Gear of the Year: 10 Everyday Carry Picks That Earned Their Place

Introduction

Out of everything tested and used over the past year, these ten products kept earning their place in daily rotation. They are not ranked in any particular order. What they share is that each one solved a real problem, held up to genuine use, and in most cases has already proven itself over months rather than days.

MetMo Pocket Driver

The MetMo Pocket Driver is beautifully engineered in the UK and looks like something a surgeon would use to fix a broken leg. Based on a 1920s patent, it is a pocket-sized quick ratchet bit driver with no batteries required, and it takes all your favourite bits, with two more hidden in the base for lighter duty work. It works like a traditional ratchet screwdriver but with an addictive fidget factor from the exposed mechanism, and the pivoting handle delivers a serious amount of grip and torque. It has handled genuinely tight screws well. It cannot match an impact driver for speed, but you get a lot of power and control, it gets into tight spaces, fits in a pocket, and never needs charging. This stainless steel version is the standout, though aluminium versions reduce weight and price. It is in demand and has been on pre-order, but it is worth waiting for.

Bellroy 9L Venture Sling

The Bellroy 9L Venture Sling has been carried pretty much every day for around six months, which says a lot given how frequently gear gets swapped in search of perfection. It is tough, water resistant, and made from recycled materials, with a slight rigidity that helps it hold its shape while staying minimal. The larger size is a genuine advantage when traveling, and the double-ended zip system gives excellent access to the contents. All zips are YKK AquaGuard. The strap system pulls the bag flat when empty, a stretchy pocket keeps glasses at the top where they are quick to reach and never squashed, and there are two end pockets, a flat back zip pocket for a notepad or passport, pen slots, a separate front pocket, and a key leash. Great quality and practical design with some genuinely unique features. It costs £129 or $139.

Wuben X2 EDC Flashlight

The Wuben X2 has become the favourite handheld light for heading out at night, and it is far from a plain black tube. It is available in eight colours and materials: the lightweight aluminium version here has a lovely white micro-arc oxidization finish, a titanium version is tougher and more corrosion resistant, and a red copper option is undeniably beautiful but heavy. The form factor fits the hand well, the build is extremely rugged with a tough glass lens, it is waterproof to 2 m, and there is a functional pocket clip and lanyard hole. A fixed 2,000 mAh battery drives a triple LED flood light with a 2,500 lumen maximum output, with low, medium and general levels plus turbo, strobe and SOS. Charging is via USB-C hidden under a magnet-held switch, alongside a battery level indicator. Operation is spot on: one press recalls the last level, a hold steps through the three main levels, with direct access to turbo and low. The aluminium version weighs 120 g, titanium 156 g, copper 240 g. It starts at around $90.

Leatherman Arc

The Leatherman Arc easily walks away with the multitool of the year. It does come at a price, £260 or $230, and that will be a barrier for many, but there is good reason for it. This is the multitool many have been waiting for, righting the wrongs of previous near misses. It uses Leatherman’s FREE technology platform with magnets so every tool opens easily one-handed, and it carries arguably the best locking mechanism seen on a multitool. All tools are externally accessible, a genuine game changer compared with having to partially open the pliers first. The tool set covers what most users have asked for and more, headlined by a MagnaCut steel blade, arguably the best knife steel available right now, which is where much of the price increase comes from. You also get a saw, a flat bit driver, excellent scissors, a micro driver, flat screwdriver, crosscut file, diamond file, tried-and-tested needle nose pliers with replaceable hard-wire cutters, a striking surface on the base, and a removable pocket clip.

Unbound Merino T-Shirt

The Unbound Merino T-shirt was a revelation on a recent trip to Thailand, worn for days at a time in blistering heat and humidity, including on several flights, and never giving off even a hint of odor. The science holds up: odor forms when bacteria breaks down sweat, but merino wool wicks sweat away first, and its unique fibre structure does not let bacteria embed itself. The effect is dramatic. Instead of packing a t-shirt for every day, two shirts, one to wear and one to wash, can cover an entire trip. They are soft rather than scratchy, and lightweight too. At £72 or $88 each they are not cheap, but the cost is justified by carrying less weight, freeing up space, and making hand luggage rather than checked bags possible, which saves time, convenience and money. Long sleeve versions have since been bought for an upcoming winter trip.

Roland Square Air Card

The Air Card is one of a growing number of credit card-sized trackers licensed for use with Apple’s Find My technology, made by Roland Square. Like an AirTag, but thin enough to live in a wallet, which for most people is the thing you least want to lose. The design is in a league of its own: it is made from aluminium and three panels of tempered glass, yet is just 2.2 mm thick and weighs only 19 g. The battery is not user replaceable but lasts two and a half years, after which it can be returned to the maker for recycling and your next one at half price. An NFC chip shares your details when the card is brought close to a phone, or a QR code can be scanned instead. Setup via the Find My app is simple, and it is actually louder than Apple’s own AirTag. It has already been used to locate things more than once. It costs £39, with the price dropping for multiple purchases.

Reform re02 Minimal Wallet

The Reform re02 has only been in use a few weeks but has quickly become part of everyday carry. It replaces a leather card sleeve that had stretched enough to risk cards dropping out. The re02 is made from a rubberized material used in military boats: it flexes but does not stretch with use, and its grippy surface keeps cards secure while still allowing quick access. It is thinner than a credit card, claimed to be ten times more durable than leather, waterproof, and weighs just 22 g. The dirt-magnet worry never materialized; it wipes clean easily and still looks new. The size suits front jeans pocket carry, the quality looks excellent with welded seams and bar tack stitching in high-stress areas, and the design is simple: three card pockets taking two or three cards each. A feature nobody knew they needed is the strong magnetic closure, which keeps everything neat and is deeply satisfying in a fidget sort of way. Designed and engineered in Germany, it costs around £60 or $80.

Quadlock Power Bank

Quadlock’s phone cases have long been popular for their mounting range, from secure twist-lock bike mounts to magnetic car mounts that charge wirelessly, so the launch of a Quadlock power bank was welcome news. The quality is excellent, with an aluminium rather than plastic case. The 5,000 mAh capacity is enough to charge most phones at least once while keeping weight and bulk manageable at just 120 g. It does not twist-lock but uses the Quadlock mag system, whose strong magnets and interlocking design mean it cannot easily slide out of place or fall off if knocked; attached, it feels like part of the phone case. There is a three-LED battery level indicator, a blue LED confirming charging, and a two-way USB-C socket for charging the bank itself or other devices. Wireless charging, like most inductive chargers, gets warm and is relatively slow, but a cable is there when you need speed. A perfect power bank for anyone already in the Quadlock ecosystem.

Graphene X Laminar Jacket

The Graphene X Laminar Jacket has been the grab-and-go choice whenever leaving the house since early 2023. It looks just as at home outdoors as a mid layer as it does on city streets as everyday wear, and the mid layer description undersells it: it has been worn in sub-zero conditions as a top layer while on the move. It is very light at 490 g, packable, and compresses into its own pocket. Graphene in the insulation gives an exceptional warmth-to-weight ratio that still works when wet and dries quickly. The exterior and lining use 20D Nylon 66, a military favourite that is durable, lightweight, breathable and windproof, with a PFC3 water-resistant coating and a concealed hood. Zips are YKK throughout, with a main zip that also opens from the bottom. There are two zipped hand pockets, a zipped chest pocket, a large concealed zip pocket on the back, an inner zipped pocket for a wallet, and a large drop pocket for gloves. Stretch cuffs and hem avoid cinch cords for a cleaner look. After 10 months of daily wear in all conditions it still looks new. Sizing down one size gives the best fit.

Acebeam Terminator M1

The one item here not previously covered in depth, the Acebeam Terminator M1, went straight into the top 10 the moment it arrived. Right out of the box you know you have something different: two lights in one, combining a bright flood light with a long-range laser-excited phosphor (LEP) light. LEP does not output laser light; a blue laser shines internally onto a phosphor element, producing a very bright white beam. Combined flood-plus-LEP lights have existed before, but never anything this compact. The transformational feature is a rotating zoom lens for the LEP, opening the beam angle from 3 to 16 degrees. Zooming out trades range for width, dropping maximum distance from 1,600 m to 600 m, but it makes the LEP light properly usable. The LEP has 100, 250 and 700 lumen turbo levels and easily lights up the top of a road 250 m away. The flood half has a 1 lumen moonlight level running nearly 3 days, four general levels plus turbo at a very bright 32,000 lumens via a triple LED TIR lens. The replaceable 21700 battery has a built-in USB-C port, avoiding socket damage and water ingress, and its 5,100 mAh capacity gives a 150 lumen level a 14-hour runtime, enough to get through the night.

Operation is easy, with a dedicated switch to swap between the two halves and instant access to moonlight and turbo, though both lights cannot run at once. The aluminium body has a hard-anodized finish, a side battery indicator, a lanyard loop, and differently profiled switches for finding them in the dark. It is dustproof, waterproof, and weighty at 300 g. At $279 it is expensive, but the quality, compact size, long-range-plus-flood combination and design justify it. Note that it is a limited edition with just 2,999 units made, so there is no reason to hang about.

Conclusion

Ten picks, ten different problems solved: torque without batteries, carry without bulk, light without compromise, a multitool with the best blade steel around, packing that shrinks from ten shirts to two, and gear that survives a full year of daily abuse looking like new. If any of these match a need you actually have, each has proven itself well beyond a first impression.