Looking for all-in-one survival tool

J

jscalia

Joined
Dec 11, 2006
Messages
126
I am looking for a good quality survival tool/capsule. I recently saw a cheap $2.99 plastic one from Coughlin, with a whistle, compass, match holder, signal mirror.
 
There are none. IMHO, they are all crap.

Get a chunk of paracord and hang a whistle, firesteel, compass, neck knife, a spy capsule full of tinder quick tabs, an LED microlight and a signal mirror on it. The same will fit in a small pouch or multi-tool sheath. I add a sharpener to mine. With that, a water bottle, some Micropur tablets, and a couple garbage bags, you can take on the world :) Of course the list from there is endless and varied.
 
Wait a minit! When I was a kid, I had one just like that with 4 lenses that opened out to make binoculars! :)

Toys , including a couple of cheap plastic multigadgets.

I keep a few gadgets on my keyring/utility ring: Fox 40 mini whistle, Arc AAA, spy capsules, Vic. Classic, Utili-key, ResQMe. Not hard to add a few items to an Altoids tin to finish out a useful survival kit.
 
EVERYTHING seems to have a compass. :p

Signal mirrors were one of the great joys of my young life, shining them into people's eyes a block away or into apartment windows. Nobody guessed the quiet little kid sitting there was responsible. I was quick and I was accurate.

They sold that gadget in the back of every comic book in those days. Along with a lot of other valuable equipment: sunglasses that would see through clothes, a buzzer that would ZZZAP! your friends when you shook hands with them. No electricity, it was a wind-up. I may still have one somewhere ...

Oh, yeah, and some program guaranteed to build massive muscles!
 
I supplemented mine with a REAL GUN! It was a Western Haig. Fired real bullets (#9 shot pellets), real .9 gr powders charge (from a roll of cap gun caps), with a steel barrel ( metal liner...). Even at 9 yrs. old I was disappointed. What an introduction to mail order. Tip it downward and the "bullet" would roll out, which is as close as it ever came to discharging the projectile.:D ss.
 
Get a SAK w/saw, BSA Hotspark, aluminum spy capsule w/compass, fishing kit/sewing kit/tinder quik for capsule, whistle, small mirror, bandana, inova mini LED light, Katadyn MP-1 purification tabs and a small belt pouch.
 
The closest you are going to get to that is a good match case with a compass built into the cap. Silvas are OK, the K&Ms are probably the best but they seem to be MIA for a while. Add a spy capsule/whistle made by Bison, and those two are as close as you are going to get without buying junk.
 
I actualy have a match holder that has a whistle on one end , a mirror in the lid and a compass on the outside of the lid ,and a lighter flint glued tot he outside IIRC .. bought a stack of them at 50c each on sale at some camping store , genuine Coleman gear too ...

I filled the match holding bit with bandaids and a mini fishing kit , and was giving them one to each kid that came thru my care when we went camping .

Gave them a start in survival thinking , and the whistles are bleeding loud too , handy if you got city kids in the bush ...

I THINK I have one in the boot of the car somewhere

I wouldnt knock it back if it was given to me , but I would like to have a bit more to stake my life on at the same time ...

still , in a problem situation , it is outside of what I have prepared to handle ( thats why its a problem ) so Ill take whatever there is at the time ...
 
Here's the capsule that I use. It's several years old, bought from Cabelas. The black coating has all but worn off and the black bled into the compass, but it is still readable and accurate. Inside I keep a fish/trap/sewing kit and tinder quik.

hikit005.jpg
 
hands.jpg


These, combined with know-how, are about the only true "all-in-one" survival tools I can think of. ;)

All I need to work on is the know-how!


-A
 
Thomas Linton said:
K&M was out of production over a year ago due to lack of a source for good compasses. I bought a couple nine months ago. Very nice. The site does not indicate a lack of stock (www.KMMatchcase.com).
Click to expand...

OK! Cool, I last checked their site about three months ago, it was down. The impression I got from someone on ETS who knows the owner/maker was that they were going to be down for a while due to something not related directly to production. Looks like they are back.
 
DaleW said:
There are none. IMHO, they are all crap.

Get a chunk of paracord and hang a whistle, firesteel, compass, neck knife, a spy capsule full of tinder quick tabs, an LED microlight and a signal mirror on it. The same will fit in a small pouch or multi-tool sheath. I add a sharpener to mine. With that, a water bottle, some Micropur tablets, and a couple garbage bags, you can take on the world :) Of course the list from there is endless and varied.
Click to expand...

Dale, I picked up a whistle from "highgear" it has a compass, mirror, LED light, and magnifying lens. It wouldn't stand up to a pile of abuse, but I think its well put together. The compass works. It weighs almost nothing and comes with a neck cord. REI- $20. Gene
 
The only multiple use tool I know of... your brain.

Seriously, SAK, with braided lanyard (small cord, maybe 4 or 5mm stuff or paracord) attached to a small LED light, button compass, and a firestarting tool or bic lighter case. The thing about all in one tools if you lose it... your are naked in the wilderness. No likey.
 
EDC Depot has some good deals on capsules. They were giving a free one with each order too.
 
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