How well does a LifeStraw filter water? Someone on youtube ran dirty water through a LifeStraw to find out. The end result was surprising as I was expecting "something" to slip through the filter. When it comes to stockpiling low cost water filters the LifeStraw seems the way to go.

Let's do an experiment. Let's say you are going to a local sporting goods store and are taking $100 cash, what would you buy? Sunday, January 19th my wife and I are going to Academy Sports and Outdoors in Lufkin, Texas. Yes, I am taking $100 cash to spend. I am thinking about spending my...

Christmas is coming up and I would like to gift the grandkids a backpack that would serve as a platform to build off of. The packs are a surplus 3 day assault pack. From there I plan on getting two canteens for each pack, and a single canteen cup for each. So far: Surplus 3 day Pack Canteen...

My B.O.B is a work in progress. I find that I'm never satisfied with it, not even close. To heavy, wrong contents, wrong bag, whatever my thoughts may be. It mostly comes down to what I want to have vs. weight. I'm a backpacker so this issue is not new to me but with backpacking i'm not as...

Curious how much people are carrying in their packs. Lets do a list of what type of packs and how much if what we carry in each. I generally have 1 survival bag that goes with me everywhere it is my primary pack. I guess you could call it a get home bag/bug out bag/universal survival bag. I...

BOB's everywhere you look its BOB's..... Its as if everyone is preparing to run out the front door to the nearest patch of woods as soon as anything major happens. I often wonder why people don't focus more energy on Bugging in.... seems more logical. I get it, its good to have a BOB in case...

One of those things that goes to show why having a few tools with you at all times is so important...

I'm thinking about adding sleeping pads to my Bug Out Bags. Is this a good idea? And what type would you recommend? I've been leaning towards a 3/4 inch thick military type roll up foam pad. Please advise. I don't want to spend more than $30.00 a pad!

Up until just a few days ago I had never heard of ThruNite, much less the ThruNite TN12. Someone on youtube reached out and asked if I would be interested in reviewing the TN12. After looking at the light I said sure, I would love to see it. Looking at the ThruNite TN12 on amazon, I asked...

Folks - throwing this out - I shop a few places for surplus gear as I feel a lot of it (not all) is of good quality and priced accordingly. The stuff I get might include ammo boxes/crates, clothing, packs, and even picked up some nbc masks a few years ago. I'm constantly scouting Sportsmans...

Hi, I registered to this forum because after viewing many videos and reading WEB pages I still have what I consider to be (at least for me and for the moment) the most important question. We are 3 in our family (dad, mother and a young son). The question is "Should I prepare 1 bug out bag for...

In prepping there seems to be a focus on doing "manly" things, or stuff that can be bragged about. For example someone may talk about how many rounds of ammunition they have, or how many superpails or #10 cans they have. Lets take a few minutes and talk about the small stuff we do that add to...

Seeing a recent post that talked about a Time magazine article on the "Navy Seal E & E kit" made me think about my own kit. I keep in my trunk a GHB in a backpack (pretty light, about 10 lbs) to be augmented by my "E & E" bag - in other words, the bag I'd have if I had to ditch everything and...

While tilling the garden today I was thinking about how much money preppers / survivalist put into cool items such as their firearms. Some people go all out on their AR-15, shotguns, AK-47,,,, their manly gear. They have the very best rifle money can buy, the very best optics, the very best...

Alright so the holidays are coming and I am working on building my sorta kinda girlfriend a B.O.B. She is a tiny little thing at 5'3. She is also (looks around in fear :xeye:) older at 40. We recently went on a hike in Yosemite and she loved my Camelbak Mule so I bought her the exact same pack...

Do you think stockpiling cheap survival knives has a place in your long term SHTF survival plans? Why stockpile cheap knives? 20 years ago some of my buddies and I were making bug out bags for friends and family. The bag contained a canteen, water purification tablets, thermal blanket...

Serious responses please (I know how some of you think) :rolleyes: Just got scared last night thinking about health care visits and other tasks that need to happen while we still have health care workers and regular businesses open in Texas: 1) routine dental and vision checkups for my family...