EDC Poll: Pocket Knife or Flashlight?


Which EDC item do you use more often?

  • Pocket Knife

    Votes: 45 59.2%

  • Flashlight (including the one in your phone)

    Votes: 27 35.5%

  • Other (please post what it is in comments)

    Votes: 4 5.3%
  • Total voters
    76
andy.t

andy.t

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Curious which EDC item you use most often. Realized earlier today I've only used my pocket knife once in the last week, but I've used the flashlight in my phone several times. Seems like the world is a lot dimmer now in 2025 than it used to be back in the 90s.;)
 
Yes, every year that goes by is darker....lol
When I was young a light wasn't required hardly at all!

I'm a mechanic, so during the week my flashlight is used a lot. My pocket knife sees a fair amount of use too.

On my days off work my usage flips, my pocket knife gets used more than my light.

I rarely use my phone flashlight. I walked around holding a flashlight in my mouth all day.
 
voted pocket knife, but started regularly carrying a light on my keyring several years ago when I hunted with a buddy who lived out in the country. sometimes it was so dark out that I'd have to give my eyes a minute to adjust so that I could at least see the shape of my truck.
 
Most used? Flashlight... I have been trying to get my with my keychain light only (clearing up some pocket space)... but after a week, I'm 100% sure I'm happier with my little AA streamlight in my front pocket.

It's much easier to use the tail cap button than twisting the keychain light.
 
My pocket knife is a Vic Handyman, so it's constantly on the loose using the blade, screwdrivers, pliers or scissors......but I use the Streamlight that rides beside it several times a day as well. They're kinda like Batman and Robin, or peanut butter and jelly.......they just 'sposed to be together.
20251101_172303.jpg
 
1) Bandana - several times a day. I carry a 27 inch square one and use it constantly. Especially when eating.
2) Flashlight - looking for a new one as I lost the Olight I've carried for the past 5 years this week.......Yes, I am crying in my tea.
3) Pocket Knife - used once or twice every couple of weeks.
 
Part of my descent into flashlight madness was using a flashlight more and more for close-up reading, without realizing what was going on. I had gotten old enough to become a bit farsighted and didn't know that that happens to everyone eventually. The real fix was reading glasses (positive diopter corrective lenses"). The "presby" in "presbyopia" (farsightedness) means "old", since it develops as the eye ages.

I guess I use a flashlight more, but usually the one next to my bed, rather than my EDC light. I sometimes have to cross the room after lights out, or that sort of thing.

My main EDC knife for the past N years has been a Milwaukee Fastback utility knife with about 1 inch of blade exposed. I can't think of a single time when I wanted a full sized knife and there wasn't one (non-EDC) nearby.
 
Bob_Spr said:
1) Bandana - several times a day. I carry a 27 inch square one and use it constantly. Especially when eating.
2) Flashlight - looking for a new one as I lost the Olight I've carried for the past 5 years this week.......Yes, I am crying in my tea.
3) Pocket Knife - used once or twice every couple of weeks.
Click to expand...


I have a few different Olight AA or AAA sitting in a drawer gathering dust. Might or might not be the model you're looking for. PM me.
 
Bob_Spr said:
1) Bandana - several times a day. I carry a 27 inch square one and use it constantly. Especially when eating.
2) Flashlight - looking for a new one as I lost the Olight I've carried for the past 5 years this week.......Yes, I am crying in my tea.
3) Pocket Knife - used once or twice every couple of weeks.
Click to expand...
I also have more than a few different Olight's sitting in a drawer gathering dust. one or another might or might not be one you're looking for. PM me.
 
I'm in agreement with others, the older I get, the more light I need...and this even after cataract surgeries! But, I do most generally carry the C33TX by Leatherman. I really like the separate, solid, straight and phillips screwdrivers. They really "feel right" when normally extended for actual use. They probably get more use than the blade, other than opening packages. The serrations are a nice feature though, when needed.

20251101_122534.jpg
 
I voted flashlight also, but I use my knives equally as much and couldn't get by without the lot.

My usual EDC lately... the knives change but the flashlight does not.

20251101_174651.jpg

For about the past 35 years or so, I've also had a Swiss Army Classic in my front left pocket... but I don't consider that a knife.

For aging eyes, the flashlight is a God-send. The flipper is my work knife... it gets used and abused. The stockman-esque folder is my food-cuttin', other stuffin' knife. The fixie is for pokin' and slicin' things that need to be poked and sliced. Thankfully it doesn't see (much) use. 😎
 
A little complicated. I do a lot of package cutting at work, but at the point that this happens I am almost always wearing my tool pouch, so I do the cutting with a utility knife. I mean why use the good knife when you have a utility knife right there in your pouch, right?

So it is the flashlight, by a long margin. Got a decent quality rechargable Olight on my belt Monday thru Friday and I use the heck out of it. Sixty-two year old eyes. Even when I'm wearing the readers, I still need the light - a lot.
 
Most days I use my flashlight more than my EDC Knife. I know the exact day a flashlight became my everyday EDC. At 7:42 a.m. PDT on October 1987 the Whittier Narrows earthquake occurred. I was in a Sav On drug store as things fell and sometimes flew from shelves, the power went out as I helped a girl who worked there, who was stiff in fear escape out the front door. Later that day I was talking to a older guy who worked in a supermarket stocking crew when the Sylmar quake hit. He said the quake hit. The power went out. Because of a lack of windows in the store ,complete darkness as things were falling on him that he couldn't see. He said ever since that day he carried a flashlight on his person and showed me his double A maglight. I left him and went to the nearest store that sold flashlights and bought a Maglight. I carry much better lights now but am never without a knife and flashlight.
 
I voted pocket knife, but I wanted to say that it seems like when I'm at work, it's the knife, but at home, it's the flashlight. Still, the knife wins out, followed closely by the flashlight. Third would be using the tools on my Leatherman Wave or SAK, whichever I'm carrying that day.
 
Well color me surprised! I thought knife would win in a landslide! Delica for me as #1. My phone if I turn out the wrong light and have to find the garage entry door without tripping over the mower, getting snagged on handlebars, etc… I rarely need an actual flashlight except the odd garage project or camping.

Oops! I see knife leads in the poll, just not in the comments!
 
Knife definitely, only light I carry daily anymore is on my phone. I use my pocket knife several times a day, boxes, eating, marking a line to cut, lots of stuff. I used to carry a small bright light, when I was working in the CNC plant. They put lights in the control panels, but they didn’t help one bit, id10Ts ! Just glare and shadows made it hard to see wire numbers or drawings. Now, I don’t do much of that.
 
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