Looking over some of the commercial survival kits on Doug's site, I was wandering what constitutes a excellent vs good rating. I noticed the Mainstay water pouches were only rated good. Is there a water pouch that is rated excellent? <br><br>Regards<br>Hunter

Hunter,<br><br>>>>>what constitutes a excellent vs good rating. <<<<<br><br>What side of the bed I get up on that morning? No, seriously, it is somewhat subjective and it's also a moving target, so to speak. If I know of a better product then it probably won't get an excellent rating, unless it really has no inherent failings. If I know it has some less than desireable attributes, even if nothing better currently exists, then it also likely won't get an excellent. To recieve excellent, something really has to do the job desired without any significant failings.<br><br>Your case in point. The Mainstay and similar pouches have a number of negative attributes, including their fragility (they sometimes just leak in stroage as well as being easly punctured or burst) and difficulty in opening so that you can control the flow, easily spilled, and no way to close it up if only partially used. While I wouldn't call them perfect, I'd rate the AquaBlox as excellent. Better packaging is the key, without significant weight gain unless you are counting every tenth of an ounce. (FYI, you can also unfold the box into a flatter pouch if necessary for stroage considerations). DME makes a vacuum packed plastic flask with stopper that they use in some 747 survival raft kits. Compact AS makes a boxed water ration under the Seven Oceans brand that containes smaller individual plastic pouches of water that are easy to open at a corner, another approach. So, besides the foil pouch's significant deficiencies, there are technically better solutions available, thus the pouches only rate as good, not excellent.