Survival Blankets

Has anyone tried the AMK SOL Survival Blankets? I'm curious about how they compare to Heat Sheets and Mylar blankets in real life. I've seen them in an Equipped to Endure video once or twice and found them in a local outdoor store today. For $3.99 for a single and $5.49 for a double, they were just the right price for Santa's elf to pick up one of each for my son and I. They don't weigh much more than a Mylar blanket and less than a Heat Sheet. I liked the manufacturer's description so thought we'd try them out:

The most advanced emergency blanket on the market - meticulously designed never to fail when you're counting on it with your life. It all starts with the material -vacuum-metalized polyethylene reflects 90% of your body heat while also offering a number of other important features that set it apart from traditional mylar blankets: it opens easily and will not shred if nicked or punctured, rips and tears can be repaired, it is quiet and won't crinkle in high winds, and its high-visibility orange exterior makes it easy for rescuers to find you. Plus, survival tips and techniques are printed directly on the blanket so you have them when you need them. Sized to fit two people.

Well, for my money, that description is simply marketing drivel. Blankets of this sort are useful and they are way better than nothing if you get to the point where you need to use them. So far, I have always had better choices so I don't have any actual experiences to relate. I am sure they are way better than a damp dish rag.....

I like having better options too Hikermor. I always carry a Heat Sheet for shelter and a Mylar blanket for medical emergencies and shelter enhancement, and have an AMK Bivvy in my GHB, but this seems better than regular Mylar blankets and bags so I though "Why not?" I like the high viz orange side and the seemingly tougher construction. The packaging is also tougher and seems to protect the blanket better.

It's made by AMK and they usually live up to their billing.

I thought the AMK SOL was the same thing as the HeatSheet...?

I didn't realize that. I learn something every day here! I've been scanning your site for a review Izzy. Thanks for the info!

This seems lighter than a heat sheet, but that is based solely on perception. The price point is cheaper than I'd seen for Heat Sheets so that makes me happy.

Thanks Izzy! They had two different AMK Bivvys there today - regular and thermal - and I was tempted to grab a thermal. I I like my non-thermal one but I do live in Canada after all. I may have to venture back tomorrow but then again, my birthday is in January, just in time for the new launch...

get the best you find and if the aluminum gets grayish toss it out.this one was in my PFD for a few years and you can see what it turned into when i opened it on a snow shoe hike that winter.

That proves why it's a good idea to keep an eye on and test your gear regularly, Canoedogs, no matter what make or model. That would have sucked if you really needed it.

LOL in agreement with your opinion about things being shoved up your nose.

I wouldn't want to depend on them like that either. I prefer to wear smart clothing and carry a proper sleeping bag or blanket, maybe even a small tent, as my primary defense against the elements. I'd rather use these types of blankets for shelter building and enhancement.

Izzy makes a good point.

Even in a true non-survival situation, keeping your bottom off cold surfaces can go a long ways between being warm and cold.

I carry one these bum pads with me at all times in the backpack. These pads which are 9.5" x 17.5" x .75" folded, can not only be used to keep your bum warm, but other areas such as a foot pad to keep your feet directly off snow etc. The pad also comes in very handy to slip between your back and a jacket on cooler nights when sitting around the campfire as usually the front of you is warm from the fire but your backside is not.

Also while carried in the pack, the pad serves as a cushion against gear that sometimes bulge through the pack and rubs against your back.

For $10.00 (x2) these pads are one of the best gear investments I have ever made.

This guy has come up with a solution to the problem, of course, he uses three space blankets and a tripod, still, I like it.

I used a double size heatsheet last summer when I fell into our chilly side of Pacific Ocean,probably about 50 something F. water temp. & a sunny but windy day about 75 F.,My teeth were chattering,my camp towel was wet,so the heatsheet was available,& it worked well enough to warm me up in the sunshine,I still had my wet clothes on.I was fortunate enough,that it was summertime,& I had a change of clothes waiting back at camp about 150 yds away,I also ruined the heatsheet on the rocks that I attempted to warm up on,it has holes with duct tape now,I also carry 2 Lg survival bags from Survival resources for now on.no affiliation,just a Happy customer!

I did not watch the whole video or any others. In this video though, even though he appears to be filming in his back yard. And you would hope that the probable cotton flannel shirt, blue jeans and non-breathable rubber boots are not his normal attire for his winter outings...

Survival bags/blankets don't do away with the need for insulation but they do give you a very fast wind / waterproof layer which can be a lifesaver. I always consider it an aid to building a shelter rather than an absolute shelter - although I think anyone who expects to build a shelter from natural materials better assume he has a lot of time / energy / daylight available - my SHTF scenario being injured with night falling relies on getting my butt off the ground and wrapping myself in a survival blanket

In my roughest night out, I found myself foundering in deep (over six feet) snow as night was coming on. I wanted to dig a snow cave, but the dry powdery snow wouldn't support a roof - I used a thin poncho I was carrying and the branches of a handy pine tree to get a roof over my head. No way was I able to get my butt off the snow. I was carrying a stove which enabled me to melt snow and heat water for tea, which is undoubtedly why I survived.

Interesting....This happened in Arizona on the San Francisco Peaks, exactly fifty years ago. I had indeed chosen the longest night of the year to spend the night out....

What I like: Use physics (heat reflection properties of the space blanket plus the fact that hot air rises, so you sit in the upper part of a narrow triangular shape). The chair also gets you off the ground.

What I don't like: Duct-taping together three space blankets is NOT something I want to do in bad weather. I am unsure how good the construction would work in the wind. The construction could be made more wind resistant by adding logs and branches on top of the space blanket, I guess.

Note that the key element is the nice, cheery fire he has built. In cold weather, fire is the key. He would survive, not as comfortably, if he had nothing but the fire. Without the ire, he is only marginally better off.

I can attest to the quality and value of the AMK 2.0 bivy. At least in the northeast, it works as a summer bag, and really adds a lot to late fall camping when you put your sleeping bag in it. As noted, condensation is a problem, so I am also looking forward to the new soon-to-be-available bivy that AMK says deals with the condensation issue.

The HeatSheet blankets and bivys are excellent tools, you just have to understand that they need to be integrated into a system. That system may use natural materials for insulation from the ground. You also have to appreciate that they are ultralight, ultracompact components and it's incorrect to compare them against a wool blanket and down sleeping bag.

These AMK products are far, far better than the old Mylar sheets. Even professional survival curmudgeon Peter Kummerfeldt has become a convert. For years he railed against Mylar blankets, and quite rightly so. But recently he was introduced to the much better AMK versions and he likes them.

The AMK products give you a very light, very compact, and very FAST way to keep wind & water at bay. Combine them with some simple bushcraft and hopefully a fire, and you have a truly useful asset.

The blankets were taped together beforehand. If you used something like gorilla tape, I think the blanket would fail before the tape did. The whole deal looks about softball sized.

He has the bottom sealed with snow, presumably you could use logs or rocks to anchor the bottom, but I do have my doubts how it would hold up in high winds, but then any tarp in high winds is going to have problems. You could gorilla tape in 550 cord loops for anchor points.

Of course, it does depend on found materials and a fire, but its not too bad for something that fits in two coat pockets.

One could rig something comparable with a tarp with a silver reflective side, that would be more durable and easier to anchor, but nowhere as compact. Also, there is no reflector on the fire, which would improve efficiency as well.

Not criticizing, as he has a pretty good setup.

With the high profile and completely open front, I just wonder what the effect of shifting winds would be. I also question the temperature differential between the peak of the shelter and the ground where his feet are. I don't think you can overstate the need to keep your feet warm in winter survival situations.

I have tried various materials and configurations in my winter camps and I believe that a shelter configured from the same materials, but low and horizontial in front of a fire with a log or stone reflector opposing would be more wind resistant and have a more consistant temperature inside.

I have not been in a true survival situation in winter, but to prepare, I carry a folding saw. a nylon poncho, 50 ft of 550, a silver sheet, and an orange AMK double sized sheet. The nylon poncho with a sapling frame is the shelter, lined inside with the silver reflector sheet, and then a bed of leaves, grass, or pine needles, I would wrap up in the heatsheet in front of the fire.

I like Dave Canterbury's set up here. It's easy to construct, even if your blankets don't have gromets (I use small rocks and some paracord at the corners). In cold weater, you're going to want that pad to stop heat loss into the ground. The configuration he's showing here works better with a steeper pitch to the roof if there's a chance of snow and you're also going to want to put rocks, logs or snow on the ground edges to stop drafts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pQLVUFTpUOk

Have you had any experience with the rock/paracord tie-ins during significant wind? I plan to use tarps or blankets in a similar fashion and I have always wonder how well they will hold when it gets breezy...

A question that easily comes to mind. We are experiencing Santa Ana winds today........

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I haven't tried to put rock/paracord tie-ins together in seriously high winds or severe cold. I expect that finger dexterity would be an issue in that case, so preparing the tie-ins before would be prudent. (Thank goodness it's only an emergency shelter for me.) I have noticed that once they're together they stay pretty taut as long as you make your knots tight and secure. I've only tested the set up a few times so others with more experience may have a better perspective.

It's gets pretty windy where I often camp and it has caused equipment damage before.

My friend uses the blue and/or silver heavy duty tarps at camp and in high winds, the grommets rip out. I have used the pebble approach on his same tarp and the winds didn't damage the tarps further.

My conclusion is the pebble or whatever in the tarp has been more reliable and flexible than grommets, just not as convenient. When I use the grommets in wind, I will sometimes use a loop of bungee cord ala the USMC tarp. That gives some give to hopefully reduce damage.

But with a space blanket, the weak part is the blanket itself. And the wrapped pebble or grasses or whatever you put in there approach would probably be the strongest way to do it. My disclaimer is that while I have used tarps a lot in high wind, I have never tried a survival blanket in high wind.

I have seen tarp setups survive where the EZ Up type canopies have had their frames twisted and broken by the wind.

Just one quick observation: With the SPACE blankets clipping a couple of small non climbing carabiners into the eyelets enables you to loop your 550 cord as prussiks without having to mess around untying and retying things. A serious consideration when you need to get that shelter up in a hurry. Probably cut two min off the erection time.

Great idea Leigh. If I carried space blankets with tarps, I'd probably pre-tie them and adding carabins to them makes a lot of sense. Eliminating finicky work with cold fingers is high on the priority list. In fact, giving that it's winter here now, I'll consider doing just that. Thanks!

Slight thread hijack...

The Thermarest RidgeRest sleeping pad seen in the above video link is a great product and has been my main sleeping pad for a quite awhile now. After using this pad, I will never go back to the Zotefoam type sleeping pads.

LOVE my thermarest! I was thinking of picking up a ridge rest for day hikes, instead of taking the pro lite, which is part of my long hike pack-GHB.

Actually, come to think of it. We have two ridge rests somewhere. hmmm.. a treasure hunt before DS and I go hiking tomorrow it is!

The Prolites are good. My SO has the Prolite Plus Women's model which has a higher R value due to a bit more insulation in the lower and foot part of the mattress. She swears by the sleeping pad and has logged plenty of nights of comfortable sleep on it over the last couple of years.

I don't have a Prolite but instead, use a MEC Kelvin model non-insulated air pad. The Kelvin models are no longer made but I have had mine now for about 3 years with no problems and no leaks. Like the Prolites, the Kelvin rolls up very compact and is not much taller in height then a Nalgene bottle.

Thanks Teslinhiker! I'll che k that out. Just realizer we gave our ridge rests away to DD ad a friend of hers. Good excuse to go shopping.