Current Gear Obsessions

I have recently become hooked on the Jon Gadget YouTube channel, which highlights the bits of pieces of EDC (Everyday Carry) meant to make our lives easier and safer. I have had 30+ years experience with the idea of EDC gear, so this channel really speaks to my soul. Some of the stuff he highlights is useful, some not-so-useful, but I like where his mind is at.

I started out my career as a photographer working as a freelance photo assistant, and I soon found out that I’d get more gigs if I showed up on time and prepared to work, and by “prepared,” I mean I brought along a small grip bag with me to the shoot and had a pouch on my belt which held a Leatherman, a Sharpie and AA Maglite with a few feet of gaffer’s tape wrapped around it. Those three things came in so handy, day in and day out, that to this day I make sure I have more than just my keys, wallet and phone with me when I leave the house.

I don’t take pictures for a living anymore, so I don’t carry a grip bag with me anymore. I do, however, have FEAR (Forget Everything And Run) bags in both my car and my wife’s car, filled with the goodies we would need to live at least 24 hours without any outside help.

One of those goodies is some way to recharge a phone off the grid. I had an Anker Nano which I could plug into my phone and keep going, However, I also wear an Apple Watch these days, and it would be nice to recharge that as well. Enter the INIU SnapGo Mini, a 5000mAh battery with a built-in USB-C cord and a magnetic contact for an Apple Watch. The photo up there compares the two chargers to a mini Sharpie, and so far, it seems to be working well.

The other item I’m obsessing over right now is the Kershaw Pub, an no-nonsense mini multitool with a pry bar, screwdriver blade, bottle opener and a short cutting blade. Is it the last word in defensive folding knives? No. However, because it looks like a bottle opener when closed (because it is) you could carry this around in places which you frown on you showing up with a six inch long toadstabber of a fighting knife.