Gear Obsession: Do You Really Need It and Have You Tested It

Preppers What Gadgets Gizmos and Gear Do You Really Need and Have You Field Tested

Let’s face it, the gear you think you might need, in a survival situation could fill up a garage. Those that do not have bush craft skills need gear and gadgets to compensate for lack of said skill. The adage “the more you know, the less you need” holds true when it comes to prepping and surviving in the wilderness.

The following are just examples, you can decide on your own what is an actual need or simply a want. You may find that despite the fancy marketing and high price tag that some items are much ado about nothing. Very simple and much cheaper items around the home can do the same task in many cases. Think before you buy.

One Piece of Gear You May Not Need

Bio mass heaters a fancy term for a metal device that will burn anything that is combustible as long as it is organic. Homemade Rockets Stoves do the same thing and they cost little to nothing, if you can scavenge some metal coffee cans, and some #10 metal cans you can make your own.

Cotton tee shirts are organic, as are pine cones, sticks, tooth picks, jute or cotton twine and rope made from hemp. The broken limbs and dead leaves you step on as you hike through the woods are organic bio mass combustibles as well.

It has to be good and be good for the environment if it says bio mass, right. The point is a ring of stones and some Rebar or green saplings for cooking grates is a bio mass heater or cooking device.

Granted certain stoves on the market burn the combustibles very efficiently, which means it take less fuel to achieve the desired results. Is it worth it however, this is what you need to ask yourself.

The problem is that when people become lost or stranded they usually have very little in the way of gear with them. The fancy camp stove or heater is still in the box in the garage. The guaranteed to light under any condition matches are shoved in a kitchen drawer and their GPS device has dead batteries in it.

The problem is you had always assumed that if you became lost, stranded or found yourself in a survival situation you would have your gear with you. Gear obsession in many cases means you have failed to gain the knowledge to survive without your gear. This can be a deadly obsession.

Therefore the Question Is Do You Need a Camp Stove or Do You Simply Want One

You may need one in the garage for when the power goes out, so you can heat food and boil water. This is providing you do not have a propane grill, or charcoal grill that can be used in place of a camp stove.

Instead of thinking up things you can purchase, look around your home for things that do the same thing as the gadget you want to buy. Of course, it is not as fun, but we are talking about survival here. Your financial survival is important as well.

Do you need one for your bug-out-bag, the answer is probably no. It is an added expense, it adds considerable weight, and for those stoves, that burn propane or butane, fuel is always a problem.

Carry fire starting materials and a small metal pot in your survival bag and learn how use green saplings and other materials as cooking grates. Use what is in your environment, instead of trying to import everything into the environment.

Expensive Tents Do You Need One in Your Bag

Cheap tents can be worse than not having one at all, but if you do want one or think you need one, get a quality one. Cheap tents can be heavy, and they are cumbersome to set up often times. If you find yourself lost or stranded and plan to shelter in place for a couple of days then they would be ideal.

However, despite all the expert advice about sheltering in place, the first thing people do when they realize they are lost, is to try to find their way back and this means they may wander around aimlessly for days instead of hunkering down inside of a cozy tent or shelter they made.

In some cases, rescue personnel searching for lost hikers and others have found abandoned gear. Typically, people lost, and in a panic rarely give thought to what gear they do have with them. They shuck their packs thinking the weight is holding them back. Less weight means they can dash hither and yon in a panic and still end up lost, exhausted and likely injured.

You probably do not need a tent in your survival pack. Instead, carry lightweight tarps, thermal blankets, a few tools, and other material that can be used to build a shelter out of forest debris. Shelters that can be left as is, as you move on. Once the tent is out of the package they never fold back up right, so you have not only added weight you have lost some space, as well, because now the tent takes up more space.

There is a middle ground of course, and there is of course survival gear that can literally be a lifesaver. A lifesaver, that is, if you have it with you when needed and you know how to use it when you need to.

People often times purchase things and for fear of wearing it out or damaging it, it stays in the box until needed if it is ever needed at all. How do you know if it works and is it something that you would use, or is it a psychological boost just knowing you have some sort of survival equipment lying around?

Unless you have field tested something you have no idea how it works or if it works at all. In sub-zero temperatures is not the time to hope the manual is inside the box. Know it works and that it has practical value before you pack it away in your survival kit.

There are literally thousands of article on how to prep on the cheap. In some, if not many cases, you can buy cheaper items and come out ahead, but sometimes quality can mean the difference between surviving and not.

A five-dollar knife may have its place in your survival pack but the problem is that its uses are restricted. You now have to carry other knives and other gear to make up for the shortcomings of the cheaper product. Have you come out ahead, you have to decide.

One quality piece of gear or equipment that can perform 10 tasks is more cost effective in the end than buying a piece of gear for each job. This may be over dramatizing it, but there are tools out there like a quality fixed bladed knife that can perform multiple functions, so you do not have to carry around so much gear.

A good knife can act as an ax, eating or cooking utensil, help with fire starting, be used for self-defense, field dress wild game, used for hunting, and be used to fashion other tools and weapons and ones without a subdued blade can be used as a signaling device as well.

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