Q4 2023 Carry
Whether this past few months was quite mild. We had one storm, pre-Christmas, that required the use of a snowblower. That’s about 1/3rd what we normally get. As a result, my carry options were as weather dependent as they normally are. Though I usually fail to remember this part, my EDC gets used in a variety of ways. My wife and I do a nightly walk and we do a weekly hike in the woods at night, so the light gets a lot of use. The knives and tools are used for food prep, package opening, and recycling processing mostly. There is the occassional fire that needs starting.
Victorinox Compact, Prometheus Designwerx Scales, and FourSevens Ti Mini Turbo Mk. III
Until the Gear Gremlin took an interest in gear, my interest in SAKs had waned significantly. But after a few hikes in the woods and weekend trips to the store where my buddy was doing a bunch of different stuff with his knife, I realized that my lack of interest was nothing but snobbery. These are universally good tools (many of them great) that cost next to nothing. In an era where knife price jumps are inexplicable, SAKs remain at roughly the same price. This helped to remind me that value is the last frontier of good design.
Apple Beats Fit Pro, Prometheus Lights Ti Beta QR v.3, Sharp By Designs Micro Typhoon Evo 2.0, TWSBI Eco White with 1.1 mm stub nib
The Beats Fit Pros aren’t the best sounding ear buds in the world. They don’t have the best noise cancellation. But they are practically invisible. I where them at work, hooked to my phone, while mowing the lawn, and while I work in my office at home. They stay put, weigh next to nothing, and can control most of the important features on my phone through voice commands. They aren’t even that bad with a charge. I have tried a bunch of ear buds. If you aren’t looking for four figure IEMs, these are a good choice. The light and the knife here are both home runs. The real question is the pen here. TWSBI pens have some of the worst durability of any piece of gear I carry. Some pieces of kit wear out. TWSBI’s basically have a timed self-destruct feature. You’ll get a year or two of very good writing out of them and then kablow, a seam starts leaking or an o-ring goes, or the cap cracks and the pen is done. It is a $35 pen, so, its not the worst thing in the world. Plus their steel nibs are amazing. Its just a shame that all of the TWSBIs I have had have done this, regardless of price. Someone ought to tell them that people would pay more for a pen that writes this well AND lasts more than 18 months.
Prometheus Lights Ti Beta QR v.3, Giant Mouse Riv
The Riv is one of the best small knives out there, sitting quite comfortably with the Dragonfly and the TRM Nerd. I really which Benchmade had a knife in this market segment. Both Kershaw and Benchmade lack a high end, small EDC blade and their line ups are all the worse for it. There is something so precise, so tight, and thought out about the Riv that makes it a joy to carry. And the Beta QR v.3, well, its as awesome as it looks. It is clearly a step up from the v.2 and I would normally ask a question like: is it worth an upgrade, but there were so few v.2s out there, its probably a light everyone that enjoys lumens should consider.
Zero Tolerance ZT0545, Prometheus Lights Ti Beta QR v.2
The v.2 is still a really special light, with a beautiful tint and an exceedingly nice form factor, if you are wondering. But the real star of this picture is the ZT0545. This is a truly GREAT knife, a knife that ZT should have made five years ago. It is thin, sturdy, and a good reminder of why ZT used to be so special. Now with Reate and WE cranking out essentially flawless knives, it will be good design and not fit and finish or flipping action that will determine how good a knife is and in terms of design, the ZT0545 is great. Ironically, I wish the flipping action was a bit more compelling, but I don’t really care all that much about it. That said, I wonder what it would be like running on Skiff Bearings.
Indiana Knives EDZ, Zebralight SC5c II LE
Speaking of compelling flipping action…you won’t find anything better than the EDZ. It is that good. It is, however, a weirdly large knife. Perhaps because the handle is so big and the blade is so tall, but that makes it a superior slicer. This is an out of left field knife that surprisingly hangs well with the big boys. And the Zebralight, well, it is wearing me down. UIs are some of the overseas lights are SO bad and its both compact and dual fuel that its list of features is overwhelming my curmudgeonly disdain for its silly UI. I haven’t bricked it yet, so I guess that counts for something.
Spyderco Paramilitary 2 with Blades We Love PM2 Ultra Mod, MaxMadco Bolt, Malkoff MDC HA CR123a
I typically don’t lose gear. In the more than one decade that I wrote this blog, I have a very short list of stuff that has walked away: a Leatherman Skeletool, a Pilot Vanishing Point (which I don’t think walked away on its own), and this Malkoff. This one is particularly vexing because I JUST bought it. It was the last day of fall clean up and I was up and down and all around the yard and somehow, it just fell out of my pocket. I wouldn’t count that against the light, I was literally crawling on the ground in some places. I feel like eventually I will find it and it will be a good test of how tough the light is. My guess is that it will be just fine.
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