Hi all, I just bought one of these recently on a whim and thought I'd post up what I thought of it in case anyone was interested...sorry its a bit long, I was kinda writing it as a review, but don't appear to be able to add it to that section...
Anyway, to see the kit in question there are loads of sites detailing it through a google search, but here are a couple with nice pics :-
http://www.whipperleys.co.uk/acatalog/survival_gear_outdoor_tools.html
http://www.oegmag.com/SurvivalIncorporatedUltimateSurvivalKit.asp
With the name of this kit being the "Ultimate Survival" kit I was kinda dubious, but expectant! I imagine a number of you are thinking "what a load of rubbish", or "what a waste of money" or something similar. Well, maybe so, but I've always been a sucker for little nick nacks and gadgets...
This little kit can be bought from a number of sources (got mine in Blacks), and
it normally costs around the £50 mark. So, what do you get for your money? Well you get a whistle, a signal mirror, a saw, a firestick of sorts, some instant firelighters and it all comes packed in a little black box.
Here I thought I'd make a note on each item and then you can all draw your own
conclusions as to whether you think the kit or any of its items are worth the money. It should be noted that ALL the items can be bought individually,
the nice thing about buying the kit is that they all come in a tough little
water tight box.
The water tight box is a very tough little black sealed unit actually called an
Otter Box, which can be bought seperately in a number of different shapes and
sizes from www.otterbox.com. In the kit form it comes with a glued in foam
insert to position the items, but I will be removing this as it limits the
available space (as I wish to add a number of other items to the box) and makes
it very awkward to shut once you have had the items out (the hand saw is a REAL pain to get back in!).
The saw is a two handed item that looks like a bike chain with added teeth. I
haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it certainly looks like it will do the
job and unlike many of these type of saws, it does already come with decent hand straps at either end and looks substantial and sturdy enough to be of practical use. If bought seperately, this saw comes with a nice pouch that can be
attatched to a belt or simply tucked safely away somewhere in your pack. I will
be putting mine in a small sealed plastic bag to keep it seperate from the other
items.
The whistle I have tested and can confirm that if you give it a good blow it is
REALLY loud, it is also made of plastic so won't stick to your lips in extremely
cold conditions and has no 'pea' to freeze or jam up. I'd say this is a sensible
item to carry around bearing in mind it weighs nothing and takes up next to no
room. I believe this was under a tenner seperately.
The 'blast match' as its called is basically a firestick that can be used single handedly. Its a little fiddly, but once you get used to its operation it certainly gives a good shower of sparks. However, it does feel a bit cheap, though I suppose for the £21.99 that it was individually, it isn't too bad a value when a decent
firestick is normally a little over a tenner. You could use this manually too if you preferred (or if it broke in such a way that you couldnt use it single handedly again). The firestick itself is rotatable so you can work your way around it.
The signal mirror is another useful item in my opinion. This one has a sighting
hole in the middle, but I would carry it simply because it is just big enough to
shave by! I think this was £7.99 seperately which might be a bit steep for a
tiny mirror, but it feels solid enough. Perhaps this could do with some sort of
soft pouch or cover to help protect it, but again, I shall place it in a small
clear bag on its own once I remove the foam inner tray of the box.
The disappointing bit is that you only get two of the tiny waterproof
firelighters which I think is a bit tight for the cost of the kit, but if bought
seperately in a pack you do get a decent amount of them. I had to test one of these out of interest, duly set it alight and dropped it in a bowl of water and indeed it floated with its exposed surface always staying alight even if you prodded it to turn it over, as it turned the flame just moved around. Obviously if you submerge it, it goes out, though it did relight with no problem. Foolishly I used a lighter to light mine for this test, but in hind sight wish I'd tried lighting it with the provided blast match which would of been more sensible as that is what you get in the kit! It also seemed to last about a minute before it was spent. I don't know if there is anyhting genuinely special about these firelights, it looks very much like the solid fueltabs you can use on a BBQ to get it going or the hexa fuel tabs for the mini folding solid fuel stoves, not sure if these would do the same....anybody?
So, what do I think overall...
Well I like the kit and although it is expensive, I do think you get your moneys
worth. However I do also think that the name is a little misleading, I would hardly call it an 'ultimate' survival kit as there are some items missing that I would
personally count as essential for such a title, for example, by ditching the
interior foam of the box you could of included some sort of penknife/blade which
is glaringly obvious in its absence and a foil type surivival bag. Still, it
does give a good foundation for producing your own kit which is my intention.
It should also be noted that the box is too big/bulky to realistically carry
inside an average coat pocket, so mine will probably be confined to my backpack, but I can't help wondering how useful this kit will really be to justify
carrying it in the majority of trips I do, but if I was going off the beaten
track then I may well decide to take it or at least some of its items along.
Hope you've found this useful or interesting. Would anybody care to comment on what other items they would expect to find in something with such a title or what they would add to it to improve it? Be interested to know your thoughts on this...
Cheers
Geoff
Anyway, to see the kit in question there are loads of sites detailing it through a google search, but here are a couple with nice pics :-
http://www.whipperleys.co.uk/acatalog/survival_gear_outdoor_tools.html
http://www.oegmag.com/SurvivalIncorporatedUltimateSurvivalKit.asp
With the name of this kit being the "Ultimate Survival" kit I was kinda dubious, but expectant! I imagine a number of you are thinking "what a load of rubbish", or "what a waste of money" or something similar. Well, maybe so, but I've always been a sucker for little nick nacks and gadgets...
This little kit can be bought from a number of sources (got mine in Blacks), and
it normally costs around the £50 mark. So, what do you get for your money? Well you get a whistle, a signal mirror, a saw, a firestick of sorts, some instant firelighters and it all comes packed in a little black box.
Here I thought I'd make a note on each item and then you can all draw your own
conclusions as to whether you think the kit or any of its items are worth the money. It should be noted that ALL the items can be bought individually,
the nice thing about buying the kit is that they all come in a tough little
water tight box.
The water tight box is a very tough little black sealed unit actually called an
Otter Box, which can be bought seperately in a number of different shapes and
sizes from www.otterbox.com. In the kit form it comes with a glued in foam
insert to position the items, but I will be removing this as it limits the
available space (as I wish to add a number of other items to the box) and makes
it very awkward to shut once you have had the items out (the hand saw is a REAL pain to get back in!).
The saw is a two handed item that looks like a bike chain with added teeth. I
haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it certainly looks like it will do the
job and unlike many of these type of saws, it does already come with decent hand straps at either end and looks substantial and sturdy enough to be of practical use. If bought seperately, this saw comes with a nice pouch that can be
attatched to a belt or simply tucked safely away somewhere in your pack. I will
be putting mine in a small sealed plastic bag to keep it seperate from the other
items.
The whistle I have tested and can confirm that if you give it a good blow it is
REALLY loud, it is also made of plastic so won't stick to your lips in extremely
cold conditions and has no 'pea' to freeze or jam up. I'd say this is a sensible
item to carry around bearing in mind it weighs nothing and takes up next to no
room. I believe this was under a tenner seperately.
The 'blast match' as its called is basically a firestick that can be used single handedly. Its a little fiddly, but once you get used to its operation it certainly gives a good shower of sparks. However, it does feel a bit cheap, though I suppose for the £21.99 that it was individually, it isn't too bad a value when a decent
firestick is normally a little over a tenner. You could use this manually too if you preferred (or if it broke in such a way that you couldnt use it single handedly again). The firestick itself is rotatable so you can work your way around it.
The signal mirror is another useful item in my opinion. This one has a sighting
hole in the middle, but I would carry it simply because it is just big enough to
shave by! I think this was £7.99 seperately which might be a bit steep for a
tiny mirror, but it feels solid enough. Perhaps this could do with some sort of
soft pouch or cover to help protect it, but again, I shall place it in a small
clear bag on its own once I remove the foam inner tray of the box.
The disappointing bit is that you only get two of the tiny waterproof
firelighters which I think is a bit tight for the cost of the kit, but if bought
seperately in a pack you do get a decent amount of them. I had to test one of these out of interest, duly set it alight and dropped it in a bowl of water and indeed it floated with its exposed surface always staying alight even if you prodded it to turn it over, as it turned the flame just moved around. Obviously if you submerge it, it goes out, though it did relight with no problem. Foolishly I used a lighter to light mine for this test, but in hind sight wish I'd tried lighting it with the provided blast match which would of been more sensible as that is what you get in the kit! It also seemed to last about a minute before it was spent. I don't know if there is anyhting genuinely special about these firelights, it looks very much like the solid fueltabs you can use on a BBQ to get it going or the hexa fuel tabs for the mini folding solid fuel stoves, not sure if these would do the same....anybody?
So, what do I think overall...
Well I like the kit and although it is expensive, I do think you get your moneys
worth. However I do also think that the name is a little misleading, I would hardly call it an 'ultimate' survival kit as there are some items missing that I would
personally count as essential for such a title, for example, by ditching the
interior foam of the box you could of included some sort of penknife/blade which
is glaringly obvious in its absence and a foil type surivival bag. Still, it
does give a good foundation for producing your own kit which is my intention.
It should also be noted that the box is too big/bulky to realistically carry
inside an average coat pocket, so mine will probably be confined to my backpack, but I can't help wondering how useful this kit will really be to justify
carrying it in the majority of trips I do, but if I was going off the beaten
track then I may well decide to take it or at least some of its items along.
Hope you've found this useful or interesting. Would anybody care to comment on what other items they would expect to find in something with such a title or what they would add to it to improve it? Be interested to know your thoughts on this...
Cheers
Geoff
