What’s In Our Everyday Carry: August 2023

With the summer heat pressing on, vacations coming to an end, and kids heading back to school, we’re back with another edition of “What We’re Carrying This Month”. Here’s a preview of the goods we’ve selected for your everyday carry pleasure:

• A universal travel adapter that’s compact and thoughtfully designed
• An affordable flashlight that’s perfect for a casual EDC setup
• A micro-sized version of a knife that we’ve come to know and love
• An ultralight, foldable, Bluetooth keyboard

So without further ado, let’s jump right into the gear.

Statik GloboCharge Universal Travel Adapter

If you’ve ever traveled abroad, you know at least two things: First, that outlets don’t work quite the same when you’re across the pond; and second, that the travel adapter you have to buy to charge your electronics will fall into a thousand pieces at the most inconvenient time.

Those old school, piece-by-piece travel adapters have worked for thousands of travelers. But have they ever worked really well?

That’s why we’re thrilled to share Statik’s new GloboCharge Universal Travel Adapter with you. Not much larger than a standard AC power adapter, it combines plug types for over 200 different countries into one shift-and-change adapter. Gone are the days of hunting through your LEGO set of a charger adapter to find the perfect fit — just adjust the switches on the GloboCharge’s side, and you’ll have your juice anytime you need it.

Trustfire L1 Mini EDC LED Flashlight

If you’ve been reading the Carry Lounge for any amount of time, you know that we’re big advocates for including a flashlight as part of your everyday carry. It’s one of those tools that you may not need until you really need it — and you don’t want to be caught relying on your phone’s flashlight function (about 40 to 50 lumens) when what you really need is a dedicated light source.

Trustfire’s L1 Mini EDC LED Flashlight does everything you want in a flashlight, with minimal bells and whistles, at an excellent price. For under 20 dollars, it provides compact everyday carry functionality along with a 385 lumen output — more than enough to light your way in a tough situation. Even better, it’s IPX8 waterproof rated, meaning that it can be submerged in water for 30 minutes or more and still come out shining.

Civivi Baby Banter Thumb Stud Knife

We covered the full-sized Banter knife from Civivi in last month’s edition of this newsletter, and now we’re back with an even more compact and portable version: The Baby Banter.

At just over 3 inches long when closed, and about 5.5 inches with the blade deployed, the Baby Banter can fit into any everyday carry kit. 

But don’t let its small size fool you: This little knife is made for serious business. A proprietary steel called Nitro-V offers up a Rockwell rating of 59-61, meaning that it’s just the right hardness to keep a razor sharp edge, but not so hard as to become brittle. And it sports a very high corrosion resistance too, so you can use this knife outdoors without fear of damage. For well under 100 dollars, it’s one heck of a little knife.

ProtoArc XK01 Tri-Fold Bluetooth Keyboard

When we’re out and about outside of work, we’re often traveling with just a few everyday carry essentials tucked away in our Sling Bag: Phone, wallet, keys, iPad, and a couple of accessories. And lately, we’ve been reaching for the ProtoArc XK01 Bluetooth Keyboard as part of that pared-down everyday carry kit.

Why? Well, weighing in at just over 10 ounces, the ProtoArc adds very little weight to our carry kit while offering full keyboard functionality. Its trifold design makes it easy to pack down small for compact carry, and its ability to simultaneously connect to three different devices makes it a really versatile tool. Even better, it’s been tested for 100,000 folds — which is roughly the equivalent of 13 years of use, making it as close as you’re going to get to a “buy it for life” foldable keyboard.

If you’ve ever wanted to travel light but still be able to get some work done at a moment’s notice, this keyboard from ProtoArc might just become your new best friend.

What’s Next?

As the months continue to march on, we’re always on the hunt for great new everyday carry gear to add to our packs. Do you have a new piece of gear that’s become an indispensable part of your everyday carry setup? If so, we’d love to hear about it! Give us a shout at @nutsac, and we might just add it to next month’s edition of this series.