Everyday Carry gear is catnip to the “advertainment” part of the Internet. Its the stuff that built the giant shill site marketing bloat and it powers Youtube Top Ten videos. There is a lot of garbage out there. This site has been around since before EDC was cool and is one of the oldest EDC sites around. It also has the largest product review archive created by a single person on the web. I have spent more than decade systematically reviewing gear of all prices.

For most people though that doesn’t matter. For most people they want to know what to buy, what to avoid, and how to separate the wheat from the chaff. You can find that here, but are millions of words on the idea of everyday carry gear and recommendations (about 10,000 of which are typos). New people are discovering the idea of EDC and to help them, I am posting starting point articles here to lower the barrier of entry. To help simplify the process, I have broken things down into steps with key resources.

Step 1: EDC Basics

This post “New to EDC? Start Here” is the very best place to start. It has three parts: 1) an intro to the central ideas of everyday carry; 2) a description of the basic tools needed for an EDC; and 3) recommendations for the best “starter” product for each kind of tool.

Step 2: What’s Next

This post “New to EDC? Beyond the Basics” is a look at the second tier of tools for a more expanded kit along with recommendations for the best “start” products for each kind of tool.

Step 3: Get In, Get Out

Finally, there is the post for the EDC dilettante, found here (“One and Done Recommendations”). It is for the person that wants to move beyond a starter tool, but doesn’t want to go deeper in the hobby.

Step 4: The Deep Dive

After these, I’d recommend the links under the “Best of” tab above. Also, helpful is the Gear Price Bracket article which basically summarizes the four price tiers for folders.