Cash. Lots.

True, if you're in the woods, Smokey won't make change. But if you're anywhere near people, you can buy everything else you need. Obviously, it's easy to be in situations where you'd want something else, but then you should carry a larger kit anyway. In an urban scenario, if I could only have one thing it'd be cash. Lots. :-)

Agree with many of the other suggestions.

My carry:

Keychain with flashlight (soon to be ARC AAA), P38, Leatherman Squirt S4, and BSA Hotspark.

BiC Lighter in pocket. Barely even gets a second glance in public, and I haven't smoked in 15 years.

Around my neck are my dog tags from my Reserves days (including my medical allergy tag) a blank dog tag that has been polished mirror smooth to be used as a.... mirror, a whistle, and $20.00 sandwiched between my dog tag and the polished dog tag (held together with a rubber dog tag silencer).

In my wallet are another $20.00, my Amex Card (an urban survival necessity if there ever was one), and a flattened cotton ball. Plus, a bunch of business cards (kindling!).

All my other EDC stuff is in my briefcase, which I posted on some time ago (And am right now too darn tired to find the link. Apoligies.)

I have fiddled with this arrangement for years, but I keep coming back to what I mentioned above. I have changed the knife/multitool several times, and the flashlight, too. But it pretty much stays the same. I will sometimes try some a new item for a while, but unless it proves handy or really necessary, I usually ditch it or move it to the briefcase.

Hope this helps,

.....CLIFF

How about a thin ferro rod, a broken off piece of hacksaw blade and a small piece of fatwood or some smashed Coglan's Emergency Tinder. This will give you more and better chances to start a fire than a few matches.

Pretend the wind is blowing, it is cold, your hands are stiff and you are stressed out! You really want matches? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

If that happens, put your hands into your armpits to warm them, take a deep breath and centre youself. Panic will kill you. Matches (long burn ones) are sometimes better & faster than a firestriker. If you have damaged hands you can pin the strikerboard with your foot, grip the match with the heel of both hands ( or your teeth) and make fire. Its been done at least once to my certain knowledge by a chap who had bad frostbite to both hands.

I have a Brunton micro-traveller keychain compass that's similar to the Suunto Comet you suggested. I bought it from TAD Gear, but it's no longer on Brunton's website (I assume it's been discontinued). I don't normally carry it, but I can attach it to my chain easily when I want to. But I've always wondered if a compass on a keychain will stop working correctly after time. Sure, the included keyring is non-magnetic, but what about all of the other metal we carry on our keychain? Will this cause problems with the operation of the compass over time? And will the plastic around the lquid eventually break from all the beating it will take? What do you all think?

So long as the compass is 1" or so away from any metal on the keyring you should not have any problems. A quick way to check is to take a north bearing with the compass on its own and a second one with it attached to the keyring. Just make sure that you gather everything else on the ring together on the opposite side of the ring. Anything in your pockets will get damaged sooner or later. I tend to be pathalogical about making damed certain that I keep anything carrying a magnetic field strong enough to magnatise my gear a safe distance away. That means a quick spot check against a known bearing before I go out. Takes a grand total of about 15sec's.

I have been using a zippered wallet (in addition to my regular wallet) from Eagle Creek. I keep an assortment of items in it.

Looks cool, what all is in there?

And I can see by the tape on the lighter that you are wanting to protect it from something, namely the flint wheel from moving. See another post "Protect a Lighter" about preventing butane discharge, which I think would be a more probable and more troublesome issue.

If you find the link, give us a head's up on where the thread is. I'd like to take a gander at your EDC briefcase. My stuff is in transition. Again. Sigh.

-- Craig

The BRUNTON 28NL MICRO TRAVELER COMPASS is available from TADGear in San Francisco for $4.89.

-- Craig