All posts in Survival Gear

Leatherman Tools, EMS and LEO Sales Data

Leatherman Multi-toolsI sometimes feel as though I need to take a couple training courses every year to just learn what is going on in the industry, but I often do a lot of listening and asking questions and probable spend at least an hour a day researching something on Youtube.com to see if the manufacturer has a Youtube Channel or if a reputable blogger or writer has something to say.  Reading specs off of paper takes time and is harder to comprehend sometimes and we’re real happy with companies like Leatherman Inc to have such a good youtube channel so we can just pick a product and watch all of the features.   If you know what you want then you’ll have to do some research into each tool because need a punch, screwdriver, or hammer all have different purposes and if you use a tool incorrectly you’ll ruin it.

Right now the Leatherman OHT is the our 2nd highest selling tool since it’s so easy to handle “One Handed Tool” and has most of what you would use a multitool for.   The Leatherman Wingman  and Leatherman Wave a bigger sellers for Police and the Leatherman Raptor is practical uniform gear for EMS and SWAT Medics, we also have FBI medics in the area using them.  I’ve been eyeballing the Leatherman MUT for a long time but just feel it comes a little short on what I would want to use it for.  For $159.85 and not having a broken shell extractor falls just short of perfection.  Always be aware that the Leatherman multi-tools can come in a Brown or Black Nylon case and some also come in leather cases.

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The Wilderness Belts Vs Cobra Belts

The-Wilderness-Belts-2TThe Wilderness Belt SizingWe’ve been selling both for several years and the one thing we know in this business, is we can’t stock enough belts to accommodate everyone.   Some want leather belts, or the leather “looking” belts, some need nylon and others are particular about what kind of buckle or rescue type attachment.  I’ll have to say that I’ve been wearing The Wilderness belts for almost 16yrs and am presently on my 3rd belt.  The first one wore out the velcro after about 4yrs and at the time, I didn’t know you could send it back to The Wilderness for like $10 or $12 and get it fixed.   Later I gained a little weight and had to go up one size.  The 1.5″ 5 stitch is pretty much the belt that people refer to as The Wilderness Instructor belt.

One of the main reasons we stuck with this belt so far, and by far our #1 selling nylon belt is we don’t get complaints about durability of them.  There’s been a lot of complaints about the 5.11 version of this belt not holding it’s color and the buckle not holding the paint and chipping easily.    The Wilderness Instructor Belts also will easily work in Tru-Spec, Blackhawk, 5.11, Proper and many other tactical pants styles.   We have had some issues with the Cobra Belts being difficult to get through some of these pants.   I also have a  Wilderness  1.75″ 5 Stitch instructor belt that seems to support duty gear a little better like, Pepper Spray, Baton, Flashlight ect.  The there is a Youtube video that The Wilderness has for getting the proper sizing so please watch that so you can get it right if you are ordering online, many people don’t and this is a high return item due to customer laziness.

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CRKT Knives, The M16 Knives

M16-14SFGCRKT M16 KnivesI don’t consider Myself a knife guy, but I know enough between crap and quality.   I’m not the type to go out and drop $200 on a knife but I know there are plenty of people that do.  I have found great use for always having a good knife on me, for cutting seat belts, opening boxes, and God forbid, self defense.  I got a lot of experience working an NRA convention for the guys at GATCO or Great American Tool Company, and learned a lot about knife sharpening.   It can be very frustrating to sharpen a knife and find out a few weeks later the darn thing is dull and won’t cut through re-enforced packing tape, if that’s the kind of knife you have, you might want to increase your price range for your next buy.

I have found a winner and according to our sales data, The Columbia River Knive & Tool company makes a great selling knife for us.  The CRKT M16 Series knives come with different blades, Combo Edge, Plain Edge, Black Zytel or Titanium Nitrade.  The only negatives to this knife I’ve found are that the screws that hold the clip on will probable need locktite on them because they come loose otherwise, the only other negative about this is that if you drop it when it’s in the folded position, they can open up on their own.  On the plus side they are very easy to flip open and probable one of the best folding knives to carry even though fixed blades are for the most serious individuals.

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Desantis Pistol Belts when image and durability matter

Desantis Pistol BeltsWe offer a very large selection of belts because there are so many different objectives people are looking for.   We often see military personnel and First Responders coming in needing different belts when events are coming up or they are being deployed.   The standards are high and we sell alot of Blackhawk Rescue belts, and Elite Survival Systems Assault Rescue belts and often the Elite Survival Cobra Belt.  Some of those are pretty heavy but if you’ve had experience repelling or trying to pull yourself or someone else out of a dangerous situation, the last thing you want to have happen is a belt failure and it does happen.   Recently I’ve heard of 2 situations where belts and gear have broken off during foot pursuits, belts can fail and shoe laces come untied and such simple things can affect your ability to defend yourself.  We get asked to carry cheap stuff from time to time but we are often referencing equipment failures when people see price differences and explain to them why they are so.

All gear and accessories have failure points, all leather holsters will eventually soften but there are ways to prolong their life.   We have our list of highly suggested gun belts and the #1 pistol belt we suggest you consider are the Desantis pistol belts, we’ve moved a ton of the Blackhawk Pistol Belts in the past but they do not last as long as the Desantis.   Not everyone who is CCWing is going to need a 1.5 inch belt, pocket carry is very common these days and should not be ruled out considering there are so many high quality .380 and even 9mm compact autos.  The high capacity full size firearms are extra security but over time many people move towards comfort and give up capacity.   If you wear leather a lot there are things you can do to prolong the life of your pistol belt with both image.   Expect us to carry more of the Desantis leather belt line in the future.

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Get a good gun belt, but should you get leather or nylon?

Elite Survival BeltsA lot of what goes on in this business is about looks, if your LEO, you know what it’s like to get written up for having the incorrect uniform and depending on your police Chief, you might have a bunch of odd looking finishes.   Just go look at tall of the options the average duty gear from Safariland comes in.    We’ve pretty much narrowed down leather CCW belts to Desantis, we may dabble a little bit with Galco leather this year but some of the leather gun belts we come across are a little too cowboy looking, that’s fine if that’s what you want, but most of our customers right now are not going to be wearing too much brown, mostly black.   There are thin dress belts that you might be able to use for CCW or Off duty, but in my humble opinion a 1.5 inch belt is probable the best support and for nylon it’s been for a very long time the difference between the Wilderness Instructor belt and a very close second, the Cobra Belt.

Elite Survival Systems has another Cobra Rigger’s belt that should be listed shortly, I forgot to bring this in stock until a customer walked in and asked if we had them.    The one thing  you have to be careful about when picking up any gun belt is to make sure that the pants you are wearing them have belt loops that are compatible.   We have had issues with the Tru-Spec 24/7 Series pants  not working to sell with the rear belt loop catching the Cobra belt buckle and thus, not a good combination.   I’ll have to bring this up with our Tru-Spec rep the next time I see him which is  on Tru-Spec and not Elite Survival belts.   Recently we had a walk in customer that told us that he had a foot chase where his nylon velcro belt started to come undone and wanted something with a latch, always good and bad points and yet another reason to go to a brick and mortar start and ask questions and try it on.

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Rock Salt, Snow Blowers, Generators and Wise Emergency Food Storage

Wise Food StorageWe have been getting in more of the Wise Emergency Food Storage products and have recently become a direct distributor for the product line.  This is one of those products, just like rock salt, that most people don’t think about until they need it.   You wake up after the first ice storm or snow storm, grab your shovel, and find a half a bag of solid rock salt that you have to break up and spread around your driveway.   If another storm comes, you better be prepared because products like this have a tendency to disappear from shelves because so many people don’t want to store much of it ahead of time.  Some rock salt distributors sit on their inventory for years without any major snow storms, sometimes close to a decade, but then those bad winters hit and its all gone.   Food storage should be in the same category and since technological advances have been made, quality has improved.    If you couldn’t go to the store to buy food for 2 weeks, how long is your present food situation going to last and what would the quality of your diet be?

I am expecting that if there are many more of these Ebola outbreaks, there is going to be panic buying of products  like this.  Sure some of these buckets look expensive, but if you realize that if you went to a restaurant and could eat there for a month and it cost you $180 or $250 would that not be a great deal?  You can make Wise Food Storage products with hot or cold water  and there is a very diverse food variety, from Milk products, fruits, vegetables and meats.   Another thing to think about when shopping for these products are the manufacturing dates.  There are vendors out there that sometimes get stuck with inventory and it sits in their warehouses for years and may have been manufactured 3-4 years ago but says lasts for 25yrs.

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New Leatherman Multitools inbound

Leatherman Multi-ToolsWe’ve been carrying various Leatherman Multi-tools and recently decided to expand upon it.   One of the most asked about mulitools this year has been the Leatherman Raptor.   We have a lot of construction workers and contractors stopping in our Tactical Store even though they aren’t Military or Law Enforcement, but we have very larger and growing number of First Responders that work for Medical Transport and Ambulances.  It’s rare that we have something really new to market in that industry and usually it’s a  lot of EMS pants and and Rush 12, Rush 24 and Rush 72 5.11 Tactical bags.   At first some of these tools can be pricey and others are really not that expensive at all, the Leatherman MUT is probable the most expensive tool we sell but if you have an AR15 or a M16 it can be quite handy.  The only thing I don’t like about the MUT is that it doesn’t have any kind of broken shell extractor, if it did, I’d say it was perfect.

There are always features with each device that make or break it for a inquiring customer, do you need a screw driver? Knife?  A file?  Leatherman Multi-Tools has a really good feature guide and it’ll take awhile for us to have that level of navigation, but we will be stocking a lot of these in our Store as well as selling them online.   The Leatherman Raptor is the most asked about tool and quite honestly it’s starting to look like its becoming part of a uniform in our area.   It is one of those things that you might want to hold in your hand before you buy but even if you are not working in the Medical or EMS industry, consider having something like this in your first aid kit, for around $60.

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Emergency Blankets and Recon Sleeping Bags

Recon Sleeping BagsProbable the most common customer that buy the Recon Sleeping Bags are people in the Civil Air Patrol and Emergency Services.  Search and Rescue is a big part of the the Civil Air Patrol and many times, during rescue missions, those that are  out on foot checking mountain sides might have to expect to stay out over night and resume their mission at first sunlight.   Temperatures can vary dramatically between day time and night time and many times, even in the summer, it can get pretty cold in valleys and forrest.  Being able to pack light and reduce fatigue is a reality all experienced hikers and foot traveling campers learn and there really aren’t a lot of inexpensive options.  Sure those $5 or less emergency blankets can save your life, but that aren’t consider re-useable.

Just like storing something food that has a long shelf life, and rotating out some of the product on camping trips, using your emergency survival stuff and practice, during a camping trip like the Recon Sleeping bags can remind you of the tolerances you might have in different weather situations and if needed during a rescue or survival situation, you will build confidence in the equipment you are using.   The Recon 2 Sleeping bag isn’t for Arctic weather, but if you are wearing heavier clothing and  use a sleeping bag like this, you might get more out of it than what the sleeping bag is rated for and considering the size of this sleeping bag, it might be a better and easier transportation option than getting the Recon 5 Sleeping bag.

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Why not invest in emergency food storage? Wise Food Storage!

Wise Food StorageI guess that’s how they got their name, but it is “wise” to think about the what ifs.   First off, this isn’t going to be a discussion about “preppers” this isn’t doomsday and chem trails, this is about not having to worry about buying hungry in a bad situation and having a little insurance that you have a month or several months of food stored without being paranoid.   We are selling the Wise Food Storage product line to individual households, S.W.A.T. personnel making a “go bag” and emergency management in local townships.   That’s how broad this product line is and sure, it’s not going to be a trip to a salad bar or a produce shop, but these are way better than MRE’s or Astronaut food from decades ago.   You gotta read the labels and the descriptions to find out what suits your needs but this is really something to consider just so you don’t have to leave your  home because you’re hungry after being snowed in, hurricanes or long term power outages.   All you need is clean water, hot or cold to eat.

The length of time each product is good for can be from several years to several decades so educate yourself on what you want and how long it will last and value the prices you are willing to spend.   There are plenty other things to consider doing along with your Wise Food Storage, but proper storage is extremely important.   Things like Rice last a long time but if not properly sealed, you are going to get bugs in it eventually,  other products can rot in high humidity or damp environments.   We sell a lot of this to trucker’s that are traveling across Country and never know when a highway might be shutdown due to Tornado’s, accidents, or some other mayhem.

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Turtleskin Gloves vs. a Baseball Glove

Turtleskin glovesSounds like it might be a joke blog post today, but it’s not.   After spending years reading and interactive on several firearm forums, there’s always somebody that comes up with information that is so basic, it’s extremely useful.   In our business there are all kinds of bells and whistles to put on a firearm or dress up in, but so many of the times, the guys that actually have to use the stuff end up stripping gear down the more they are in the field.   I’ve seen plenty of Special Ops guys that don’t wear helmets and limit armor because it restricts mobility and a slow moving person is a much easier target than a fast moving one.   It’s always a good idea to have gloves available to you even if it’s something lightweight and is basically for heat protection.  I have seen plenty of Operators using something as simple as a baseball glove in the field.   We are often asked about the dexterity of a glove but just like footwear, the customer has to try it on and see how it works for them, finger lengths between digits and hand sizes are as diverse as inseams are on pants so it’s yet another one of those things you have to slip over your hand to see how you can move and feel in them.

One thing to consider in this day and age is to make sure you have a cell phone that has a “glove mode” or that you have your text size large enough, and that you can type with them on.   Even our Turtleskin gloves like the Alpha Gloves and the Bravo Gloves have little circles on the index fingers and palm of the hand so that you can type with them.   Although cell phones aren’t as reliable as radios, knowing you can keep your gloves on and still call 911 or type on a computer without going back and forth between putting the gloves on and taking them off is not an easy task.   You are always going to trade safety for comfort in varying degrees and preference and customization can’t be ruled  out.   There are plenty of people that have taken $80 gloves and cut the trigger finger off just because they don’t need any protection for possible their most important finger.

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