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Note: this sling was provided by Aer for review at no cost.

The City Sling is a more compact sling from Aer, with he goal of being for quick trips around the city — not for collecting, or traveling. Just the essentials.

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Note: this bag was provided for review by Aer at no cost.

The next sling I have to talk about is the Aer Day Sling 2, in the limited edition X-Pac (also available in black nylon, gray, and black multicam). My first impressions of this bag, upon receiving it, were simply: oh man I really like this. The pictures of this sling on Aer’s site and here in this article simply don’t do it justice. In a lot of ways the size and rather not traditional shape of this sling make it something which both stands out as unique, but fades away when you are carrying it.

It’s awesome.

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Hot on the heels of the Shadow Guide V2 33, is the all new 23 liter variant. It’s smaller, but otherwise the same. And yet, so much better than the 33.

I’ve only had the bag a short time, so this is more of a preview and quick comparison, than any sort of review.

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Note: this bag was provided by Bellroy for review at no cost.

Continuing on my search for a great sling, we have the Bellroy Sling — which is an apt name. This is easily the best looking sling of all I have so far, so I really want to focus on more than just how great it looks. But, to be clear, it looks fantastic.

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I started my sling journey by grabbing the Mystery Ranch Full Moon and as the cheeky name implies — it is first and foremost a hip/fanny bag but so are most of these sling bags. Overall, this is a really good option, but has left me wanting something a little different.

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Following on with my purse post, a sling is likely to be a smart carry accessory as ‘we’ move through the COVID and post-COVID times, and hopefully into a more health aware life. This is also a product of me having younger kids, but mostly me liking to have a lot of crap with me all the time.

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It’s time for the best items you can buy in 2020.

For the past ten years I have been reviewing and testing all sorts of different gear. In this post, I am distilling down gear by categories and listing the top three items for each category. What is third for me, might be first for you.

Instead of maintaining the running list I have been doing, I am now going to post yearly lists. This is not a list of only stuff I reviewed this year, this is an ongoing list of things I feel are the best, broken down into categories for easier sorting.

See the list here.

Not member? See what you are missing on the old format/archive: 2019 list.

While I have many wallets, they are all geared towards a life where I might be at work, or out and about for a full day. None of them are well suited to a small few items, some cash, and flexibility. I was frustrated, so I started to look around when I came across this Dango S1 wallet.

It is fantastic, here’s why…

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Not too long after the Bugout came out, Benchmade released the Bailout — ostensibly this is a bigger, tougher version of the Bugout. If the Bugout is the ideal knife for hiking, the Bailout — well the Bailout is just aggressive as hell.

The Bailout is one of those knives I look at and know it isn’t something I will love for everyday carry, but I can’t get over how great it looks. And then you add in the steel options for this knife, CPM-3V or M4, and it’s a take my money situation.

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I don’t love wading into these waters, but it must be done. multitools are super useful, but only if you manage to wade through the crap that dominates the market to find a good one. Most multitool companies completely miss the point. And since there is constant debate around whether or not multitools are worth it, and they are, I took time to test a bunch to see what really makes for a good multitool — to see if I could find one.

After testing over a dozen multitools, I will summarize as: most are not ‘worth it’.

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