Recent Articles

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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…

(more…)

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.

(more…)