I took a break during today’s bike ride to dump out all the gear I had on me and snap a few photos. For the most part, this is representative of what I have on me every single day. There were a couple items in my pack that aren’t normally in there, but I noted those on the Flickr photo page.
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I haven’t gone biking in so long, man. It has been at least 20 years.
I don’t recognize some of that EDC kit, but it looks like a damn solid load! Are you going to update with new med kit since your schooling? Or have you already?
Ahh, the pics have notes, too!!! Very nice PM.
I feel pretty good about all of it. Let me know if you have any questions about specific gear.
I redid the first aid kit supplement on my bike, as well as my wilderness first aid kit, since coming back from the W-EMT course, but I’m still happy with the first aid items in my level 2 EDC, so I haven’t changed that kit at all.
I have a Lifeline Green stainless steel bottle that’s shaped almost identical to the Klean Kanteen, I was wondering if you knew if the specs were the same. It was an impulse buy out of opportunity. I like it, but it’s pretty heavy for a water bottle.
But I’m going to check and make sure I can boil water in it otherwise why carry it, y’know? Heh.
Great setup as usual. I should really re-do an illustration of my EDC because it’s so hot here I carry a lot less. One thing I do carry now that’s kinda novel is a 8 oz. plastic flask that I carry a little bit of water in. It’s not large enough for some serious hydration but it gives you enough water to avoid being uncomfortably thirsty most times.
Although carrying some kind of water bottle was optional in Cascadia, now I carry one everywhere. It’s too frickin’ hot in the Bear Flag republic.
I’ve never heard of Lifeline before, but their 40 oz stainless steel bottle does look quite identical to the Klean Kanteen. The website says that it’s made out of 18/8 stainless, which is the same as the Klean Kanteen. As long as it doesn’t have some sort of lining on the inside (like Sigg bottles do), I’d feel good about throwing it in the fire to boil water.
Metal bottles definitely are heavy, especially if you’re used to a little Platypus bottle or the like. That’s the only reason I don’t always take my Klean Kanteen backpacking or with me during other wilderness travel. But outside of those situations, I’m not terribly picky about weight, and I think metal bottles are the way to go. Sustainability, functionality, the taste of water, everything is better.
Is your 8 oz flask sized for a cargo pocket or do you carry it in a bag?
I always have to carry some sort of water reservoir with me, regardless of where I am or what I’m doing, mostly because I drink a shit ton of water.
Yea the flask will fit in the front pocket of my pants or a cargo pocket. When I’m home I drink a ton of water too, out walking I usually can’t carry enough to satisfy my thirst! Hehe. Usually drink several liters.
Damn, my “on person” EDC is very similar. I usually split the rest between my backpack and my vehicle’s trunk. Wish i had the scratch for some better kit though. Only the stuff on my person or at my home is decent stuff. Thanks for the photos!
During my 12 month backpacking trip I had a knife and two flashlights stolen from me. Now I’m interested in cheap replacements.
I had replaced the knife replaced when I was in Thailand for dirt cheap. But a housekeeper threw it out. A $12 knife in bangkok will run me back at least $100 here. :/
Is there a one stop shop for kit? What about inexpensive alternatives?
How much do you want to spend on the knife and flashlight?
What kind of knife are you looking for? If you want a smaller fixed blade, Mora is the cheapest you’ll find and still good quality.
What size of flashlight? LED or bulb?
I don’t know of any one place to buy all your gear. I spread my purchase around quite a bit.
How much to I want to spend? The least amount possible. I’ve already found reasonable prices for gear at amazon. I was just curious as to what you would recommend. You were really helpful every other time I’ve contacted you.
I was looking for a folding knife with a serrated as well as a flat edge. And all black. No reflective shiny parts. That could preferably be clipped onto a belt. Or otherwise concealed. (I used to dress in all black, so black items didn’t stand out.)
The neck-based knife you had up there, looks interesting. I might be able to get away with carrying that inside a night club. No one pats down your chest.
I lost two flashlights. One in Thailand, and other on the Cook Islands. The one I lost in Thailand, was a larger size, that was battery free. Powered with magnets that moved inside the flight light casing. It was taken from my backpack when I wasn’t looking. Thai people are sneaky. The other lost torch was a mini mag light. I was too relaxed at my resort and left it lying around. I deserved that. Both were LED. I wasn’t aware that non-LED lights were sold anymore. :)
I can usually get everything I need from Canadian Tire. (If Canada had guns it would be WOG country.) But they don’t have the selection they used to. And a lot of their cool stuff is behind lock and key. I hate asking people to do stuff. I prefer doing it myself.
It seems you usually carry a flashlight in your bag, not on your belt, so size isn’t a huge factor. For a mid-line affordable light, I’d look at a SureFire G2. They usually sell for about $40 (cheaper on eBay, of course). It’s obviously not the cheapest you could go, and it isn’t LED, but it’s definitely a good light and probably the best bang for you buck. If you need to go cheaper than that, I would recommend what you used to have: the Mini MagLite. They’re only about $10 and you can buy LED conversion kits for them.
But, really, for cheap flashlights, ZenLogic is the guy to talk to. He has a lot more experience with them than I do. Send him an email and he’ll write you an essay.
Based on your knife description, the first thing that came to mind was the CRKT M16 SRT line. I’ve had one of these for a number of years and I consider it to be a cheap, low quality folder compared to my Emerson, but a decent enough blade that will probably suit you just fine. Then I searched to see what they were selling for these days, and they seem to be upwards of $75, which is crazy. I don’t recall paying over $40 for mine. Unless they’ve somehow changed the knife since I bought mine about 5 years ago, I would have guessed it to be about $35. So that knife is probably out, unless you can find a good one on eBay.
The next knife that came to mind was one of the Gerber Gator folders. I don’t have any experience with Gerber, but I’ve heard good things about this knife from a lot of people. It comes in plain and serrated blades, and drop and tanto points. They seem to sell in the $30-$40 range, which seems right based on what I’ve heard.
My neck knife — the Nemesis Hellion — is definitely a nice knife, but it’s a bit on the small side for many tasks. I think of it mostly as a toy and a novelty more than a tool. And it seems to sell these days for about $40. The Gerber Gator would be a lot more knife for the same price.
If I was going to buy a new neck knife today, the two that I would be choosing between are the RAT Izula and the Becker Necker. Both look to be great knives: small enough for concealed carry (around the neck or inside the belt) but large enough to have a real practical use (unlike my Hellion). In fact, I’d feel pretty good about EDCing either one as my only blade. The Becker Necker seems to be available for about $35, which I think is a great price. If you (and the Canadian government) are ok about EDCing a fixed blade instead of a folder, I’d seriously consider that one (though I don’t know if you can get it with serrations…but serrations are yucky anyway).
@DC – I can second the CRKT M16 as a decent folder that doesn’t hurt *too* much to lose (in fact my girlfriend forgot the one I gave her in her purse when she tried to board an airplane and had it confiscated). I’ve seen them on sierratradingpost.com for as low as $29, though not the SRT line.
For a nice fixed blade, I’m a big fan of Blind Horse Knives’ Bushcrafter. I’ve had mine since March and I absolutely love it.
I want a para-cord bracelet like the one you have. Did you make it?
Yeah, I made it. It’s pretty simple.
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[...] gloves and a hat. For the past 6 months it has functioned as my camera case. You may remember that back when I did an EDC post I mentioned in the photo notes for my level 2 items that I wrapped my camera in a bandanna for [...]