's nice and normal looking flood beam. I have no idea about the runtimes. I've never had to change the battery in the month and a halfish I've used it. There are three modes total on these T10Ts: high (the 200 or 169 lumens), medium (13 lumens), and moonlight (0.15 lumens). I don't like the huge lumen difference between all the modes. There's no true medium mode, just two lows (the firefly and 13 lumen "medium"). I do like seeing the moonlight mode on this light, but it seems a little too dim. I wish the medium mode was more in the 50 lumen range. Sometimes high is too much but the 13 lumens is too dim. It's always been more than bright enough for my basic EDC tasks.

The metal tailcap feels much nicer than the typical plastic/rubber ones, yet it feels a little too firm for my liking. It is like any other clicky when it comes to UI. You can individually click for each mode or half press to cycle through the modes. It's not as easy to do half presses due to the firmer tailcap. It's still perfectly manageable though. If you don't like clickys, you can also use this light as a twisty which is neat. You don't see too many clicky/twisty combo lights out there anymore. Being that it's not designed primarily as a twisty, it's a little stiff when you turn it on/off that way. I love that it has mode memory. That's one of the best features on any flashlight in my opinion.

I personally think the T10T has a weird looking clip that's a bit bigger than it needs to be. It does still carry fine though, so the design just don't match with my personal preferences. This light is very smooth to slide in and out of the pocket since there's no knurling under the clip. 

I'm not sure how much these went for as far a price goes. I'd imagine they'd be somewhere in the $50 to $65 range. For the lower output, I wouldn't have wanted to pay that much for one. Flashlight technology has greatly improved in the years since this light was released.

All in all, there's nothing about this light that blows me away. The design is very bland and blends in with a lot of other lights out there. The output isn't all that impressive anymore either. I'd much rather have a colorful light that has a true medium mode and brighter high mode. It was fun to try, yet it's not something I'd recommend. Thanks for looking!

CRKT Pilar Thoughts

I was hesitant to try out the CRKT Pilar due to the terrible experience I had with the Squid. The metal handled version of the Pilar just seemed like a do-over of that knife with a different design. Then I saw the G10 versions released on Blade HQ and figured it was as good a time as any to check them out. I don't like it overall, but I will admit it's better than the Squid. That's not very high praise coming from me considering how awful the Squid is. There are so many better smaller knives out there. If you dig the design, check it out. Otherwise, skip it.

The design of the Pilar is way more appealing to me than the Squid's. All the curves and the blade shape look great. It's a Voxnaes design if you're a fan of his work. I dig the orange and acidwashed blade combo. They also did the blue G10 one that looks just as cool. Both are out of stock now, so I'm not sure if you'll ever be able to get them again. The standard stainless steel version is pretty much always in stock everywhere online. Quality wise, it's great. I had issues with grittiness and bad fit and finish on the Squid. This one has none of those problems. The blade centering is perfect.

With the Pilar, you're getting a 2.4" 8Cr13MoV blade. When Blade HQ announced these on IG, people were disappointed that the steel was still 8Cr13MoV. Sure it's kind of a let down for the price, $35, but I'm not that unhappy about it. I've never been into high end steels anyways. It's been fine enough for all my EDC tasks. It's nice to see the thumb hole, but it's a little too close to handle for me. There's not much clearance to get your thumb in there. I always have an awkward time trying to find the right angle to get it open the easiest. I'm bummed that you can't flick it open either. I've had the most luck just using my thumb to slowly open it. The size is perfect for EDC. It's not too big and not too small. The acidwashed finish looks great and has held up well. Besides the thumb hole, I'm mostly happy with the blade. 

G-10 is a nice handle material. It feels good in the hand and has some texture to it. I wouldn't have wanted the stainless steel version, so I'm glad CRKT decided to do this version. I've never personally understood the obsession with any sort of metal handles, whether that's stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, etc. They're often slick, heavy, and boring looking. Some of course can be fine, but I've have had way more misses with metal handles than hits. Anyways, the framelock is solid too. There's surprisingly no blade play in any direction. There's some interesting cutouts on the framelock side near the clip. There's no jimping anywhere on this knife which I'm fine with. I've never felt like it's too slick or ever been dissatisfied with the grip overall.

Getting onto the ergos which are probably the most important part of a knife for me. I can fit a full four-finger grip, though for you guys with bigger hands, it's probably more of a three-finger knife. The choil is awesome and your thumb can nicely rest in slightly curved spine of the blade. The ergos are mostly good except for where the finger groove curves into the rest of the handle. The last inch of the handle is uncomfortable for me. My pointer and middle finger fit great, but after that, the ergos go downhill for me. My fourth finger rests right where finger groove ends. There's a tad point where that happens, and my fourth finger perfectly manages to rest there. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, so stay tuned for my video where I show it a bit easier. The clip also digs into the palm of my hand uncomfortably. I think the biggest problem with the handle is the deeper finger groove. It's too big for just my middle finger yet too cramped for the middle and fourth finger. It's a bummer my fourth finger perfectly hits where the finger groove ends. For me, that's why the ergos aren't all that comfortable. It's probably only an issue for people with smaller hands. Because of the iffy ergos, I haven't enjoyed this one in the hand as much as some of my other smaller blades.

This knife would carry fine if it weren't for the weighty stainless steel backspacer. It's the same one they use on the stainless steel version. It's not the same shade as the framelock and kinda stands out to me. I would've loved to see it get changed since it doesn't really go with the knife. A G-10 backspacer would have been so much lighter and better looking. I absolutely hate the backspacer, and it ultimately ruins the knife for me. It makes this knife extremely end heavy. If you're going to produce a smaller knife, make it actually carry like a smaller knife. The clip does carry fine and is right hand tip-up or tip-down. 

This version went for about $35 which is a fair price for what you're getting. The steel could be better, but what would you expect for a budget knife? The stainless steel version goes for about $20 to $25. They're not anything too crazy material wise so that price seems like a good value to me. It's certainly in line with what other budget knives are offering for the price. If you only have about $30 to spend on an EDC knife though, just get the Ontario Rat 2 instead. 

So yeah, I'm not a fan of this knife at all. CRKT is really trying with these smaller knives but none of them have been hits for me. I love to see more companies finally making compact, budget-friendly knives. The Pilar is not all it's cracked up to be in my opinion. It's too heavy for what it is and the ergos are iffy for me. I've tried so many better small EDC options, like the Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite, Boker Subcom, Spyderco Cricket, etc. I don't personally recommend it, though they are insanely popular in the EDC community. I often seem to be in the minority on these overhyped knives. As I mentioned at the beginning, if you like the design, it's not a complete waste of time to check out. There are much better budget and small knives out there. Thanks for looking!

Eagletac D25a Ti 2017 Version Thoughts

The Eagletac D25a in titanium was one of the more popular EDC lights a few years. I don't hear much about them or about Eagletac in general anymore. This is the 2017 version of the D25a Ti. I don't believe you can find them anymore. They were a limited edition and seem to have sold out quickly. I can't find much information about them, so I'll mostly be focusing on design and how it's functioned in my carry. It's a decent light, but not one of my favorites for EDC. I've had this one on loan and wouldn't have felt inclined to buy one myself if they were still available.

There's nothing that fancy about the design. It's kind of boring to me. All the machining and knurling is well-done and gives you some extra grip. The 2017 version got rid of the knurling on the head of the light for the three grooves instead. That's fine with me, as you don't have to twist the head all that much. A lot of people weren't happy with that design change compared to the earlier ones. It's made out of titanium which isn't a necessity for me. I'm more than good enough with an aluminum light if it keeps the cost low. Being a AA/14500 light, it's relatively compact and slim. I didn't have a problem carrying it as my EDC light. The quality has been perfectly fine. I've got no complaints there. You can tailstand it if you like to do that with your lights.

I've scoured the internet, but I still can't find accurate output numbers using a 14500. The following specs are right off Eagletac's website (linked here). This page also has some info on modes/outputs for the D25a's in general. Supposedly the XP-L HI V3 version has the following modes, outputs and runtimes off a regular AA: moonlight (1 lumen for 150+ hours), low (11 lumens for 20 hours), medium (121 lumens for 2.5 hours), and high (200 lumens for 1.3 hours). I've been using a 14500 battery in here, and it seems so much brighter than those numbers as you'd expect. It at least seems like it'd be 400 to 500 lumens max. The high mode looks similar to the ReyLight Pineapple's 470 lumen high, so I'm assuming it's somewhere around there. Since the moonlight mode has been disabled, the low is about six times brighter and the medium will increase slightly as well according to Eagletac. That does seem accurate. The low is definitely too bright for me. It seems more like a medium mode. Based on pure brightness alone, I've been impressed. If you want a bright light that you can trust, this will serve you perfectly well. I personally wish there was more of a difference between each mode. There's no true low in my opinion. The light has felt hot during use on the higher modes which typically happens with most lights.

One thing that's greatly annoyed me about this light is the programmable features. Apparently there's a way to get a moonlight mode, but I've been unable to get it to work. You're supposed to be able to loosen the head of the light, turn it on, and then tighten/loosen the head three times to enable it. That's such a finicky way to enable a mode. I've had no luck doing that, though I'm sure it's user error. If you've got the head all the way tightened, you'll have access to the high and strobe only. If you slightly loosen the head, you have access to all your typical modes as well as a billion strobes/SOS/beacons. It's neat that you can pick between having a couple modes vs. a ton. You're not going to have to go through all the special modes unless you cycle through the low/medium/high twice. I love that since they're not going to clutter up the main modes unless you go looking for them. I never use those modes personally, yet I guess it's nice to know they're there if you need them. Since the programmable features for that moonlight mode aren't easy to do, then there's no point on having them on this light in the first place.

The beam looks great. It's a whiter tint and is more flood than hotspot. It easily lights up my entire room with no problems. 

Once I got the UI figured out, it's been alright. It functions like every other clicky would. You press the button to turn it on and then you can do half presses to cycle through the modes. You can also individually click for each mode if you enjoy doing that. Doing the half presses is much simpler. It does take a decent amount of pressure to turn on the light. That means there's minimal chance of accidentally turning it on if you brush it in the pocket. There's no momentary on which is kind of a let down for me. I enjoy having that feature along with mode memory on all my EDC lights. Mode memory is another thing this light is lacking. That's a pretty big disappointment when both those features are defaults on most EDC lights nowadays. My favorite part about the tailcap is that it glows in the dark! I wish more companies would start doing that on their lights. It makes way more sense to do on all the black lights out there, since companies refuse to make colorful lights that are easier to see in the dark. Below is a crappy phone photo of the tailcap glowing. It's actually very bright and allows you to find the light easily.

I'm not a fan of the look of the clip, but it does carry well. It seems sturdy and has nice retention. It helps that this is such a lightweight light. I like that it carries deeper than most flashlights typically do. You can unscrew the clip if it's not your cup of tea.

Since this light isn't sold anymore, my comments on price/value aren't that valid. I believe they were on the more expensive side, maybe at least $60 but most likely more. I wouldn't want to pay that much for one. Titanium is nice for those that want higher quality materials. I'd rather take a aluminum flashlight for much less.

Honestly this light has been more of a pain to use than it should've been. I'm probably not the intended audience for it. I've never been addicted to titanium like a lot of gear nuts out there. I hate how Eagletac won't tell you exact outputs off a 14500. They seem behind the times on that. Most companies love to have the opportunity to brag about how much brighter their lights are. I don't hear much about them as a company anymore, and that's probably for a good reason. I've been way more impressed with what newer companies are doing. Olight is putting out a lot of great lights. Plus there's been a huge variety of lights coming out from Chinese companies that have great quality and outputs for affordable prices. I would not personally recommend this light. My biggest gripes would be the lack of mode memory/momentary on and the annoying programmable features. I don't need to have the moonlight mode, but if it's advertised to have one, I better be able to access it if I want. Since this light has a billion modes anyways, what would the harm of been in having the moonlight always enabled. Anyways, that's it. You can't find them anymore, and I wouldn't recommend you attempt to track one down. There's tons of fantastic, readily available lights out there. Thanks for looking!

ReyLight Pineapple Thoughts

The ReyLight Pineapple has one of the funnest names of any flashlights I've seen. It looks nothing like a pineapple so I wonder where the inspiration for the name comes from. Being one of the first brass lights I've tried, I was surprised to see that it's so heavy. I've heard brass is a heavier metal, but I didn't expect it to be this hefty. For that reason alone, it's not something I'd ever want to carry. Besides the weight, it seems like an alright option. It's not my favorite thing in the world, yet it's not absolutely terrible either. If you'd like to check it out on Amazon, here's a link.

I love the look of it! The color stands out in a sea of otherwise black flashlights. I believe ReyLight has done these in titanium and copper as well. All the machining looks nice and provides some extra grip. I had never heard of ReyLight before trying this light. They seem to be a smaller company with a few different models. Interestingly enough, there's a mini copper Pineapple that runs off AAA/10440 batteries if you prefer that battery for EDC. The quality seems good as well. The threads are smooth, and the fit and finish seems perfect. It's a AA sized light which is a relatively compact package for EDC. It still doesn't beat the slimness of a AAA in my opinion. Also, it can tailstand if that's something you like in your lights. 

The Pineapple can put out 470 lumens max off a 14500 battery. That's a great output for a light this size. It can also run AA batteries, though you won't get anywhere near the 470 lumens. Off a AA, you're only going to get 130 lumens max. That's laughably bad. If you haven't invested in rechargeable batteries, I highly recommend you do. Get either 14500 for AA lights or 10440 for AAA lights. You'll drastically improve your outputs. They're a great investment for anyone that EDCs a flashlight. 

Anyways back to this light. For modes, it has a moonlight (0.2 lumens for 20 days), low (8.5 lumens for 31 hours), medium (90 lumens for 2.5 hours), and high (470 lumens for 58 minutes). That pretty much covers every range of light you'll need. I've never had any problems using it for my typical EDC tasks.  I love seeing a moonlight mode on this light; however, it's almost too dim. Normally moonlights are my most used modes, but I find myself using the low way more. I like that there are no strobe or SOS modes. Those always just clutter up a light for me. Luckily this light does have mode memory. That's one of my favorite features on flashlights so you don't have to go through every single mode to get to the one you use the most. If you wanted to turn that feature off for some reason, you can quickly tap the button 8 times to always make the default mode moonlight. I'd personally hate that since the moonlight is so dim. The output has been very impressive and perfectly adequate for EDC.

This light uses the Nichia CRI LED which I've never tried before. I hear so many people rave about CRI lights, but honestly I don't see what's so special about them. I like that the beam is more of a flood than a hotspot. The tint is okay but a little too yellow for my tastes. I prefer whiter/neutral tints typically. I have noticed it getting hot during use, especially on high. You'd expect to see that on most lights though.

I'm very happy that this light is a clicky. It makes the light so easy to use one-handed. I'm not the biggest fan of the button. You have to press it down pretty deeply to turn the light on. I usually prefer a firmer clicky than a softer one. The button itself does rattle a bit when on or off. It's not the end of the world, just thought it was worth a mention. The metal switch feels nicer than a plastic/rubber one. If you were curious about the groove, it's meant for a tritium vial. That shows that this light is more of a show piece, since most people always add tritium to their fancier pieces of gear. I do like to put my nail in the groove to click the button a little easier. I'm glad the mode memory is a thing so you don't have to click/tap the annoying button every time to get to whatever mode you need. Once the light is on, you can do half presses on the button to avoid individually clicking for each mode. You can do momentary on too which I always love to see. Overall, the UI is fine and functions like a typical clicky would. My biggest gripe is with the button itself.

Due to the weight (more than 3 ounces), I hate how this light carries. The clip is weird looking and a bit too wide for me. It doesn't seem the sturdiest, so I'm not sure how it'd hold up over time. I'd prefer a slimmer clip on an EDC light. I do carry this in my bag opposed to on my person since I've got no pocket space anyways. You can remove the clip if you're not a fan of it either. It just unscrews from the retaining ring on the top. It's fine but it's not my favorite. The Pineapple does seem slightly bigger than other AA lights in width and length.

I see these go for about $50 on Amazon. That seems like a fair enough deal for an almost 500 lumen brass light. They used to go on Massdrop for less than that I believe. I'm not sure where else you can find them anymore. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend tracking one down. There's a wide variety of AA/14500 lights out there that are most likely better than this one.

All in all, the aesthetic of this light is about all I ended up liking. There's a few quirks regarding the rest of the light that I'm not a fan of. If it was harder to find compact 500ish lumen lights, this one would probably be way more impressive. That's not the case in this heavily saturated flashlight market. As a classier light, it'd serve that purpose very well. It's not something I'd recommend for carry. If you want a light made out of a different material than the typical aluminum, titanium, stainless steel, etc., than it's not a bad choice. I've had it on loan and wouldn't feel inclined to go pick one up for myself. I never thought it'd be something I'd seriously consider as an EDC option because of the weight. Mostly, it seemed like something fun to check out from a different company. I would not personally recommend it. That's not to say it's awful, but I have other clickys I prefer, like the FourSevens Preon P1 and Lumintop Tool AA. If you're interested in picking one up, here's a link to it on Amazon. Thanks for looking!

Kershaw Dividend Thoughts

Kershaw has had a lot of great designs come out the in past year or two. I've heard so many good things about the Dividend and finally got around to trying one. I was hesitant because of the SpeedSafe and am surprised to say that's honestly one of my favorite parts of this knife. I'm more interested in trying some of Kershaw's future SpeedSafe knives now. After trying some disappointing flippers recently, like the Skyline, it's a relief to have a blade that flips well 100% of the time with minimal effort. It's a fantastic knife, especially for only $40, that I'd wholeheartedly recommend.

Design wise, it looks very simple. I love that Kershaw kept the front of the blade clean with no logos. I wish more companies would start to do that. Apparently this knife is modeled after the success of another one of Kershaw's spring assisted knives, the Link. The Dividend is much slimmer than the Link, which I think is better for EDC. It's a great looking and functioning design for sure. I haven't had any quality issues with it either. This knife is getting up there in popularity, so Kershaw's done a lot of new variations. There's a Damascus blade version going for $90 on Blade HQ currently. House of Blade also has a lot of various color combos with M390 steel I believe for $90ish. Personally, I don't see this as a $90 knife, but if you like the design and need a nicer steel, those two options might be more up your alley.

This knife has been a great cutter. I love the pointy tip and simple blade shape. It's a 3" 420HC blade. That's the perfect size for an EDC knife. I haven't had much luck with 420 or 420HC in the past, so I'll admit I wasn't expecting much from it. Boy was I wrong. This has been one of my sharper knives. I've broken down some packages with it, and it's still as sharp as it came. Is 420HC the best steel in the world? Probably not. But for those of us that don't care about the high end steel race, it's going to be perfectly fine for EDC stuff. I've had a positive experience with it. Kershaw knows how to put an edge on their knives. The stonewashed blade looks nice and hasn't had any problems with rust yet. 

I've been pleasantly surprised with the SpeedSafe. Normally, I've always thought spring assisted knives were insanely obnoxious and over-the-top. The Dividend's action is great though. The blade comes out quickly and quietly. Sure I still prefer my manual folders, but there's something nice about knowing your blade will always fire out quickly when you need it. The torsion bars do tend to wear down over time, so that's something extra you have to worry about. The flipper tab is a good size and has a bit of jimping to it. It's an easy knife to open and close one-handed too. I've got no complaints when it comes to the blade. It's going to perform exactly as it should.

The handle is more than big enough for me, coming in at 4.25". The scales are made of aluminum, which I've loved. I'm normally not a fan of metal handles due to slickness mostly. I've had a lot of luck with Kershaw's aluminum handled knives, like the Launch 4. Maybe I prefer aluminum over stainless steel/titanium. There's also a slightly cheaper version with plastic scales if that's more your thing. I'd rather pay the couple bucks more to get the alumninum version. That's coming from someone that typically prefers FRN and other plastic scales. The scales are that nice! I love the color and how they have more of a matte finish. This isn't a very flashy knife, and I think the matte finish helps subdue it a bit. I wish more companies would do gray scales instead of black ones. You all know I love my colorful knives, yet I've come to appreciate gray stuff. There's no jimping anywhere on the knife, though I'm fine with that. It's never felt too slick in my hands. 

The lock is is a simple liner lock that works as it should. There's a bit of side-to-side play on mine, but I could probably adjust the pivot to get rid of some of it. It's not a big deal to me. Despite a lack of a cutout to access the liner lock, I've never had any problems disengaging the lock. The backspacer has cool looking cutouts in it. I missed getting a photo of it, but you should be able to see it in my video. It's a neat detail considering this is a budget knife. I like that's a plastic backspacer so it saves a little bit of weight compared to an all metal one like on the CRKT Pilar.

The ergos are awesome! This is one of my better feeling knives in the hand. I can fit a full-four finger grip and imagine some of you dudes with bigger hands could as well. There's no hotspots anywhere along the handle. All the curves of the handle fill out your hand nicely. The edges of the handles are perfectly rounded so they'll never jab you uncomfortably. It's cool that the flipper tab acts like a finger guard. 

The Dividend carries very well. The weight, a little under 3 ounces, seems pretty light for an all metal knife with full stainless steel liners. It has always disappeared in the waistband when I've carried it. Knives that are slimmer in profile like this one always carry extremely well for EDC. It's not going to take up a ton of space in your pocket. The clip doesn't ride the absolute deepest in the pocket. I'd personally rather that be the case so you have a bit to grab on to. You can carry this knife however you like thanks to the 4-way reversible clip. It's the same clip that's on the Launch 4, which I've really come to like. 

These go for about $40 which is such a great value for what you're getting. It's made here in America if you like to support USA made knives. I like that Kershaw put the American flag on the handle. It's a budget knife, so you're obviously not going to get the absolute best materials. For an EDC user, 420HC and aluminum handles are going to be perfectly adequate. As I mentioned earlier, there's a few $90 versions of this knife with higher end steels. It's a definitely a nice knife, but I'm not sure if it's that nice.

I don't believe I have any major complaints about the Dividend. It's as great as everyone's said it is. For a mid-sized EDC knife, you could do much worse for $40. It cuts well, is the perfect size, and has some of the best ergos I've felt. I do still love my Ontario Rat 2 more as a mid-sized option, but if you're into SpeedSafe and the design, this is an awesome knife for the price. I always worry that knives with a lot of popularity won't live up to hype, yet this one definitely did. I've been impressed with it even if it isn't my favorite carry option. I'd highly recommend it! Thanks for looking!

Tactile Turn Slider Pen Thoughts

The Tactile Turn Slider is my first bolt action pen. The bolt action was kinda fun to use for like 5 minutes, but the mechanism is more of a gimmick to me. I got this one through a Kickstarter campaign at the end of June. I've never backed anything on Kickstarter before, so that was neat to do. Tactile Turn made these relatively cheap for that campaign, $40 plus shipping, which is a great deal for the quality you're getting. The design is nice, but there are a few quirks about the pen that annoy me. I don't love it and will actually be selling mine soon.

First off, it looks great design wise. It looks very sleek and classy. It does have subtle grooves on the entire body that don't show up in the photo too well. I love the grooves. It reminds me of the grooves on the updated FourSevens Preons yet not as obvious. They don't dig into your hand uncomfortably at all and feel interesting as you slide your hand along them. I wish more companies would do the grooves instead of just a sleek body. The quality is phenomenal as well. These are machined out of aluminum here in the US I believe. I've had no issues with the build quality of the pen. However, mine has a ton of rattle when the bolt is not deployed. I'm not sure if that's inherent to all bolt action pens or just this one. It's annoying enough that I don't want to carry it. Other than the rattle, the design and quality are great. Also, how I could I almost forget to mention the color. The purple looks awesome! They offer these in practically every color of the rainbow. The anodizing is well-done and seems like it'd hold up well. You can also get damascus bolts I believe. There's a lot of customization/color options which I always love to see. 

The bolt action mechanism is neat. I still prefer clicky pens or just regular ol' capped pens. I don't always get the pen "deployed" when I mean to because the bolt springs back to the starting place. It is very smooth, but if you even slightly miss it, you're not going to be able to get the pen out the first try. If you had gloves on or if your hands are numb/shaking, I could see problems trying to get the pen ready to write. It's kind of fun to play with, but it's not as effortless to do as I expected. The bolt is a good size and shape. I just feel like there's potential to miss it/not get it open when you need to, unlike a clicky which are typically always reliable.

These two photos just show the neat plastic tube that the pen comes in along with the info card. An extra spring is included which I thought was a nice touch. The packaging is a nice way to store the pen. For a more expensive pen, these details are what you'd expect.

The writing experience was mostly good except for the springiness with my refill. If you saw my Karas Kustoms Render K Mini post, I also had issue with how the refill and spring interacted. Whenever I'd write, the refill would always shift up and down with the spring. Since it happened on both machined aluminum pens I've tried, I'm not sure if it's a design flaw on machined pens in general or just bad luck on my part. The refill should not be shifting when I'm writing. It produces an annoying clicking sound where the refill hits the body. Plus it just doesn't feel like you're writing with a solid pen. It's not the end of the world, but for such an expensive pen, that shouldn't be a problem. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has ever had similar problems. None of my cheaper ballpoint pens with springs have ever had refills that shifted when you wrote.

Enough of that though, the refill these come with is the Schmidt Easyflow 9000. It's a gel refill that writes smoothly. I love gel refills and was happy to see that it came with one. As far as other refills that fit, most Parker refills will work and some sort of Fisher Space refill does as well. There's a whole list on Tactile Turn's website (linked here) if you want to see all the ones that are compatible.

The Slider model is a little shorter than the Glider. It's 5.1" while the Glider is 5.6". Both are  anodized aluminum, bolt action pens. I've never felt like I needed the extra length of the Glider. The Slider is still a full-sized pen and is more than enough to write with. I wouldn't want to carry either as an EDC option due to the length. Compact pens work out so much better in my carry than full-sized ones. You do have to be careful with which way you grab the pen to write with, as the clip can dig into your hand when you're writing. There's no machined grip section, but I'm fine with that. The grooves do add a bit of grip. I've never felt like the pen would slip out of my hand. It is comfortable in the hand, especially for longer periods of time. It's a very lightweight pen, just under an ounce at 0.9 ounces, so it doesn't weigh down your hand unnecessarily like some nicer pens I've tried. The feel in the hand overall was good for me.

The clip works as it should and carries well. I'd be worried about its longevity, as it does seem to get bent if clipped to thicker things or if it gets caught on something. I'm not sure what you'd do if the clip broke off. I like that it doesn't stick out too far.

These pens are going for $59 on Tactile Turn's website which is probably a fair price. I don't think I would've wanted to pay that much for one personally. It's neat but not as amazing as I thought. I've had cheaper pens that I've enjoyed writing with more, like the Fisher Bullet space pen and Zebra G-301s. I've seen other machined pens go for way more though. Pens are easy to lose or misplace, so that'd be a lot of money down the toilet if that were to happen.

Here's a size comparison to the Fisher Bullet Space pen for fun. It's always hard to find nicer purple pens out there. Most higher quality pens neglect purple as a color option. That's the whole reason I was willing to try it out in the first place. As you can see, it's about the same size as the Bullet in overall length. The Bullet is still my main EDC option due to the compactness.

If you want a higher quality bolt action pen, it's not terrible. It's awesome in terms of design and color options. The writing experience and bolt action mechanism fell flat for me. It was fun to try, yet I know I won't miss it after I sell it. As an EDC pen, I'd rather carry something more compact. This has been more of a desk pen for me instead of one I'd want to carry everyday. Here's a link to their page on Tactile Turn's website if you want to check them out. There do seem to be a lot of makers of high quality pens out there, so just do some research before you pick one out. I don't see myself spending this much on a pen again, especially when it's not likely anything new would beat out what I already love. Thanks for looking!

Spyderco Dog Tag Thoughts

If you know me at all, you know I love my tiny and small knives. When I saw these dog tag folders start to gain traction, I was always interested in trying one out. I finally found the Spyderco Dog Tag for a great deal on Cutlery Shoppe once they were discontinued. I like the concept but would probably like it better if it had the security of a locking blade. The Squareheads also from Spyderco seem more like what I'm looking for. It's a cool concept yet not my favorite as an EDC knife.

It's a very slim and light design. It is actually about the size of a dog tag which is cool. I personally would never carry it on the neck, though I could see it carrying well there. There are several variations of these dog tag folders, from Spyderco and other companies. The design is based on Serge Panchenko's custom dog tag knives. I'm happy Spyderco did a collaboration with him, since it brought something different to their typical 3" G-10 folder and titanium framelock line-up. This is the blacked-out titanium handle version, but they've also got blue/green titanium version and the carbon fiber/G-10 composite handle out there if you like those better. If I could've found the blue/green one at a decent price, that's definitely the one I would've gone for. Those colors look so good together. It's also the usual Spyderco quality. I've had no problems with it in that regard. It is made in Taichung, Taiwan for those that care.

You're getting a tiny 1.19" blade in this knife. The steel is CPM-S30V which is a very nice steel. It's not necessary on a knife this small in my opinion. This knife isn't going to be used for many serious tasks, especially with the weird ergos and no lock. I can see it doing letter/box opening primarily. I've been impressed with the sharpness, but I'm not a fan of the chisel ground blade. I've never understood why any companies would want to do that over a full flat or hollow grind. It just seems lazy to me. It actually has been easy for me to open and close this knife one-handed. That pleasantly surprised and convinced me to give it a real chance in my carry. If a knife can't easily open one-handed for me, chances are I'll never want to EDC it. I'm happy this knife passed that test. It's probably not something you guys with bigger hands will be able to do that easily. The thumb hole does make opening a breeze no matter how many hands you use. I dig the black coating on the blade. It's held up well so far. 

As you can probably imagine, the ergos are pretty weird. I realistically would call it a two to three finger knife. You're not going to get the most comfortable grip on it due to the squarish shape and the thinness. With a 2" handle, there's just not much to grip because of the design obviously. For quick tasks, it'd be fine. Like I said earlier, you wouldn't want to be using this for more hardcore tasks anyways. Titanium is a great material for the handle, but I'm not the biggest fan of it in general. The handle is slick on this knife as you'd expect and doesn't feel the nicest in my hands. FRN is my favorite handle material, so that FRN Squarehead has been calling my name.

This is a slipjoint which means no locking blade at all. That's not the end of the world for a little backup knife. It doesn't take that much effort to close, but as long as you're not being stupid, you shouldn't have an issue with it closing on your fingers. I have seen better detents on other slipjoints. Spyderco had a lot of constraints to work with, and I think they did the best they could. 

Also real quick on carry, I'd either just throw it loose in the pocket or throw it on a necklace or keychain. It'd be too wide for the keys in my opinion. Of course, the neck is the ideal place to carry this. It is light (less than an ounce!) and slim enough that you wouldn't notice it. If you want a neck knife, you can't go wrong with this over an actual fixed blade neck knife.

The titanium versions typically go for like $65ish at the lowest, while you can find the carbon fiber/G-10 one for about $55. No matter which one you get, you're not usually going to find them below $50 new. These specific ones have all been discontinued I believe, but there's also the newer Gen4 version that's going for $65. They do have nicer materials and the higher end steels, so I'm sure they're worth every penny. Personally, I would not have paid that much for one. You're not getting all that much blade or an actual user for the price. I'd rather get a mid-sized Spyderco for that much. It's hard for me to justify the price when it's not the best thing in the world.

I'm happy I tried one, but I don't recommend it. It's more of a novelty knife to me than one you'd actually seriously use. It was nice to see Spyderco do something different. Even as a backup knife, it's not my favorite option. I'd much rather have the Ladybug that actually locks, has a real handle, is cheaper, etc. I'm not turned off by the dog tag concept and will probably still try to pick up an FRN Squarehead. The price that the Dog Tags went for when they were more relevant was ridiculous. Honestly, I don't feel they're worth it even if you find one for a decent deal. There's so many better knives in all sorts of size ranges and designs that you can get for that much money or less. It wasn't terrible and it wasn't amazing either. It was everything you'd expect a dog tag sized knife to be. It has awkward ergos and is a decent cutter for lighter tasks. Check it out if you want, but I don't personally recommend it. Thanks for looking!

Trying More Small Gear! (Loaner Stuff/Gifts)

Hey everybody! It's about to become gear review overload on here, so I'm trying to get a few non-review posts together to break it up a bit. I got this package of stuff a few weeks ago but am a little behind in getting my first impressions up. Huge thank you to my friend Laura for hooking me up with some sweet loaner stuff and a few gifts. I greatly appreciate it girl! We've been friends ever since I first started doing this knife stuff and have pretty similar tastes when it comes to gear. I'm very excited to get my hands on some smaller stuff again! That's always what I tend to gravitate towards as you all know. Anyways, let's get into some of my initial impressions of everything.

Getting onto the loaner stuff first, I'm trying out the Spyderco Pingo, Boker Nano, Sanremu WA631, and Valiant Concepts keychain pen. The pen has blown me away the most so far. It's much tinier and cuter than I expected. Even though it's only a couple inches long, it is still more than enough to write with. I actually went and ordered one for myself already. That goes to show how much I like it. I haven't decided whether I'll throw it on my keys or just carry it in my EDC pouch. 

I had no idea that Sanrenmu did multitools as well as their knives. The WA631 is nice and compact yet still has a decent toolset. It's got the knife, scissors, and a screwdriver/bottle opener/and what Sanrenmu calls a belt/cord cutter. I like seeing scissors on a mutltitool in this size range. They're not as good as Victorinox scissors, mostly due to them being a little thicker. They do cut better than the Leatherman/Gerber scissors I've tried. It's hard to find the Sanrenmu version of this multitool, though Ruike (who Sanrenmu owns I believe) makes the S31 which is the same exact tool just under Ruike's name. They're less than $30, have G10 scales, and use 12C27 for the blade steel. I'm digging it so far!

The Boker Nano is a knife I recently mentioned in my latest gear wishlist update. I've always been intrigued by them due to the color options and the size. The ergos are a little weird so far. They feel a bit cramped and aren't as comfortable as other small knives I've tried. I don't like the clip aesthetically but it does carry fine. It'll be interesting to see how I like it after carrying it some more.

Last but not least, I've always liked the design of the Pingo. I expected the ergos would be a little weird, and that's been the case thus far. It reminds me a bit of the CRKT Pilar's handle which I'll show a comparison of in my eventual review. This one is insanely tight and takes way more effort to close than it should. I'm hoping it just needs to be worked in some more. Laura and I have both tried the basic fixes you'd think of with no luck. It does seem a bit easier to close than it once was. I could just be getting used to it though. I like the orange scales and love that it has the wire clip! It's a great size for EDC too. Not sure if I'd like to own one for myself, though it should at least be fun to try.

Laura and I have always sent each other gifts back and forth over the years. She really nailed it with these. I'm happy to add all of these to my collection! There's a couple food/kitchen related things and some tiny knives. There's the CRKT Eat'N Tool, a pair of Victorionox paring knives, the Blade-Tech Ratel, and the CRKT Eros. 

The CRKT tool will be interesting to try for my lunches at school this year. I've been on the lookout for a compact utensil like this and know these have been popular for years. It seems like it'll work out well. I'll have an update on how it works in a couple weeks when the semester starts. My apartment has been in need of some new kitchen knives, so these Victorinox ones will be great. It's nice to have good knives in the kitchen from a brand I trust. I love that they've got green handles. They should work very well for all the cooking that I do.

The Ratel is a neat little knife. I'd heard of Blade-Tech and their Mouse Lite a few years ago, just never got around to picking one up. The Ratel is very similar to that knife with a slightly different blade shape. I like the thumbhole and gray handles. It does have a clip too which is nice to see on a knife this small. 

And finally, the knife I'm the most impressed with, the CRKT Eros. I've always eyed one of these ever since I saw the fancier titanium version on YouTube. They were always a little too pricey for me, so it never ended up happening. A little while ago, CRKT finally released stainless steel versions that are much cheaper. I regret not getting one sooner. It's very hard to find decent, affordable production flippers in this size range. CRKT is the only company that I know of that's done a few different ones. They also did the Jettison which I'm still a huge fan of. The Eros is even better. Thanks to CRKT's IKBS system, this knife flips like a dream. It fires very quickly and easily all of the time. Despite how small the knife is, it's still easy for me to flip. I was shocked by how small this knife is. This is the 2" version, and there's also a 3" version for those of you that like bigger blades. I've tried to find the smaller version online but can't seem to find it anywhere. The large version is still in stock. I'm guessing CRKT discontinued the smaller one which is such a shame. This is easily one of the better knives I've tried in a while. The ergos are very good for a stainless steel knife. My only complaint is about the weird tip-down only clip. It's not the end of the world though. I'm very excited to start carrying it some more!

That about wraps it up! Again, thanks to Laura for everything! It'll be fun to see what things become new favorites. The keychain pen and CRKT Eros have already made that list in the short time that I've had them. Stay tuned for more videos and posts about these in the next couple months. Thanks for looking!

Surefire Titan Plus Thoughts

I've heard a lot of good things about the Surefire Titan Plus in the EDC community. It is a great light based on output alone. However, I would never want to personally carry it. It's made of solid brass which gives it way too much heft for an EDC light. I'll take less lumens for a much lighter light. Heck, I'd take practically any other light considering this one is about $90. I wouldn't want to pay that much for it personally. Apparently Surefire's stuff is indestructible and very high quality though. If you want a AAA light that can put out 300 lumens, this is the one for you. I'm not aware of many other AAA lights that have outputs anywhere near that. That's the one aspect about it that makes it stand out. Otherwise, it's kind of a lackluster light to me.

Design wise, it looks like any other flashlight. All the machining is nice and helps you get some extra grip on the slick body. It's made of nickel-plated brass which gives it a lot of heft unfortunately. It's great in terms of quality. Surefire's stuff will last you forever. I've heard their warranty is fantastic if your light does somehow break on you. I've seen other reviews mention how much their abuse their light has taken, so I guess you are paying for something high quality that will actually last. I do want to mention how squeaky this specific one is. I don't know if it needs to be worked in or what. The threads don't feel and sound the nicest to me for such an expensive light.

Onto the most impressive part, the output. Like I mentioned, this is a AAA light that can put out 300 lumens. That's not something you see very often. Most of the AAA lights I own don't even top 100 lumens. If just want to buy one flashlight that you can rely on, this one has great performance for the form factor. 300 lumens is the perfect high mode for general EDC stuff. It's got the three modes: high (300 lumens for 1 hour), medium (75 lumens for 2 hours), and low (15 lumens for 7 hours). I love that there aren't any strobe/SOS modes since I never use them for EDC tasks anyways. I haven't had any issues with the runtimes. I use my lights for a couple seconds at a time, so my lights usually tend to last a while anyways. To get the best output with this light, you do have to use NiMH rechargeable batteries like Eneloops. You can still throw in a regular AAA, though you won't get anywhere near the 300 lumen max. I do wish the low mode was a bit lower. 15 lumens is a little too bright for me personally considering the majority of other lights have 1 to 5 lumen lows or even firefly/moonlight modes. It's not the end of the world of course. I also wish this light had mode memory. That's a feature I've really come to appreciate on my EDC lights. The beam is a flood, which I do prefer. The tint is a nice color, more of a warmer yellowish-white. I haven't noticed any issues with it getting too hot during heavy usage either. Besides the slightly too bright low mode and the lack of mode memory, the overall performance is great. Based on the numbers alone, it's extremely impressive.

This is a simple twisty light. Just like any typical twisty UI, you have to repeatedly twist it on and off to access all the modes. With no mode memory, you will have to twist it on/off three times to get to high. That's annoying to deal with on any twisty. You do have to be kinda careful about how quickly your trying to change the modes too. To get to the high, I have to wait about a second before each mode change or it will just repeat medium a couple times until I slow down. I can't say that I've had to delay my mode switching on other twisty lights. It's a bit of an annoyance but not as much of a deal breaker as the weight. It is relatively easy to use one-handed, yet nothing beats the convenience of tapping a single button on a clicky. Clicky lights will always be what I prefer for EDC. Overall, this hasn't been my favorite light to use.

Sure the Titan Plus is the same compact size of any AAA light, but it's way too heavy for me to carry. The solid brass makes it such a hefty light. Surefire says it'd be great for the keys, yet I couldn't see that at all. I'd much rather have the Nitecore Tube or Olight i3E on my keys. It does have a clip and a keychain attachment on the end depending which route you wanna go. The clip is removable if you decide you like it for keychain carry better. The clip does carry well. You can't tailstand the light thanks to the keychain attachment, so be warned if that's something you like in your lights.

For around $90, I don't particularly see the value. If you love the AAA form factor but hate how dim most production ones are, then you probably would have to go this route for a very bright option. However, I'd rather opt for some type of AA/CR123 light if I still want something pocketable for EDC. You can find Olights much cheaper than this that generally get you at least 500 lumens. Plus a lot of those are rechargeable which is nice to see. I've got this on loan from loan from someone that watches my videos. After carrying it, I personally would never dish out the money for this light since it's not anywhere close to perfect.

All in all, I somewhat enjoyed trying it out. It's not a light that I would want in my collection. The FourSevens Preons and Olight i3E are much better AAA lights. I expected a lot more considering how positively it's reviewed on some sites. The lack of mode memory and the fact that it's a twisty are big deal breakers for me. If you do prefer twistys over clickys, than maybe this is the light for you. Honestly, I'd rather buy a combination of cheaper lights so I have more options. For now, it beats out most AAA lights in terms of output, but with flashlight tech always improving so rapidly, that could change in the next couple years. I don't recommend it, especially not for the price. Thanks for looking!