kkokkolis' EDC & SDC

[RT1969]

Thank you for the answers.
I see weight is not an issue for you. And you have to keep those pockets filled, I can understand that. But is this not the right size for a KitKat Chunky?   

[kkokkolis]

Speaking of my work bag, let me introduce you to it. It's a Victorinox Trevi, older version, EDCed 5 days a week, 14 hours a day, traveled, overloaded and abused since 2007-2008.

You may google for technical details, I'll only say that it is of great quality, very versatile, looks serious business (no tactical) and it is Victorinox made. That's nice because I've been in the Parliament, Ministries, many Services, Congresses etc in Greece and abroad with it. I traveled overnight just with this bag in many occassions (hate it when I fly because I have to leave my SAKs behind).

It is made from ballistic cloth but there's a leather version as well. The carry handles are flexible and leather padded.

The strap is wide an filled with an ultra soft material that makes it caressing your shoulder even at 20+ kgrs weight.

At one side (front for right handed) there's a removable universal phone sheath that can be moved to your belt. Sadly I broke the clip after years of abuse but could buy a replacement if I wanted to.

On the other (back) side there's a hidden mesh pocket (shown unzipped) for a water or refreshment bottle. I put my ubrella there when it is wet (and when it is dry it is hidden under the bag in bag).

There's a great "quick access" pocket with magnetic closure up and front, very useful.

All sorts of pockets and holders in the front compartment that's even bigger in Trevi II version.

The middle compartment is electronics friendly with soft material armor around everywhere. It accepts a 15" laptop with or without a sleeve accessory and has three pockets for tablets, HDDs etc.

The back compartment is divided to a main space that can be doubled by  opening a zipper around the bag and contains my Skinth and my bag in bag, leaving most other pockets empty at the moment, and two document/dossier pockets, always filled.

More pockets on the back. One is easy access for magazines and newspapers.
The only briefcase that could ever substitute for this is another Victorinox. I have the Trevi II or Parliament 17 (even bigger) or Monticello in mind (there are also rolling versions with 2 and 4 wheels) but this doesn't help because it seems that it has many years of life in front of her. In fact I'm sure that I will die first, as it is habitual to most Victorinox products.
The Trevi II link

[kkokkolis]

Thank you for the answers.
I see weight is not an issue for you. And you have to keep those pockets filled, I can understand that. But is this not the right size for a KitKat Chunky?   

With any dessert the pocket would be filled for a couple of minutes at most.

[kkokkolis]

I made a modification (addition in fact) to my Skinth today.



I added two D rings of specific purpose.



The top one will help me handling the Skinth, especially when I take it out of the bag and might also be used to hang it somewhere for a while or to put a lanyard for any reason. I sewed it onto the strongest point, Skinth's backbone, under the upper Velcroed horizontal strap.



The side one is for hanging small items, mainly my Ladybug/ Minichamp when I have to travel by plane, in order not to lose them into the suitcase. I had two identical D rings anyway and figured that this would be a reasonable place to put the second, in a strong point of 9 cloth shears sewed together. 



I haven't the skills, neither the sewing machine Metro has, so it was hard to pass the needle through all these layers of hard material. I broke a needle, bent another one, pierced my thump twice and broke the thread 4-5 times. I tried many pair of pliers to help me pierce the Skinth. Swisschamp worked as always and it was comfortable. Juice was better plier wise but a nightmare for my palm, uncomfortable and painful. The same was the Charge. But the Spirit was excellent. My palm loved it and denied another trial (Swisstool and Surge are very big for such a task anyway). I finished with it.

Now I'm very pleased with the result and my Skinth is tailor made for my specific needs.

Metro should consider offering a handle and a small D ring for this huge Skinth in my opinion, but given the material it is possible to add them yourself, QED.

[kkokkolis]

It is weekend, so it's Victorinox monosling time!



This specific model is discontinued and replaced by a smaller one model 30372901



My bag has greater volume to carry my EDC, so I'm very happy it still looks as new after ~10 years of heavy use.

It has a soft sling that sports a convenient zippered pocket.



I usually hung it from my right shoulder but I also put it diagonally when I have to run/work, or hold it from the carrying handle during rush hour in the Metro (to avoid theft).

Outside there's a mesh pocket that accepts a bottle of 1lt or whatever you might put there. On the top there's the mentioned carrying handle. I put a Leatherman carabiner there to hang it and secure it to the Super Market trailer to avoid theft. I also put there my Casio Pro Trek on occasion.




Then we have the front compartment with pen holders, a double pocket and a key holder. In front of that there's enough space for my Skinth Catch All.



In the main compartment I put my bag in bag and, depending on the weather, an umbrella or light jacket or other items (like a newly purchased SAK for example!).



As described already, the bag in bag has pockets around, filled with gum, sanitizer, sun glasses, cloth for sunglasses, iPod, pens, e-cig juices etc.
You can see that I have separate containers in there. The three smaller tin boxes contain a) iPhone's cable and earphones, plus a Sennheiser  earphone, b) PEZ fruit mints and c) MnMs. The yellow tin has atomizers and other eCig accessories. The orange three 20ml bottles of juice. The big black container two socket to USB iPhone adaptors (for iPhone/iPod and eCigs) and batteries for my eCig (Coll Fire I and Primero systems). The smaller black cloth container (from Parker 3 pens holder) contains my former eCig system Hybrid, as a back up.

I might remove some items from time to time and add others, such as my Archos 5 or a flask of Chivas Regal Whiskey or other things I might want or need.

That's it. The bag is TOP quality. It has been everywhere, on mountains and beaches, cities and countryside around the world. Always loaded and  very often water and salt sprayed. My wife puts it in the washing machine and it becomes again as good as new. It is even better than the other two, a real Victorinox item; indestructible and unimaginably useful.

[kkokkolis]

I bought a nice adjustable wrench (we call it French key here) that's drop forged, light and slim but 15cm (6") long with 20mm mouth opening. I like a lot and tested it already but it doesn't fit the Skinth. Smaller tools at 10cm (4") have 10-13mm openings that seem restricted and one applies less torque for the same force. So, I might cut 5cm of the handle losing torque, buy a smaller one losing capabilities or keep it separately of the Skinth since it isn't a sharp object (I traveled with it already by plane, Salonika to Athens). I tend to do the later, since it's not cheap (16€) and I like the feel of it (it fits my palm perfectly and I tested it to some 15mm hex heads from road signs- I want to keep that versatility).
It's perfect for my bicycle too.
What would you do?

[kkokkolis]

[RT1969]

That's a difficult question...
Most versatility would be to shorten the handle but pack an additional 10cm pipe that fits on the handle for additional torque when needed. Your back can thank me later. 

[ducttapetech]

Or get the next size down.

live from Nate's mobile

[kkokkolis]

Yes, but the next size opens up to 13mm only.

[hiraethus]

How about the smallest pliers wrench from Knipex?
http://www.knipex.com/index.php?id=1216&L=1&page=art_detail&parentID=1368&groupID=1500&artID=34171

125mm long, opens to 23mm.

[kkokkolis]

The Skinth can house 10cm tall tools. And this is fatter. For the time being I'll carry the french key as it is I think.

[hiraethus]

Fair enough. I looked up the price of those knipex wrenches too.

[kkokkolis]

OR, I might get wild and add a SpydeRench someday in the future. Now that's a plan. Let's see how much this wrench is going to get used.

[kkokkolis]

I used that adjustable wrench today to mount new telescope rings on a Vixen dovetail. I used pliers up to now, whenever one of the very few metric keys we have didn't fit because, believe it or not, we didn't have such a trivial and useful tool in the house.

[kkokkolis]

Problem solved. It doesn't have to be IN the Skinth, it might as well be ON the Skinth.





Didn't have yet a role for those belt loops anyway.
There is room for a Piranha/Pocketwrench but now there's no functionality they give me that's not already included in this Skinth. Only thing missing is a hammer but the wrench gives light hammer capability also, to fix a nail on the wall at least.

This Skinth is so versatile!

[kkokkolis]

Months later and the EDC haven't changed. Still the Victorinox Bags, The bag in bag with tin boxes, the Skinth full loaded. I just added since yesterday a nice optic, a pair of Pentax Papilio 6.5x21 binoculars.

[kkokkolis]

I EDC them in their case but they fit in the Celestron little case with the others too.

[enki_ck]

Those look really cool.

What do you use them for?

[zoidberg]

Those look really cool.

What do you use them for?

Same as every other guy...    ...reading boat names. 

[kkokkolis]

The Pentax Papilio has a close focus of 0.5m where it gives a 5cm field at 6 degrees and 8x magnification. That means that it magnifies an insect from a comfortable distance.
 It is used for nature/park/garden walks/hikes/bikes were you can observe butterflies, dragonflies, spiders, ants, mollusks, fish in ponds amd aquariums, flowers, birds etc.
Also museums and exhibitions to study paintings and artifacts without getting suspiciously close or when they are behind glass.
Collections, like my mineral collection and lead soldiers.
It acts like a dissecting stereoscopic microscope so I inspect my optics and whatever for signs of dirt or whare. Yes, SAKs too.
Concerts/ theatre/opera, as it is close to an opera glass at medium distance to infinity (6.5x @ 7.5 degrees)
Travels and EDC because it is very light (<300gr) and still better than most chinese roof compacts. It does what I mentioned (you have to see a flower through that to believe it) and it also acts as a general purpose aid to enjoy the view. It might act as a telephoto and makro lens for my iPhone or Cybershot with an adaptor (it works handheld but it is difficult).
The others are more conventional.
The Zeiss ED is the general purpose and birding glass of great quality. Fast as a shark, sharp as a SAK. 8x makes for comfortable handheld use. Waterproof amd adventure friendly. Quite good for astronomy and whatever.
The Canon is image stabilized, has the second greatest magnification possible for handheld viewing, 18x (Zeiss makes a 20x that costs 6000€!!!) and has flat field. Great for astronomy and long distance terrestrial or marine use, airplane spotting and long distance birding (maritime birds for example).

[kkokkolis]

Apart from that, I use three main containers for carrying my EDC. They  serve different tasks.
1. My work bag is a Victorinox Trevi briefcase. A great briefcase with all sorts of pockets and flexibilities. I use it everyday since 2007
2. My leisure or private bag is a Victorinox teardrop monosling, carried since around 2004. It has two main compartments, one in front with the typical pen holders and pockets and one in center/ back with clean and flexible space.
3. My travel bag is a Victorinox backpack with very soft padded laces. Similar configuration with the small bag but much more spacious.

(Image removed from quote.)

Time for an update!
Sorry for iPhonish pics.

[kkokkolis]

I forgot to post one of my oldest Swiss bags. It's the only one that it's not from Victorinox. Rather it's a tourist item I bought from Zurich airport and used it in a few trips. It is really nice but far from Vic quality, especially regarding zippers. So I use it as an auxiliary bag when moving a lot of astro equipment and as an outdoors bag.
Nevertheless, I still like it a lot.

[kkokkolis]

My new Victorinox backpack. 
It is more compact than the previous one and with more pockets. I still prefer the older architecture (2.0) but this is better for a lot of electronics. There are places for laptop, tablet, media player and more. I tried the cheaper Wenger Gigabyte before buying this and was very impressed but finally I couldn't resist to Vic charm. Wenger is on my list though.

[kkokkolis]

And this is my new Teardrop Monosling. Again more compact and with no small pockets. I'll continue to use my trusty older model for EDC and this will be my "dressy" one when I wear a suit but need my tablet, sunglasses etc with me. I used it yesterday and it goes perfect with formal clothes.

[kkokkolis]

Close up of the backpack. I don't know the -discontinued- model, perhaps in the 150-200 € range, because I bought it second hand without it's papers. But it's unused.
On the outside austere and business oriented, unlike most Wengers.

[kkokkolis]

Front pocket is clean. Just a keyforb.

[kkokkolis]

Front big pocket. Inside a mesh pocket for easy reachable items, the usual pens/mobile/cards/SAK pockets and a zippered pocket.

[kkokkolis]

Main pocket with divider.
It has a clever system with the help of which all three main pockets can exploit the bottom space at will. I put my bag in bag and Skinth here. Over them the Pentax Papillio for traveling or the Zeiss Terra when there's chance for more serious birding/sightseeing.
It could have a pocket for iPod and a headphones pass on the dome.

[kkokkolis]

Sidewise, one concealed mesh pocket for water bottles.
I would like another one on the other side or a simple mesh pocket and also a headphone hole with iPod pouch underneath as my other backpack has. But they made it look more serious as I said.