I'm looking for a survival kit to include in a dedicated bug-out pack I'm putting together at last (up till now I just kept my hiking pack stocked with some essentials).

I was wondering if we could get a review of the BcB CK010 Com-Pac Emergency Pack Long Term... I'd really like to know how a $20/412g kit fares against the comparable (in weight) $70/414g WSI Gold Label kit, or even the $200/782g Master Pro kit.

Oh, and hi, I'm new... <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

welcome, i personnaly wouldn't take such a kit for a BOB(Bug Out Bag). Since mosts BOB's are pretty big, so you can put big, heavy duty equipment in it, which isnt hard to find. The problem of a smaller kit is to find something that that does the job yet is compact enough, with a BOB there is plenty of space. The kit you mentioned are just pounch/large pocket type of kits, just a catogorie up from the PSK ( Personal/Pocket Survival Kit), so the contents are optimized for that size kit.
From the kit you mentioned the Master Pro kit is THE best, but as you can see in dougs review, the knife, tool and other things in the kit are one of the smallest availbe, but you proberbly want a bigger fixed blade and a bigger tool for a BOB, they are just stronger and has more fuctions. Same goes for other items and those kit don’t even have food, water supply, not much medical stuff and the list goes on and on..... search through this site for more info about BOB’s.

Btw whats wrong with a hiking pack with the essentials ?

The Master Pro kit would also eat up about a third my entire BOB budget... <img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Seriously, I'm not out to find a single kit in a tiny size that does everything. I've had my hiking pack organised as a psuedo-BOB before. Mainly in the colder months when I don't get out there much.

My BOB kit is based on a small ALICE pack (smallest I could find), because I want to keep the weight down to about 10kg. And not be tempted to overpack... I've already got most of the essentials in there, and -any- one of these prepackaged kits is going to be doubling up on quite a few things. But that's exaclty why I'm looking at one, it'll be in there as a backup. Kind of a last-resort thing.

My problem with the partially-stocked-hiking-pack system is that at any given moment I wouldn't have been able to say for certain what was in it.
Expecially in the summer months when varied-length trips demand slightly different equipment. Sfuff would go in, stuff would come out, and apart from things like the Trangia, sleeping mat, tent and old camp shoes I'd never be sure what was where.
Sometimes there's a fishing rod in there, sometimes not, sometimes there's cold weather gear, sometimes not... etc.

After a couple of years of that I've had to admit to myself that I'm not dedicated enough to consistantly maintain the contents. (Ever come home from hiking, bone tired, and just dumped the pack contents on the floor to clean up 'tomorrow'? Well that's what I'm like...)

The idea with my BOB is that it'll always stay packed. I can load it up, and just keep it close at hand in case I ever need to grab it and go. Plus it'll contain stuff that I wouldn't normally take hiking.
The clothes in there will stay there (heavy duty stuff), a pair of broken-in boots will stay in there, the food is 3 days of MRE rations (plus another 4 days which can be added if time permits) which are WAAAAY to expensive to take on a normal hiking trip, it'll have a bivvy bag instead of a tent (haven't bought that yet either), and I have a far more comprehensive first aid kit set aside for the BOB than the one I normally take hiking.
Oh, and I just got a water purifier which I've never had a need for on my normal hiking trips.

That all make any sense?

I look at this in terms of layers. I wouldn't want to ever have to rely on the tools in my PSK. They are small, minimal and few. That being said they provide an edge in the environment for which I carry them.

These are the scenarios that I prepare for and the kits that fit.

If it isn't in my pocket I'm toast

Surprises in the course of a day. This includes everything from power outage at work to terrorist attack that puts the entire city into a panic. For this scenario if my EDC doesn't coveer it I'm toast. This is the PSK and, if I'm lucky enough to be able to get to it, my car pack. I have considered having a desk pack at work but I work in a single story building with my car in a parking lot where I can see it from my desk so I haven't felt the need. OTOH, if I worked in downtown hi-rise ...

If I can't carry it on my back for 20 miles I don't have it

Events with 1 hour to 3 day's preparation time requiring evac. These are the BOB scenarios. I consider my BOB a house on my back type of scenario. If I am evacuating it is very similar to going on a long hike (think thru-hiking). If I can evacuate with my vehicle it is more similar to car camping. In any case the only thing I take along when evacuating that I don't when camping are my documents. (title to the car's and house, mortgage and loan papers, lisences and credentials, Zip disk with the last 7 years of taxes and other sundry documents, passport, birth certificate, insurance documents, medical histories)
My normal camping gear has a triband handy-talkie, my car has a triband mobile rig, my hip has a cell-phone. I don't bother much with the commercial radio but I do have a small credit-card sized am/fm with earphones that I got at the dollar store.

If I can afford it and know how to use it I have it

Events which require digging in and sheltering in place. This includes earthquake / storm / and some social unrest situations.
This kit doesn't have to be carried and is stored mostly in the shed out by the driveway since even if it is knocked down by the storm / earthquake it isn't so large a structure that I couldn't lift sections out of the way and get at my kit with my bare hands and the leverage of a stout piece of lumber. This kit includes some large tarps to cover holes in the house, some shoring up lumber - nothing short of a 4"X4" lumber would be safe. 2"X4" works well in structures when used in numbers but will snap if you use it to shore up things temporarily. (If you have skill and experience in construction then disregard that last) Pry-bars, leather work gloves, zip-ties (the larger the better) hammer, nails (the larger the better), rope, wire, honey bucket, wag bags, tp, bio-blue for the honey bucket, shovel, canned food, water, soap, tent, screen tent, water pails (5gallon buckets), barbeque with better than 1/2 full propane tank - large - this comes in handy even when there isn't an emergency <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> and of-course weapons and ammo. These last are locked and hidden from casual disturbance out there in the shed. But I may not be able to get into my house easily after the quake knoks it off the foundation - tornado blows the roof off - blizzard squishes it with snow weight etc... There's a bunch of other stuff out there too that would be considered normal shed stuff like the chain-saw, lawn mower, etc... which will come in handy in an emergency. There is probably the ingredients of some reasonably powerful munitions there as well between the kerosene and fertilizer the moth balls, paint-thinner, oil, soaps, etc... A little research in the library of survival books tucked into the corner will yeild a treasure trove of interesting entertainment from that shed. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And really, all I was asking for is that another kit review be added at some point for the Com-Pac Emergency Pack Long Term so we'll all know if it's a fair kit at a good price. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

A dedicated BOB is a great idea from the standpoint of organization! The "dump everything on the floor and fall asleep is my preferred "honey I'm home" behavior as well. I think that if you are trying to save money and assemble a BOB that is useful but not so heavy that you can't carry it, you will do better using the contents list of others kits and assembling your own. You know if a Mag-bar fire starter is something you would find useful ornot. Why carry one if you are more comfortable starting fire with a fire drill? On the subject of a BOB that doesn't get re-packed and clothing. Stuff it with durable stuff that is atleast two sizes too large. You will be wearing clothes that fit when you grab it. If you have grown (spread out) since you packed it you will be carrying durable clothes for you kid but nothing for yourself. <img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />. If you haven't grown then you will just have to wear the durable clothes loosly or use that sewing kit you stuck in there. Heck it's an emergency not a fashion show!

I believe in the "build your own psk" thinking as I don't feel that one persons should be the same as another persons. A good example is fishing stuff, I see a lot in bob's and psk's but when I eat fish I get sick so I don;t bother with fishing kits since they won't do me any good.
MiniMe you carry important stuff on a ZIP disk? Those things are so unreliable I gave up on them years ago. I have seen so many customers who lost data on them, I'd burn stuff to a pocket cd or something. I had a bunch of people in my office recently, when the layoffs were announced, try to pull their resume's off zip and floppy disks, probabally about 1/2 of them lost their data.

well i don't have that kit, but i do have the militairy survival kit ( mine review of that kit )and there Go-pack it, which contains very similar things. Since most of the contents also match the Combat surival Kit i would suggest to take a look at doug's review of that kit .

overal quility form bcb is adequant, but persoanlly i think the 2 BCB kits i have, is that you should add more things in it or carry more wenn using such a kit. The knife they supply is pretty said. If you (heavily)upgrade BCB's kit or use it as a base it is would be fine as a "kit in a kit" kit.

Good and valid points on the Zip cartridge. I do check on them regularly for what's there. Also I have the taxes backed up on-line. The only things I keep on electronic media are those things that will only be useful - needful if there is still electronic infrastructure such as taxes. If they lose their copy (the IRS) what need do I have for mine? When I get a burner I will be carrying these things on CD as you suggest but for now I use the media I have.

I prefer to use a usb drive from 007 ... 128mb (plenty for all my personal data) and waterproof... about $45 w/shipping. and it is smaller than the usual usb drive, fits right on my keychain. You can use their downladed software to encrypt the data, (for those interested, make two partitions and encrypt one - then on the non-encrypted partition put the software you used)... then you can go to any computer that accepts usb, install the software and decrypt your data...

Or if you aren't worried about losing your data if you lose the drive, then don't encrypt... what I like about this over the disk option is that it is smaller and can be updated as needed.