Night Ops Gladius

The Gladius is a LED flashlight intended for law enforcement or spec ops members that can certainly be a lot of fun for a flashlight enthusiast.

The light comes in HA-3 finish, uses 2 C123 batteries and can output up to 80 lumen (aprox). The light operates in 4 channels (modes) that can be selected with a polymer ring at the end of the light. The first mode is constant-on mode, you press the tailcap button to turn the light on or off. You can also keep the button pressed to change the brightness level, the brightness will go from the brightest mode to the dimmest and then back.

In channel (mode) 2 you have the strobe that I'm going to discuss in some detail soon. Mode 3 is momentary on/off using maximum brightness.

Mode 4 is lock-out mode to avoid accidentaly turning the light on or off. You can turn the light on in channel 1 regulate the brighness and then move the ring to channel 2 (strobe) or 3 (momentary max) then just pressing the button you activate the selected mode. This is useful when you want to use a dim light to check something but have a strobe or max power beam ready in case of emergency/need.

It is possible to program if the light goes low to high or high to low in mode 1 and it is also possible to program the light to "remember" the brightness level in mode 1 so it is resumed when you switch the light on. The light has a lot of throw for a LED light, and it is very bright.

The strobe is designed to confuse an eventual hostile individual or attacker, my experiments show that the strobe not only disorients and suprises the individual but he can also lose sense of depth and perception of distance so you can use the strobe in emergencies to run away from danger. The surprise effect is important, if your attacker sees the strobe at long distance he can "think" about it and attack you effectively.

A very complete light, very bright and fun to use.
You can get it from $120 to $200 in different retailers so I will let you do the research.
Luigi

FPS7 Lock Picking tool

Lock-picking is both a useful skill when you are in need and a fun hobby too. The FPS7 Tool by Southern Specialties is a EDCable set of picks and a tension tool packed in a ver small and light aluminium frame.

The tool has 8 different picks for different types of locks and a removable tension tool. I have tested the tool and it is a pleasure to work with, most locks are easily opened and you can't tell the difference with the bigger tools.

The lever that is used to "lock" the pick you select in place is particularly good giving very good tactile feedback while keeping the pick firm. You can check this and other fun lock picking tools at Southern Specialties Website. And if you want to be curious about lock picking you can check the MIT guide to lock picking or visit the site of lock picking hobbysts in the US (http://toool.us/).

SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 2Gb pendrive

This a 2Gb flash drive enclosed in a "luquid metal" metallic case, it's supossed to resist forces of up to 200lbs, some guys tried to crush it with an SUV but failed. It has a cool look and feel too.

The cruzer comes with a lanyard, split ring and a metallic pocket clip that I didn't find useful so I removed it. The USB connector is plastic and retractable, when being used a blue led glows and the led blinks when the drive is transferring data.

The cruzer is a U3 compatible drive, this means that you can use it as a regular 2Gb flash drive but you can also use it as a U3 device downloading and installing U3 portable software (freeware) that you can then launch from the U3 launchpad. It comes with the usual sofwtare in trial mode that you don't want but it also comes with the U3 launchpad and download manager that I found very useful download the applications you want and they will be ready to be launched from the U3 launchpad.

I installed portable firefox, open office, thunderbird, a PIM application, a encryption software, a notepad and a PDF reader all installed and ready to use in minutes. Prices for flash drives change a lot, calculate $50~$80 for this one at the time this was posted. You can get more information at the Cruzer official page. A very cool and strong drive. Recommended.

Atwood Prybaby

A prybaby can be found more and more in EDC kits. Small and practical the prybaby is a keychain item that can be used for several different things.

It's primary use as its name indicates is to pry things, constructed in s30v steel the small prybaby can lift a lot of weight before suffering any deformation. I have used to remove a door from its frame and worked without suffering damage.

Besides prying things the tool comes with a bottle opener, and a scredriver tip on the other end. The tip of the tool can be used to remove nails, scrap paint, open boxes etc.

Making it short the number of real uses for your prybaby depends on you, the longer you have it the more you discover how useful it can be. You can get it for $35 directly from Peter Atwood's website.

Grimloc Carabiners

Grimlocs are plastic carabiners shaped as a "D". They are commonly used to attach puches or not very heavy equipment to packs.

The design minimizes IR emission so they are stealth to night vision equipment. To open just press the top button to close press firmly.

They can be used with gloves and don't get stuck with sand or dirt. I found these particularly useful with Maxpedition packs for attachment points.
Available in Tan, Black and Green.

You can get them in Packs of 4 for $8 from Tad Gear and other good suppliers.

The Fox40 Micro Whistle

Whistles are very practical, not only they are a must-have in emergencies they can also be useful to attract attention of people, lost family members, children, policemen, etc.

The only problem with whistles is that the size/usefulness ratio is important since you really don't use your whistle a lot daily.

Fox40 is a manufacturer that produces small whistles that are very loud the Fox40 and Fox40 mini has been in many EDC kits. Now they have released the Fox40 Micro a flat version of the popular Fox40. Being small and flat this Micro whistle is very EDCable, it can go unnoticed in keychains or lanyards and be ready to be used when you need it.

So far you can only get it in black or orange versions. The only small downside to this whistle is that you need to blow it with some strength to use it. You can get it for $5 from CountyComm and you can read more about it in the product page.

The P38 can opener

The P38 can opener is a very simple device: a small piece of stainless steel with a folding curved cutting flap. In a naive approach you use this to open cans, unfold the flap pinch the can with the tip of the flap and in 38 cuts you will have the can opened and thus the name of the device.

But being able to carry this in a keychain because of its small size generated several other uses for the device. From cleaning nails to opening boxes cutting cord, etc. Some websites list hundreads of uses for the P38. Reatiling for less than a dollar a unit this is a vintage item that can be really useful.

You can learn more about the P38 in this website.

The Inka Pen

The Inka Pen is a modular keychain pen. It has two flavours: Titanium and Stainless Steel. I will review here the SS version. Right from the box you get a quick use keychain pen, just pull the pen from the metal keychain tube and you can write.

If the pen is too short for you or you need it to write for some time you can proceed to assemble a full-size pen unscrewing some parts and screwing them back in a different order. The same goes for the stylus tip so the Inka is actually a "transformer" pen.

I found the quick use pen very useful, the split ring that comes with it is too big so you may want to replace it to reduce the bulk in your keychain. The full-sized pen or the stylus to me were not very attractive since taking some seconds to "assemble" a pen before using it is not logical for a keychain pen. You want it because you can use it quickly to write something so the assembling process doesn't make a lot of sense.

The SS version costs $24 and the Titanium version about $85 you can get them or read more at the Inka pen website.