My 2023 Altoids EDC Essentials Kit (Everyday Carry)

this is my first Altoids kit in fact my most compact kit ever and this is not a survival kit this is designed to help solve problems and reduce friction in everyday life and I'm amazed at what I've managed to fit in here there are lots of Altoids kits on YouTube and most are survival kits and this is not one of those and to be honest if I did plan to carry a survival kit I'd probably go for something a bit bigger so there's no fishing kit or signaling mirror whistle or compass in here this is more about solving problems on the go not in extreme conditions but in day-to-day life and as such it's meant to have wider appeal and offer genuine practicality in the lid we have two types of tape first of all we have this which is called self amalgamating tape and as you can see it's low adhesion and it has here a backing tape and once you remove that backing tape this then stretches and that allows you to wrap it around whatever it is you're working on and then it amalgamates with itself and this can be used to seal damaged cables for protection and to keep the moisture out it can also be used as a temporary fix to stop a leak on a pipe and this could be a fuel leak on a car or a pipe at home and it stretches and sticks to itself so if the pipe was wet or a little bit greasy it's generally not going to be a problem underneath the self-amalgamating tape we have two strips of Gorilla tape and you'll see I've folded the end back on itself here and that's so you can grab this easily as it gets super sticky and this is great for holding things together or in place or for patching things and I snagged it down jacket recently on barbed wire and with the down starting to escape from a half inch tear tape was the perfect temporary fix this is from a company called leave again it's actually a charging cable for my phone and it comes as part of a mini cable kit with a variety of connection options but I just separated out the basic USB A2 lightning part and this gives me a very compact charging cable and I did look very hard at everything else out there and even the very short charging cables are way too bulky for this kit so this turned out to be ideal so this is designed to help when your phone battery unexpectedly runs out of charge which can become a big problem and with this you still obviously need a charging Source unfortunately there's just no space in here for a power bank but if you find yourself on a train or a plane or in some coffee shops or other public spaces than a USB socket can often be found and that is the reason I went for USB a over USBC which haven't caught up in most public spaces yet next we have four tie wraps or zip ties and I've cut them short to fit in the tin and also to reduce bulk to a minimum and keep everything neat they are held in place using heat shrink tubing now these are great for emergency zip pulls or for tidying cables or for lock in that suitcase zip when you forgot to bring along your mini padlock and generally useful for holding things together then we have a pen and even though this is used for emergencies I wanted it to be properly usable and obviously the pen has to fit in here this is the minimo pen it's a perfect fit for this tin and it's long enough to be comfortable to write with and it also takes a standard D1 refill has a retractable mechanism and is ideal for an expected writing tasks like form filling for noting down phone numbers place or simply leaving messages some cordage is always worth carrying but even the micro cord I've used before got a bit bulky for this kit so instead I've switched to dyneema thread which happens to be the world's strongest fiber and this is very Compact and very strong with an incredible 130 pound breaking strain now in the kit I have 10 feet of it in here and it's contained within some heat shrink tubing just to keep it tidy and you would use this where you might need strings so things like binding and fastening emergency shoelaces or a temporary clothes dry in line when on your travels and of course a million other things next in here we have a knife and I was Keen for this to be properly useful but it needed to be very slim for it to fit in here and it turns out this Victorinox alox Bantam is a perfect fit for this kit it's just six millimeters or a quarter of an inch thick but with a decent length two inch blade and it is effectively a single layer Victorinox but because the blade is slightly offset it allows for the inclusion of this combination tool and here we have a flathead screwdriver and a 2d Phillips screwdriver on the end also doubles up as a pry bar along with a bottle opener and a wire stripper as well as general cutting tasks this blade size is ideal for cutting up food such as an apple or perhaps a cake when out and about now this knife sits at the top of the tin for instant accesses this is one of the most useful tools in here especially if you don't routinely carry a pocket knife I've jumped in here a small Pharaoh rod from a company called tortoise gear and this is designed to replace a toothpick in a Victorinox which is why it's so small and this is a backup Fire Starting device for this kit and I managed to include it because there was room for it now we do in fact have a lighter in here which is a much more practical option for fire lighting but I have to say this Ferro Rod does work really well particularly with the wire stripper in the Victorinox next we have this high density magnet which although very small is also very strong and this is for use with the dyneema thread to enable magnet fishing and if you've ever dropped your keys down an unreachable Gap perhaps in your car like I have or down a drain like I haven't but might one day then this is what you need and then you'll be super glad you have it some of you will recognize this if you've seen some of my other kits is a glue stick normally associated with a hot glue gun but you can improvise here using a lighter now care should be taken but when we apply flame to the glue it melts into liquid glue which can then be applied and and then it dries quite quickly after that and this works with most materials one of the benefits of the glue stick is that you can produce a decent quantity of glue if needed and I find this more useful than super glue which I found can go off over time and I feel is generally for smaller jobs now some Eagle Eye viewers will have noticed that this glue stick is thinner than ones I've used before and that's because this one is seven millimeters in diameter and in previous kits the one I've used is 11 millimeters now the seven millimeter one is better it's more compact for a start but you can control the amount of glue more easily too and why haven't I mentioned it before well I didn't know it existed until someone mentioned it in the comments in my last kit video the big mini here that makes the glue stick possible and as mentioned it's also the most convenient method for producing a flame now that could be for something as simple as lighting candles on a birthday cake at work or getting a fire going in that holiday Cottage you just rented or light in that gas hob with the broken igniter now there are other uses too like say sterilizing a needle before removing a splinter or melting the ends of some nylon cord to stop it fraying the list goes on next up we have a Leatherman micro a brilliant little scissor based multi-tool that I've been a fan of for years and I've had my fair share of these two these are ones I've lost and subsequently found over the years the scissors on this are one of the best you can get on a multi-tool and they are spring loaded and super capable then on one side of the tool we have a medium flathead screwdriver a very usable nail file and cleaner and a small knife for more Precision tasks on the other side we have a small flat head and another bottle opener not needed here and a two dimensional Phillips screwdriver and some tweezers now these tweezers are not great but they are good enough for the odd Splinter now don't be put off by the size of this tool this is a proper Leatherman and can really get stuff done and as it happens the micro was my only EDC knife or tool for many years long before I'd even heard of EDC then we have a flashlight or torch and for this kit I chose the Olight i3e it had to be as small as possible but still capable of throwing out a decent beam in case you get lost in the dark now this has a single light output of 90 Lumens which can actually light the road ahead and it needs to be reliable and easy to use and this is made from aircraft grade aluminum so it is pretty tough and it operates with a single twist switch so no accidental activation and it's also 100 waterproof and finally I wanted something that would take a standard battery for reliability because with this kit some contents might get ignored for potentially years at a time and anything that uses a rechargeable battery and electronic switch is likely to see battery depletion over time on the other hand a triple a battery like the one in here has a shelf life of up to 10 years now battery life is 45 minutes can be extended with a nickel metal hydride battery to 70 either way not loads but enough I feel in an emergency then we have this mini tin for the small stuff so let me tip everything out so we can see what we have in here okay so we have some medium-sized safety pins for fixing and fastening we have two small buttons a sew-in needle and a black and white sewing thread and this is cannibalized from a sewing kit like this one selecting just the bare minimum and in fact the full sewing kit here would be too big to fit in the tin and let's face it six thread color options are probably Overkill here anyway I have here an expandable towel that turns into an absorbent cloth when it gets wet so ideal for mopping up spills and cleaning surfaces or hands and faces and then in here I have three basic meds that I might need during a day and they are pain meds allergy meds and diarrhea meds now your choice will most likely differ but do ensure you know what meds are what and the dosages you would need if you've removed them from the packaging then I have some flat items in the bottom of the tin starting with a single banknote for emergencies and this might feed me or get me home when things go wrong also a single prep pad and a couple of Band-Aids so I can deal with small cuts and also some right in the rain Note Paper taken from a pad but I don't need the whole pad and this is for use with the pen for jotting things down or leaving notes and writing the round paper is more resilient than standard paper now inside here to stop it getting scratched I have a flat fresnel magnifier this will help me read small print but more importantly if I lose my glasses I can read my phone using this so I can call people and send and receive messages and I would normally include thin Optics glasses for this as you might have seen from previous kit videos but what you believe they are too bulky for this kit and then here the last item is very thin and it's called Spartan fire and it's described as a multi-use EDC Tinder now I included this primarily for use with the Ferro Rod as it will take a spark but it can also be used with the lighter when trying to start a fire as it burns for a long time which is preferable to using up the lighter gas on a stubborn fire and burning your thumb at the same time as you can see nothing is simply chucked in here everything has its place and although size is a priority I only wanted to include items that are good at what they do and can be relied upon and as I put everything back you will see that everything has to go back in a certain way in order for everything to fit [Music] thank you [Music] finally I've added a decent elastic band and this of course has a multitude of uses not least making sure the tin doesn't accidentally open so I hope that's been useful and if you want to see my other kit videos just follow this link here that's it for this one thank you as always for watching have a great day and I hope you can join me in the next one

Channel: Jon Gadget

Views: 813,137

Keywords: edc, everyday carry, bags, travel, camping, hiking, multitools, tactical pens, wallets, knife, leatherman, victorinox, torch, flashlight, gadget, gadgets, travel gear, camping gear, hiking gear, survival, backpack, work bag, uk edc, bellroy, wallet, able carry, alpaka, Altoids, Altoids Tin, Altoids EDC Kit

Id: dpwEhyV-VbA

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 18 2023