EDC, or everyday carry, is a simple idea: It’s a product that’s been designed to go everywhere with you, every day, no matter where “everywhere” takes you. Whether it’s a folding knife, multi-tool, or flashlight, these items provide utility and convenience in a form factor that’s often small enough to fit in the front pocket of your jeans. They’re so convenient, you often forget you’ve got one on you. And therein lies a bit of a problem. What if you travel a lot and your favorite EDC tool sends the TSA running for their pepper-spray when you go through security? Or it’s such a tough and well-made piece of gear it scratches your phone when you forget which pocket it’s in?
These are the issues that Michael Chijoff, founder at Tactica Gear, was looking to solve when he and his team sat down to design a new type of EDC tool. The result is the Tactica Talon, a $30 multi-tool that is small, lightweight, won’t scratch your screens, and won’t slow you down in airports.
“We all have some tools,” Chijoff told Digital Trends via email, “but they are typically at home and never with you when you need them.”
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The Talon manages to pack 17 tools into its carabiner-shaped frame, including six metric wrenches, five Imperial wrenches, two hex-bit holders, a box cutter, a bottle opener, and a two-sided ruler. The closed-loop design also features a hidden hex-bit storage bay, which has enough space for two bits. For $14, Tactica will throw in an additional 12 bits.
“The shape comes from the combination of tools that we integrated into the Talon,” Chijoff said, noting that the lack of an actual carabiner clip was an intentional choice. “We wanted to focus on functionality and simplicity in design. The carabiner would have added more cost and complexity.”
Smaller in overall size than a credit card, the Talon gets its lightness and strength from a special polymer blend that contains glass fibers. Chijoff claims this material is 40 percent lighter than titanium, while still affording the same strength as die-cast metal. The glass fibers are also the key to the Talon’s ability to play nicely with phone screens — the two are essentially on par on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness — but we recommend testing this claim out before you trust your $1,000 iPhone to the kindness of a $30 tool.
The Tactica Talon won’t replace your other EDC favorites — especially not your knife or Leatherman-style tool — but that’s not really the point. Unlike those EDC mainstays, the Talon can fit in your pocket and stay there too. If it sounds like something you’d like to carry, the company has just over two weeks left on their Kickstarter campaign, which has already far surpassed its $17,000 goal. If you’re lucky, you might just get it in time for the holidays.
