Before heading out into the wilderness, it’s important that you are prepared and bring the right gear along with you. By bringing along a survival kit, you’re sure to increase your chances of surviving if things start to go awry. This article will give an overview of the essential pieces of gear you’ll need in a survival kit and give reviews of some of the products you’ll find when shopping for the best survival kit.
Before your next outdoor adventure, you can either buy a pre-made survival kit or build your own with the product suggestions made in this article. If you choose to buy a pre-made kit, be sure that it contains these essential pieces of gear.
Knife
A good, high-quality knife is arguably the most essential piece of outdoor survival gear. It has a wide array of uses such as: gathering wood for shelter or fire-building, cutting through heavy bush, harvesting wild edibles, killing and processing game, and a self-defence weapon against aggressive wild animals.
Fire Starter
The capacity to build a fire will be your saving grace in the wild. Building fires is important for cooking food, staying warm, and signalling for help. It’s wise to bring along multiple fire starters in your survival kit. Popular fire starters include: matches, lighters, firesteel and scrapers, fire pistons and wood friction methods.
Parachute Cord
Invest in military-grade 550 paracord because not only is it strong but also lightweight. It can be useful in the wild to build shelters, build fires with a bow-drill, repair gear, and for first aid.
Water Filter/Purifier
A water purifier is important to have in a survival kit in the event that you run out of clean drinking water. You can choose from a wide variety of water filtration or purification methods, such as: water purification tablets, filtration straws, pumps or water filtration bottles.
Flashlight or Headlamp
Having a source of light will be useful to help you navigate at night and if you find yourself building a shelter or fire when it starts to get dark. Make sure to bring along extra batteries for your flashlight or headlamp.
Compass
Carrying a compass with you will be useful if you get lost in the wilderness. But be sure to practice and know how to use your compass before bringing it along with you.
First Aid Supplies
Having a wilderness first aid kit is essential because injuries in the wild are common and can become serious if left untreated. Help may be hours or days away, so a first aid kit is important for potential injuries.
Bear Spray
Bear spray is handy to have in the event that you come across aggressive wild animals, more specifically bears.
Emergency Blanket
An emergency blanket can act as a blanket to keep to you warm or be used to make a shelter in the event of an emergency. Some emergency blankets have a shiny side that can be used for signalling.
Signal Mirror
A signal mirror is a handy piece of equipment to have in your kit to allow you send out help signals in case of an emergency.
Product Reviews
Now it’s time to take a look at some of the most popular survival kit products on the market.
Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Serrated Knife
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Gerber’s Bear Grylls knife features a high carbon stainless steel blade with a drop point and half serrated edge. The blade keeps an edge nicely and is ideal for survival tasks such as cutting rope.
The handle is ergonomically designed with a textured rubber grip for comfort and to reduce slippage. The pommel is made out of stainless steel, to ensure that base of the handle is tough enough for hammering.
The knife’s military grade sheath is made with a lightweight nylon that’s durable and mildew resistant. The Bear Grylls knife also comes with a Ferrocerium rod fire starter, an in-sheath sharpener, and whistle on a lanyard.
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Survival Spark Magnesium Survival Fire Starter
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Survival Spark’s magnesium fire starter rod is 5.5 inches long and can be struck up to 15,000 times to make a fire. The serrated scraper makes it easy for you to shave off bits of magnesium onto your tinder. But, before you attempt to start a fire, be sure to scrap strip off the protective layer of paint on the striker. Also, included with this survival fire starter is a high-quality compass, 150 decibel emergency whistle, and a lanyard to ensure that everything stays attached.
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Aquatabs Water Purification Tablets
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These Aquatabs are effervescent tablets that kill micro-organisms such as Cholera, Typhoid, Dysentery and other water borne diseases. The tablets can be used to treat water collected from water sources such as rivers, lakes, wells, cisterns and rain. They can effectively disinfect raw or pre-treated water.
After mixing the tablets with water, it will be ready to drink in 30 minutes and leave no unpleasant taste in your mouth. This 100-pack of Aquatabs can treat up to 200 quarts of water.
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Adventure Medical Kits Sportsman Series Bighorn Medical Kit
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The Bighorn Medical Kit is lightweight, portable and contains first aid supplies for groups up to seven people for up to one week. The kit is ideal for base camp or backpack duty, and for trips away from camp as you can take the removable waterproof Field Trauma Kit. This first aid kit will help you effectively deal with penetration wounds, splint fractures, and severe bleeding. It includes sterile bandage materials, wound care, blister/burn care, a CPR face shield, fracture/sprain care, common medications, and a copy of the Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicine. All of the supplies are compartmentalized in a highly visible bright orange case.
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Survive Outdoors Longer (Sol) Emergency Blanket
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SOL’s emergency blanket is a versatile piece of outdoor gear because it can also be used as a ground cloth, gear cover, first aid blanket, or emergency shelter.
It’s made out of vacuum-metalized polyethylene Heatsheets that are windproof, waterproof and resistant to tearing.
The Heatsheets reflect 90% of your body heat to keep you warm. In warmer weather, you can make a shade shelter with the silver side deflecting the sun’s rays. SOL’s emergency blanket measures 56 x 84 inches and weighs only 2.5 ounces.
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Final Thoughts
For any wilderness excursion, you’ll need survival gear that will help you build a fire, build a shelter, signal in the event of an emergency, help you obtain clean drinking water and assist with navigation. The best survival kit for the wild will incorporate all of these components. It’s important to invest in high-quality survival gear that’s rugged enough for the outdoors and long-lasting.Remember that preparedness will be the key to your survival for any outdoor adventure.
