Hi all. I just got Doug's kit in the mail, and am relating my initial observations. Overall I think the kit is excellent, and a culmination of years of experience. I intend to get several more.

My only minor complaint is with the whistle. The slim Fox whistle takes very strong blow to sound it. I compare this to the ACR whistle which is very easy to blow. The Fox whistle is also larger than the ACR.

Some other quite subjective opinions:

* a swivel is only needed in fishing with a spinning reel, which a survivor won't have. The split shot aren't essential either. Doubling the number of fishing hooks would be more useful.

* In the survival document, medical care is listed at the #1 priority, yet it's the shortest section.

* Is the flash flooding of dry cannons a significant enough concern, for what is probably a temporary survival sitation, that it needs mentioning?

* How does "Your body is approximately 60% water" help the survival novice reading this document? The next sentence "Water is vital for your survival" seems more to the point. I'm assuming space is at a premium on this sheet.

* "drink to excess" What does this mean with regard to water? Can you quantify this?

* If the survivor follows the signaling instructions, he or she will be flashing the horizon for four hours. Is this what is intended?

* "abeam your position" is probably not going to be understood by the intended users of this kit.

I hope these are useful comments for discussion.

Thanks very much and also thanks for multiple purchases. I hoped when we set out to develop a psk that it would be of a quality and price that this is what would occur. We are starting to see this and it is very gratifying. Moreover, a number of customers have told us they plan on this being a Pocket Survival Pak holiday season, which would certainly serve to make our holiday a bit brighter. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I appreciate your taking the time to write out your observations and to provide feedback. This all helps us to make the PSP even better in the future.

Correct on both counts, but we have our reasons. My primary objective was as loud a whistle as we could get that would fit within the confines of the PSP package. We could either settle for what was out there or develop something better. In the end, Fox 40 came up with what we now call the Rescue Howler. It is a harder blow than the ACR or the Acme, but it is quite a bit louder. The production mode;l is virtually as loud as the Fox 40 Classic. We tested the prototypes against the ACR and Acme with numerous volunteers and while all commented on the difference in blow, they also all favored the obviously louder whistle. We figure that while there are some advantages to a more easily blown whistle, overall the significant advantage in range that the louder whistle provides is worth it as this represents short term effort that most survivors should be able to muster. If they cannot, and don;t get as hard a blow, likely what they will get out of the Rescue Howler would be approximately equivalent in loudness of the others at their full strength.

As I note in the FAQ, we deferred to those with more experience than I in fishing. The swivel assists in preventing twisting of the line, which itself is a compromise because of the use of the nylon thread. If my experts weren't so adamant about it, we would have been happy to do away with it, it costs more than all the rest of the fishing gear put together. The sinkers are admittedly something of a luxury, but they make it easier for someone who isn't well versed in fishing and the cost and weight is relatively negligible. Again, this gear was a compromise between more gear and less based on the expert advice we got and it was then well tested. The nice thing is that if you want more hooks, you can easily add them, unlike in some other kits, and we already provide 4, more than most others.

As noted in the FAQ, we decided that we hadn't room to give enough attention to first aid to do it real justice and the focus on the kit is survival, not medical. Based on the considerable wilderness medical experience of AMK and my own medical experts and experienced survival instructors, we determined that the average person knows how to cope with simple medical emergencies, cuts, simple trauma, broken bones, etc. and more serious ones are well beyond the information or resources we could put in this 3.9 oz. PSP.

Well, we lose folks ever year out West because of this sort of thing and it is not a danger that those unfamiliar with the issue are even remotely aware of, so, yes, I believe it is. I have myself literally been driving over bridge under the hot summer sun with not a cloud anywhere near and watched a wall of water come down a dry wash from a storm many miles distant. Since such washes and gulleys tend to attract a survivor due to the coolness, they need warning of the danger.

Yes it certainly is. We decided to insert his as a means to emphasize this point to the naive. In my experience and that of the survival instructors who helped review the instructions, some means to emphasize this was important and we settled on this factoid as a good way to accomplish that. Simple declaration of what to do are not as effective as when combined with some basic explanation that emphasizes why it's important.

I wish we could and I am open to suggestions. When we tested the instructions on folks we asked and most seemed to understand where we were coming from. Most interpreted this to mean that while they should drink enough to quench their thirst, they shouldn't drink until their thirst was completely sated and they could not swallow another mouthful. That's close enough for our purposes, but again, any suggestions for a short and succinct better explanation would be welcome.

Interesting observation. The real purpose was the guide them not to do what we see done so often, which si to quickly flash the horizon, doing a full circle in a matter of seconds or a couple minutes, which is pretty much useless. Flashing the horizon, while it has resulted in a rescue or few, is mostly a way to fight boredom and maintain a PMA by giving the survivor something to do toward their rescue. Will give some thought to how to better describe this and to ensure, when appropriate, that they focus on signaling in the general direction most likely to provide success.

Well, it tested well! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Will give some thought to a better description.

Thanks again for your feedback and suggestions.

I doubt that any two people would put together a PSK in exactly the same way, but I was quite impressed with the kit overall. The nice thing about it is that it's remarkably easy to add additional items as desired, or perhaps remove items you don't feel you'll need. For myself, I added a Photon II, a P-38 can opener, and some windproof/waterproof matches. I think it was an excellent value for the money.

Hopefully, after the buyers mess with their kits, ETS will be their next online stop. Then we can really confuse them <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />. I better go shave and dig out my college grammar guides <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />.

Question for Doug:

Which is better for you and Equipped.org, both in terms of profit and in encouraging companies to work with you on more products:

Buying the PSK from large commercial sites such as REI

or buying the PSK from "anywhere" such as Aeromedix

Thanks for the info and hard work.

Dewey,

We get the same royalty no matter who sells it, the royalty is based on wholesale sales.

Very nice kit Doug.

For any forum members in the central FL area, Travel Country Outdoors in Altomonte Springs has Dougs kit in stock.

http://www.travelcountry.com/