An Everyday Carry kit (a.k.a an EDC) is something everyone has – most people just don’t realise it! While some people will have incredibly complex/overkill kits, others will have an incredibly simple one. What it really boils down to though, is the items that you carry/take with you everywhere you go, every single day! Everyone has items in common as well – regardless of the size/complexity of your kit or who you are! Your phone, your keys, your wallet – these are all items that are a part of your Everyday Carry kit!
For most, their kit is defined by either their work, their travel or just their everyday requirements! The Everyday Carry Wikipedia article has a pretty good definition of what a kit typically consists of:
Everyday carry (EDC) or every day carry refers to items that are carried on a consistent basis to assist in dealing with normal everyday needs of modern society, including possible emergency situations.
Some of the most common EDC items are knives, flashlights, multitools, wallets, smartphones, notebooks, and pens. The type and quantity of such items may vary widely.
So, as a man “dealing with normal everyday needs of modern society” – what’s in my Everyday Carry? In an effort to keep it simple, I’m going to simply list out and explain my core EDC as my kit technically differs based on whether I am heading to work or not!
My core Everyday Carry kit
Phone
Currently, my daily driver is the iPhone 7 Plus (128GB) Black. I’ve been using this phone since late October 2016 and I’m currently running the latest iOS Public Beta on it. It’s wrapped in an i-Blason scratch resistant clear case and a Spigen Tempered Glass screen protector, both of which have done a brilliant job so far!
Up until I purchased this phone, I was a hardcore Android fanboy. But when the 7/7 Plus was released, I opened my mind, I compared spec sheets, day-to-day performance between the S7 Edge (which is my company phone) and came to the conclusion that at the time – the iPhone was the better phone. Whether it was the fast NVME storage, incredible software optimization, unparalleled ease of use or the cool yet gimmicky dual cameras and Force Touch features… something pushed me over to the Apple way of life. I do miss being able to use my phone as a mass storage device, being able to use my 3.5mm headphones when I’ve forgotten the stupid adapter or being able to listen to audio via that same pair of headphones whilst also charging my phone.
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Wallet
I have absolutely no idea what brand my wallet is. My father-in-law bought it for me as a Christmas present around three years ago whilst he was on holiday in Belgium. The wallet is made-up entirely of leather and has worn incredibly well – my wife could tell you, before this particular wallet, I went through wallets like nobodies business. I don’t keep much in there: recent receipts, my debit cards, my driving licence, a couple of loyalty cards, a Tesco Clubcard, a myWaitrose card and a Costco members card. I don’t tend to carry cash (although I really need to start carrying a small amount!) in my wallet as I always pay with either a debit card or Apple Pay.
Shout out to the father-in-law! If you’re reading this – Thank you very much! 🙂
Keys/Key ring
My keyring has everything on it. It’s my backup and typically means I can leave the house without the two following items within my Everyday Carry. It looks overcrowded and needs a bit of a tidy up, but this setup has served me well over the last 2 years.
The core of the keyring is a Nite Ize S-Biner in Size #2 with a couple of small bits of heatshrink tubing used to close off the gates (I don’t use them!). I used to have a suspension clip attached to hang the keys from the top of my pocket as opposed to them just bulking at the bottom, however I lost this a while ago (and I’m still not sure how). Everything on the keyring is attached via small ring shaped split rings, the list of items attached to the keyring is as follows:
- Car key
- House keys
- Trolley token (as I mentioned above, I don’t carry change and I got this free at an expo!)
- USB-to-Lightning cable (mentioned previously in my tech essentials blog post)
- Fenix E01 torch
- Spyderco Bug
- Nite Ize Doohickey pry bar
- True Utility Fire Stash
- Titaner Titanium Whistle
Knife
I’ve had and used the Spyderco UKPK (Leaf shaped blade with flat grind finish) for almost 2 years now. And when I say I’ve “used” it for 2 years, I really mean it. For a good 18 months, this knife was used to open boxes daily, cut cables, cut cable-ties, as a makeshift screwdriver, to scrape labels off of things, to cut tape and oh so much more!
In all of that time, it’s held an incredibly sharp edge. I’ve only had to get the knife sharpened once, which is apparently incredibly easy to do if you know what you’re doing/have the right tools (I don’t…)! I’d highly recommend purchasing this knife via Heinnie Haynes as delivery was quick and customer service is exceptional! When I needed to get the knife sharpened (which as I mentioned, I don’t have the right tools or know-how), I got in touch with them, sent the knife off and within a week I had it back and it was sharp,
If you’d like some specifics about the knife:
- Overall length: 6.69 inches (17.0 cm)
- Blade length: 2.91 inches (7.4 cm)
- Blade thickness: 0.08 inches (0.2 cm)
- Lock: Non-locking notch-joint
- Handle material: FRN (Fibreglass Reinforced Nylon)
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Torch
The Preon P2 (Titanium) is a nice, lightweight, slimline torch that is powered by 2 x AAA batteries, has a decent water resistance rating of IPX8 and is made up of an anodised aluminium body with a titanium head and tail cap. The bulb in this torch is an LED CREE XP-G2 Gen 2 which has a max output of 192 lumens in the highest mode! Talking of modes, this torch has SEVEN different modes, all controlled via a single push button on the end of the torch. Each mode (obviously) has a different battery life, to list the main modes:
- Low: 2 lumens – 23 hours.
- Medium: 22 Lumens – 6 hours.
- High: 192 umens – 1 hour.
Other modes include: Strobe , SOS , Beacon (Hi) , Beacon (Lo) – none of which I use.
If you’d like some specifics about the size and weight of this torch:
- Length: 5.05 inches (12.83 cm)
- Diameter: 0.55 inches (1.4 cm)
- Weight: 0.88 ounces (24.95 grams) – not including the batteries
Pen
The pen is probably the one area in which my EDC could be improved – saying that, whilst it’s not the latest, greatest and most rugged piece of kit I own, the pen that I carry everyday has always been up to the job and cheap to maintain/replace. That’s right, I’m talking about a bog-standard, cheap as can be off-brand biro. A pack of 50 on Amazon will set you back around [amazon_link asins=’B008TQKIXG’ template=’PriceLink’ store=’askanasu04-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’3d2503b4-476e-11e7-8f0a-df84684d42c4′]dependent on the brand you go for, which is the tenth of the price of an EDC pen and I’ve no idea how much cheaper once you add on refills.
Saying that, I’d still really like to get a pen with a built in glass-breaker!
These items all cover off my core kit. They’re the items I have in my pockets every single day, no matter where I’m going, what I’m doing, weekday or weekend.
I do, however, have an extended EDC for weekdays when I’m not working from home. This includes extra items such as my laptop, work phone, power bank, cables, tools and more – however I’ll cover these off in another blog post at a later date.
If you have any items you’d recommend or carry everyday – drop a comment down below as I’d love to hear about it as I’m still a relative newbie to EDC! Alternatively, if you’re interested at looking at other people’s EDC’s, check out http://everydaycarry.com/ as there’s some interesting kits here!
