EDC: Keychain gadgets

For the better part of this year I’ve been tumbling down the slippery slope of EDC carrying. What’s EDC? Here’s how Bernard Capulong, founder of the Everyday Carry Blog puts it:

As any good EDCer I’m always looking for ways to optimize my EDC – trying stuff out, carrying it around for a while, swapping things, getting new gadgets to try out, slimming things down. It’s a fun process. But I’m not only looking for functional stuff, it’s also got to fit my personal style. The most important part of my EDC seems to be my keychain and the stuff in my pockets. I usually carry my phone and a pocket knife – preferably a Spyderco – in my pockets. As for the keychain, well those have undergone a few changes in the last 6 months. Most importantly I reorganized the decluttered them. The one constant thing so far has been a Victorinox Classic of some kind and the carabiner. As far as lights and other keychain tools go I’ve been through a few iterations so far.

Key-chain EDC, Sept 2011 – True Utility KeyTool and FireStash, iTP A3 EOS light, Victorinox Classic Alox

I wanted a light source on my keys. It started out with a cheapo promotional LED light. Updraged to an iTP A3 EOS after a while and quite liked this neat little light. The three modes are very convenient. Somehow the A3 EOS migrated from my house keys to my car keys and I find they come in handy there more often than not. But now I was in need of a replacement light for my house keys. I discovered the follow-up model of the A3 EOS was going under the Olight brand as „Olight i3 EOS“ and it even came in purple. No question as to whether I would buy this one or not 😉

Keys with EDC tools, Dec 2012 – Victorinox Classic, Olight i3 EOS, Gerber Shard

The other must have for my keys was a bottle opener. Something small. I tried the True Utility KeyTool for a few months. And while I really liked the ingenious idea with so many cool functions in one small package I didn’t like it so much in real life. The one thing I got it for – the bottle opener – was a pain to use. I never managed to pop of a bottle cap at the first try and on top of that the sharp edges of the tool cut into my hands painfully. I dumped the Key Tool and got myself a Gerber Shard instead. While Gerber promotes the tool with 7 functions – „Phillips driver, small and medium flat head driver, bottle opener, pry bar, wire stripper and lanyard ring“ – I don’t really believe they all are actually worth anything. Except for the bottle opener and the pry bar. Which is perfectly fine with me. Will see how this one carries in real life a couple of months from now.

One other thing I’ve been trying was a key-chain lighter. I’ve had the True Utility FireStash but after only 3 or 4 months it broke down on me. I got a couple of cheaper key-chain lighters from EDCdepot.com but while they are they are a bit more comfortable to use they are also too large for my keys. I’ll keep one on a lanyard in my hand bag just case though.

While at first I thought this whole EDC business was a bit over the top and really, how much stuff do you really need on an everyday basis and what’s with all the firearms, I was surprised at how interesting and appealing the idea of EDC as a lifestyle and philosophy becomes once you’ve started to dig deeper. And it’s not only a guy’s thing either. Especially women seem to carry around everything but the kitchen sink in enormous purses and hand bags. It’s fodder for jokes between the guys in the cafeteria or break room. A little more EDC thinking would certainly not go amiss. I hated not being able to find the stuff I knew was sitting SOMEWHERE way down there in my bag. And if push came to shove I was still missing this little thing that could help me out in this particularly situation. I went over all my stuff with a critical eye and made some serious changes. I feel better now that there’s less clutter and more thoughtfully assembled stuff. And I’m not done by a long shot. I’m more critical now when it comes to packing my bags. And of course there’s always more cool tools to discover and to try 😀