What is an every day carry really when you get down to it?

[ijohnson]

My understanding of the term EDC is that it comes from the preppers world.

Preppers, being the type of people they are, have a tendency to carry things to cover every eventuality, including alien invasion and societal breakdown. This is why the EDC lists tend to include many pocketed back-packs full of stuff (including pry-bars), the jacket pockets, the trouser pockets etc.
Some EDC lists will be bigger, some smaller depending on the persons own perceptions. But people who take the term too literally (as it seems is happening in this forum) are missing the point IMHO. So while your phone and your house keys could be included in an EDC list, just because you carry them every day does not make them EDC.

 

[Wildgoose]

Isn’t EDC just a marketing term? Similar to the term Tactical?

If I want a pen to carry in my pocket I can search “EDC pen” and get more specific results?

 

[Pattree]

while your phone and your house keys could be included in an EDC list, just because you carry them every day does not make them EDC.

Then what does? - Please don’t answer that

​

I suspect that every member here has a different definition of EDC.

I don’t use the term, however unless context suggests otherwise I shall henceforth read it as a synonym for “gadget”.

 

[TeeDee]

Isn’t EDC just a marketing term? Similar to the term Tactical?

If I want a pen to carry in my pocket I can search “EDC pen” and get more specific results?

Hmmmm - I don't know if its that per se , People in our ( Bushcrafty ) and extended community ( Gun culture , Preppy types ) tend to have an affinity for lists and selection processes it seems ( " What 10 items would you take on Alone " as an example ) - I think EDC especially when it comes to glorifying it via the beast of social media is a sort of , fantasy football league of items one has weighed , considered, used , deliberated and decided upon as 'worthwhile' items.

If I was in the States I would no doubt have firearms and then have a thought process of justification for the chosen firearms.

Here it seems to be more pocket & wallet lint based selection, but that is still a selection process.

Finding the Goldilock items one is willing to carry around under the belief that they are not just useful but - better than the ones you have NOT chosen.

Maybe I'm over thinking it - but most of us do if we are honest .



(..... Or is THAT just me?!?!??!!? .... )

 

[Chris]

Hmmmm - I don't know if its that per se , People in our ( Bushcrafty ) and extended community ( Gun culture , Preppy types ) tend to have an affinity for lists and selection processes it seems ( " What 10 items would you take on Alone " as an example ) - I think EDC especially when it comes to glorifying it via the beast of social media is a sort of , fantasy football league of items one has weighed , considered, used , deliberated and decided upon as 'worthwhile' items.

If I was in the States I would no doubt have firearms and then have a thought process of justification for the chosen firearms.

Here it seems to be more pocket & wallet lint based selection, but that is still a selection process.

Finding the Goldilock items one is willing to carry around under the belief that they are not just useful but - better than the ones you have NOT chosen.

Maybe I'm over thinking it - but most of us do if we are honest .



(..... Or is THAT just me?!?!??!!? .... )

I am quite a kit pest and enjoy finding the perfect thing for my needs as you describe. Very much with you on the firearm one, I know which I’d buy already and as my wife is American it’s not out of the question one day.

Tend to think with these things that if you enjoy it then that’s great. If you don’t enjoy it then no harm done and it’s nice to live and let live. I think my only real snobbery is that EDC needs to be something which has a use, rather than just an item for the sake of having it. Though of course views may vary.

 

[Pattree]

Not sure about this one Tee Dee. There seems to be a triumphalism among some kit owners agreed but there are, I suspect a silent number who don’t play the game.

As I’ve said ad nausiam that I am an adequist. If a thing, a situation or an outcome will do, then it will do.

I can see the pleasure in the striving and achievement of perfectionists (and would be perfectionist if they could afford it) but I do not share it. OF COURSE I have my own identity and my own preferences, many of which define me but not my “stuff”.

Never apologise for over-thinking it’s a wonderful exercise and seeds yet more thinking.

 

[Ozmundo]

I do have a bag that is in arms reach unless I am forced to go somewhere smart….

EDC is every day convenience for me. Many of the items in the bag can be of use as bushcraft or prepper, but a most of it is a comfort blanket of things I habitually use.

For example:

Metal mug (and stove). I like large amounts of tea. Mug gets used all day even indoors, stove stacks to it.

No big knife. SAK and small pliers, always useful at work before getting bigger tools out.

Bankline & paracord. As above, if I have to wait for something I’ll make a new key fob or something.

Sit mat and small tarp. Somewhere to make tea, knee pad when looking for bloody tiny screws I’ve just dropped and tarp as clean work space.

Porridge, Chicken curry with brown rice and potatoes, Biscuits Brown AB. I am a creature of habit for my meals…..

 

[Pattree]

You carry Chicken Curry????? Man you have raised the bar!!!

 

[Laurentius]

Although why some people insist on adding their keys (car, house etc) to the list of things in their EDC is beyond me.

Saying "I take my keys with me" is like adding "I also wear underwear".

You wear underwear in case of accidents and carry keys cos you live in a dodgy neighbourhood and don't want to leave the door on the latch.

 

[Ystranc]

For me my every day carry depends on where I’m going. I will adjust things if I’m going to a larger town or city. The only time I’m not carrying a Swiss Army knife and ferro rod on my belt is if I know I’m going to a place where it is banned (eg college or courthouse).

 

[demographic]

I carry a penknife almost everyday, but I'm not calling it an EDC mostly cos I really dislike the whole acronym thing, plus I'm neither firing the pics onto Instagram nor am I an American prepper.

Bit like I like and have motorcycles but absolutely am NOT a Biker.

Maybe I just don't like being pigeonholed. Or something.

 

[Pattree]

So you are a demographic of one!

 

[spader]

I don't carry anything with me in my daily life. So my EDC is a pair of hands really.
All my tools stay either in the tool box drawers or garden shed. And when I do a particular work, the necessary tools are taken out to be used.

Storing the tools in the old wooden garden shed proved to be problem with rusting, dusting and mucking on the tools. Everything stored in the old wooden garden shed get rusty and dirty. The new metal shed seems keep them cleaner and dryer in the summer time, but in the winter, they get condensation, again which is bad for tool rusting.

Ideally a wind and water tight outdoor garden workshop would be ideal. A future project.

 

[Macaroon]

Ah, the good old days; Wallet, Watch, Spectacles and Testicles.

 

[oldtimer]

I'm in the South of France at the moment. It's hot and most people wear just shorts and t-shirt. What is very evident is that all the youngsters have the minimum EDC, only a smartphone in the right hand back pocket of their shorts: apparently nothing else.

 

[Pattree]

I’m impressed when this minimal equipment is tucked into an elastic waistband where there are no pockets.

 

[Watch-keeper]

I took a look at my "EDC" for today and its a phone, headphones and an opinel08.
I guess it goes without saying that it depends on where I am and what I'm doing but the above list is the contents of my pockets today.

 

[Keith_Beef]

That is exactly what I am trying to say. You hear of people putting together so much kit into bags they have with them just in case and call them EDC. Then you have people putting together kit to survive armageddon or something, prybars, tactical this and that.

That sounds like what used to be called a BOB: Bug Out Bag.

 

[Herman30]

I would call my kit ETC = every travel carry. Carried only when traveling away from homecity.

 

[SkipperT]

My "EDC" is normally as below, with the addition of wallet and my phone. Fits in jeans pockets no problem, doesn't weigh me down.
Pen (Zebra F701 with a Fisher Space pen refill)
Rite in rain paper
Various elastoplasts
Keys with Smart tag and rechargeable Olight
USB-C cable
SAK (Huntsman)
And a Slipjoint knife of some description


In the pouch



Covers most bases I need to, and the USB C cable let's me top up the phone if necessary