Ultimate Survival's Deluxe kit evaluations

[ToddM]

Curious on people's thoughts on the items contained in the deluxe kit. Mostly the signal mirror, saw, and whistle as compared to others on the market.

I have a strike force now, but I wouldn't mind trying out the blast match. Mostly though I decided that I was seriously lacking in my kit without a good signal mirror and also a good portable saw. Can you believe with 3 sporting goods stores, a walmart,kmart/target etc. there isn't a single signal mirror to be found (not to metion strike anywhere matches).

I have used the wire mil issue saws and they work pretty good (actually amazing for just being a wire) but certainly not in the same leauge as the chainsaw style saws. After doing some reading it seems like the US saw is a good product.

Also curious if the whistle is worth a darn, I have fox 40 and storm whistle so I guess I don't need another, like I don't need another knife either

So by the time I priced out the mirror $10 and saw $20-25 the kit for $45 at botach.com seemed like a pretty good deal. I'd probably toss the case away, usually there is a lot of wasted space in those injected molded cases, they only fit what comes in them.

As an aside, have any of the windproof/"waterproof" lighters emerged as a clear winner, or are they still all pretty much still suffering from unreliability?

 

[Sesoku]

Todd,
If I were you I would get one of Bagheeras large fire steels and forget the blastmatch. I have all of them, the blastmatch, strike force, and the large firesteel. I think the firesteel is the best. The other two are both larger than needed and the blastmatch is overly complicated. I also recommend the Ultimate survival starflash signal mirror. I have two, my only recomendation would be to cover the reflective side with some repositional clear contact paper to prevent scratches until you are going to use it. The Ultimate survival whistle is pretty good also.

 

[sgtmike88]

Bagheera's Firesteel is the best of the lot so far. The US whistle is ok, but I prefer the ACR whistle; it's smaller, seems tougher, and is earpiercingly loud.

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It's not the pace of life that concerns me, It's the sudden stop at the end.

 

[Johan]

I've got one of their signal mirrors on the way, so I can't comment yet. However I do have a blastmatch and a jet scream. The whistle certainly is loud. So much so I have to put my own fingers in my ears before I blow it. In regards to the blastmatch, I really like it. Complicated? Maybe. But I tried a little experiment the other day. I took some maya wood and fuzzed up one end. Then I tried to light it with various steels. My Strike Force didn't do it, neither did my swiss steel, but the blast match got it the first time. I'm not saying the other steels couldn't have done it, I'm just saying that in my little test only the blast match did it.