Recent Articles

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.

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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.

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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.

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Right, so this was not the watch I was intending to buy when I went to go check out a new Grand Seiko Authorized Dealer. I was looking to pickup something in the quartz lineup and hopefully a GMT, but truth be told I wasn’t even set on buying something.

And they had a couple of the watches I had been eyeing — I didn’t even know this particular watch existed, as I had never seen it before, or glossed over it if I had. But when I saw this in the case, I knew I wanted to try it on, and as soon as I tried it on, I knew I was going to end up snagging it.

This is the Mist Flake, aka SBGE285G.

It’s going to be hard to put this into words, but this is a truly phenomenal watch, probably the best watch I’ve ever handled, let alone owned or worn for extended time. So there’s that. And technically speaking, it is also very impressive.

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RovyVon makes the neatest little lights out there, and this Angel Eyes E5 is a home run. It’s unassuming, but outright amazing. There’s a few models of this, but the one I have is the GITD body, with the UV light option — thus allowing for easy self-charging of the body to glow through the night.

Everyone needs one of these, but I guess I can tell you why…

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The idea behind this bag is that it is a self-contained packable duffel bag. The entire bag, with the straps, packs up into one of the pockets. At the same time, it can be expanded out to a full duffel which has a set of straps that allow it to be worn as a backpack if/when needed.

It comes in three sizes: 30L, 45L, 60L. Here, I am looking at the 30L model. I picked this up at the start of the year, to use on any trip as a backup bag. The type of bag you would use any time you find that you maybe bought too much to fit in the bags you have with you.

I’ve not had to use it in that role as of yet, however I have tested it in various capacities — it’s not a home run, but it’s far from bad.

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I’ve had this bag for quite some time now, and it’s been on the market for a very long time. This is a 19L packable backpack from Mystery Ranch. I picked this up mostly as a ‘just in case’ backpack, but it’s much better than I anticipated, so worth a few words on it.

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I’ve been struggling to find a sling which is the right shape, size, and look for me to be able to use without it looking — well — weird. Someone on my Discord pointed out this brand for the pouches — but the Rover Sling Pack caught my eye. They are made in a wide variety of colors, and are really competitively priced.

It’s been my go to, and really only, sling since it arrived. It’s fantastic.

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