Category: Articles

This watch is affectionately called the Casioak, or derisively called the Royal Broke — pick your pleasure — the real name is GA2100. There’s some watch enthusiast snark there, in that it feels like it was styled after the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak line of watches. But, the truth here is that this might be the best watch value out there, who gives a shit about why it looks like it does — it looks stellar.

For roughly $100, you get a watch which might be impossible to break under normal wear and use, and which still looks really sharp. There’s a wide selection of colors/models out there, I went with the non-USA market option which is all black with white indices (the USA variant has near black hands and the contrast is too low).

This is my second favorite watch right now, and neck and neck for my most worn — you can go get one and see for yourself or read on if you need more praise of it.

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This pack shouldn’t be this good. It should be yet another expensive backpack, which is a little too overcomplicated for its own good. That’s what it should be, that’s what a lot of people assume and think it is. When I look at the specs, the images, and other reviews of this bag — that’s what I see in this bag. It’s the entire reason I’ve never bothered to try it.

The reality is far from all that.

The reality is that this is possibly the best pure EDC backpack money can buy. The reality is that this perfectly meets the needs of backpack nerds, office goers, and urban explorers. It strikes the balance of understated looks, with very high performance materials, and a mix of organization and empty space.

The Axiom 24 is a damned good backpack.

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I’ve been a fan of Beyond Clothing’s stuff for a while now, and some time back they expanded their offerings to a lineup of less tactically focused clothing. I picked up a couple items recently, and on top of those — Beyond sent over a few more for me to check out and review (I’ll indicate which is which below).

Long story short: I’ve yet to get something from Beyond that I didn’t think was really good, bordering on amazing at times and these items are no exception to that. If you need some new outdoor clothing, or work from home gear, or whatever — be sure to check out what they have. I am a big fan of the brand.

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For years now I have been carrying my first aid kit gear in a random assortment of nylon pouches. Whatever fit the need/use. My day hiking kit has been like this too. And as anyone in the PNW will tell you, you mostly don’t worry about rain soaking out gear to that level day-to-day because it’s more constantly damp than it is driving rain.

But as anyone in Houston can tell you, when it rains, it rains and I have had even “rain proof” bags soak through and cause minor issues. I never thought about this, and then one day I realized: huh, gauze is probably not very useful if it gets wet.

So I wanted to find a nice waterproof-enough bag to store my first aid gear (and then some in) and that lead me to these Kuiu Zip Dry Bags. They are really neat bits of kit.

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I mentioned this article would be coming in a member post a while back. Over my kids’ spring break in March, we took a road trip from Houston to Las Cruces, New Mexico… and back. It was a lot of fun, but rather than focusing on the trip, let’s just talk about the gear and some of the other odds and ends of it all. The good stuff.

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This backpack is amazing and odd, and not at all expensive (well compared to most I talk about). LBT primarily makes military gear, and because of that they have a vast array of backpacks. But the 14L Daypack has long been something people had a love-hate relationship with. Recently, LBT updated it to a ‘v2’ design, which is what I am talking about today. The main changes seem to be the back panel (semi-rigid foam) and the interior back wall being full loop (instead of a pouch).

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I really like a good shemagh — it’s something everyone should keep nearby wherever possible. If my bag will fit one, it will have one. And I often travel with 1-2 as well so that I always have an extra. They are stashed in my emergency bags and generally all over in my life.

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This was a gift from my parents over the holidays (they know me well!) and it’s been a really interesting little light to use. This is also my first Muyshondt, and the Maus is the smallest of all their lights — it’s essentially a keychain light.

It’s really neat, with one flaw that will either not matter to you (me) or be the deal breaker.

These come in a few different finishes, this model is the copper model and it weighs quite a bit given how small it is.

LED and Power

This is, as far as I can find, a Nichia 219b SW45 (CCT 4500k) which is a high CRI and fan favorite LED. I say fan favorite, but it’s only my second favorite 219b flavor as I generally prefer the SW30 over this. That said, when you are working with lower output lights like this, the SW45 is a better performing light as it visually looks brighter under more/most scenarios.

To that end, this is a twisty light which offers three output modes: 1 lumen, 10 lumens, 60 lumens. You’re not going to wow anyone with the output, but this is a really small light, so it is more than acceptable output given everything at play.

The big issue here is the battery. Muyshondt, in my opinion, makes bad judgment calls when selecting batteries. CR2s and N Cells are just not good power sources as they are harder to find and cost more because of it. And yes, this tiny little light is powered by the equally tiny ‘N Cell’. Also listed as “E90” or “LR1”. They are $1.50 – $2.00 per cell on Amazon — so not too bad but the issue I have is that they are not something I can likely pop into any store in any country and find. It’s not that they are rare, but rather that I can generally find a AAA/AA in most homes, and that won’t be close to the case here.

For me though, the N Cell works, because I wouldn’t use this as a primary light. If this is your primary light, then I think battery is a bigger factor, but as a secondary light it’s not that big of an issue. And N Cells are small and easy to stash in a bag somewhere so you have your own extra with a tiny bit of planning. Kind of a wash, not sure what else could be used really to fit this sizing.

Size and Carry

The pictures so far might be a little misleading as to the true size. This light is just over a half inch in diameter (0.57 inches), 2.1 inches long and Muyshondt lists it at 1 ounce in weight. So yes, it’s heavy because it is copper, but it’s still not heavy in the grand scheme of heavy.

Next to a Tinker.

This light is tiny, and the extra weight is actually a credit here because it helps to keep it at the bottom of your pocket and is substantial enough that you can feel where the light is. And the added weight gives you a better grip on it — I am not sure I would have wanted something that weighed less as I have butter fingers as it is already.

The copper, as you can see, is developing a nice patina, and I look forward to that continuing — it comes very shiny and polished. I’m a fan.

The Maus is really designed to be a ’keychain’ light, but I’ve never found those handy. Instead you can see the tether I have on it, and I use that to clip it into an Admin pouch in my backpack. There, I use this little light as to help find things inside my bag, as you don’t need 1000 lumens reflecting back off the interior of your bag — it’s great for this use.

The twist action actually works in favor of this type of use too, as it is unlikely to be accidentally triggered in your bag, and is easy enough to use. The small size will challenge your finger dexterity if you want to use it single handed, but I use almost always use it that way and have yet to have anything more than a momentary issue.

I should note: the machining is top notch and the threads glide very nicely. Impressive.

Overall

It’s hard not to like this light. I wasn’t sure what I would think about this going into it, but months later I still use it all the time, and make sure it’s in my bag everyday. There is one other downside: the price. At $325 it’s not even remotely inexpensive, and I can’t say you are paying for some crazy performance. You are paying for the brand, the machining, and that’s that.

But, it is quite good for what it is.

Find it here. ($325)

I’ve never owned a Winkler before this one, but I’ve long wanted one so I was really excited to get this. And when it came time to snag one — I was torn between getting a larger knife first, or one that I might actually carry. I went with something smaller that I could carry, and really this could be the only fixed blade I own and I would never be left for wanting.

The Winkler Standard Duty 2 (SD2) is fantastic in every way. And it’s one of the best looking knives I own.

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I’ve been going all in on sling bags since the start of the pandemic. It’s hard to carry all the stuff I want to carry with me without a sling at this point: knife, keys, wallet, flashlight, pen, hand sanitizer, masks, mints. That’s not fitting in my pockets, I live in Houston so I can’t rely on jacket pockets, and cargo pants/shorts are a non-starter for me.

Sling it is. I’ve reviewed a lot lately, and one of my favorites I kept going back to was Hill People Gear’s Belt Pack (which just came out in a larger size). I was set to buy another in the larger size, but when Marsupial Gear dropped this Fanny Pack, I jumped at it, and now I don’t really have a need for the larger Hill People Gear Belt Pack, because this sling is the sling for me.

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Able Carry has been making the rounds in the blogs and YouTube channels I do follow, and I wanted to check out what they had on offer — but their bags don’t speak to me. So I grabbed two pouches, and found a brand with nice finishing, excellent materials and very low prices. These two pouches have been kicking around my gear for a while now, so let me run you through them both.

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