I agree with you Ironraven, the cost of a mini-kit can be quite high if you put quality items in it.

The Altoid kits I gave my hunting partners last fall were similar to Doug Ritters home-made mini kit on ETS and they cost about 25.00 each. They did not have a knife (only utility/razor blades), sparklight (I epoxied welding flints into a groove cut in a Buffalo whistle) or a one-hand signal mirror (I included a very thin plastic mirror); so the cost was significantly reduced by substituting these items.

I am now collecting the items to produce a quality small wilderness kit (actually a mini-kit within a larger belt pack) for myself. The complete kit will include sealed "survival items" (e.g. signal mirror, water purification tabs, fishing kit) plus everyday use tools (e.g, 550 cord, bandaids, whistle, knife sharpener). There will be duplication between the 2 sections so they can be seperated and you will still have the minimum equipment needed. In this kit I intend to use only quality tools so I anticipate the cost will be over $200.00. I hope it will actually lighten the load of "equipment in every pocket" that I have carried for years.

I will post this new kit for review when it is assembled (I do not say "completed" because I am always making changes).

Mike