EDC (Every Day Carry) are those items you want on you (or within immediate reach) at all times. Each person’s EDC kit will be different and will be based to a large degree on personal preference, and to some degree on your usual location.

When SurvivalHax.com sent me their 10 in 1 EDC keychain for review, I was pretty interested.  This is basically a mini-fishing kit with fire starter stored in a waterproof aluminum case attached to 4 feet of braided Para cord with a whistle attached to a small carabiner.

 The aluminum container holds :

3 Fishing lines 2 x Hooks 2 x Weights 2 x Floaters 2 x Sinkers 2 x Swivels 1 Knife 1 Tinder cotton 1 Ferrocerium rod 2 Safety Pins and  1 cable saw

The first thing I tested was the whistle. Although not police quality, it got the immediate attention of both the wife and the cat, each vying to give me the meanest scowl. It is certainly loud enough for signaling purposes. The carabiner is of lightweight metal but seems to be of good quality. Although I did not unbraid the paracord, it also looks to be well made.

The small finger knife has a sharp edge and a saw edge. The sharp edge wasn’t that sharp, but a few swipes on a sharpener solved that, and it will now cut the fishing line if needed, and I am confident I could gut a fish with it. The main use of the knife is as a striker for the Ferrocerium rod. Holding it by the ring end and striking it like a match down the rod produces a goodly ammount of sparks, certainly enough to start a fire with proper tinder. I didn’t try the small cotton tinder roll, as I am soaking it in Vaseline and placing it in a small plastic pill bag.

Living in the Sonoran Desert I am not real close to a handy stream to try the fishing gear, but it is certainly adequately made. The hooks, floats and weight seem to be of good quality.The small wire saw is sufficient to cut a small pole for a fishing rod, but I doubt it would hold up to hard continuous use. But then again, it wasn’t designed to. This is an EDC kit to get you home to your main gear.

The aluminum case is indeed waterproof with a thin rubber gasket between the two parts.  I tend to adapt my gear. I recently did an article on the SurvivalHax.com nifty little Survival Shovel.  Both handels are hollow, and I filled one with cotton balls wrapped in a plastic bag to use with the fire starter. I am going to take the fishing components on the 10 in 1, wrap them in a plastic bag, and place them in the second hollow handle. The shovel is attached to my get home bag I keep in the back of my Jeep.  As I require certain medication, I am going to fill the waterproof metal case with one weeks worth of medication and attach it also to the get home bag.

Conclusion

All in all, this is a pretty nifty little set up for the price. The items are well made. You can use it as intended as an EDC keychain, or divvy up the components as I did. Available from SurvivalHax.com  or on Amazon.