Leigh, as I was trying to say, I don't think it's fair to say that all ready-made kits are crap. Certainly some might not have everything you want, but if you are willing to pay, some certainly are worthwhile. I'd say that you will likely get more value from a smaller vendor who takes time and picks quality merchandise, but the cost won't be cheap (though obviously cheaper than shipping it piecemeal from multiple stores).

There are probably outfitters who would be willing to put something together as well. Yes, it's rather unambiguous what most of them are worth... But something is better than nothing; many people have neither the time, nor inclination to prepare well. Would I want to stake my life on kit built to spec by the lowest bidder? Nope. *Could* it save my bacon if I bought it on a whim and hadn't really thought about preparedness before? Yep. And the next time, presumably I would realize the shortcomings of such a kit.

Let's face it, unless you are a pilot, and demand the best for the lightweight survival, and are willing to fork over the cash, Doug's kit is a bit out of range for most folk. Though it sets me drooling every time I see it.

What I would like to see is pressure from retailers like Redflare back onto the kit manufacturers to turn out higher quality. Certainly cost is a factor, but it's pretty easy to tell the bad kits from the moderately decent. Don't get me wrong... I'm not trying to say that folks should buy such kits, but many will, so why not steer them in the right direction? At least SOME of the items in such a kit can be reused once they build their own. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />