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.

Orb Raw, the pocket rocket

The Orb Raw is a keychain flashlight, it is very small but very powerful so it's what flashaholics call a "pocket rocket". The Orb is a Luxeon III led flashlight driven by a CR2 3v lithium battery. Since the flashlight is very bright you need to use rechargeables.

The Orb comes wiht a rechargeable CR2 battery and a nano-charger. You can get a two-stage version with 2 levels of light or just a 1 stage. In maximum power the Orb can outperform very big flashlights, it produces about 80 lumen that is brighter than many many larger flashlights. It has a very big "oooh" factor.

The runtime in maximum is about 15 minutes, in the low setting the runtime is a lot longer while still providing plenty of light for most tasks that require a flashlight.

Optionally you can add tritium tubes to the body that will act as a locator to help you find the raw in the dark.

The raw does not have a hole for a split ring so if you want to put it in your keychain or lanyard you need to buy an accesory lanyard ring.
You can order and read more information at the Orb Raw website.

Make your own EDC: OD& Int Organge Paracord FOB

So you want to make some lanyards or fobs for your keychain or EDC items? You need to start getting some paracord, a good dealer is Supply Captain

You can get it in different colors in this picture I used OD green and International Orange. The creation of the fob itself is more a creative process than a science. I used a monkey fist knot ties around a marble. Then a square knot . At the end you will have some "strands" of paracord and you will have to carefully burn them to solder the loose strands to some part of your fob. Use a small torch lighter if you can.

For inspiration about other ideas and designs you can visit StormDrane's blog and you can also keep tuned here since I have many designs coming.