With all the civil unrest running amok in the US, we take a look at what we believe is essential gear for Every Day Carry (EDC). First and foremost, what is EDC? Very simple, EDC is the essentials that one carries on them through-out the day and at any given time. When you leave the house, these items may be the only thing to get you home or to your vehicle.
Full disclosure, this is just our interpretation of what we consider essential. Your EDC can vary by where you live (Geographic), what you do for a living (Profession), time of the year (Season), and your Local and State Laws (Legality).
Every person is different. There are different body types, different needs, and just overall different occasions. This comprehensive Top 10 Essential Gear list is just for an “average” person:
- Keys
- Wallet
- Cellphone
- Watch
- Medical
- Pen
- Flashlight
- Multi-tool
- Knife
- Firearm
Some of these items are a no brainer, ie: Keys, Wallet, and Cellphone. These items are needed on a daily and the rest of the items are what we consider essential.
Keys: When it comes to keys, having some sort of key organizer can make grabbing the right key quickly and swiftly. We suggest the following Key Organizers all under $40:
Cellphone: We’re not going to discuss which phone is better than the next, but we will decided to showcase outer protective cases. With cellphones costing upwards to the $1000 mark and being ones life-line, why not invest in protecting it. We recommend the following Protective Cases: For the ones that are indoors or in the office setting, we recommend the following Watches: Medical: Although it’s almost impractical to carry around a complete IFAK on your hip, (because lets be real…that would look just ridiculous) but how about something that can be slim, convenient, and still offer quite a lot of medical items. So what offers something with all of that – how about an ankle medical kit. ***Disclaimer: Some of these recommendations are stocked and some are just the ankle holder. We recommend that you get trained on how to utilize these medical items prior to wearing them for an EDC item.*** These kits are somewhat bulky when stocked, so if you wear skinny jeans, then these wouldn’t work. We recommend the following Ankle Medical Kits: Pen: Pens can be really expensive or really cheap. It’s up to you what you would like to carry. But often times, pens can be over-looked. Having a good quality pen is very valuable. We also recommend carrying a Sharpie Marker as well as an ink pen. When choosing a pen, also look at the ink cartridges they use to see how easy it is to obtain the refills. We recommend the following Pens: Flashlight: So why have a flashlight when phones have them? Well, often times, the flashlight on a phone isn’t that bright and having something a bit smaller can help aid with getting into the hard to reach spots. We recommend the following Flashlights: Multi-tool: There are quite a lot of multi-tools out on the market right now. There are some that are better than others. We recommend the following Multi-tools: Knife: Having a great knife can go along way. Knives have multi-purposes, from self-defense to needing to cut a package or to pry something open. Knives are considered tools and not necessarily for self-defense but it could potentially be used for it. ***Disclaimer: We recommend on getting knife training before you carry a knife for self-defense. Be aware, if you pull your knife for self-defense, you are close to the attacker and if they have a knife, you are more than likely going to get cut. Being prepared is key. Please follow all your Local and State Laws regarding carrying knives.*** A good pocket knife can be inexpensive or very expensive, the choice is yours. One thing to look for when choosing your knife is the blade steel. We like AUS8, D2, Cr13MoV, and CPM-S30V materials. We recommend the following Knives: Having multiple handguns to choose from can help with picking the right one for the right season, occasion, and the way you carry. If you do not have a handgun please check out our article on picking your first handgun. We also recommend having night sights and possibly a weapons mounted light for your handgun, in the event of a night-time encounter. For our EDC firearm picks, we recommend the following Compact and Sub-compact and Revolver Firearms: Again, these are just our opinions and they may differ from what your carry on a daily. All-in-all, it’s all about being prepared. Make sure to have proper training with your items, so you aren’t using them for the first time if your life is depending on it. Carry something different or more ideas for an ideal EDC? Let us know down in the comments below! As always, ya’ll be good and be safe!
For the ones that are outdoors and more on the go, we recommend the following Watches:
