"Tactical gear"

A

Allen E. Treat

Banned
Joined
Oct 4, 2001
Messages
498
I know most of you forumite(s) out there have their share of "tactical"
knives ( I have a couple ;)); What I
really don't see much in is "gear":
"Surefire tactical flashlghts"( at
$50-$120 a "pop"), Navy SEAL "dive"
watches, and even pens (as to be redundant) What do I use for a flashlight? a Photon II, a watch?
I have on now a Burger King "Homer Simpson" talkin' watch ( MMMM burger!;))$1.99, pen? Uni-ball "vision"( micro ) $1.99. Not that I'm at ALL "cheap". I spent over
$2,000 just this past year on knives
( mostly Spydies ; courtesy GlassHartt@aol.com ;)).I just think
$100 is a "little steep" for a flashlight, or anything over $50 for
a watch to tell time "luxury", or $25 for a pen, that requires "special" cartridges a bit "strange". I've been outta "This Man's Army" 19yrs and as a "civilian" find little use for "tactical" flashlights, watches & pens ( and just about anything that reeks of this "Ramboist" terminology). So, do I carry a "tactical" knife? If one considers
a Spyderco SE Cricket "tactical" or
maybe a SE Jester on a bead chain around my neck "tactical". If your
"profession" dictates "tactical" weapon(s) & "gear", then, so be it.
But, for the "civilian" set, if you're gonna get pricey, for a flashlight, perhaps a Mag light, a watch? Hell, get a Rolex! Pen? How
about a Mont Blanc?

What say the augerers?


AET ;)
 
Surefire flashlights are a far cry from a mini-mag...what if you want to do a job that would normally require a big hulking 2/3/4D maglite? My monster 4D maglite puts out 65 lumens or so for a bit more than an hour...the same amount and time period a 4" long 2 cell Surefire could put out...

Besides that, you have a real tactical consideration of the flashlight as a weapon. Carry a sidearm? No? Well you can use your light as a non lethal weapon...if you want to REALLY know what all the hoopla is about with these "$100 flashlights", please spend $5 on magazine called Combat Tactics, presented by Surefire and Guns & Ammo. If you go to www.surefire.com, a window pops up and you can see a pic of the magazine...I was exactly like you concerning the lights up until a few weeks ago, when I read ALL the articles in that mag and saw The Light;). Sure, you could call it promoting their product...but read what the writers say and decide for yourself if what they are saying could be considered fact.

Trust me;)

Warthog
 
I've never had the money to buy a high end watch, but you would have to pry my Surefire E2e-HA out of my cold, dead fingers to get it away from me! I don't think there is a better personal/EDC flashlight out there!
 
Uniball Micros rule! That's the only pen I use. I probably own about 200 of 'em. That's what I love about 'em. They're like sixty-nine cents a pieces so you can have 'em everywhere, but they write very well and look sleek, not cheap.

I love these people with "The Space Pen." As if NASA might call them at any moment to fill a last-minute vacancy on the Space Shuttle.

And how about people with those giant diver's watches... people who never get more under water then when taking a shower. And they probably take their watch off when they shower so that it won't get wet.

Flashlights? I gotta tell ya that I like the Surefire 6P. Yes, this thing's about fifty bucks, but it'll last you for the rest of your life. And yes, it needs ten bucks worth of batteries every hour of use and a new twenty dollar bulb about ever other time you change the batteries, but it packs a lotta light in a very small package.

I've found, over the years, that there's a lot of truth in my sainted Father's old saying, "The joy of low price is quickly forgotten amidst the bitterness of poor quality."

After you've thrown away your fifth $20 watch in one year, you start to wonder if maybe, just maybe, a $100 stainless-steel watch that'll last ten years easily wouldn't be a good investment.

Here's my favorite watch ad

watch.JPG


Notice that it's sold as a pilot's watch, but it's water resistant to 200 feet. If you're boarding a plane and notice the pilot wearing one of these, you might want to consider re-scheduling on the next flight.

"Ladies and Gentleman, welcome aboard SkyHigh Airlines flight 123. In the unlikely event of a water-landing, you'll be happy to know that the pilot's new watch is water-resistant to 200 feet..."

His watch may be water-resistant to 200 feet. That's all fine and dandy for him. But mine old Casio isn't and so I'd prefer that he keep it out of the water, and, since I'm attached to it, me too, thank you very much.



Oh well, we all have our fantasies, I guess. Some folks wish they lived the exciting life of a fighter pilot. Wearing a "pilot's watch" (even if few if any pilots actually wear one) somehow brings that fantasy to life for them. Others pine for the adventure of exporing space. Carrying the same pen used to take notes on the moon somehow makes them feel closer to that. And others lust for the thrill of combat. So carrying a "tactical combat" knife gives them that rush (a rush that their local military recruiter might be able to arrange for real).

Me? I wish I was rich. So, I sit around and drink expensive liquor. If I can't be rich, at least I can taste it, eh?
 
By the way, I feel that the Space Pen is very important. I don't own one and don't want one. But I still feel that it's very important.

There are those, you know, who think that NASA faked the whole moon landing thing, that it was all filmed on a studio set.

But, if that was true, why would the have gone to the trouble of developing the Space Pen?

The Space Pen proves, more than anything, that the moon landing was real.
 
Originally posted by Warthog
please spend $5 on magazine called Combat Tactics, presented by Surefire and Guns & Ammo. If you go to www.surefire.com, a window pops up and you can see a pic of the magazine...I was exactly like you concerning the lights up until a few weeks ago when I read ALL the articles in that mag. Sure, you could call it promoting their product...but read what the writers say and decide for yourself if what they are saying could be considered fact.

Trust me;)

Warthog
Click to expand...

I second that recommendation..I also bought that mag and read ALL the articles!

As for tactical gear...yes! I finally get to use my tactical poser posterboy pic :) (thaks to skunkabilly for modelling :) )


standard


Now, at a minimum, one NEEDS a Surefire M2, steel-toe shoes (though Rocky EMTs, which are immune to bloodborne pathogens are acceptable), a collapsable baton, Hatch gloves, and something in a Bladerigger sheath!

Watches shouldn't cost more than $50??? Blasphemy! I just bought Wristwatch Annual 2003....struggling between an Aquatimer, EZM1, Emergency, Seadweller etc. etc.

RL
 
Hmmmmmmmm... I have everything ranging from North Face gear to a Katadyn Swiss Army water purifier to Whisperlite white fuel stove... ad nauseum. I never really thought of them so much as tactical versus being high end - high tech camping gear. Even my high tech mummy bag is rated to below zero temperatures. Huh. Go figure. The only things I really consider tactical out of my whole collection is my knives. Even my SAK. Even though I love my high end Casio and Timex watches, my knives are the closest thing to what I would consider to be beyond just typical adventure gear. Nothing beats the look on someone's face when one is carving open a tin can of food with a blade. I guess some things in life are affordable luxuries. Am I off topic here? :footinmou
 
I agree with Schmoopie... I've got the money, I want the stuff... I buy the stuff. I usually play with it for a week, and then it sits somewhere in the apartment till I lose it, or someone throws it away. That's all it is. I've buy watches, knives, guns, computers and communication equipment out the wazoo. Why do I need a $100 flashlight? because it's better than the next guy's. Why do I own body armor? cause they haven't outlawed it. Why did I buy a Seamaster Chrono? cause a coworker bought the regular Seamaster and was bragging about it. I buy stuff because I want it, because I want to "one up" someone, or because I simply can.

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, conspicuous consumption is the name of the game. It's about what you want and what you can afford. It's based upon one's priorities and happiness. So, there's nothing wrong with having the best. Tactical or not.
 
So Surefire makes one of the finest,
Photon didn't do a bad job for $12.50, dd they? The "poster boy"
looks to be something from the movie "falling down"!;) I just LOVE the way forumite(s) post about how they
"wish they could afford this new ( fill in the blank ) knife" & can't because they're STILL payin' on their Visa/Mastercard/AMEX for the
$250 "carbon fiber" watch or whatever. Perhaps I'll "cop out" &
get one of those $70 "KGB" watches from Sovietski.com! I'm sorry to report gang, you CAN find QUALITY for less. If you LOOK hard enough!
So it's your money, it's your "right", DO IT! By Christ Almighty!
But my "opinion" is my "right" as well, and is protected by The Constituition, so the "kagaroo debate" rages on......


"I'm tired of bein' a wannabe league
bowler, I wanna be a league bowler...facts are meaningless..you
could use facts to prove anything thats even remotely true..go ahead and play the blues if it'll make ya' happy!"

Homer Simpson

AET ;)
 
Really depends on what you do most of the time.
I don't wear a watch much, but I have a couple that are in good working order.
I'm very picky with pens, and with me as a student, I demand a good one. I've acquired a taste for fountain pens, so of course the money I may pay for would be much larger initially, but ever since I got my Waterman I don't seem to need to buy another pen because I haven't even use half an ink bottle yet.
I carry a flashlight mostly because I tinker around computers, and I didn't bother looking around much for an extremely good one. The Inova X5 works fine IMO and I don't think I need a surefire yet.
If we all demand good knives, pens, watches, and flashlights, I doubt that most of us would be able to afford their life in the first place ;)
 
Maybe the term should be "EDC Gear", or maybe "Stuff I Actually Use" gear.
I carry a knife, pen, watch, and flashlight each and every day. Not because it's cool, but because I use them. I like well designed things. I like well made things. I like things that give me major value for my money. My current EDC is:
Victorinox Pioneer...2 blade model. Large and small spearpoint blades handle ALL my EDC cutting tasks.

Fisher Space Pen...Small, compact, and fits in my wallet. Utterly reliable. Writes in heat or cold and upside down. If I need to write something down, I want a pen I can count on.

Invicta 8926 Automatic Divers Watch...No, I don't dive nor do I have any use for the elapsed time rotating bezel. I like the fact that I don't have to rely on a battery and I like the way it looks. I'm considering a Citizen Eco-Drive to replace it. One without the rotating bezel. If I have to worry about a watch getting wet, then it's of no use to me. Water resistancy is a must.

Arc AAA...Small, easily carried, and it will light up a whole room. For daily (nightly) lighting needs this is a great little light. No, it won't blind a bad guy or light up the neighbor's house from my living room. It lights up dark corners and makes finding dropped items much easier.

I do have other knives, pens, watches, and lights for more specialised uses. But if I had to, my EDCs would serve in a pinch.

Paul
 
This thread reminds me of the whole controversy around the space pen. There was this whole thing about researching how zero gravity would affect the use of a pen in space. The solution derived from the research ended up costing a significant sum of money to the contractor of the U.S. Space program.

The Russians had a significantly cheaper and expediant solution. They provided their cosmonauts with pencils.

Being economically budget minded doesn't necessarily comprimise quality and budget mindedness. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

I would hope to see high tech U.S. clicker pencils being used in space someday. ;)
 
And that about says it all. If you need a tool to do a job, you can buy one that works, or you can buy one that works better and looks cool doing it.

As an engineer, I can appreciate the time spent designing and producing quality firearms, watches, flashlights, cars, boats, knives, lighters, pens, etc etc etc.

I like to know the tool I'm using/wearing is first rate- not everybody cares, and in a lot of cases it won't matter, but IF TSHTF I don't want to regret not having bought good stuff.

Besides, nifty gadgets make better conversation starters than pedestrian stuff. Why do women buy $500 purses? It's not because they work better. At least my E2eHA is demonstrably superior to other handheld flashlights, in addition to having a much higher coolness quotient.
 
Originally posted by Gollnick
By the way, I feel that the Space Pen is very important. I don't own one and don't want one. But I still feel that it's very important.

There are those, you know, who think that NASA faked the whole moon landing thing, that it was all filmed on a studio set.

But, if that was true, why would the have gone to the trouble of developing the Space Pen?

The Space Pen proves, more than anything, that the moon landing was real.
Click to expand...

NASA HAS LANDED ON THE MOON :eek: :eek: !!!! Jeez you leave town for the holidays and all kind of things happen :D :D :D :D .
 
stood in freezing rain, snow, and -20F weather (at different times), sometimes at 2 am, I can verify that while the good majority of pens give it up, the Fisher's WILL write - if you can control the shivering. And since a bullet (in black or chrome) is only $14.99 at Staples...

I'll also mention that The -20 2am thing was what got me into lithium batteried plastic or plastic coated flashes. The bloody c-5 Mag, in addition to making my knuckles burn fcrom cold, about gave me frostbite, too.

Also: http://truthorfiction.net/rumors/spacepen.htm

NASA Spent $12 Million For a Space Pen While the Russians Just Use Pencils-Fiction!


Summary of the eRumor
The message says that the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration spent ten years and $12 million developing a pen that writes in zero gravity for use by astronauts. The pen will write upside down, underwater, on almost any surface and is functional at extremely hot and cold temperatures. The Russians, however, filled the need for a space writing instrument by simply using pencils.


The Truth
For some people, it's sport to point out government waste and bureaucratic stupidity, but this story about the space pen won't provide ammunition for it. The government did not fund the development of the pen, it did not cost $12 million to perfect, and neither the Americans nor the Russians consider it desirable to use pencils in space. In fact, both Americans and Russians use the space pen for their flights.

The famous space pen, which is still a popular product today, was developed by Paul Fisher the founder of the Fisher pen company. An engineer who improved ball point technology, he created his "bullet pen" in the 1940's, which became one of the best-selling pens of the Twentieth Century. Later, he perfected a pen that was sealed with pressure inside of the cartridge that made the ink to flow regardless of gravity. It also worked in high and low temperature extremes, underwater, and wrote on many kinds of surfaces. According to the Fisher Pen company, after extensive testing, NASA chose the pen in 1967 for use by Apollo astronauts and it's been a part of space travel ever since. The company says it took Fisher about 2 years and $2 million to develop the space pen. Prior to 1967, there were no pens that worked in space so there were pencils used, but there were concerns about pencil dust floating around the space capsules as well as fears that if the tip of a pencil broke off and drifted into the electronics, there would be problems.

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 million developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300C.

When confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil.
 
I'm a journo. I write with a Montblanc ballpoint my wife gave me in 1988. I hate writing with POS pens.

Still, in my pocket at ALL times is my black, Fisher Bullet Pen. Space? No, I am not going into outer space. However, as a journo I have covered multiple fatals in freezing rain and murders in snow storms and the only things that write under those conditions are pencils and Fisher Space pens.

There's also a Mazzuoli Officina that I carry. If push comes to shove, it's not only a great roller ball, it's a damned impact weapon, a la kubotan. That one IS a tactical pen.

Tactical isn't the equipment. It's a state of mind.
 
YOU'VE SOLD ME!!! Now, where do I get one of those "space pens"? Is it
just as easy as goin' to Staples? Or
do I have to contact NASA?;) You've
sold this ol' "11" on something I'd
say is more "practical";) than "tactical"!

O.K. boys & girls, "lock & load"!

And let the "debate" rage on....

AET;)
 
Allen I'm not one to sing the virtues of pens, but I have had a Fisher Bullet Pen for the last 10 years, just bought my second one last year,(the first one travelled around the world with me in my previous job, it always sat in the bottom of my pocket and never let me down, I still have it in the box that the new one came in, I retired it for sentimental reasons).

I even convinced a friend to buy one, (even though it, it put him in hot water with his wife, "are you nuts?, spending $15 on a pen, what were you thinkin'"):eek:
 
On my keys I have a Leatherman Micra and a Mag-lite solitare, both impulse buys at Target. I write in my free time and for my money a uni-ball micro is great. I have a set of .25mm pens for drawing. I'm hard on watches, maybe someday I'll have to get a G-shock or something. But for now my Armitron is good, it's water resistant and isn't cluttered with buttons. I like things simple. I used to drive a '97 S-10, couldn't even see all the spark plugs. Now I have a '65 VW Baja that I'm putting a new front beam on. Parts are cheap and since it doesn't have power everything there's very little to go wrong. I like gizmos as much as the next guy but I like them more when they serve a real purpose. Maybe I'm just a dinosaur.

Frank
 
Just like 90% of the SUV's sold do not go into the mountains and rough terrain, it's not that you regularly use it for what it's intended for -

It's knowing you have the ability to do it, in the event you need to.

There are tons of products sold just for the mere potential ....
 
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