Top 5 EDC Keychains for Camping and Survival 

No matter whether you’re a camper, backpacker, hunter, or survivalist, a multifunctional keychain is a great tool to add to your EDC (EveryDay Carry).

But what’s the most useful keychain for EDC?

This mostly depends on what type of tools you already have as a part of your EDC and what type of tools you may still need. 

Just stop and think for a second. What type of tools do you normally need in your everyday life but yet don’t have available? What type of tools do you normally need when you go camping, hiking, backpacking, or hunting? What tools would you need if you were in a life and death survival situation?

These are all topics you need to think about before buying an EDC keychain for your camping, backpacking, or survival needs.

Best EDC Keychains

To help you find the best EDC keychain possible, I read countless reviews of the most popular keychains for EDC and chose these top 5 keychains to review for myself.

Here’s my review of each keychain.

Lumintop EDC01 Flashlight Keychain

You may have a smartphone with a built-in flashlight, but it’s always good to have a backup plan in case your phone breaks, ends up lost, or runs out of battery. The backup plan I chose is the Lumintop EDC01 pocket flashlight. 

This small tactical flashlight can easily fit in your pocket and only uses a single AAA battery to operate. With a maximum output of 120 lumens, the amount of light the OSRAM LED with TIR optic lens can produce is certainly impressive.  

The Lumintop EDC01 comes with 3 light-mode settings (low, mid, and high) that you can swap between to allow you to alter the brightness and/or save battery life. On the lowest setting, the EDC01 can last up to 36 hours. Whereas on the highest setting you can only expect about 30 minutes. 

To turn on the EDC01 you simply have to twist the light head clockwise until the light turns on. Quickly turn the light on and off to swap between the 3 light-mode settings. 

Some of the other cool features that come included with the Lumintop EDC01 are an aircraft-grade aluminum body with a military-grade anodized surface, a glow-in-the-dark diffuser, and an IPX8 waterproof rating that allows continual submersion under 6.5ft of water. 

Specifications

• 120 lumens
• 3 light modes
• OSRAM LED with TIR optic lens 
• Compact size of 2.36 x 0.57 Inches
• Operates on a single AAA alkaline or No-Mh battery
• Aircraft-grade aluminum with military-grade anodized surface
• IPX8 Waterproof Certification (allows up to 6.5ft underwater)
• ANSI verified Impact Resistance (can be dropped up to 5ft)
• 30 Days Money Back Guarantee and 5 Years Free Repair Warranty

Black Monkey Fist Paracord Keychain 

One of the most useful EDC keychains for campers, backpackers, and survivalists is the Black Monkey Fist paracord keychain. 

This EDC paracord keychain will greatly improve your chances of survival. Especially if you find yourself lost in the wilderness and there are lakes and rivers in your area to fish from. 

This survival EDC keychain comes with a fishing line, a Ferro rod, a scraper, a ring, fishing floats, 2 fishing swivels, 2 fishing hooks, 4 fishing weights, tinder/cotton, and a plastic ball to carry it all in! Holding the plastic ball in place is a black military-grade 550 paracord cord that could prove useful in a variety of survival situations. 

The Black Monkey Fist keychain is the only EDC keychain on this list that can be used to both catch your dinner and cook it as well. That’s why this is my favorite survival keychain for everyday carry. 

Holtzman’s Ultimate 5-in-1 Paracord Keychain

Next on this list of best EDC keychains is the Holtzman’s Ultimate 5-in-1 Paracord Keychain. 

What I love so much about paracord keychains (or really just paracord) is the vast amount of uses it has for camping, hiking, and survival situations. 

Originally used in World War II as parachute string, paracord, often referred to as 550 cord, has the ability to hold up to 550 pounds without breaking. And because of its durability and high-knot strength, paracord has been widely used ever since as a cheap and popular survival tool. 

Some of my favorite uses for paracord are to create a campfire with the bow-and-drill fire starting method, to build a hunting bow to shoot arrows with, or even to suspend a bear bag from a tall tree branch. The options are limitless!

And thanks to the carabiner, you can easily attach this tactical keychain to your bug-out bag, hiking backpack, or even your belt loops for extra safety. However, my favorite use of this carabiner keychain is to secure both ends of the zipper inside of my tent. 

Doing so will help prevent anyone (or anything) from being able to open the entrance of your tent. And while I’m not sure if any animal is even intelligent enough to unzip the zipper on a tent, it makes me feel safe knowing they couldn’t do so even if they tried. At least not with the carabiner securing both ends of the zippers shut.

The last two features of this paracord keychain are an emergency whistle and a flint rod + scraper. Unfortunately, both of these features are mediocre at best. The emergency whistle barely even functions and the Ferro rod and scraper are awkward to use.

Another downside is the Ferro rod is fairly small so the flint can scrape off rather quickly if you’re not careful.

Edcfans Carabiner Multitool Keychain

This carabiner multitool keychain from edcfans is perfect for anyone who wants to attach some extra tools and useful gadgets to their keys for everyday carry. 

This 10-in-1 multifunctional tool keychain comes with a Phillips & Slotted screwdriver, 3 small hex wrenches, an 11/16 hex wrench, a bottle opener, a carabiner keychain clip, 2 key loops, and a glass breaker to use in emergency situations.

The body of the keychain is made from 420 high-quality stainless steel (corrosion resistant and highly durable) and the glass breaker is made of cemented carbide to ensure it doesn’t break. Cemented carbide has a hardness index of 9 (close to a diamond) and a heat resistance of 1000°C. 

The material of this EDC keychain is even compliant with TSA regulations so you can take it inside any airport with no problem whatsoever. So no matter whether you’re a survivalist, a bike riding enthusiast, or someone who commonly uses a wrench, screwdriver, or bottle opener, then this carabiner multitool keychain may just be for you.

Gerber Dime 12-in-1 Multitool Mini

Want a real multitool for your EDC keychain? 

The two best-selling multitool keychains are the Leatherman Squirt and the Gerber Dime. The Leatherman Squirt may be the better option of the two, but it’s also the far more expensive option. And to be honest, I think you get more for your money with the Gerber Dime. 

The Gerber Dime comes with 11 tools – 12 if you count the keyring – and is made from high-quality stainless steel that’s not going to easily break. 

Here are the 11 tools below:

1. Spring-loaded needlenose pliers
2. Standard pliers
3. Wirecutter
4. Tweezers
5. Bottle opener
6. Fine edge blade
7. Retail package opener
8. Scissors
9. Medium flat head driver 
10. Crosshead driver
11. Coarse + fine file

The Gerber Dime has a butterfly design that works exceptionally well and so does the spring-loaded features on both the scissors and pliers. This multitool keychain was made in China but you would never know it from how well it feels and functions. 

Now, the Gerber Dime isn’t meant for heavy-duty usage but it will handle all the small jobs that come your way. My favorite feature is the retail package opener that you can use to open those annoying plastic packages.