25 survival items in a genuine air-tight, waterproof,crushproof sardine can. Go fish with a fishhook and line,find your way home with the compass, boil water in the canfor your tea with sugar, use the first aid supplies to survivethe wilderness. Even includes duct tape, matches, whistle,signal mirror, razor blade, fire starter cube, chewing gum,salt, and a safety pin. Put one in your car, motorcycle,fishing vest, backpack, bike, etc.Great gift item, and the price is right!
$ 4.75
Whistle Creek Survival Kit in a Sardine Can: Not intended for survival,
I got this as a gift because I’m into hiking, camping, and other outdoorsy stuff. I had this sitting around unopened for a while and decided to open it a few hours ago. I have to say, I’m pretty disappointed.
Contents:
A small pencil (the kind used for scoring in golf), tiny packet of salt, band-aid, paper-clip, cheap plastic whistle, one use of antibiotic ointment, 650mg acetaminophen (2 tabs), alcohol wipe, bag of tea, single edge safety razor, 3.5″ duct tape on wax paper, fishing hook, spool of thread, chewing gum, cube of fire-starter, safety pin, cheap compass, tootsie-roll, book of matches, instructions and one plastic bag.
For starters, I assume that the mini tootsie-roll was the “Energy Nugget” mentioned on the lid, which made me chuckle. The first-aid items are pretty good but there’s only one use of each. I’m not really sure what exactly you’d use the razor for, as it’s just the blade and trying to do much else with it other than cutting paper would be pretty dangerous. The bag of tea is a good idea but you better have something to soak it in. The spool of thread is very weak, and you better be snaring chipmunks and catching baby fish. The compass is about .5″ in diameter and is all but useless. It must be almost perfectly level to work, and mine is about 45 degrees from north. The pencil is fairly useless as they leave very little paper to write on and the only way to sharpen it would be the razor or a rough surface. The whistle is extremely cheap and flimsy. The duct-tape is woefully short. And the book of matches is very useless. Starting a fire with those kind is very difficult compared to a bic lighter or wooden matches.
The sheet of instructions and uses that come with the kit are also horribly inadequate. The first-aid instructions are more or less correct, but they provide little information if you didn’t know first-aid beforehand. The list of items would be more useful if it wasn’t there. For example: Tea bags “can be used as a soothing compress”, string can be used for a snare (doesn’t show how to make one), fishing hook can be used as an “emergency button” (I assume for clothing).
WORST OF ALL, and this is the reason I decided to give it 1 star instead of 2, it RECOMMENDS you use the safety-pin as an “emergency suture” and that you should use the duct tape to “dress wounds”. Doing either of these things is a horrible, horrible, awful idea. A safety pin should NEVER be used to keep a wound closed and the only time duct tape might be acceptable to use to close a wound is if the patient will almost certainly die from blood loss.
tl;dr
This kit is a neat little novelty, but you shouldn’t plan to rely on it in a survival situation. If you ARE concerned about wilderness survival, you can make a MUCH better $15 kit than this thing (most things can be found around your house). More important than your kit is your knowledge about survival. The shows where people survive in the wilderness with just a knife are proof of that.
ONE STAR because: You can create a similar kit at a fraction of the price. The directions are mostly misleading, unhelpful, or even hurtful. If you have one it’s a neat conversation piece, just don’t let them open it.
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|Fun & compact, but needs extra stuff,
Another “Survival Kit in a Can” product. This has a cheap toy whistle (you need better, and I have read a review which sez the whistle in this kit didn’t work, which is very bad), a cheap pack of matches (needs better and a flint would be good also) one good tinder cube- enough for one fire, a small poor compass, a fishing hook, and some poly thread which can be used for fishing line if you have to. Most other kits like this have a needle also, so the thread can be used for sewing too.
For Medical, you have 1 bandaid, an alcohol swab, a couple of painkillers, and a triple antibiotic ointment. This is not bad at all for this sort of kit. I’d want 2-3 bandaids, myself.
For “food” you have a small candy, gum, a packet of bullion, a tea bag, and sugar. Well, since a real good idea when 1st lost is to STOP! and make a cuppa, this is OK for that purpose.
For tools, etc we have a foot of duct tape- very nice, a single edge razor blade (a good addition if you already have a decent knife) and a few other things.
The kit is compact, and fits in a pocket well. It is completely waterproof and sealed in a sardine tin. The bad news is, this kit is not as closely packed as the others, and it rattles a little. Annoying. You supposedly use the can itself as a signal mirror.
So, if you supplement this with a good knife, a better whistle, a survival blanket or bivvie, a small 1st aid kit and a firestarting flint with some extra tinder, it’s not a bad thing for situations where you aren’t going to be too deep in the outback. But all by itself…..
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|CATCH A Fish WITHOUT A HOOK!!!,
Not a bad kit for the money. You can buy several and tuck them away in different places. These are compact and store easily. Fishing gear in an emergency kit always makes me laugh. Your first priority is protection from hypothermia/exposure either by clothing, shelter or fire. Second is rescue, being found, extraction, etc. I don’t think you’ll do much fishing while trying to keep warm at night, and while extracting yourself or being found the next day, as is what happens in most all emergency survival situations. Fishing gear belongs in an extended stay/extreme kit or on a planned fishing trip. I know we all think about crash landing in a remote part of the world near a great fishing lake and the fish are biting… not likely. I’ll take a compass over a fish hook any day! Make a fish trap instead – fish swim in and they can’t swim out. While the trap does its work you can prepare firewood or signal for help. Good luck!
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