My Thoughts On Spyderco's First Product Reveal Of 2019!

I've talked before about how I'm bored of Spyderco's current direction and not as impressed with them as a company as I previously had been. For me, I just didn't see a lot of innovation and their rising prices didn't help either. However, they just announced some of their new knives for the beginning of 2019, and there are a few that have me intrigued. I think I just found out what my first new knife of 2019 will be. 

I didn't know a Para 3 LW was something that I needed until I saw it on the cover of this Product Reveal. I absolutely hated the PM2 and wasn't that excited about the Para 3 when it was released last year. Now, my opinions have swayed a bit. One of my big issues with the PM2 was the weird blade-to-ratio which the Para 3 definitely improved on. It's not perfect, but at least the blade size of the Para 3 is more up my alley. Another thing I hated about the PM2 is the G10 scales. G10 and titanium have become the two primary handle materials on knives these days, and I honestly don't like either all that much. I'd rather have plastic scales for their ability to keep a knife light, the extra grip (especially with FRN), and a better range of color options. Spyderco's FRN is by far my favorite handle material, and it's awesome to see them expanding their lightweight lineup. The Native 5 LW was one of my favorite mid-sized options a couple years ago.

So besides the FRN scales, the other awesome part about this Para 3 is the wire clip. That's my favorite clip of so I'm happy to see Spyderco use it on this knife. I'm hoping Spyderco does these in all sorts of colors, but if the black is the only version released initially, I'll probably still pick it up and trade/sell it later if other colors become available. I'm very excited to check it out! Hopefully it comes out sooner rather than later. This is one of the first new releases in a while that I've actually been interested in. Let's hope it holds up to the hype. My Rat 2 needs another mid-sized buddy. Oh and the price looks great too. One site had them listed for $91 which seems fair for CTS-BD1N and the FRN scales.

The only other knife from this reveal that potentially interested me was the Meerkat sprint run. I don't necessarily care for the special steel, but I have always wanted to try out a Meerkat. I love small knives, and the Phantom lock would be fun to try out. This one isn't necessarily a day 1 purchase for me like the Para 3, yet I might be tempted if I can sell off some of my collection in time for its release. I'm not sure on exact timeframes for releases of any of the knives in the reveal, though Spyderco says 90-120 days is realistic. If you didn't check out the reveal already, here's a link to it. Maybe this is the year Spyderco ropes me back in. Are you excited about any of the knives they announced? I think this was a great start to the year for Spyderco. I'm excited to see what else they have up their sleeves! Thanks for looking!

My College EDC Bag 2018

During the semester, my backpack is how I end up carrying my EDC. I got fed up with my old backpack, the Osprey Nova, and finally got a must needed upgrade at the beginning of the fall semester. I decided on the Jansport Recruit since I've had a lot of luck with their bags in the past. I got it in a nice burgundy which I'm really digging. It's held up well so far and is much more comfortable than the Osprey. The organization is not as good in the Jansport, but I'll trade that for a more comfortable pack. I do a lot of walking around campus and have to carry a lot to last me throughout the day so comfort has become the number one priority for me. 

Here's the outside of the bag. I do always have a water bottle with me. In this case, it's a Klean Kanteen. It's one of my go-to bottles along with a Hydroflask. 

In the laptop compartment on the back of the bag, I keep the bulk of my actual school stuff. My laptop is on the left and a folder for handouts/paper for notes is on the right. These get used probably more than anything else in the bag since I'm class the majority of the week.

In the main compartment, all I keep is my lunchbox. The Klean Kanteen make another appearance since this is my food/drink related stuff. The main compartment lacks any sort of organization (hopefully I can show that in a video soon), so it usually is just a dump pocket for random things I might need. For instance, I'll sometimes throw my jacket, scarf, and gloves in the main compartment if I'm not using them. 

This is the front pocket which holds all of my smaller things. I keep really boring things in here, like pens, pencils, erasers, chargers, hand sanitizer, post-it notes, Benadryl allergy pills, some candy, etc. My pepper spray also sits in this pocket and then gets transferred to my jacket pocket if I want it on my person. This pocket has the only organization in the whole bag. I don't necessarily like how I everything organized at the moment, but there's not many other options. I like the mesh pocket and wish Jansport had done something like that in the main compartment. 

There's a few other smaller pockets, but it was hard to get decent photos. I'm hoping to get a video up of the bag and my loadout at some point. I've slimmed down the contents a lot over the past semester to help reduce the weight. I'll throw my EDC pouch in the front pocket if I think I might need it, though more often than not, I've been leaving it behind. I'm never completely knifeless, as I have a Victorinox Classic on my keys which is about all I'd need on a daily basis. I do need to add a backup flashlight to the bag. So yeah, not the most exciting loadout, yet I think I finally found a setup that will work for my last couple semesters. Thanks for looking!

My Favorite Knife I Tried In 2018!

Happy 2019 everyone! I'd like to get back into posting on here and figured a good way to jump start that was to talk about a knife I love. I tried a lot of gear in 2018, but by far, the thing that stood out to me most was the CRKT Eros! It's one of the coolest knives I own and a great addition to my collection. There's not many new knives that get me excited anymore, so I'm glad I got my hands on this gem. I believe CRKT discontinued these (at least the small one) which is a real shame. There aren't enough tiny flippers on the market in my opinion. That's something I'd like to see more of this year.

I got this during the summer from a friend and instantly fell in love with it. You all know I love my small knives, so it was only natural the Eros would fit right in. It's slightly bigger than my other favorite small knife, the Spyderco Ladybug, with a blade around 2" long. I can fit a three-finger grip comfortably, but I'm sure you guys with bigger hands will only get a two-finger grip. I'm normally not a fan of metal handles, though these ones have grown on me. They can be a little slick when trying to flip the knife open. One other tiny complaint is the clip. I didn't get a photo of it for this post, but it doesn't look like a typical clip and is tip-down only. They aren't big enough issues for me considering how awesome the knife is as a whole.

The biggest appeal for me is the flipping action. It is one of my best flippers despite how small it is. It uses CRKT's infamous IKBS bearing system which makes it flip quickly and smoothly. I rarely have issues with half deployments like in other popular flippers I've tried (Kershaw Skyline and Steel Will Cutjack Mini for example). It's one of those knives that you could flip all day long. I wasn't expecting the action to be this good.

You can't beat the action, ergos, size, design, or usability of this knife. I absolutely love it and can easily say it's the top knife I tried in 2018. Hopefully I can find a few more gems in 2019. I'll be doing a recommended gear of 2018 post at some point of all the things that stood out to me over the course of the year. Sorry it'll be late, but better late than never. Also, stay tuned for a more in-depth review post and video on the Eros eventually. If you can manage to track one down, I'd definitely recommend it! Thanks for looking!

Time For Some Quick Updates!

Hey everyone! I know it's been a little while since I've uploaded any videos and blog posts. As I'm sure you all guessed, school and life in general has been very busy. I'm almost at the end of a pretty crappy semester, yet that isn't necessarily going to mean more activity from me. I'm not exactly in a YouTube mindset right now for some reason. I will be working on blog posts for loaner gear, but videos will still probably be on hold. I do actually think I have videos in my queue I could upload, though I'd rather post an update video first since it's been a while.

Speaking of loaner gear, I've got quite a bit I still need to review. My plan is to finish with all that before the end of the year. I honestly got way too much gear in at once which has been a bit overwhelming to review. A lot of it hasn't fit my preferences either, but there are a few gems I've enjoyed. After I'm done with this batch of loaner gear, I don't see myself accepting anymore for a while. To be honest, YouTube and this knife stuff isn't my top priority or interest at the moment. I know I've said this before, but I'm kind of done with buying gear for the foreseeable future. Unless I see any decent Black Friday deals, there's not anything I desperately need. I have more than enough gear in my rotation and need to start saving up for post-graduation. Once I finish up reviewing all my current collection, expect to see a somewhat big sale. That's about it for now. Hopefully I'll be posting some stuff on here at the very least. Thanks for looking!

Arizona Bushman Mini ULU Thoughts

I never would have had the chance to try out this crazy looking knife if it wasn't for someone that watches my videos on YouTube. Big thank you to him! This Arizona Bushman Mini ULU has been interesting to try, but I'm honestly not the intended audience for it. I thought it was called the Julu, though he has the other name on his Esty store so we'll go with that. For EDC stuff, I have not enjoyed using it all. Take that with a grain of salt, since it's meant for more bushcraft/outdoorsy usage anyways. It's pretty reasonably priced, around $25, so if you like the look of it, I say give it a try. I've certainly tried worse blades at that price point. I don't have too much to say, so this will probably be a relatively short post. Since I only used this as an EDC option, I can't speak on how well it does for those food prep/bushcraft tasks. I'll mostly just focus on the design and my experiences overall.

The blade shape alone is what got me interested in this knife. You get a lot of belly and curvature that most EDC knives won't give you. It looks cool, yet it hasn't been practical in my usage. For EDC stuff, it's kind of sucked. It was very weird to try to open a box with it for instance. It didn't perform that well in my other typical EDC tasks. Again, I was expecting that this would be the case. I bet it would do well for food prep or bushcraft stuff. The quality of the knife itself has been pretty good. I've got a few issues with the sheath I'll get to at the end. I don't believe Arizona Bushman actually makes these himself. From the description on his Etsy store, I'm under the impression he just adds the edge and fixes up edges/fit of the sheaths.

The knife is made of 1095 high carbon steel with the blade coming in at 2 3/8" in diameter. That's a great size for a small neck knife like this. It's sharp enough for my needs, but I do wondering how sharpening it would go. It seems like it'd be a pain to me. I honestly did not use this knife that heavily once I figured out it was a pain to cut with. If you only need to cut stuff, you might as well get any other normal knife out there.

The ergos are weird but weren't as bad as I expected. It's pretty much a two-finger knife in the above position with the rest of your fist closing around it. You can also pinch it flat between your pointer and thumb kind of like how you'd throw a frisbee if that makes any sense. I'll be posting my video on it soon if you'd like to get a closer look at the egos. You just have to mess around and see what the most comfortable position is for your usage. You could also lash it to a stick or something if you wanted. There's a lot of versatility in how you actually use it which is nice to see.

The kydex sheath isn't the most snug in the world. I'd worry about the knife falling out over time. I haven't had any problems with it falling out so far, but it is something to be mindful of. Thanks to the lightness and slimness of the knife, it does carry relatively well. I personally hate wearing neck knives though, so it hasn't been something I've enjoyed carrying. It does come with the ballchain lanyard.

I personally don't recommend this knife, yet it is nice to see something different out there. If you can figure out a use for the weird blade shape, it's not a horrible option. I'm not aware of many other knives that have this sort of design. For me, the practicality just isn't there for me personally. I'm definitely not going to miss it when I send it back to the owner. Here's a link to the Etsy listing. Thanks for looking!

Smith & Sons Shrew Thoughts

I've never been a fan of fixed blades/neck knives in my EDC. I've tried various ones over the years, but nothing beats the compactness of a folder for day to day stuff. For outdoorsy tasks, a fixed blade is the obvious choice though. I've had this Smith & Sons Shrew on loan from someone that watches my videos. Huge thanks to him for letting me try out some of his gear! While it's a very nice knife, it honestly never stood a chance in my carry. I hate wearing anything bulky around my neck. The Shrew seems better size wise than some of the other ones I've tried. If you want a nicer fixed blade, you can't go wrong with this one. I don't believe I have any many complaints about it. I can see it working out well in an EDC.

I absolutely love the look of this knife! I'm normally against knives with weird blade-to-handle ratios, but this one looks fine in my eyes. The stonewashed finish looks awesome in combination with the green and black G10. At one point, there were a few different color options available on Blade HQ. I think now there's only one or two to pick between. Smith & Sons makes their blades here in the US too which is always nice to support. I'd never heard of them as a company before, so it was neat to try one of their knives out. The quality has been great as well. You're definitely getting what you paid for.

Getting onto the blade, the Shrew has a 2" 1095 blade. I haven't had any problems with its performance. It's cut everything I've needed to and seems as sharp as any other knife I own. A 2" blade is probably my ideal size for any EDC knife at this point in my life. I don't do many intensive cutting tasks these days, so 2" generally gets it done for me. As a neck knife, 2" is also probably the biggest I'd want to go. 

The ergos are great. This is a smaller knife (3.75" handle), but I still can fit a full four-finger grip. I like how there's the one finger groove for your pointer finger and that's it. The rest of your hand rests very naturally along the rest of the handle. The G10 handles are comfortable in the hand as well. There's no jimping anywhere on the knife, though the G10 has some nice texturing to it. I've never once felt like it'd slip out of my hand during use. It's probably not the most compact neck knife out there. Honestly, I'd rather have the extra handle length than put out something that has cramped ergos.

Here's a photo to show the thickness overall. It's about what I'd expect in a neck knife.

I do like how the handles are slightly contoured.

The kydex sheath is very well done. It has great retention, no rattle, and the carbon fiber pattern looks very classy. I've go no complaints about it at all. When I've carried it with a paracord lanyard, it's been fine, but again, I hate having things around my neck. 

Price wise, the Shrew goes for about $95 on Blade HQ. That seems like a fair price for the quality and materials you're getting. 

Though I wouldn't want to add this knife to my own EDC, I do like it a lot more than the few CRKT and Boker fixed blades I've tried, like the Folts Minimalist, SPEW, and Lil' Friend. It looks great, cuts well, has fantastic ergos, and is such an improvement over those cheaper options I just mentioned. If you want a nicer, less mainstream blade to add to your collection, I think this is a good option. I'm not going to miss it once I send it back to its owner, yet it was at least nice to try. Check it out if it interests you. Thanks for looking!

Thrunite Archer 1A V3 Thoughts

The Thrunite Archer 1A V3 is a very nice example of a well-done AA flashlight. It has great outputs off a 14500 battery, has all the features I like in my EDC lights, and has an easy to use UI. If you want a simple AA light, this seems to be a solid choice. It's not the most compact in the world, but other than that, I have no major complaints. It's been a great light!

There's nothing about the design that stands out to me. That works for me since I don't need flashy things in my carry anyways. I wish it came in more colors but Thrunite has never been a company that offers that unfortunately. It makes no sense to only produce black flashlights which are next to impossible to find in the dark. There's some good knurling in the middle and near the end of the light that provide some extra grip. I love that it's got the hexagonal ring where the side button is. This makes it harder for the light to keep rolling when you set it down. I also like seeing the crenulated bezel, as most of my lights lack one. Quality wise, it's been great. For a AA/14500 light, it's not as compact as it could be. It'd probably be manageable for you dudes with actual pockets. For me, it'd have to be a bag light or one that goes in my EDC pouch. Other AA lights I've compared it to are at least half an inch shorter. I have ended up appreciating the extra length since it gives you more to grip onto. I was surprised to see that it can tailstand too. 

The 1A V3 has five modes: firefly (0.1 lumens for 17 days), low (17 lumens for 22 hours), medium (75 lumens for 5 hours), high (200 lumens for 115 minutes), and a strobe. If you run it on a 14500 battery instead of a normal AA, you're going to get higher outputs. I'm not sure exactly how much brighter the light is on the 14500, but it at least seems to be 300 lumens on high. Even the 200 lumens is more than enough for my basic EDC tasks. I've never once felt that the light is too dim for me. The modes are all pretty good number wise and make sense for the light. I normally do prefer a low mode of around 5-10 lumens, yet the 17 lumens is still fine for when I need a little bit of light quickly. The beam is a nice tint and has a hotspot with a decent amount of flood. You can get these lights in either a cool white or neutral white version. I've had no problems with any of the runtimes either. The battery hasn't died through my typical EDC usage in the past month and a half or so.

I've never tried a side activation switch for the modes before and wasn't sure how I'd end up liking it. It's been great! It feels more natural to switch the modes on the side than at the end. I would definitely like to find some sort of colorful side switch light for my collection. To turn the light on/off, you can only use the rear clicky. I've never had any problems with this light accidentally turning on. It takes a decent bit of force to click the button. You can do momentary on as well by half pressing the rear clicky. I was so excited to see that feature on this flashlight! For the mode switching, the side switch works great. You do have to individually click for each mode, which I know some people don't like to do. However, the other awesome feature of this light is mode memory. That means you can just leave it in whatever mode you use the most so you don't have to click through all the modes every time. I hope momentary on and mode memory become standards on all new flashlights. They make your EDC light that much easier to use. The clicky does have a rubberized texture to it which helps differentiate it from the rest of the body. Also to access the strobe, you have to hold down on the side switch to start the strobe. Then when you're done, just press once to go back to the mode you were on. I personally think strobes are worthless, so I was happy to see that you couldn't access it through any of the clicking between the main modes. I love seeing a simple UI without any of the overly complicated press and holds/triple and quadruple clicks. 

This light does come with a clip I believe. I've had this one on loan and haven't missed having a clip. As I'm sure you all have heard me say countless times before, I can't ever clip lights to my miniscule pockets anyways. I mentioned earlier that it's a little longer than most other AA lights, so be forewarned if you're looking for something that's more pocketable.

These go for about $30 which is a great deal for what you're getting. It's a solid quality light with good enough outputs for most EDC tasks. If it came in a color other than black, I would've picked one up in a heartbeat. 

All in all, I would recommend this light. Thrunite makes a lot of great flashlights for EDC. If this one isn't quite the one for you, they have plenty of other options to choose from. My only minor complaints are the lack of color options and the longer length. As far as function and performance go, you really can't go wrong with the Archer 1A V3. The mode memory, momentary on, and the fact that it's a clicky are some of my highlights/what I liked the most. I've enjoyed trying it out for sure. I see why people like these so much. Thanks for looking!