The Brooks Review

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Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
Casio Duro MDV-106 Re-ReviewDecember 15, 2022
The Hype: Yoshida & Co’s Porter BagsAugust 26, 2025

Recent Articles

  • Proper Knife and Flashlight Pairings ‘for Any Budget’

    Proper Knife and Flashlight Pairings ‘for Any Budget’

    Oh my, GearJunkie’s Anthony Sculimbrene picked some not great options.

    Some of you may have seen this post over at GearJunkie:  Everyday Carry Essentials: Best Knife, Flashlight Pairings for Any Budget . There, Anthony Sculimbrene who also writes Everyday Commentary picked three pairings of knives and flashlights for all of us (under $100, over $200, and ‘high end’). The thing is, he did a poor job picking good pairings.

    There’s a bit of evergreen advice that people give out: if someone has a hobby that they are deeply into, don’t buy them a gift related to that hobby. The caveat is if you are also deeply into that same hobby then it might work out for you, maybe. I think this applies with lists like this: you need to assume that the people you are actually advising are not really into these hobbies, otherwise why would they be reading a list like this? At the same time people like myself and Sculimbrene who are into these hobbies, well this is why don’t gift things to people in areas of their expertise: they barely agree with other ‘experts’.

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  • Three Bags for People Who Don’t Care About Bags

    Three Bags for People Who Don’t Care About Bags

    You can’t believe I’m still talking about bags after all these years, and you know you could use a new one, but the prospect of that is overwhelming. This is for you.

    Carrying on from my flashlight post, written for those out there who don’t want to go deep down the rabbit hole — here are the three bags I think most people will need to be able to cover almost anything they encounter and generally to make life easier and are hand picked for people who really don’t even want to have to read this much to find out what to buy.

    You need a: duffel bag, a tote bag, and a backpack. You don’t need anything else for most of the general stuff in life — those three can work independently or together to get you covered in most situations.

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  • FourSevens Quark QK2A MKIII

    FourSevens Quark QK2A MKIII

    A really good flashlight, well built with an easy interface and easy batteries. But it’s big and spendy.

    I am writing this a little backwards, as I already published the article about three flashlights for people who don’t want to learn about flashlights, and talked about this light there. For that article I needed an upgrade pick for the AA light (which itself I didn’t have beforehand and had to test a bit) and because of that I honed in on this light: the Quark QK2A MKIII from FourSevens.

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  • Member Journal — 7/19/21

    Member Journal — 7/19/21

    Oddly this entire one is about gear, from troubles buying it, to a bunch of random gear I bought that I love, to a book series all about gear.

    This week: Apple’s website is terrible; a bunch of ‘micro’ reviews of stuff I have been using; and a ‘double down’ recommendation for fun; lastly some books.

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  • Gear Sale — Member First

    Gear Sale — Member First

    Let’s make some room in my house!

    I have a bunch of stuff I have been testing this year, but now it is time for a purge to make room for other items. Everything is as described, and prices include shipping. I am still only shipping to US addresses, and payments are via PayPal with everything being done using Goods & Services so you can have additional protection. Shipping will be either USPS or UPS — whichever I can snag cheaper (90% is going to be USPS so if you want something specific let me know before you pay). If you want to buy more than one thing, shipping should be able to be bundled and I can drop the price on it (Typically I cannot bundle bags together, so they will likely come in different boxes as they are hard enough to ship).

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  • GORUCK GR2 Pre-Orders

    Mostly mentioning this because they are making it in Multicam Tropic and 500D. Oh my. Must resist. Also like 26L GR2 I guess.

    Mostly mentioning this because they are making it in Multicam Tropic and 500D. Oh my. Must resist. Also like 26L GR2 I guess.

  • Noctigon KR4 in Deep Red

    Noctigon KR4 in Deep Red

    This light is really awesome, but that’s the LED not the body. The KR4 itself has questionable quality attributes for me to recommend it, but a D4V2 in Deep Red, heck yes.

    This is kind of the tail switch version of the D4V2, functionally it’s the same but you are clicking from the back of the light instead of on the side. So I am going to focus this review on the LED itself not on the body so much.

    Know that this is a great light, but made awesome by the LED option of Deep Red.

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  • You Really Need to Quit Twitter

    Caitlin Flanagan on the parasite that is Twitter: Twitter is a parasite that burrows deep into your brain, training you to respond to the constant social feedback of likes and retweets. That takes only a week or two. Human psychology is pathetically simple to manipulate. Once you’re hooked, the parasite becomes your master, and it…

    Caitlin Flanagan on the parasite that is Twitter:

    Twitter is a parasite that burrows deep into your brain, training you to respond to the constant social feedback of likes and retweets. That takes only a week or two. Human psychology is pathetically simple to manipulate. Once you’re hooked, the parasite becomes your master, and it changes the way you think. Even now, I’m dopesick, dying to go back.

    This applies to all social media regardless of which it is, or how you interact with it. I don’t miss leaving Twitter at all, it’s been fantastic. Even Reddit use I waning for me as I spend more time reading and writing than ever (you might have noticed the up tick in writing that’s because I don’t waste the time on scrolling endless feeds).

    That said, her sons sound a little annoying to be around.

  • Member Journal — 7/12/21

    I am swimming in a sea of new EDC gear I need to figure out how to carry, what to use, what to sell and all that good stuff.

    This week: using a handkerchief as a pocket organizer; some new lights; bag usage update; and upcoming sale.

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  • Three Flashlights for People Who Don’t Care About Flashlights

    You need a good flashlight, but you don’t want to read and research, or even care that much. This is for you.

    I know that are some of you out there that probably need a decent flashlight, but cannot (for whatever reason) be bothered to read about flashlights and figure out what someone actually should buy which is easy to use and will get the job done every time. If you are someone who wants to have a few good flashlights on hand, doesn’t want it to become a hobby, and wants to keep life simple — these three lights are for you.

    If you are reading this and you are thinking “I bet he will say XYZ” or “He better not recommend PQRS” then this is not a post that you will get joy out of reading — it’s not for you.

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  • GORUCK X-Mas in July

    Some interesting, and somewhat random feeling, deals for this year.

    Some interesting, and somewhat random feeling, deals for this year.

  • Mystery Ranch 1 Day Assault, Fixed Harness JDM

    Tantalizingly close to a perfect office EDC backpack for me, but it doesn’t fit my back very well.

    Continuing with my Mystery Ranch backpack obsession this past year, I have been longing to try out their Japanese-Market-Only 1 Day Assault line up. There’s two variants of this bag, both silly expensive, I got the “fixed harness” version which isn’t what is is really called, but commonly referred to.

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  • Switching Newsletters

    This evening the current newsletter system is being turned off, and I am moving to the native WordPress email notifications. I am *not* migrating your account, so please go here to sign up for email notifications of new blog posts: [Sign Up](https://brooksreview.net/newsletters/).

    This evening the current newsletter system is being turned off, and I am moving to the native WordPress email notifications. I am *not* migrating your account, so please go here to sign up for email notifications of new blog posts: [Sign Up](https://brooksreview.net/newsletters/).

  • Member Journal — 7/5/21

    Why Numbers is an app you are not using as much as you should be, and it’s really great.

    This week: cities for adults; slimming down the home office; Numbers is great; newsletter switch is upcoming.

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  • Custom Admin Pocket

    This is easily the best admin pocket I have found.

    Another custom creation from the same individual who made the beavertails I talked about before. This time it is an admin pocket he made for me, with a standard MOLLE layout for attaching to a PALS grid in my ASAP. This thing is awesome. To get one, you can look on eBay and Instagram or reach out directly to him and have him make you something custom.

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  • Rucking Clothing Updates

    Here’s my clothing recommendations for rucking as of right now.

    On average, I ruck 6.5 days of the week. I generally only take a day off because I am out of town, my body is sore, or the weather is unsafe (high winds, lightning, rarely heat). And because of the hot and humid climate I live in, the clothing I choose to wear when I ruck is very important for the comfort of the activity.

    It’s been a couple years now in Houston where my clothing has been driven from the stuff that will keep me warm and dry enough, to the clothing that will get the sweat off of me and help to keep me from over heating. Here’s the stuff I have tried, and spoiler: only a few of the items are near perfect, while everything else is a series of trade offs.

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  • Mystery Ranch x Carryology Assault, aka ‘Unicorn’

    A contender for the best EDC backpack on the market, except it really isn’t on the market at all.

    I will start by telling you that you can’t buy this bag, at least not directly with any link I can give you. You can readily buy them from other people, and many are new-with-tags because people like to make money from bags like this. When this bag was released, it would set you back $350. Now days, most sell between $500-$750 depending on how many are for sale at that given time — eBay has a few every couple weeks.

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  • Member Journal — 6/28/21

    I have been going pretty crazy in Numbers with tracking stuff, so I can help determine what I should actually keep, and what I should buy. And also, why Reeder is just fantastic.

    This week: the things I use; a nine bag fiasco; Reeder App; a quick note about a change in the ‘newsletter’.

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  • Tuff Possum Gear Pocket Tool Pouch

    A great pouch if you need something to handle gear that might put too much wear and tear on weaker pouches.

    Update 12/13/21: It has been brought to my attention that Tuff Possum Gear has COVID misinformation on their website/blog, this is very unfortunate to hear. Please keep that in mind when/if considering ordering from them.

    I love the Pocket Possibilities Pouch from Tuff Possum Gear, but when I ordered those I wasn’t sure how much I might like them so I also ordered the Pocket Tool Pouch to check out as well. At $15 it’s a pretty easy item to buy and check out, but it’s not as good as the Pocket Possibilities Pouch — not even close.

    That said, this little pouch has it’s uses — more based on size and ruggedness than anything else.

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  • GORUCK Simple Shorts

    Really quick: I’ve had a pair of Simple Shorts in Coyote for a while now, but rarely wore them. This summer I’ve been wearing them a lot more, especially since they are one of the few shorts that fit me well (lost some way, yay?). Anyways, they are deceptively good. I won’t say they look…

    Really quick: I’ve had a pair of Simple Shorts in Coyote for a while now, but rarely wore them. This summer I’ve been wearing them a lot more, especially since they are one of the few shorts that fit me well (lost some way, yay?). Anyways, they are deceptively good.

    I won’t say they look the best, because they don’t. But they are very comfortable to wear. They breathe well (both for casual wear, and rucking) and are nice and stretchy. They dry fast and all that too. But more than that, like with the Simple Pants (Lightweight, love those more), they are fantastic to pack as backup clothing since they weigh nothing and pack down very small. I brought them as backups on a recent vacation, wore them the entire time.

    Also I should note that if you want secure pockets for going to the beach, these shorts are what you want. Stuff stays in these pockets, but the thin material means they print very well too. So a trade off, but a worthwhile one.

    Anyways, these aren’t always in stock but appear to have a decent stock right now, which has been very hit and miss with GORUCK lately. If you are interested grab a pair.