A high-quality carabiner can be the “key” piece (heh) that ties your whole EDC kit together. The five choices below are among the more interesting options we’ve ever come across. Check ’em out.
James Brand’s “Mehlville” carabiner. ($60)
Machined from a solid block of anodized 6063 aluminum with stainless steel details — like its built-in bottle opener/pry screw — the Mehlville sports a dual-compartment design that makes it easy to clip and unclip the larger top section to your bag or belt loop without your keys ever falling out of the bottom section. The sleek aluminum construction is lightweight but very strong, so you won’t have to worry about it breaking.
CW&T’s Key Wrangler. ($70–$85)
The Key Wrangler is a stainless steel carabiner keychain with a snappy spring clip and a post to keep your keys in a tidy row.
It holds up to 17 standard flat keys of various shapes and sizes (in whatever order works best for you), and there are some nifty details throughout, like the knurled key post that helps you twist it more easily with your fingers, along with the small nylon pad that keeps it snugly in place.
Mad Rock “Ultra-Tech” Screwgate Carabiner. ($10)
Mad Rock’s “Ultra-Tech” screwgate is the kind of thing designed for rock climbing, so it’s more than tough enough for your EDC. Made from hot forged aluminum, it boasts a major axis strength of 26kN (5,845 lbs), a minor axis of 8kN (1,799 lbs), and 9kN (2023 lbs) with the gate open. The screwgate can be operated one-handed.
The “Firebiner” fire-starting carabiner and multi-tool. ($15–$17)
The stainless steel Firebiner doesn’t just act as way to clip up to 100 pounds of cargo onto a bag — it also has a robust built-in spark wheel and a replaceable ferro rod for starting fires. It has a few other tricks up its sleeve too, like a flathead screwdriver tip, a bottle opener, a hidden safety blade, and hang slots for putting it on your keychain or elsewhere.
MecArmy FL10 titanium rechargeable flashlight carabiner. ($130)
The FL10 by MecArmy is easily the most expensive on this list, but how many carabiners do you know of with a rechargeable 360-lumen flashlight built in? Even aside from that, it’s made from TC4 titanium so it has a lot of strength for so small a package, plus it’s extremely scratch- and corrosion-resistant.
For more everyday carry inspiration, check out the rest of our EDC guides here.