Technology is wonderful! But the "old tried and true that you are most familiar with is what works best, because you already know how to make it sing & dance at it's best"!

Could this be the reason that vintage stuff has such and attraction to so many people? Of all the new-fangled knives out there I love my Buck 110 the most. As I write this I have the desire to buy a flintknapped knife.

Widow wood or pine knots, you can start a fire in just about any weather with those.
Map and compass, beats a GPS if you forget to put new batteries in, or if you're curious whats over the next hill.
High carbon steel knives, you can keep stainless.
Wool and leather. They don't melt or burn as easily.

These are a few of my favorite oldies but goodies.

interesting thought. One might carry goretex and gossamer equipment in preparation for 1-3 day scenarios, but if you are settling in for the long haul, carhart, filson, woolrich are much more durable and reliable. MRE's and protein powder for the short haul, 50 lb bags of rice and beans for the long haul. silicone nylon tarps for a bivouac, cotton canvas wall tents for a month or two. Of course, part of this is just being old: before buck made the folding hunter, solingen factories were turning out stamped metal lockback knives that sold for less than 2 bucks, sharpened more easily than the newer knives, and were easier to carry.Still got my first one, purchased 40 years ago or so. (my God, I am old...)back then, randall and puma white hunter knives were state of the art, and they still seem to do the job-altho many of them seem to be owned by collectors, not users. My austrian army surplus pup tent outperforms some of the expedition nylon tents in windy conditions, and horses are better transportation than hummers: no fossil fuel required, and if you have to, you can eat 'em. tried and true indeed. Larry Dean Olsen takes it a step further, chipped flint and deadfalls-I tried some of the flint chipping, using thick pieces of glass from bottle bottoms and glass bricks: interesting, once I got the bleeding stopped...

I am sorry, LEDs are not tried and true, but they are vastly superior to incandescent bulbs. But put them in metal box, they are susceptible to EMP.

Well as I see it

EMP = Nuclear war = The SHTF in a big way.

I wonder if thats really what the poster had in mind.

I believe that when I am prepared for the nuke threat, I am pretty well prepared for everything! I do prepare for the nuke possibility!