The Brooks Review

Month: June 2021

  • Rucking Clothing Updates

    On average, I ruck 6.5 days of the week. I generally only take a day off because I am out of town, my body is sore, or the weather is unsafe (high winds, lightning, rarely heat). And because of the hot and humid climate I live in, the clothing I choose to wear when I ruck is very important for the comfort of the activity.

    It’s been a couple years now in Houston where my clothing has been driven from the stuff that will keep me warm and dry enough, to the clothing that will get the sweat off of me and help to keep me from over heating. Here’s the stuff I have tried, and spoiler: only a few of the items are near perfect, while everything else is a series of trade offs.

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  • Mystery Ranch x Carryology Assault, aka ‘Unicorn’

    I will start by telling you that you can’t buy this bag, at least not directly with any link I can give you. You can readily buy them from other people, and many are new-with-tags because people like to make money from bags like this. When this bag was released, it would set you back $350. Now days, most sell between $500-$750 depending on how many are for sale at that given time — eBay has a few every couple weeks.

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  • Member Journal — 6/28/21

    This week: the things I use; a nine bag fiasco; Reeder App; a quick note about a change in the ‘newsletter’.

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  • Tuff Possum Gear Pocket Tool Pouch

    Update 12/13/21: It has been brought to my attention that Tuff Possum Gear has COVID misinformation on their website/blog, this is very unfortunate to hear. Please keep that in mind when/if considering ordering from them.

    I love the Pocket Possibilities Pouch from Tuff Possum Gear, but when I ordered those I wasn’t sure how much I might like them so I also ordered the Pocket Tool Pouch to check out as well. At $15 it’s a pretty easy item to buy and check out, but it’s not as good as the Pocket Possibilities Pouch — not even close.

    That said, this little pouch has it’s uses — more based on size and ruggedness than anything else.

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  • GORUCK Simple Shorts

    Really quick: I’ve had a pair of Simple Shorts in Coyote for a while now, but rarely wore them. This summer I’ve been wearing them a lot more, especially since they are one of the few shorts that fit me well (lost some way, yay?). Anyways, they are deceptively good.

    I won’t say they look the best, because they don’t. But they are very comfortable to wear. They breathe well (both for casual wear, and rucking) and are nice and stretchy. They dry fast and all that too. But more than that, like with the Simple Pants (Lightweight, love those more), they are fantastic to pack as backup clothing since they weigh nothing and pack down very small. I brought them as backups on a recent vacation, wore them the entire time.

    Also I should note that if you want secure pockets for going to the beach, these shorts are what you want. Stuff stays in these pockets, but the thin material means they print very well too. So a trade off, but a worthwhile one.

    Anyways, these aren’t always in stock but appear to have a decent stock right now, which has been very hit and miss with GORUCK lately. If you are interested grab a pair.

  • Yeoman Duffel from TOM BIHN Back In Stock For Limited Time

    Tom Bihn just released a batch of Yeoman Duffels in many sizes and colors (including Beaver Camo). They aren’t committing fully to when/if the next run will be. Be sure to snag one if you want one. I love them.

    Note, from Tom Bihn’s product page at the very bottom:

    The Yeoman is built entirely from our U.S.-made 1050 denier high-tenacity Ballistic nylon—but unlike other TOM BIHN bags, which are made from flawless 1050d ballistic, the Yeoman is made of fabric that is what we call “seconds”; fabric that may have cosmetic blemishes which do not impact its utility or durability.

    They detail what to expect more in the last paragraph of the page.

  • Custom Beavertail / Stick-It

    When I received my Mystery Ranch ASAP I knew I needed to do something to help tone down the absurd amount of PALs webbing across the face of the bag. I also knew I wanted to get something a little fun and also maybe useful to do accomplish the hiding. So I started looking at Mystery Ranch’s line of ‘stick-its’ which is also known as a Beavertail, or helmet cache. Basically a bit of fabric which is attached to the bottom of your bag, and then clips somehow to the top of the bag — creating an area to carry bulky things.

    The issue with the Mystery Ranch variants is that they come in coyote brown, black, camo, or blaze orange — in other words not the color choices which would really help me tone down much. But, there’s a seller on eBay and Instagram who custom makes these out of Ukraine, using whatever pattern you want.

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  • Member Journal — 6/21/21

    This week: every post-pandemic in person conversation is the same; going back to the office and a little stressed, it’s cool; Day One is a confused app, but WordPress could help it; I bought something stupid.

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  • Device Charger Recommendations

    I really loathe buying device chargers. This isn’t even to complain about the fact that Apple stopped selling them with iPhones, because I never counted those as useable — much too slow. Generally I am constantly needing to buy and change out chargers to find the right balance of size/speed/ports/cost. Faster is better, but faster also means bigger, usually. And then you have costs and what ports you want.

    Here’s the bottom line: I don’t like slow chargers; I don’t like bulky chargers; and I don’t like spending tons of money on chargers. And also half of the time my chargers get taken from me by the family, so I get to test all sorts of new stuff. To that end, here’s some chargers I want to direct your intention to…

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  • Prometheus Alpha Executive Pen

    For years now, I have kept a ‘wish list’ of items I feel I would be unlikely to buy for myself, but which I very much want. And this particular pen had always been near the top of the list — I never bought it because I wasn’t sure why I would use it over some of the other “nice” pens I have. I did end up snagging this recently after some encouragement from others who have it, and my only regret is that I didn’t buy it sooner because it is stupidly good.

    I shall now tell you why it is the best pen I own…

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  • Member Journal — 6/14/21

    This week: iPadOS 15 and the good stuff; Ancillary devices and iPads; the eBay App; a good sun hat; and what’s your Prepper type.

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  • A Couple Items for Sale

    I am trying to slim down over here, so I have two items to sell today:

    • Drop ALT Halo Clear Switches: comes with the keycaps you see on it, and one USB-C cable, just tell me if you want USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to USB-A. $85 shipped US Only Sold.
    • EDC Starter Kit: OneTigris Admin Pouch, 2020 Dumpster Fire Patch, Triple Seven Gear EDC Wallet, Retro51 Tornado Pen (with fresh refill), FourSevens Mini MKIII, Leatherman Carabiner Tool, Spyderco Ladybug ZDP-189. $95 shipped US Only Sold

    Email me, first to pay gets the item.

  • Lion Steel CK01

    I’ve been very happy with the Benchmade Proper — a knife I have found to be an excellent for the office. However, this Lion Steel came about after finding a new subreddit r/slipjoints which is dedicated to this type of pocket knife. It’s one of those subs you should not visit if you like having your money in cash form, instead of knife form which is slightly less liquid.

    Anyways, in trying to decide which model of the CK lineup to pickup I ended up with the CK01 which has a lot of great materials for a reasonable price at about $127 (changes a little by variant).

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  • Member Journal — 6/7/21

    This week: Keychron K6; some new member content sections; and Apple News is my featured iPad app this week.

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  • What Are You Really ‘Prepping’ For? Weather, Mostly.

    One thing I constantly think about when I am putting together supplies/preps are the two scenarios which are likely worst cases for me: what if the worst natural event hits when I am working, the kids are at school, and my wife is doing her things (meaning she is out, I don’t know where)? Or, what if it hits when we are all at home and sleeping and it is 4am, because 4am is scientifically the worst time — to early to be awake, too late to be awake…

    What that event is varies drastically depending on where in the world you live. Those on the West Coast of North America would be foolish to not be taking the risk of earthquakes very seriously, and the mid-southern third of North America can add wildfire risk to the matrix too. In Houston it’s hurricanes, floods, and thunderstorms. Others will have tornados, tsunamis, monsoons, derechos, volcanoes and a variety of other lovely things. These events and wreak havoc, and while you could debate which type of risk you prefer, they all present a high level of risk. A high level of extreme disruption to comfort. And debate all we want, they will happen.

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  • Mystery Ranch 3-Way Expandable Briefcase Review

    When I first wrote about this bag back in November I wasn’t back in the office, and as such this briefcase was hard to test. Since that time I have been back in the office, and I have had plenty of time to test it out and put the 3-Way through its paces. And my initial impressions were correct, this is a very good bag for the office, but I don’t think it is the bag for me.

    I never planned on this bag being something I used a ton myself, rather I bought it because I had mentioned it in my Get Home Bag post and thought I should put my hands on it, found a decent price on one and snagged it. After that first impression post, I found that I liked the bag, and was excited to give it a go back in the office.

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