This post is strictly HELPFUL CRITICISM and nothing more. It is not intended to offend anyone. Only to get you to thinking about what you have versus what you need. I am referring particularly to the area of NAVIGATION.

In looking over the contents of various kits, there is an impressive array of items. I am concerned about the LACK of navigation equipment. For example, I have seen a $300 knife, a $100 light, various high end lighters for firemaking, etc. In this same kit is a .98 cent button pin on compass which is just one step above nothing. No maps. No GPS. If you have headed for the wilderness to stay a spell, this cheap compass is going to tell you which way is North and nothing else. You can find North by locating Polaris, or the North star which never moves from it's position in the Northern sky about 30 or 40 degrees up between the Big Dipper and Cassiopea. So, I am SUGGESTING the following items be considered to have a well rounded survival kit.

First, a good compass. I carry two because sometimes I argue with one. Around my neck I carry the military tritium compass. They abound on eBay and can be had for $50 to $70. The tritium is a true glow in the dark substance and and does not have to be "charged" with a strong light. It is estimated the tritium will last about ten years. The same compass without the tritium is considerably cheaper but just as good otherwise.

My second compass is a Silva Ranger Type 15 which is a folding compass used for map reading. With it you can determine true North from magnetic North. In the central part of the US, declination is not as important as it is the further East or West you move where it can be off by as much as 25 degrees on the East or West coast. It has numerous other features for map reading and is a must if you are going to do any serious navigating.

Second, a good quality GPS. Make sure it is UTM capable. I'm not sure the cheaper ones have this feature. I have a Lowrance iFinder Hunt ($299) and the optional MapCreate program which comes with six CD's that cover the entire country ($100 more). These CD's have all the topo maps for the nation and can be loaded on your PC or laptop and then extracted to an MMC or SD card with the included card reader. Select the area you are interested in, create a map and download it onto an MMC or SD card and insert the card into a slot under the batteries in the GPS. Couple of thoughts on the GPS. In the map datums selection area, select NAD-27 to be compatible with the 7 1/2 minute topo maps. The default datum on my GPS is WGS-84. Don't be intimidated by all this datum stuff. Just do it and don't spend a lot of time trying to figure out why you did it. The GPS book spells it out in detail. Finally, go to the menu and select "UTM" instead of "Longitude/Latitude".

Third, obtain a USGS topo map (called quadrangles) to cover the area you intend to visit. These maps are available from the USGS as well as a number of private stores. Be sure and get a 7 1/2 minute map, scale 1:24000 which means that one inch on the map equals 2000 feet. A mile on the map is just over 2 5/8 inches or 2.64 inches. The map covers just under 30,000 acres. It is 5.5 miles wide East to West and 8.5 miles North to South. Each quadrangle is named for the most prominent feature or town on that quad. If your intended destination is near the border of the map, you will have to order the adjacent map also. Names of adjacent maps are printed around the four borders as well as at the four corners. USGS furnishes free index maps by state so you can select the map you want. The maps cost $6 each plus $5 shipping. You can buy one or fifty and the shipping is still just $5. They come rolled in a tube. Some people treat the map with commercially available map preservatives.

Finally, go to web page and purchase the booklet "Using Your GPS With the UTM Map Coordinating System". It costs $6 and comes with the all important plastic UTM grid overlay for the topo map. With this little grid, you can find your PRECISE location on the map in less than a minute using the UTM coordinates furnished by your GPS. Note that all topo maps have the UTM hash marks all around the borders in blue. Some of the newer maps have the grids drawn on the map. You can draw the grids yourself using the blue tick marks on the map. I have found that drawing EVERY OTHER ONE both vertically and horizontally suffices and doesn't clutter the map so much. I would suggest using a straight edge and a very fine point lead pencil to draw a faint line. Sharpen the pencil frequently. Don't be alarmed when you finish if the UTM lines are not exactly parallel to the borders of the map. This is correct and the way it should be.

I know all this sounds terribly complicated but it is actually quite simple. Rather than try to educate yourself from the manuals, I would suggest you find someone who is GPS literate and who understands UTM. In less than five minutes, you can be proficient in using the UTM grid on the map. Conversely, you can find a location on the map you wish to travel to, place the UTM grid over it, record the UTM figures and transfer them to your GPS as a waypoint to be navigated to. In time, you will develop CONFIDENCE and will be able to enter the biggest wilderness knowing where you are, where you want to go, how far it is there and how to return to where you started from.

Couple of other items unrelated to the above that I thought I would touch on briefly. First, there has been much discussion about what weapon to carry. As one poster so aptly stated, depends what you want to shoot! Considering everything, my choice is a Ruger .22 automatic pistol, stainless, with bull or target barrel. They are deadly accurate, fairly inexpensive and will meet most of your needs. I would recommend CCI ammunition over all the rest.
(BTW, be advised, stainless WILL rust).

And finally, (I'm about done) an item of equipment that I rarely see listed is some sort of AM/FM radio. Imagine you are sitting around your camp wondering if the gas cloud is moving your way, are the aliens nearby, etc. A simple radio would be desirable to stay informed. I have a small FM receiver that runs on coin cells. The radio, ear buds and an extra battery all fit in a 35mm film canister and the radio is very sensitive and tunes automatically like a scanning radio in a vehicle. A small NOAA weather monitor would also come in very handy.

This is a long post but one I think should be considered if you are serious about entering the wilderness for an extended period. I have some thoughts about short range communication radios but I'll save that for another day.

I welcome all comments, corrections and comments. Some of you military guys out there that are proficient in map reading sign on with your thoughts, etc. That's what this forum is for. Discussion. I don't pretend to know it all. Just enough to get by.

Regards to all,

Joe <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Great post !
I carry good compasses now. Silva and Brunton.
I do not have a GPS unit yet. I was confused and did not know what features to look for. You have provided great information.
Thanks.

I can't make up my mind if I'm disagreeing or not. I don't think so, but it might sound like it. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Scenario 1: I'm a pilot, it's VFR conditions, I'm far enough up when the engine quits to pick my spot. I note my position on the map. I land. Now I'm all turned around... I know where I'm at, but which way was the farm house? Where's north? Get out a cheap compass, find north, head for the farm house / road / etc. I don't need a GPS. Don't need a fancy compass. Just need North.

Scenario 2: I'm in a strange city. I have a street map. I just came out of the subway. Which way is North? Get out a cheap compass. Find North. Now I know which way to walk.

Etc.

Often, it's enough to know "where's North?". Sure, a GPS is awesome, and nice compass is great if you know how to use it, have maps for it and need to use it. But I think a lot of navigation problems reduce to "where's North?". That's why the cheap, no frills compasses are usually adequate.

I agree about the good compass --I have the military tritium model -- but a GPS for most people is very expensive and not needed for most survival situations as in a terrorist attack or tornado or hurricane or other natural disaster. [ for backpackers and wilderness people, I can see it, but not for most city dwellers IMO]. Plus it is vulnerable to EMP as are most modern electronics. And I do have an AM-FM small portable Grundig in my BOB.

Joe, good post. I carry a Silva Ranger as my primary compass and a button compas in a separate location as a back-up. Additionally,I carry a state highway map and USGS topo maps of my bug out area. Like you, I also carry a small AM/FM radio in my bug out bag. I don't have a GPS unit yet, but that is something I might add in the future. Two other items I always carry in my BOB (not usually mentioned here) are an American Red Cross first aid manual and the U.S. Army survival manual. George

I carry a Silva compass for my map reading companion, a small Marbles brass compass for quick "north" references, and a couple of small Brunton watchband style compasses tucked away in various kits.
I have two gps receivers, but don't routinely carry them unless geocaching.
The Magellan Meridian Gold has maps downloaded that go to street level, show water locations (streams, rivers, lakes), and it eats batteries like nobody's business. The eTrex has no fancy features, but will run 24 hours or so on lithium batteries.
Nice to have, but the compass will keep going after the batteries are long gone.
Map and compass will win out in a survival situation, IMHO.

I always think of Bugs Bunny with compass posts. Bugs pops out, blinks, consults his map and proclaims " I must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque!" Walking out of a survival situation is merely the organised panic of lost people. Button compass' are literaly just that, first created by the RAF to conceal in uniforms along with wire saws, silk maps and minute knives if downed over hostile territory. We don't have Wermacht soldiers sweeping farmhouses for us, so lets sit down and think. One degree error in a compass equals 92' per mile off point. That may make a difference calling in a artillary strike, but if I get lost in California I'm pretty certain of stumbling onto Los Angeles eventually. I may wind up at a convenience store in El Cerritos instead of Ma Maisons in Beverly Hills, but both have phone service and water. Well, Maisons will have a lemon slice in it and you need a tie. Certainly anyone going anywhere will have quality map and compass in a formal kit. In a PSK the button is appropriate. Everything is hopefully redundant with the comfort of backup systems and knowledge. Some people run around fondling tree moss and making miniature Stonehenges out of sticks. I suppose you could lift a squirrel's tail for another obscure direction indicator, but I'll keep my button. Better yet, I'll just stay put. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Can't argue with a word of it, but you left out one thing... practice, practice, PRACTICE.

Troy

I always carry topo maps, a compas (two, actually), and my GPS. That being said, I don't really consider these my "survival equipment". I do not carry a compass in my pocket Altoids tin kit. I have a cheap Silva in my pack-based survival supplies, and a better quality Brunton that I use for normal (as opposed to survival) navigation. (But I'm lazy and tend to use the GPS for normal navigation more!)

For survival navigation, I thought the answer was mostly "stay put". But I suppose if you need to move, then my goal would be to get somewhere civilized, anywhere civilized, as opposed to getting to a specific destination with 0.72% deviation from intended. Where I hike, I think I could probably find civilization with nothing more than the sun's position and memory of maps reviewed prior to the trip. Things like "down this valley is a highway", "over that ridge is a town", "go south, but be careful when you dash across I-70". I'm almost willing to bet that anywhere I could possibly place myself here in Colorado - even in the deepest wilderness designated area - I would probably hit civilization if I could hike in a straight line for 5 miles. Any direction would do. Maintaining a straight line would be much easier with a compass, but not so much easier that I'd feel the need to carry some high dollar model in my Altoids tin kit (impossible to do anyway).

I'm certainly not disagreeing with your suggestion to have navigation equipment available. But for a pocket survival kit, not much in the way of a high dollar compas is needed in my view. I don't have a $300 knife in my Altoids tin either ... just some Exacto blades.

Of course, all my thinking would change dramatically if I routinely hiked out in the unexplored Yukon after being dropped off all by myself by a float plane bush pilot!

Journeyman, all my long life I longed for a Grundig radio. I considered them the Rolls Royce of short wave radios. Well, I ordered one for thirty something dollars and the quality of it was something akin to what you might get in Cracker Jacks. I was out the return postage but I couldn't get rid of it quickly enough! Maybe if I had spent more for one of the high end models it would have had better quality but this one stunk! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />