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EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE - Outdoors Gear, Survival Equipment Review & Survival InformationWhat are you looking for? Advanced SEARCH The Definitive Source for Independent Reviews & Information on Outdoors Gear and Survival Equipment and Techniques Chance favors only the prepared and equipped. ™ *NEWEST GEAR! Support ETS BUY NOW!Special Features Support ETS ORIGINAL 3.9 oz LIFE SAVER NEW & Upgraded! 5.9 oz PSP PLUS Still Fits in Pocket! Doug Ritter designed Pocket Survival Paks LIMITED SUPPLY They’re BACK! Get yours now before they disappear again!DOUG’S VIDEO PICK "First rate...heads above others..." DOUG’S BOOK PICKS Doug says, "a must read...for everyone." Doug says, "Not your father’s survival manual..."All material on this site is copyrighted (see © notice below) Free Consulting for U.S. Military Members Sections More Features Show Reports Survival Forum Survival Stories Interactive FunGear & Equipment Medical / First Aid Disaster Prep Survival Kits Aviation Survival Including: Ditching Life Rafts Life Vests Marine Survival Urban Survival Disaster PrepD.R.’s Survival Kits Commercial Kits Manufacturers Retail Suppliers Skills & Technique Survival For Kids Schools & Courses Including: Survival Schools Wilderness Medical Publications Including: Survival Books Wilderness Medicine Surv. & Med. Videos Survival Links Other Links Commentary Web Rings Letters & Stuff About ETS ETS Foundation Doug Ritter’s Web SiteRead the ETS Privacy Policy Online initiatives ETS visitors may find of interest:Awards Selected as a USA TODAY Education Best Bet Web Site Equipped To Survive ® is the most comprehensive online resource for independent reviews of survival equipment and outdoors gear, as well as survival and Search and Rescue information. Equipped To Survive ® will help you determine the best choices to prepare for anything from a hike in the park to a life threatening emergency or disaster. Please note that this is not a "survivalist" site . The Equipped To Survive ™ Web site is supported by the non-profit 501(c)(3) Equipped To Survive Foundation and edited by noted survival authority, Douglas S. Ritter . Before proceeding, review WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.Now Available - Second Generation Doug Ritter RSK® Mk1-G2! » FREE SHIPPING in the USA on RSK® Knives! « A portion of each sale supports Equipped To Survive Foundation and this Web site. Support the Fight Against Breast Cancer Doug Ritter’s PINK Ribbon Valentines Day Special VERY LIMITED STOCK - ORDER NOW! Proceeds also support Equipped To Survive Foundation and this Web site.The Survival Forum ™ The Survival Forum ™ offers you a place to ask questions about emergency preparedness, survival equipment and outdoors gear. Whether you are experienced or just starting, we welcome you to our community . Equipped Briefs ™ Reintroduced, these Equipped Briefs ™ allow us to present short reviews of new survival related gear in a more timely fashion than our more involved evaluations, but with more information than might be included in an Equipped.or Blog entry. These brief reviews are authored by ETS contributors with expertise in a particular area. Check in here for the latest reviews of survival gear.121.5 MHz Satellite Alerting Has Ended - Have Your Gotten Your 406 MHz PLB or ELT Yet?Crowdfunded Smart Watch PLB - Scam or Dangerously Naive? As appealing as the idea of an affordable ($179) smart watch personal locator beacon (PLB) might be, a recently publicized Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that has garnered a fair amount of press would seem to be either an outright scam or dangerously naive. While many crowdfunding campaigns’ funding goals and delivery promises need be taken with a grain of salt, read why we believe this one looks to require a dump truck load. REVIEW: A Pair of Surefire EDC Flashlights That Won’t Break the Bank Surefire has been synonymous with high-performance, high-end flashlights, but you’d never accuse them of being particularly affordable. Surfire has upended expectations with its new 1xAAA Titan and Titan Plus flashlights, both in terms of price and EDC performance. Get all the details on these new EDC flashlights from Surefire. Lessons Learned: I Never Want To Be This Cold Again Stuart Bell was just going to spend an hour snowshoeing in Colorado, but things didn’t go as planned. It was a very cold night... Stuart tells his tale and then analyzes what went wrong and what he might have done different. Doug Ritter then also takes a look at the survival experience and offers up some of his own advice. Leatherman Tread Moves EDC Multi-tool in New Direction Leatherman’s Tread takes the concept of an EDC (Every Day Carry) multi-tool in an entirely new direction with virtually unlimited potential. The Tread’s 25 tools ingeniously incorporated into the links of a stainless bracelet may be almost as revolutionary as Tim Leatherman’s original Pocket Survival Tool BriarTek Patent Claims On Popular 2-Way Distress Beacons Invalidated Updated December 3, 2014: Click for Update BriarTek’s patent claims related to 2-way Satellite Emergency Notification Devices (SENDs) have been invalidated in a federal court ruling that granted summary judgement to Delorme. BriarTek’s patent claims threatened to strangle expansion and innovation is this increasingly popular distress beacon market. At best, the patent claims would increase the cost of the devices for consumers, which inevitably discourage purchase and their subsequent use to save lives. You can read the whole sordid story and review the Judge’s ruling here. ACR vs DME SATRO PLB: DME Loses Final judgment is in on ACR’s lawsuit against DME and its design consultants alleging that they misappropriated ACR trade secrets and documents and incorporated them into DME’s SATRO PLB. In a Stipulated Judgment and Permanent Injunction issued on January 15, 2013, DME lost big time. Get all the details on this story and find out why you’ll never be able to buy a DME SATRO PLB. Hurricane Sandy - Lessons Learned Sandy left a path of destruction in her wake and numerous The Survival Forum™ members got first hand experience dealing with the aftermath. The have started posting the lessons they learned. Lessons we could all learn from. Join the discussion or read what they are posting. We’ll start you off with an excellent "Notes from Sandy" thread, but check out the other threads in the Natural Disasters & Large-Scale Emergencies section of The Survival Forum™ on ETS. After 13 Years Life Raft Aerospace Standard AS1356 Published! Call me persistent, call me stubborn, call me crazywhat started as a small evaluation of aviation life rafts nearly 20 years ago during which I uncovered serious deficiencies has finally resulted in a new and vastly improved SAE Aerospace Standard for aviation life rafts, AS1356. Check out this story 13 years in the making. Tenth Edition of ETS Survival News Published ETS Survival News is an irregularly published compendium of news (usually published on March 32) related to survival, survival gear and search and rescue. Please check out ETS Survival News Delorme Introduces inReach - First 2-way Consumer SEND Delorme has announced their long-awaited two-way satellite messaging device, the inReach. Unlike Delorme’s first SEND, which was a SPOT product that utilizes the Globalstar satellite system one-way messaging capability, inReach works on the Iridium system that provides full two-way communication, with obvious benefits. Get a first look at this new and exciting product that may change wilderness communications forever. SEND Standard Approved by RTCM - Is COSPAS-SARSAT On Endangered List? Following from an ETS call to action, RTCM has approved the world’s first standard for Satellite Emergency Notification Devices (SENDs), such as SPOT. This represents the first major step in ensuring that end users can have confidence that they will get rescued using these new distress alerting devices It may also be the beginning of...