First post here <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I've been interested in kits for a while, then I found the webpage and it got me motivated again....

I was browsing around at the US cav and came across one of those "sas survival tins"

It looked pretty good. I felt the $21 price tag was a bit high, but I've seen worse, and at the very least I could probably find some useful stuff inside.

So I get it. The first thing I noticed is that the tin I bought does not contain the same contents as the display tin. Several parts were replaced by cheaper items (as in lower quality). Hmph, that sucks... no biggie, I was going to gut it and put my own stuff in anyway!

This tin is a pretty good size, bigger than the old altoid tins I was using. Inside contained...
-Cheap Chinese copy of the swiss army knife, in a little box. The knife in the display was a vintage locking folder knife
-Matches (I call em freakin flares, I had to drop one in the empty tin to keep from burning myself... WOOSH!)
-Emergency Whistle
-Small tea candle
-Fishing kit (made in china)
-Sewing kit
-Overly Bulky magnesium fire starter, and metal thing to start it with...
-Safety Pins
-Wire Saw
-Pencil
-"Button" compass (read: big ugly plastic thing that looks like it came out of a cracker jack box, not like the button compass in the display model)
-Water Purification Tabs

It said on the top that there was a nightlight. They mean the tea candle.
They also had a handy dandy survival information sheet.

Obviously there are a few things missing, so I screwed around.

In place of the cheap swiss army knife, I put in a REAL swiss army knife and one of those little miniature P-38 can openers. Both fit in the same little swiss army knife box, so good. No extra room taken up.

I trashed the magnesium firestarter. There was a BIG plastic handle on there that took up tons of space and was useless. I had another firestarter that was much more compact, but I decided against it. The matches should be fine, and I'll have alternate ways to start a fire before I'm done. I never could get a nice pile of magnesium anyway..
I trashed the compass second, it was crap, and big. I added a compass from a US military survival kit, a "true" button compass. It's tiny, and vintage I think (has a little radioactive symbol on the back). This actually fits inside the matchbox, so good. Saved more room there.

After trashing the magnesium firestarter, I had enough room not only for a cheap multi-tool, but also an LED light, two things I thought would be more useful anyway. In the outdoors, a tea candle just ain't cuttin it for a light, and this day in age, there's no excuse not to find a good LED light. I trashed the survival instruction sheet... first of all, it contained instructions requiring items not even in the kit (not so useful) and also when folded, it was fairly thick.
I put in a compact mirror as well, something I thought would be useful for signalling than the tin lid, and would also work for personal use (finding those ticks in hard to reach spots!).

I threw in a survival card. Why not... it has another LED built in, another blade (akin to the small swiss army knife blade), magnifying glass, needle, sissors, pen, etc.

I also threw in a second wire saw. Just wasn't sure if I could trust the one that came with the kit, considering the quality of some of the other items.

The rest I kept, but if I stumble across something better I'll include it. There are some items I've been meaning to add too, when I buy some.
-Condoms for holding water
-Trick Birthday Candles (burn faster, but probably better than the tea candle in poor weather)
-Diliated eye shades
-Heavy Duty zip lock bags
-Insect Repellant
-Sunscreen packet/chapstick
-small thing of duct tape
-eye screws
-Good keychain sized spyderco knife

Unfortunately some of those items (like the emergency blanket and windproof lighter) are simply too bulky to fit in the tin.

As a temporary solution, I've purchased a camera bag. It fits the tin in the main "camera" compartment, and has a fold over section to boot. Here, I put an emergency poncho and space blanket, basic first aid stuff, a bic, some MRE toilet paper, and probably salt packets as well as a hard candy (for heat exhaustion and...well nummy candy, respectively.)

I will probably search for a pelican case in the future, while looking out for the other items I wanted to include.

The first aid component is very basic. It's just for minor screwups... stabbing myself with a needle/hook, that type of thing. I plan on having a seperate dedicated first aid kit.

This goes with me wherever I go (in the vehicle, or backpack at school) but I don't carry it on my belt. I would if I was going hiking or something though.

This kit is more of a wilderness kit. Many of the items would be useless for something like an urban area... and it's a pretty general kit too. I would bring extra, mission specific items depending on the environment. During winter, I'll add hand warmers and so forth. If I was going to the tropics, I'd probably look for some malaria tablets, mosquito headnets, and so on.

Any comments would be appreciated. I'm always afraid I've "missed" something by over-thinking it.

Please excuse the poor quality images...