I appreciate that you're always researching products like this Jeanette! Some of the stuff you did up is complete news to me, like the FAK you posted that around $20. Got that one in my Amazon cart right now!

Thank you.

I have this obsession with gear that I can trace to my childhood. Except for my EDC bag, I've had the most success with buying something off-the-shelf and modify it for a particular need.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of copy cats in this industry. They would put a "food" ration bar, packets of water, glow stick and a toy whistle in a container and call it a "kit." Worse, they would buy kits from another source and put their label on it.

Sometimes I can find a gem. There are a few. But if I'm lucky, I can find someone who innovates, like Doug Ritter.

Jeanette Isabelle

As a side note, I think a DIY kit would involve the user in many useful ways; among them having her think of where and how it might be used and what deficiencies the kit might have..

And I think most kits should include a shell jacket of some sort.

Yeah, even a light shell could be a lifesaver.

To those who say that the Seventy2 is a piece of junk, why is someone building a counterfeit?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1172924013/companion-most-advanced-2-person-emergency-surviva

Counterfeiters don't counterfeit junk.

Jeanette Isabelle

Someone is building a "counterfeit" because a sucker is born every minute.

I note that for $149($50 off list price!!!) they will give you a pack (unspecified volume) eight empty pouches, a water bottle (possibly 12 oz capacity; if so, not nearly sufficient for any conditions I have experienced), a survival guide, and some straps and odds and ends.

I could walk down the aisles of my local REI store and garner better items for less - with my eyes closed...

I suspect there is money to be made, if you have enough smoke and mirrors.

For one thing, their pack should have extra capacity for personal, unique items -like the aforementioned shell jacket, a very useful item in a good many situations (my fave is a Patagonia Houdini, currently).

I don't think these collections of choss bear any comparison with Ritter's kits, many of which are much more practical and are actually intended for a slightly different purpose (aviation).

After more than a month of researching the Seventy2, other premade kits (such as those made by Sustain, Emergency Case and Storm Packs), reading what items, if any, these companies recommend to supplement their products and organizing this information with a spreadsheet program, I am on the opinion that the Pocket Survival Pack and the Seventy2 complement each other. Allow me to illustrate.

The following are the items that Doug Ritter recommends to supplement the PSP:

• Knife (the Seventy2 has this; I doubt it is a knife that Doug would approve of)
• Flashlight (the Seventy2 has this)
• First Aid Kit (the Seventy2 has this)
• Tube Tent (the Seventy2 has this)
• Space Blanket (the Seventy2 has this)
• Bivvy Sack (AMK sells this separately)
• Rain Poncho
• Water (the Seventy2 provides a water bottle for the owner to fill)
• Water Purification (the Seventy2 has this)
• Matches (the Seventy2 has this)
• Lighter (Uncharted recommends this for the Seventy2)
• Personal Locator Beacon (Uncharted recommends a satellite device which it sells separately)

The following are the items Uncharted recommends for supplementing the Seventy2 when bugging out:

• Sleeping Bag
• Fishing Kit (the PSP has this)
• Waterproof Jacket
• Change of Clothes
• Pepper Spray
• Headlamp (Doug used to sell this separately)
• Tourniquet
• Map
• Compass (the PSP has this)
• Satellite Device (Uncharted sells this separately)
• Crowbar
• Folding Saw
• Sewing Kit (the PSP has this)
• Copies of Important Documents
• Emergency Cash
• Prescription Drugs
• Signal Mirror (the PSP has this)

Note: Uncharted recommends a different selection of items for very specific situations such as camping during the winter. I chose the bug-out scenario because this is where the two kits complement each other.

When combining the two kits, filling in gaps the other has, what Doug and Uncharted recommend, the following are what is recommended to complete this proposed two-kit system:

• Bivvy Sack/Sleeping Bag
• Rain Poncho/Waterproof Jacket
• Change of Clothes
• Lighter
• Pepper Spray
• Headlamp
• Tourniquet
• Map
• Personal Locator Beacon/Satellite Device
• Crowbar
• Folding Saw
• Copies of Important Documents
• Emergency Cash
• Prescription Drugs

Jeanette Isabelle

This is why they need to get the genuine instead of a counterfeit.


True. When someone else makes a killer product, copy it. We have seen that with multi-tools and Doug's PSP.


I addressed that in my previous post.

Jeanette Isabelle

Having actually bugged out recently, under a certain amount of duress, I regard these "kits" as a beginning (not a particularly good one, but a start, nonetheless, and that at least is something). As always, what is assembled, and actually used, will vary drastically, depending upon the season, the weather, the particular emergency, just to name some o the major factors at play.

As always, human ingenuity and inventiveness are far more important than the gadgets at hand (although there is nothing wrong with both, working together in concert = gadgets plus knowledge for the win!).

Discussions like this are fun, but in reality, if you have just a few of the basics, a bit of ingenuity , a gift for improvisation, and the ability to withstand a decent amount of suffering and deprivation, things will work out in the end.

People are doing that right now, even while we are chatting....

That is why Doug Ritter and Uncharted Supply Company made recommendations to supplement their respective kits. I particularly like what Uncharted did, use one set of recommendations per situation. It's like using the Seventy2 as a standard "foundation" for a wide variety of custom homes if you permit me to use such an analogy.


I did not talk about it much in this forum; one thing that was abundantly clear as I did my research is that to maximize the full benefit of both the PSP and the Seventy2, I need to train with these kits.

For example, to catch a fish with the PSP, I need to be able to catch a fish with the PSP. A fish will not jump out of a lake, clean itself and begin cooking simply because I have a PSP.


I'm for all that except for the suffering and deprivation.

Jeanette Isabelle