The Streamlight Sidewinder Compact packs a fully featured light in a small, compact size.  This light is small enough to fit in your pocket, belt, vest, helmet, anywhere you need it without getting in the way.  The Sidewinder has 4 LED’s to offer multiple lighting options, a main white C4 LED, and 3 colored LED’s.  The colored options are Green, Red, Blue, and Infrared, with different combinations depending on the select model.

Operation of the light is very simple featuring a rubber dome actuator.  Push the button once to turn it on, twice to activate the strobe function.  Dimming is enabled by holding the button down once the light is turned on and releasing it when the desired brightness is obtained.  To change the color, the bezel around the rubber dome switch is pulled out and rotated.  A nice feature is whatever brightness mode you are in when you change colors is transferred to the new color when you rotate the bezel.

The light utilizes a single CR123A battery to allow for extreme temperature operation and long operating life.  The battery compartment is sealed with an O-ring for waterproof operation.

This image shows the face, which does have instructions for operation clearly printed above the LED’s.  The main C4 led has a reflector, while the 3 other LED’s do not.

The belt clip is also made to clip onto a helmet mount should you have one.  It also easily fits in a shirt pocket, molle gear, or anything else you might want to strap it to.  If you compare the image above with the image below you can see how the battery compartment rotates to allow you to aim the light 180 degrees from the belt clip.

Below we will show some shots of the light in operation.Overall this is a great utility light.  It will work well to help you find blood trails, view maps at night without disrupting your night vision, and anything else you can throw at it.

Buy a Streamlight Sidewinder Compact at ManVenture Outpost

I have been carrying this knife for about two years now. This knife is used as my every day work horse so I have given it a lot of use. It still looks new other than some scrapes here and there. This is a tough knife; other knives that I have owned for this long have not fared as well as this one has. Shortly after getting this knife I used it to cut big portions of carpet into strips, it cut through them like butter. It has held up to all the tasks I have needed it for, granted I never used it as a pry bar, to cut cans, or anything of that nature but it has maintained its good condition through normal hard use.

The blade is made out of VG-10 steel; VG-10 Steel is designed to maintain sharpness and durability without becoming brittle which is a downfall for other types of exceptionally hard steel. This blade holds its edge longer than your average knife, and VG-10 Steel is also surprisingly corrosion resistant. It has a 4 grind tanto blade so the blade and tip can take a beating without breaking as easily as your standard blade. The blade still comes to a sharp point despite repeated use, and it still opens just as smooth as the first time I opened it.

The handle is made of titanium with stainless steel liners so it doesn’t rust; it is light but extremely tough. The titanium on the handle is a feature that I like it makes preventative maintenance a non issue. Titanium has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal. This Knife has been beaten around for the last two years and it only has surface scratches, and even those are minimal.

The blade is still tight at the joint, it uses an Arc-Lock that is self adjusting so over time as the knife wears from use it keeps the blade tight and prevents wobble up and down on the blade. It has been tested at over 1000 lbs of force measured at the Lock by SOG. The Arc-Lock is ambidextrous and can be flipped open with ease using one hand.

The clip is reversible so that it can be put on the other side for left handed use. Surprisingly this knife fits comfortably in your hand despite the lack of plastic and rubber padding. The clip does not protrude into your hand and get uncomfortable when holding it. The teeth on the back end of the blade for your thumb are not exactly comfortable but they are very functional, your thumb will not slip off them.

The Leatherman Skeletool is a different type of multi-tool. It may only have a few tools on it, but they are the tools you use regularly. This makes the Skeletool light, compact, and simple. Because of the size and design, you don’t need a belt holder for it; this multi tool is made to carry easily like a pocket knife – meaning you will have it when you need it!

The Skeletool is made with the same quality as its big brother, the Wave. Anyone who has held a Leatherman Wave and compared it to multi-tools of lesser quality know what I am talking about. Leatherman is good at making tools that are tough and reliable.One of the things I like about Leatherman is the joints. They are very tight and won’t accidentally fold when you don’t want them to. This gives the tool a strong and sturdy feel. At first glance, the tool has an odd design, but it fits comfortably in your hand. Although the holes in the body look trendy and give the tool it’s name, they are functional and do help cut down on the weight of the tool. When folded the Skeletool feels more like a pocket knife than a multitool. The pliers are only slightly smaller than the Wave but there is not a huge difference. They touch at the very end leaving no gap anywhere; you could pick up a hair with them. The blade is made out of 420HC stainless steel which is a decent quality steel that is heat treated. It is strong, rust resistant, and easier to sharpen than some higher quality blades. The blade is meant for hard regular use, and will need to be sharpened to maintain a fine edge. You should think of it more as a utility blade, you wouldn’t want to use your high quality expensive knife as a utility blade (but if you would like a higher quality blade there is a different version of the same tool, the Skeletool CX has 154CM steel). But for use as a utility blade (which it is) 420HC is what you want. You are not going to be Filleting a fish with this knife – you are going to be beating/prying/scraping/cutting the heck out of it, and with this in mind it is important to have a blade that is easy to sharpen.

It has 4 different screw driver bits. Two different sized flat heads and two different sized Phillips. If you look at the picture you can see how the body has a straight line from the bit back to the handle so it will act like a regular screw driver, this is a nice change from the usual multi-tool designs that are awkward to use.

 The bits are locked in or removed with the push of a button; it is very easy to use and effective. Some bit holders use a magnet to hold them in place but have a problem with the bits falling out when using them. This design keeps the bit securely in place.The extra bit is held tight inside the handle which keeps it out of the way until you need it.

This is an interesting feature; it has a carabiner/bottle opener. It is nice to have the option to clip the Skeletool onto your belt, pack or other gear. As far as the bottle opener, I haven’t used it yet but hey the option is there and doesn’t take up any extra space or add any weight so why not!

Buy the Skeletool 830846 at ManVentureOutpost.com

The carry handle Mount/adapter for the AR15 is a very effective and cheap accessory for the person who likes the accuracy and long range ability of a scope, but also likes the tried and true dependability of iron sights. I put the see through mount on my rifle because I love challenging myself and shooting with iron sites but also wanted to be able to extend the range of my rifle out to the long ranges it is capable of. While it’s nice to hit targets at long range with ease, there is something to be said about hitting a target when your front sight post is larger than the target you are aiming at. Using iron sites is a skill that is perishable and should be maintained with regular practice; it not only is fun but it’s useful to maintain your shooting basics.

With the see through weaver mount I am able to switch between the scope and the iron sites easily. The rail is a weaver style rail, and long enough to set the scope up to where you would like it in relation to your rifle and how you hold it.

If you have quick release rings for your scope you can see how you are able to use the see through mount with or without the scope attached. The mount fits into the carry handle tightly and is held securely with a screw underneath the mount.

Because of focusing I added this picture so that you can see what it looks like if you are looking through the rear aperture at the front site post. You can see the mount does not impede the use of the front sight post and the rear aperture.

The see through mount is easy to remove if you are not using quick release rings for your scope, the screw underneath the mount is easy to remove and the mount lifts right out. Also since the scope is still securely mounted to the adapter when you replace it to the rifle you are still sighted in.

You can see that this mount keeps the scope low to the carry handle. Of course it does raise it up a little higher than you would want for most butt stocks, using an adjustable cheek rest solves this problem. This is important to have in addition so that you can lower the cheek rest to be able to use the iron sites, or raise it up to use the scope.

You can see how low the scope sits to the iron site using the carry handle mount/adapter; they did a good job when making this mount to insure that they kept it as low as possible without blocking the iron sites. Another benefit of this setup is the ability to use the iron sites to help sight in the scope without using a laser boresighter because you can switch between using the scope and the iron sites.

Here is another view showing the front site post viewed through the rear aperture using the see through mount with the scope mounted. Having a tactical scope is nice but to get a decent magnification you have to shell out big bucks, this mount allows you to use a more cost effective scope on your rifle so you don’t have to break the bank to get higher magnification, you can still use the iron sites in addition or take the scope off if need be.
Find Carry Handle Mounts at ManVenture Outpost

The Midland Radio GXT1000 and GXT1050 are some of the best GMRS/FRS handheld radios for the money.  These radios are what I would simply call “usable”.  That might sound a little obvious, but every once in a while something will come along that you find you use it a lot more than you had originally expected. These radios fit that bill; they are convenient, simple to operate, and they work!  I can hand my wife one of these radios and be confident she will be able to operate it without a problem! The radios are GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) and FRS (Family Radio Service) capable.  They also provide access to NOAA Weather Radio channels and the severe weather alert system.  I initially decided to pick these up as a cheap weather alert radio for camping and other activities, because I would get 2 for not much more than a standard base weather radio, and I would have the walkie-talkie function as a bonus.  The radio has the following features:

• Cradle charger base
• AC adaptor for house charging
• DC adapter for 12V charging
• Rechargeable NiMH battery for each radio
• Detachable headset for each radio with mic and earpiece
• Detachable belt clip for each radio

The headset port features separate speaker and mic connections so most aftermarket speaker mic’s will work with the unit.

The ports are also protected when not in use by a dust cover that helps maintain the JIS4 waterproof rating (using an accessory disqualifies the radio from the JIS4 rating).  A nice feature when using the headset (I don’t recommend it when not using a headset!) is the VOX function.  VOX stands for voice operated switch, and basically means the radio will monitor the mic and whenever a sound is picked up it will switch on the transmitter.  The sensitivity is adjustable (9 settings) for your situation.  Just remember when it is on, it will transmit anything you say!

The belt clip detaches to allow access to the battery compartment, or to allow for a smaller form factor if the GXT1050 won’t be clipped to a belt/strap/pocket, etc.  The clip is spring loaded and is actually of higher quality than you would expect.

Midland provides a 6V 700mAh battery pack that can be inserted in the battery compartment, but it is also capable of being used with standard AA batteries.  This is an important feature to consider.  The NiMH battery pack allows for economical daily operation when you have access to a charger, and the AA battery option allows you to use standard alkaline batteries if you aren’t able to charge the battery pack.  I suppose you could also use 4 AA NiMH rechargeable batteries with a larger capacity than the factory pack, but I would advise on using a separate charger at that point rather than the factory charging cradle.