I hope that for day-to-day issues the common mobile phone becomes advanced enough to work even in today's non-celled areas or at sea - maybe via satellites. I also suspect that they will become something more like the PBLs in their ability to direct help to the user's location.

I hope science can identify a fabric/material that can provide the results we'd hoped GoreTex would provide - tough, waterproof, yet completely breathable - for weather protection. This would also do wonders for winter gloves, which are a real problem for me. It would also make tents considerably lighter (no more rain flys!).

As someone else had mentioned, I do suspect we'll be surprised by the improvement of LED light technology. Hopefully battery or fuel cell technologies will also advance. I'm a big Palm PDA user, but wish its battery would last longer without charging.

Speaking of the snow, here in NE Illinois we got lots of snow. In most areas its over the top of my rubber barn boots (16" or so), though the TV says we only got 10-12". Last spring I invested in a new John Deere 3320 4WD tractor with a front end loader & rear blade, so I was "equipped" for the snow. Lots of fun!

hey KenK

The sophisticated technology has filtered down to survival gear. You can get top quality gore tex gloves or mittens from outdoor research company. This company makes state of the art winter gear that James Bond would be proud to use. I own their expedition winter mittens. I used it for winter camping in Canada. I can attest to its ruggedness in severe weather. The inner liner is made of dense high quality fleece that dry out fast. The gore-tex shell is made from thick cordura shell. Cordura can endure rough abrasion.

hey, I love bright Yuppie color. Earth tone can be dull on dark winter nights. It is nice to wear bright yellow, red, yellow-green color. The colors identify the user to rescuers if campers get stranded or lost. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

are civilians allow to buy those Mark 6 flares?

I carry a GPS in my BOB and know how to use it. I also carry 2 compasses and know how to use them for when my GPS' batteries die.
GPS is a great thing but like all technology it has it's limits. Sometimes the "old" stuff works when hi-tech won't.

I remeber as a kid I used to watch dragonball z, and in the show they had these things called capsules. They were bigger than pills and each capsule held different things in them. So one would have a car,motorcycle, a small house, all kinds of things.All you had to do was press the top,toss it, and poof! As a kid i thought it was so cool. Now that would be some bad survival gear! who knows maybe in the far future..................... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> think about it....lost in the woods? just deploy your capsule house.lol

Im sure if you have kids they know what im talking about.

"Imagine having a hovering box follow you around all day, untethered, capable of stowing perhaps 50 kilos of misc goods; able to go anywhere you are able to go, and providing you with a host of communications and security features..."

There's already such a device. My wife calls it a "husband"

Izzy,

What is up with your .sig link to your blog? Whenever I click on it it brings me to some weird site promoting the Power Of Persuasion (http://iwantmo.info/).

-Blast

I would like to see everything available now, but at 1/2 the price <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

It isn't about what gear is available, it is about what gear you can afford.

Hmm,

I'd take that one step further, and say that it isn't about what gear you could have, but about making what you do have work.