Ran out to REI this afternoon to pick up a package and took a look at the USP kit - they had two sizes. The 5 oz is $15 and the bigger one -- the Lifeline Survival Medical Kit -- is $25. The 3rd photo below is Doug's kit.

http://www.rei.com/product/783989

http://www.rei.com/product/783990

I'd bet Garly is right on the selling factor. The Lifeline packaging is impressive.

I can get Doug's PSK at a local outdoors chain store for $21.99 all day long. I've looked at some of the Lifeline branded stuff, it's crap.

Can't put it any plainer.

John, really? I can only find the PSK at REI for $30ish.

I haven't bought his kit simply b/c the first thing I did when I got here was copy is Altoids kit, which goes on any camp/hike trip with me.

Speaking of kits though, Mr. Ritter, when is your Version 2 PSK coming out? I recall you hinting at it a while back.

I be bold enough to admit, I am not interested in anyone elses kit. Seen enough, had enough to appreciate what AMK (and by extension Doug) has done with theirs. Like someone else put it, "the PSP is the foundation...". Same here. We will all put our spin on things but over the last what....decade, I have come to trust Doug's opinion.

We all have our favorite opinionators, people we listen to for movie reviews, favorite restuarants, etc. Doug is like that for me with preparedness gear.

Looking at the two products from the viewpoint of a newbie to the world of PSKs, that full sized compass in the Lifeline Ultralight Survival Kit looks like it could generate more perceived value than the AMK PSP to the customer at a first initial glance. One could initially be convinced that it might be a Silva Field 7 rather than the obvious cheap Chinese knock off under closer inspection. The fact that this USK is missing a mil spec fire starter and a quality signal mirror (which are major cost items in respect to the overall purchase price) and has instead specified the ubiquitous survival blanket could also be a marketing advantage (those media images of the unfortunate newly rescued always seem to show them sitting down with the silvery mylar blankets flapping around in the wind).

Lets hope that not too many people are taken by the USK especially if they had to rely on this survival kit to save their own lives. I wouldn't underestimate this PSP knockoff though, especially at the 30% cheaper price point.

I put my together my first kit that wasn't entirely camping inspired based on info from Doug's reviews, and before he had his kit on the market. It was tough, because back then the individual items were difficult to find.

Since then there have been a lot more kits come out, and better kits than existed before. I think the RSK and this site had a lot to do with that, and that's pretty cool.

Each location is different, as our UK friends point out. We have dry and cold here in NY as well as wet and just above freezing cold, and the latter is much less fun. Here, though, a compass and fire starter rank right up there with shelter, and those are the three big things. (If I had to pick two of the three, it would be compass and fire starter. To move I need the compass. To stay I want a fire.)

It's tough to design a kit that will be pretty good everywhere, and be affordable. The RSK does that, and the things that are left out are common items - shelter, water storage, and a decent sized knife. Anyone in the US can by a space blanket, water bottle, and purification tablets at Walmart. The same thing can't be said for some of the items included in the kit.

My concern with the Chinese kit is that someone would take it as their only kit when going out hiking/hunting/fishing, and then find themselves stuck with a dud compass and no ability to keep a fire going with just matches. That's more of an issue with the individual than the kit though.

I hate to say this but basically I took the list of Doug's kit and assembled it myself buying the individual items, I substituted some items ... a full size Fox 40 for a Howler etc.

I kind of go with Les Stroud's opinion, when you put together a kit yourself, the first thing you do is start playing with the individual items so you learn how to use them. For example the Rescue Flash mirror, bought one and started playing with it right away and learned how to aim it.

Buy a pre assembled kit and you toss it in your car, pack ...whatever and will probably have to learn to use them when you need them the most. Not the optimal situation.

The first time I saw one of the Lifelines, I giggled at it- it's compass sucked to. It turned fine, but it was pointing in a vaguely northerly (or southerly) direction. The fact you have a hard time buying a good compass for less than $20 should tip people off.

Calling the PSP a winner by a knockout!

I see short comings in the PSP, I've never hid that (lack of shelter, mostly) , but for the mass market I've only seen one pocket kit that came close. And it's another AMK product. There are others that are as good, but I don't see them at Dicks or Eastern Mountain or the Campor catalog.

I'm with Hookpunch. I have a hard time personally identifying with the idea of buying a pre-assembled survival kit. I build up my kits mostly from what I have around. Raid my wife's sewing box for a whole package of needles. Raid my sewing box for #69 bonded nylon thread. Spool of stainless steel wire in the garage, next to the large role of duct tape. Etc...

To be honest, I don't really have "kits" - I have "gear". Most of it it gets used at least from time to time. I don't want cram it so tightly into an altoids tin that I'd almost rather freeze to death than contemplate digging into it and then re-packing it.

"What if you get stuck with just what's in your pockets?" Well, ferinstance, I have a bic in one pocket, a flashlight in the other, and I know they work because I used them whenever I need them.

Doug's kit falls into the category of "better than nothing" for people who might just as soon carry nothing. Lesser quality kits start to edge into the "false sense of security, worse than nothing" category.

Read some of the older kit reviews on the main ets site. It's an eye opener. Whistles that don't whistle and empty match cases are two examples that come to mind.

When I seen Made in china that was enough for me. I have used Doug's psp for years and I am not going to stop now.