Ask HN: What do you take with you?

Glock 19, 2 extra mags with floor plate extension. Kershaw ao knife, novatac edc 120 lumen flashlight. Blackberry 9700 with bes and free data roaming, nexus one w local sim. Keys w led flashlight. Identity card holder w 4 id cards and credit card and eagle cash card. Wristwatch. Hat w 100 bill inside, sunglasses.<p>Usually also either a vest or one of two shoulder bags with first aid and mags, sat phone, laptop and or iPad or kindle dx, some snacks, cisco console cable. Bigger bag (3 day assault pack or one size bigger) for trips, and spares in my car or the truck, and my trailer. I have a good point and shoot in most bags or on armor, and I have etymotics or ultimate ears canal phones. I also sometimes carry a canon in a dedicated d slr bag.<p>In civilization, largely the same, except sometimes ruger LCR 38 and or a sig mix and match with the g19 in some combination, or just knife and flashlight if carry is unadvised. Also I carry a wallet instead of ID holder.

If you're really interested in this, the best place I've found is the "Everyday Carry Forums", where they talk about this all day long: <a href="http://edcforums.com/" rel="nofollow">http://edcforums.com/</a>. Here's my list:<p>In pockets:<p>* Wallet. I looked around for a looong time for the perfect wallet, then I found these guys: <a href="http://www.all-ett.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.all-ett.com/</a>. I use one with leather lining, and it's an amazingly thin wallet, but which looks like a regular one. Has space for all my cards (not that many), plus some money.<p>* Cellphone (Samsung Touch, a terrible phone I'm stuck with)<p>* Keychain - An openable metal ring for easy removal of stuff, which right now include: Car keys, house keys, 8gb flash disk, and an old CPLD chip from my former job with a hole in the middle.<p>In back pockets:<p>* Coins, rarely. I almost never keep coins on me, but sometimes you get stuck with them after cash transactions (I prefer credit cards any chance I can use them).<p>* Extra keys, if I need (taking a different car than my regular one, etc.).<p>Used to have or want:<p>* Used to carry a small LED flashlight (don't remember which), but it lost its battery and hasn't been replaced (sadly).<p>* Wish I had a small pen.<p>* Have a Leatherman Squirt pocket everything, but don't usually carry it around.

I'm surprised at how many people carry a phone with them everywhere.<p>I treat my phone like a phone, and generally leave it at home. It has voicemail, so if you leave a message I'll call you back in a day or so. Unless I'm out of the country in which case you should probably just email me.<p>I mean sure, if I'm going to be meeting up with people it's nice to have along in case plans change. But for the most part I just don't want people to be able to break my concentration whenever they choose to.

Palm Tungsten C (yes, really!) for reading books and studying Chinese, really crappy Windows phone, Sansa Fuze MP3 player (for listening to Chinese, not music), Canon SD790 pocket camera, small notepad in a nice flip pad with penholder, Harrap's Chinese Pocket Grammar, teeny wallet (basically just a little leather pocket with a zipper), ID badge for work, keys, coins, lint. I really need to either consolidate my electronics into one device or start wearing suspenders.

Wallet, phone, knife, keychain with mini-maglite. A mini-maglite is an eminently practical thing to have around--just as durable as a full sized maglite, powerful enough for most uses, and easy to carry around. It also makes a nice big keychain handle.<p>My bag traditionally carries more stuff: water bottle, MacBook, caffeine pills, pens, note cards, power adapter, highlighter, calculators, post-it notes, whatever paper I have accumulated since I last garbage-collected.

Wallet, keys, gym membership key fob, unironed handkerchief, coins, engine immobiliser remote control, five year old Nokia 3315 phone and a PDA. The PDA is usually a four year old Palm Pilot Tungsten E2 with a 1 Gig SD card full of author intervews, biographies and management podcasts. I also take a spare 1 Gig card wth more podcasts in case the first one runs out. Occasionally the PDA is a six year old Palm Pilot Tungsten E with music on its SD card.<p>Perhaps I'd better explain about the handkerchief. I discovered that, if I fold an unironed one, put it in my pocket and pull it out later, it looks like it's been ironed and is getting a bit crumpled whereas the truth is that it started out really crumpled and is getting flatter. Saves ironing and ends up looking the same.

I've found a compact camera to be a decent "portable photocopier". I'll have to sign something, or I'll see something I'd like to follow up on. "Snap" -- no problem.<p>Mine's a bit older but has (for the time) especially good light sensitivity, so that in most settings I can take a decent picture without flash (which would wash out a document): Fuji F31fd. I also had a Canon A640, until it was stolen. Much better lens, but a generation prior to vibration dampening and so the same shots were chancy at best. I guess anything with dampening would suit the purpose, though the Fuji gets 500 odd shots on a single charge.<p>P.S. If the document has sensitive data, make sure you don't lose the camera! (You might want to pop the storage card and carry it separately.)

I have my power-three: money clip, phone, keys. When my wife drives (and leaves the keys in her handbag) I realise just how often I subconsciously check myself for all three when out and about.<p>I like a clean handkerchief - useful for everything from an acute bout of the common cold to the acutely embarrasing spillage of a colleagues coffee cup while on the phone.<p>As a boy, I always wanted to be the one with the string and the buttons and the matchbox full of interesting odds and ends in my pockets. It never happened, so the fixation remains. Perhaps a smartphone will solve that for me - Twine? They have an app for that!

In my pockets: Wallet, keys (inc utili-knife key), HTC EVO, gerber pocket knife, leatherman skeletool (carbon fiber edition), antihistamine tablets (due to severe allergies).<p>In the bag: MBP, power adaptor, 20' extension cable with several sockets at the end, belkin travel surge protector, spare battery (I have an old-gen MBP), beats-by-dre studio headphones in protective case, two pairs of v-moda bassfreq headphones, iPad, iPhone USB cable (for iPad), (paper) notebook + pen, DVI-to-VGA adaptor, epi-pen + antihistamine drugs, emergency Cliff bar for energy drops, business cards,.

I make sure to always have a paper notebook with me. I use it for anything from to-do lists to scribbling software designs and ideas. Often, I open it on the bus and don't even write anything in it. It has become a kind of token or reminder in that it makes me focus on ideas or planning my day instead of just getting lost in random thoughts. Although the latter is also important from time to time!<p>Also, the current Economist. It's small and light and ensures I always have some good reading available.

I'm apparently pretty boring: Ipod Touch, 2 Cellphones (work, personal), Thermos, lunchbox, and a bunch of papers for work. Small folding fan, three train passes and my business cards. Used to carry a pocket electronic dictionary with me until the clasp broke last week.<p>If I'm not going to work, I'm down to: Wallet, 1 cellphone, car keys. The ipod comes if I'm going somewhere with internet, or I think I might be bored.

* Keys (car, house x3 [handle/deadbolt/back door], work office, various cards [library/discount])<p>* Phone (HTC Droid Eris, was great until VZW botched the 2.1 update)<p>* Wallet (always too full; I tend to accumulate receipts in here)<p>* Pen (Charcoal black Lamy Safari fountain pen. Never go anywhere without it)<p>* Moleskine (if it wouldn't look too out of place. I nearly always throw it in the car and take it in to many places)

Wallet, keys, a few kleenexes, and a wristwatch. Sometimes coins, if I expect to need them.

Wallet, keys, phone, pocketknife and lip balm in my bag or pockets. Notebook (the paper kind) and MBP if I'm going to uni. I don't own a utility belt (although I would very much like to some days) because I keep my tools at work or in the car.

A crappy cell phone i use to talk to other people, and a crappy Chinese mp3 player i use to listen to music. A fancy swiss army knife. A copy of K&#38;R in my back pack(just in case). A pack of cigarettes and a lighter, occasionally matches.

Lunch bag: California innovations. It's big, so I carry inside that a water bottle, knife for apples, and keys.<p>Inside pockets: wallet, crappy LG phone, and my ipod so I can ignore others on the train.<p>I usually get the daily newspaper to occupy my time on the train otherwise.

Bike lock, clip on red bike light, camera (digital point and shoot) ipod, ipod cable, headphones every now and then. Pen and notepad. Bike stuff just stays in bag even though I commute by car/ walk to work.

There's a flickr group devoted to this: The Items We Carry <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/theitemswecarry/pool/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/groups/theitemswecarry/pool/</a>

Keys (obviously to get back home), Portfolio (With identity card, driving license, credit card and some cash), Mobile Phone.<p>That's all, what do I need else? (Sometimes I bring a Usb Flash)

Cash, phone and keys with high odds of a camera or leatherman.

Be short to post pics too. My daily stuff is here:<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueace/3517491753/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueace/3517491753/</a>

I'm surprised how much shit people carry.<p>I keep it limited to a wallet, which has my I'd two credit cards and cash.<p>My blackberry bold 9000<p>And my car key. Sometimes a lighter/cigarettes

Wallet, small phone, cigarettes, lighter.

N95, EeePC 1005PE, Pilot G207 Black, a wallet containing essential wallet deelies and a towel.

in pocket: iPhone 4, keyring (2 keys + office door tag), suit wallet, business cards.<p>in briefcase:<p>squared paper moleskine, car keys, pencil case (various 0.4mm pens, toothbrush, felt pen, lighter), wayfarer sunglasses, passport, business cards, 15" MBP &#38; display port to vga adapter.

I noticed that everyone here is using a MacBook Pro 15" laptop. Why is that?

* two-currency wallet<p>* locking folding knife ($1 from Walmart so I don't care if the TSA steal it)<p>* Phone<p>* Car keys

iPhone 4, wallet, bag of tobacco, lighter, keys, and a portable HDD.

No one is carrying around an iPad?