"New gear" (for me) report:

A couple days before heading out to CO I was on a minor errand at the local Wally World and spotted Sawyer kits for less than $12US, so bought one and tucked it in my day pack where I keep my FAK. What the heck; my Dad had been observing "high altitude" snakes all summer - where they are not normally found in his neck of the woods (he lives above 8,500 ft). Snakes never bother me but for some reason my Dad and my wife wig out over snakes... Fiddled with it briefly here (elev ~600 ft) to make see how it works.

Near the end of the trip was doing some touristy stuff at Mesa Verde and on the way up from the bottom at a site ran into a couple with a wasp-stung little girl. Whipped out the kit and was very impressed - worked like a champ; I could see the venom (and a little serous fluid) well up out of the puncture immediately, with immediate relief. Handed "mom" a Sting-Eze wipe and continued on my way.

Noticed that the Extractor does not draw as much vacuum at ~ 8,000 ft elev as at 600 ft - duh! But it was quite sufficient - I am impressed. It will remain in my kit.

We have rattlers and cottonmouths locally, and perhaps a rare errant copperhead (more likely 100 miles south of us, but still rare). I've rarely seen either. Spider bites, centipede bites, and stinging insects are common, however. I'm going to purchase a Sawyer for each adult in our Scout units and suggest the Patrol FAKs in the troop have one added.

FWIW, right next to the Sawyer kit at Wally World was the Cutter kit (shudder!).

Regards to all,

Tom