Lifeline's new Ultralight Survival Pak was recently introduced with a similar form factor to the AMK PSP and a lower price. Terrill Hoffman suggests that "if you’re going to make a kit that looks like your competitor’s, be prepared for a side by side comparison." Terrill takes an independent look at the new Lifeline kit and answers the question, is it worth worth betting your life on?

http://www.equipped.org/lifeline_USK.htm

(NOTE: Because I designed the Adventure Medical Kits Pocket Survival Pak, and both I and ETS Foundation receive a royalty from the sale of the PSP, I asked Terrill Hoffman, a respected author on survival related topics and host of the annual Practice What You Preach survival exercise, to evaluate and write an independent review of the Ultralight Survival Kit by Lifeline First Aid.)

In the UK i'd rather have the Lifelines kit with me, if it was all I could have. The emergency blanket makes surviving a night stuck on the hills much more likely. Where we walk; the hills. There's nothing to make a fire with and nowhere to fish anyway. And I note neither kit contains the single item which usually makes an emergency easy to handle; a torch.
I know it's a bit like the trick question someone had here one time comparing a 10 dollar 'survival knife' from the supermarket, with some chris reeve quality one. The supermarket knife was the sensible choice in the US because there were fire starting items in the handle.
Best is buy Dougs and add a bivvy bag and torch.
The Sock

Thing that struck me was the total lack of a signal mirror, poor quality (although better than many) whistle and the shoddy compass.

Which is a pity because this could be one of the better (at it's price point)kits on the market.


Note* Even the RSK is not "perfect" but it's superior to anything else presently on the market.

I thought the "Made in China" decal front and center of the photo handled it all from the start.

EVERY kit I have, from pocket sized to full backpack, starts with a modified PSP. It is like the cornerstone of the building.

Fair comment for most of the UK and I suspect parts of the US - a whistle, torch and shelter (space blanket/bivvi bag etc) are the key tools, everyhting else is a bonus. Starting fires, fishing etc implies a wilderness that doesn't exist for many people.

That said, I'd pick Dougs kit over the cheapy knock-off everytime - quality kit

Same here. I have a Fox40, a LED flashlight and a watchband compass on a string around my neck and disposable rain poncho in my pocket (I once spent a night on a mountain with a space blanket and I'm not doing it again)

In my backpack I have the classic Dalesman bag although I'm tempted by the heatshield blanket - and as the hairline recedes a spare synthetic/polartec hat.

You might not need the army survival fishing kit necessary if you have to live for weeks behind enemy lines but you can (and people regularly do) die of exposure overnight even in the Yorkshire dales.

Yep, a lot of people underestimate the weather in the U.K. Particularly in early spring, late autumn and winter. It's cold, wet windy and nasty!

So, is imitation really the best form of flattery?

I suppose I am not really impartial. I bought Doug's kit years ago and promptly took it apart with all the items disappearing into my pockets.
So now some of it hides in my wallet, some in my pockets, some of it on my keychain...

I likely could have bought all the items individually but it was cheap enough to buy it all in the one package.
I was a lot easier than trying to track down the items by themselves too.
As I used up the pieces of it (like wire, fish hooks and tape) they were replaced with off the shelf items.

Even though I have changed some of the items I carry over the years from what Doug and AMK put in I think Doug's kit was a great start and that it still is.

Now it is time for me to buy a couple more of Doug's kits because it is time to replace some of the harder items to find (button compass, spark lite, tinder) and I want them available to me in the future.

These other price-point knockoffs simply do not have the right pieces in them.
For example, in this one by Lifeline the compass is too big.
If I want a compass that large I have my old Silva.
I carry a bic instead of matches with sparkers for backup and matches are easy off the shelf items, my fish hooks are Mustad and Gamakatsu taken from my tackle box... the list goes on.

A few other odd thoughts.
I think one of the problems with items like these is there is no way for somebody who has not used them to tell the quality of the items in the package.
Until you have had them apart and played with them how can you tell?
Most people can't.
To the average person one whistle is about the same as another one, compasses are about equal, etc.
And you know the retailers will generally look at their profits and end up selling the price point item.
I have gone through this often with tools and clothes. I find something that works and by the time I need to replace it I am not able to find it anymore.
This is why I intend to purchase a few extra of Doug's kits now while I can still get them.
Even though I do hope his kits remain available I have seen too many good products disappear because of pricepoint competition.

(I really apologize if this post sounds like a plug, because it isn't. I only post on this forum as a very opinionated individual and I don't have any business interests in AMK or Doug's products. If there was a better pocket survival kit out there than Doug's I would be buying it and recommending it instead.)

Looks like Doug's PSP is the better value.

Interesting review of both kits.

If both kits are on the shelf side-by-side, the UK model will sell better. The reasons: price and the bigger compass. The bigger compass looks sexier in the package than the button compass. The button compass may be more function in that it actually works, but that won't be known at purchase time.