This is the time of the year when flames are oddly comforting. It’s cold, it’s dark, and all I want to do is relax. But when you nail 1000 lumens on your perfectly daylight balanced flashlight against the ceiling — it can take you out of the mood.
Enter the Barebones Living Edison Light Stick, a silly little light gadget that is worth every penny and is a real gem. It’s an odd little thing, so let’s dive in…
I previously looked at the District 18 when it came out, and while I liked the bag — it felt a little small on my long torso. I grabbed the District 24 to take a look at in hopes that it was the same bag, only bigger.
And it is bigger, but that ‘bigger’ changes how it feels enough that it’s not a layup if all you want is a larger version of the District 18.
GORUCK released the M22 top loading backpack for $195. I actually like the looks of the bag, and think that it’s great they are branching out to a new style all together. I am holding off buying right now because they stated width on this is 14.5”, which from experience with other bags seems quite wide to me.
Some people are not at all bothered by the width of a bag, but I seem to be among those who prefers a tall and skinny bag. The pricing seems solid, and the there’s a lot of nice looking touches. I can’t wait to see what others think of it.
The MDV-106 is a classic, and this Casio “the Duro” is a well known, and well recommended watch for those looking for a classic design on a tight budget. When I first reviewed the watch, it was priced at about $40 — inflation has caught up with it and it’s now priced just under $50 depending on the color you choose.
This is still the same watch I reviewed in 2018, and I summarized it in the original review saying:
Overall, I’m impressed. I’m keeping it too. I really don’t understand why more people aren’t wearing these, it’s perfect in its simplicity and value. To me this watch proves you really don’t need to spend more than $40 to get a really great watch.
This little pouch is popular in the EDC community. I am not entirely sure why that is, perhaps because it is small enough you can toss it in a pocket if you really want to. Maybe it’s the many color combinations and limited editions that come out. Perhaps it’s because they offer a neat place to store your gear in between shots of said gear for Instagram. Really, the possibilities seem endless.
I snagged one second hand as I don’t have whatever notification system is being use for the drops on these.
It’s not very great.
If you have ever searched for military watches, or field watches generally, then you have likely come across Marathon Watch — and most likely also come across their “General Purpose” line of watches. There’s a few variants, but they can be broken down to: Mechanical (GPM) or Quartz (GPQ); and then Tritium or Maraglo. I’ve always thought they looked neat, and something to try out, but the price tag is steep for what looks like a rather plain watch.
But, I grabbed a GPQ with Maraglo from J.Crew during one of their many sales for about $80 — an absolute steal of a deal. I’ve been messing about with it since picking it up, and while I do like it — it’s not really something which draws me in.
Oh man, this bag. So much drama for a single backpack. Here’s the deal: I really don’t like buying these collaboration bags that Carryology does, as I think they are full of hype and rarely better than whatever bag they replace. Add to that the arrogance of Taylor Weldon over at Carryology — and it becomes very unpalatable. The issue on the Mystery Ranch collaborations, though, is they they often bring back designs you cannot easily buy anywhere else. Rock and a hard place there for me.
So I bought this bag. Actually, I bought two of these bags. And I kind of fucking like them. Damn.
I love Benchmade knives, but even I start to get a little heartburn when the prices start to get above $250 for them. Mostly because I am skeptical about the steels used, and unconvinced that they are that much better than some of their lower priced options.
So the Mini Freek (565) is a knife I have always wanted, but never bought — until I was offered a solid deal on a secondhand Mini Freek. I picked it up, and I fell in love with it almost immediately. It’s very good.
Welcome: this is for you to buy yourself something nice; or to send to someone who is wanting to buy you something nice, but finds you impossible. Let’s dive right in with the guide, I set it up by price brackets…
My wife swears by these, and they are the only sunglasses she has ever loved wearing. On sale for $175.
‘Outdoors’ bags are 30% off (code: MRHOLIDAY22), this includes: District 18 & 24, Blitz series, 2 Day Assault, and Urban Assault 21. Buy yourself and your family some new bags, great deal.
Some really killer prices on Ruckers selling for $179. I am not a fan of the Jedburghs myself, but there are some MacV-1s on sale and those are excellent boots.
Let me tell you a little story of my email correspondence over the years: I post a review of a Mystery Ranch bag, or a GORUCK bag and in the review I talk about how comfortable those bags are. Then, I get a message from someone telling me that I should really try Hill People Gear bags, because there are no more comfortable harness systems on the market — they tell me.
So I go look at their gear, and everything seems to odd looking for me to use day to day, and I move on. Until recently when a member sent me a really good offer on Hill People Gear’s Connor Pack v2, so I went for it. That was months ago, and I have never really got around to reviewing the bag or using it a ton. I did take it to the office and used it rucking a bunch and then it fell away.
I had been wanting a nice way to store my pens. Something I could easily take the pens in and out of, I could carry with me, which kept them safe from other things in my bag, and from other pens in the pouch.
I stumbled on the Galen Leather Pen Pouch, and picked it up a while back.
It’s fantastic, I’ll keep this short…
