Urban Essentials

T It's designed to help manage day-to-day problems in an urban environment and I wouldn't leave home without it. Hi, my name is Jonathan and So t It's designed to solve day-to-day problems and it comes with me when I leave the house, usually in my backpack or a sling, and it's also small enough to be carried in a pocket. Therefore, it has to be lightweight and compact, otherwise there's every chance it will be left be This kit is more compact and a little bit less heavy duty because it's If you want to see my everyday carry travel kit, then check out t And if you want to find out more on any item, I will link to everyt So t And So first on the list is Super Glue. I t It's really difficult to apply because you can't squeeze out the amount you want because it's a solid container. So I'm going to get rid of t And I then we have the meds tube and I've swapped out a broader range of medication I had originally in t So in here now I've only got one form of medication and it's paracetamol 500 milligrams. So I've focused on pain medication which from experience is the one I'most likely to need day to day and I keep it in the titani Then we have a small Victorinox knife. T It only has a few tools but they're all really useful. We have a small p Then we have a small blade and then on the other side we have scissors w And then the last main tool is a small flathead screwdriver and also a file w Then we have a couple of scale tools. We have the tweezers and then built into t And that's a great addition to t It's got a pressurized refill so it will write in any orientation and to make it even more usable you can pull out the phillips screwdriver and then you can rest that against your finger and then it writes just So that is a really good combination for t Okay next we have t And I t And also in here I've got some emergency cash. I always think it's useful carrying a little bit of cash in a kit Then we have a little bit of gorilla tape or duct tape folded back on itself so you only have a little bit for emergencies and that might be to fix somet There's loads of uses for tape and therefore it's nice to have a little bit in t Okay next in here we have a torch or a flashlight and t And I haven't found anyt T It's pretty tiny about the size of my little finger. This model has a 450 l This flashlight has four brightness levels ranging from the maxim And in the very low light level which is two l So if you are going to get stuck somewhere for a long time in total darkness that could be of some comfort. As well as the beam t And that can be used to alert people to the fact that you're there maybe on a dark road at night or you could attach it to your bike when I've been without a bike light at night. So that's a useful emergency mode. And then in addition to that you have ambient white light mode And that can be really useful when you want to light up a wider area rather than just a focus beam. And then you have one more feature w Or looking for evidence of body fluids. It has a 330 mAh battery and is charged via t And if you want to see my full review on the Rovivan AA-Tex then check out t Next in here we have a big lighter just somet And of course you can use it for lighting a fire when you rock up at your Airbnb and find that there's not But it can also be used for melting t So I always t Next in here we have these. These are my emergency glasses. They're from a company called They don't look particularly brilliant but they do work really well and these are the sort of t So you'll find I carry a pair of T And then in here we have some what you might call string. It's actually called micro cord. It's very lightweight and it's very strong with 100 pounds of breaking strain. And t And I found I've used it on n So that's a bit of a no brainer. And then in here we have a couple of band-aids or plasters and some antiseptic wipes. Not really what you would call a first aid kit but for the size and weight really useful to have if you get a cut or a nick. The next item is arguably the most important one in here and that is a power bank. And that is mainly to keep your phone charged and that is because the phone is such an important tool now day to day. Not only for making calls but also you will find often your train tickets might be on there or perhaps boarding cards or event tickets or your ID. Or maybe you need to use your phone to pay for something or for navigation pin n It can be so frustrating if your phone runs out of power that I always carry a power bank with me. And t And when you t In addition to that t So technically t Which theoretically means you could be sat in the dark for 30 days and still have some ill T I'll link to it in the description. It charges via USB-C w 5 amps. You can also check the remaining battery power by pressing t You can see here that this is fully charged because all four lights are ill If you're going to use a power bank you're going to need some charging cables. And if you use normal charging cables So we need to have an alternative. And what I use here is t And it's a very compact lightweight charging cable. One end we have a USB-And on the other end we have a lightning plug for the iPhone. So that's ideal. And then in addition to that here we have an adapter that converts the lightning plug into a micro USB plug w So t In addition to that it also has a SIM ejection tool built in there w So t But it doesn't allow me to charge the power bank on the go because it doesn't have a USB-C output. So I've been looking for some alternatives. And one I've come across recently is t And if you want to see a full review on t Basically it has USB-A but also it has USB-C at one end. And at the other end it has USB-C but also it has lightning and micro USB built into that lightning plug. So you have effectively six cables in one. And that would allow me to charge t So that adds some useful flexibility there. The slight problem with it is that it's a little bit more bulky than the Levergear product. And that is a bit of an issue in a pouch w So the In Charge 6 weighs 27 grams w 9 of an ounce. Whereas the Levergear just weighs 12 grams w So although t But what I am going to do, I'm going to add to t And what that means is now I have the opportunity to charge the power bank because by putting t So if I can find a USB-A source on the go and there are usually plenty about that gives me the opportunity to charge t Having said all that I've been on the lookout for the smallest power bank you can find in order to create the kind of most compact lightweight kit here. And I've come across one from a company called Rolling Square who actually made the In Charge 6. And it's called the Tau and it's the world'smallest 3-in-1 power bank. And by 3-in-1 it means that the cables are built in and it gives you three outputs. On t Now I wouldn't use t It's been designed to be used in conjunction with t And the only problem with that is if you want to keep t I would much prefer to have a normal USB charger on here so I could charge it anywhere without having to have that dock with me. So that's the main drawback as far as I can see with t Along with the fact that the capacity is less as you might imagine. It'smaller and lighter and t So it will charge a phone probably a quarter to a t Not bad at all in an emergency but not quite as good as t 8 ounces. So not quite twice as heavy. And so whilst I think this is actually a really good option I'm going to try and stick with this option because I And I also So the pouch is now empty and what we have here is the original kit with a few modifications but I've got some additions to make so let's run through those. The first one is the addition of a Fresnel Magnifier. They are very cheap and don't add any weight or bulk and for me at my age they allow me to see the very small print on things So that's a really easy addition. Then there were a lot of suggestions to add a couple of safety pins. So I've included those. And also a few people said don't forget some elastic bands w So I've added a couple of those. And I've also decided to add some aquatabs. Not essential in an urban setting. You can normally be pretty guaranteed that your water is safe. But if you're not confident, drop in one of these in a liter of water for half an hour will sterilize it. T And the idea here is if you drop your keys for example down a drain or maybe into a gap where you can't get your hands in. Then you can fish them out with t And t So a really useful the next t It was recommended in the comments and that is a tick remover and you wouldn't expect to get a tick in an urban environment. But the person who recommended it actually managed to pick up a tick walking through Paris. And the t It can go on for months if not years. And in the worst cases it can start to affect your nervous system, your memory, cause facial paralysis. So it's the sort of these are the tools normally associated with getting rid of ticks and they are lightweight and fairly compact. But they're a little bit of an odd shape and I know for a fact they're going to find it hard to fit into t However, I've done a little bit more looking around and I've come across the larger one is for when it's been on you for a w And it might not be you, it might be a pet. And so t And it's from a company called Life Systems. They have a few EDC items around and it comes packaged So I t It's going to be rare, I t And then we have two from the comments. That is tie wraps. So a lot of people fed back and said don't forget your tie wraps and they can be really useful. So I've got just three in here and I've cut them a little bit shorter to fit in the kit. Again, they're not going to add much in the way of weight or bulk at all. You'll also notice on the back here I've got a needle w Particularly if you've got a button that's come in loose then a needle and thread could be really useful. Again, not taking a penny bulk or weight. And then I've added somet And if you've not come across self amalgamating tape before it can be really useful. It's a tape that's not sticky but it does stick to itself. And you take the backing off and as you can see it's really stretchy. And it's used to wrap round pipes to stop leaks or to wrap round cable joints to keep the moisture out. You can fasten t And when it comes into contact with itself it amalgamates with itself. So that is a really tight bond that now holding my fingers together. To get this off I can unroll it and as you can see we've now got what looks So I thought I would include that in the case as well and I've just put two short strips in here. And that will be enough to provide a temporary fix to stop a leak on a pipe or fasten round maybe an exposed electrical cable. Or maybe to fasten somet And you might notice I'm using quite a few of these credit card sized sleeves. In the old pack I was using these w But I found a better option w So all of these are based on that and again I'll put a link to these in the description. And all of that has got to fit into t 5 inches. So let'start by getting everyt The weight is 229g w The Topo designs pouch I t And in the comments people have said there'struggle to get hold of it as well. So I've been looking for an alternative and I've found t It's a very similar size, very slightly smaller by about 5mm or 1. 25 in terms of the height. It's made from an X-Pack material. It has aqua guard zippers. I t It's available in black as well as orange. And I just want to see whether everyt So it will fit in the Alpaca zip pouch but it is definitely a squash and a squeeze. Let me just prove to you that everyt So as you can see it will fit in the Alpaca zip case but it is a very tight fit. There is a little bit more room in the Topo designs case so that would be my preference. So I hope that's been useful and if you've enjoyed thank you as always for watc Have a great day and I'll see you in the next one. you