For a while now I only take my phone and sometimes wallet while out and about on a daily basis. I’d like to be more prepared for things so I’ve picked up some kit, some of which I already had:
- A UK legal knife
- A multitool (screwdriver bits, bottle opener, pliers, etc)
- Emergency foil blanket
- Tinder starter/whistle
- Two gas lighters
- Keychain flashlight with integrated USB A port
- Field notebooks and fountain pen
- Lockpicking set with a pouch and a concealed credit card set
- Slimline 65W 20000mAh USB A+C battery bank
I’ve got a messenger bag I can fit this stuff in, which will also fit my laptop so I can carry that around more often too when that would be useful. Obviously some things like the foil blanket and tinder starter probably aren’t valuable in an urban area but they are so small and light I may as well include them. I plan to hang the messenger bag on the back of the front door with all this kit in so I always pick it up whenever I go out.
I wear different trousers every day and I’m useless for remembering to put stuff in my pockets so in terms of the pocket stuff it’ll just be phone, keys (with shopping trolley key, bottle opener, USB A+C drive, Yubikey), and a metal wallet with some cards, the card lockpicks, and some cash.
Does this make sense? Is there anything I’ve missed?
20Ah powerbank is too big. I would slim down to something as light as possible.
Keychain flashlight would be too weak compared to a phone. Leave it at home and if you notice the need, buy a proper one.
Instead of foil blanket take CPR kit / mask. Also learn how to perform CPR if you don’t know already.
Tinder starter/whistle. Two gas lighters. You would need max one source of fire.
For starters I would take a notebook and made a special page. So when you are in a pinch, and need a knife or a flashlight. Take a note and next you would be ready for the same situation that occurred.
Depends on what’s meant by “keychain flashlight.”
I carry a Wukkos TS10 on my keychain and it gets quite bright - over a thousand lumens at peak compared to around 50 for the iPhone 15 Pro Max (so I’m assuming most other phones’ flashlights aren’t much brighter). There are several other flashlights that are similarly competent and compact. Mine runs on a 14500 battery, which is the size of a AA battery, so it’s a bit bulkier than the AAA-powered flashlight I started carrying over a decade ago. That one capped out at 150 lumens, so the upgrade was as much of an improvement over it as it was over a phone flashlight.
Looking that up made me curious about how good a 10440-powered flashlight could be (a 10440 is the size of a AAA battery) and apparently they can get up to 500 lumens - at least, the ReyLight Pineapple mini-Ti can. That one’s 50 USD (on sale from 60), which is more than a lot of alternatives, but none of them get quite as bright. For example, I saw that the Mankerlight E02 II is recommended a lot and it gets nearly as bright (420 lumens) for less than half the price (23 USD).
The Acebeam UC15 is explicitly a “keychain flashlight” - it even has the same form factor as the coin cell battery powered ones. It runs on two AAA (or 10440) batteries, though, so it’s a bit larger than them. Some I just saw top out at 12 lumens; by comparison, the UC15 tops out at 1000.
What kind of phone flashlight do you have? In my experience my fenix e03r (or even a e05) blows a phone light out of the water and is a lot more practical to use. Personally i find my keychain light to be the most ofen used edc item closely followed by my small swiss army knive.