This is a discussion about the gear you had to have but is not now or possibly never has been used. I know I can’t be the only one. You see something in an EDC loadout pic or description, and you think to yourself, “Hey I could really use that!” Later you run into or even search out reviews of the item, and sooner or later you purchase it, carry it, and then almost never need or use it. Other than more knives than I care to discuss, my most notable previously coveted item is a pair of small Knipex Cobra pliers. I use pliers all the time, and I have more pairs around the house and garage than one person should ever own. (Sadly, fully half of these pairs are cheap pairs I inherited or found and really aren’t decent quality, yet I seem unable to discard them.) I saw a loadout with a neat little pair of 5 inch Knipex pliers. Read a review or two. Wow, good small pliers! Then I looked them up on Amazon. About 25 bucks for something I already have at least twenty pairs of? I put it on the ‘wish list’. I do have ‘good’ pliers among my collection, like the Craftsman robo-grip or the old yet high quality channel locks. Did I need another pair of tiny pliers that cost about a quarter of what a Leatherman wave cost? I also have more than my fair share of Leatherman tools. It took two or three years of ‘almost buying’ them before they made it totally through checkout. I’ve had them for about a year now, and while I don’t EDC them on my person, they are in my EDC kit bag that is always in the car. While I have used the Leatherman wave out of that bag, and numerous other items, it has been almost a full year and I have yet to even use those neat little pliers. Surely, I’m not the only one. Fess up. What item did you covet, finally acquire, and now don’t use? Grizz
I wish this only was an issue with $25 pliers, but it sadly is not. I have a 15 watches just sitting in a watch box to prove it. To be specific, some internet covets that failed to come through in real life is; Giant Mouse ACE Biblio, Bradford Guardian 3, most flipper frame-locks, Urban Carvers magnetic quick release, Hitch & Timber card caddy, Tale of knives XL EDC sheath, Waterfield canvas muzetto.. the list goes on. Common for all these products are that they are really good quality and only fails to deliver because of my misjudgment of how they would fit into my life. Not to shamelessly promote my own thread or distract your audience from this thread, but this topic very much ties into some of what I wrote about in my "Keeping it real" post from yesterday. A lot of what we buy or want to buy, is based on who we want to imagine our self to be, and what type of problems that person would come across and should be able to solve. Or we just like the item for its looks and create a justification, however far fetched. It could also be a real need, but fails to be relevant as the result of latency, you're buying the solution to yesterdays problem. At least with me I have a tendency to look for solutions to problems I've experienced before and would like to solve better next time around. However, I might forget to take into account that circumstances has changed, and I'm not likely to find myself in a similar situation again.
I’d get rid of most of my leathermens tomorrow if I could do it easily and get halfway decent money for them (in the Uk so its hard) and I lusted after all of them for reasons I don’t recall. I’d keep a few but how I ended up with as many as I did is anyone’s guess!
Most of them. With the exception of a couple flashlights, packs and pocket knifes. And about 95% of the holsters I have for various pistols and revolvers. Probably have around 30 and only use maybe 4.
I can't follow this thread. I'll be Googling every item mentioned and it will sit in my head until I buy the darn thing. Still waiting for my Boker Subcom all black with serrated blade from Ebay.
I also purchased a pair of the knipex cobra pliers. Have used them a couple of times. Odd part was buying the 150mm after the 125mm. Just could not see how I would use the little ones. They now stay in my stage set bag. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Stupid purchase hardcore, I got myself a OKC M9 bayonet.... It's a terrible knife, it was expensive, and I don't even have the correct firearm to enjoying larping with said M9.
Happens to all of us... consequence I strongly believe of hanging out here. Consider it a corollary to the known phenomena of 'keeping up with the Joneses' Similar things happen at other forums that are product/category centric. Trust me... My pen collection really grew during the years I checked into Fountain Pen Network on a regular basis! Wanna bet the same is happening at virtually any knife, watch, etc forum? Am Yisrael Chai! Moshe ben David
Oh, it will be happening on every kind of forum on the planet, certainly as many are taking a financial hit and we’ve cleared out cupboards and drawers and think “do I really need that?” On the other hand this forum has led me to things I’d had never bought and very much appreciate.
The first thing that comes to mind in the pocket & mini grappling hooks I got from County Comm. Still, two pretty cool items but I know know that I will never use them. In the event that I would ever need a grappling hook, I would not have it; simply not worth carrying around. Like others, I have numerous packs, pouches, watches, multitools & knives that have gotten little to zero use. Oh the money I could have used for more useful things...
Knives. So many knives. The most egregious are my two Striders. I have a PT that I bought when I turned 40 and a DBGG I bought a few years later. I seldom carry either. There are a lot of knives that I bought and never carried but those two cost the most.
My list would be longer than I’d care to type, or than I can even remember. It would be much easier to list the few things that I’ve actually found to be useful with regularity. Agree with some of the others...Internet forums are tempting. Happy to say though I’ve never bought any of those pliers Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I did buy 7" cobra pliers and I use them frequently...today in fact. My lawn has a buried sprinkler system and sometimes the riser pipe is hard to unscrew from the sprinkler head. The cobras do great job and are able to open wide enough to do a lot of tasks.
Nothing spectacular, just things I really wouldn’t have thought about had I not dived down the EDC rabbit hole, principally 58mm SAKs, spyderco knives and Fisher bullet pens.
Some things that come to mind... Maxpedition pocket organizers and Versa packs County com pocket pry tools Pocket tins emergency kits Peanut lighters and other fire starting kit paraphernalia Photons Whistles Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I get some use from the pocket organizers but they weren't world changers for me by any stretch. Luckily I never dropped the $ on a versapack; had a cheap knockoff and realized it wasn't practical for me. The pocket pry tool thing never really made sense to me, especially the Atwoods that cost big money. How much leverage can you get from something 3 inches long? I spend a lot of time outdoors so fire starting stuff is handy, and I have a few pocket survival kits in the fishing bags. Nothing fancy though, no fire pistons, just tinder and spark source. A lighter will always be first choice, but backup is good. -------------------- One thing I have a few of that were all the rage for a while were those flat things, with strapping all over them going in different directions, for organizing electronics. They looked practical, but mine are scattered about and never get used.(driving me crazy trying to remember the name)
Thank you so much. I tore my place apart trying to find one so I could remember the name and I came up empty and my search-fu failed me as well. You have let my tortured mind rest. (geez, just looked at the available emojis and I don't think I've ever seen a more useless collection. what are most of those even meant to signify??)
