I have tested all of the components, after carrying it in my wallet in my back pocket for a couple of months, and everything worked. The compass was accurate, the fresnel lens started a fire, and the signal mirror worked (though not as bright as a good glass on). The ground to air signals are consistent with the CAP ones, and their illustration of the solar still was not great.

When I am out, and especially when I have students, I always give them an orientation and an escape azimuth. That usually leads to some road or other linear terrain feature where they should stay and make themselves easy to find. That way I know where to look for them. The terrain feature could be something that will take you to help, or get help to you. Roads, power line cuts, rivers. It is a line they should not cross, but find and stay put, or move in a known direction toward help.

You may not know exactly where you are, or where your goal is, but you can generally know that if I head in a certain direction I will hit this terrain feature. The compass (indeed the kit) does not weigh anything and takes up little space.