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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.

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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.

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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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