Cheapie bits in Tesco

Plastic rain poncho (orange) and foil emergency blankets currently on offer at our local tesco's for £0.98 for the pair! Ideal for EDC etc.

4 elastic bungee straps £1.00

I dont work for tesco nor have a vested interest, just a heads up if anyones after cheap stuff.

Rgds

Have you ever actually tried using one of those ponchos? I think a black garbage bag would be preferable to one of those.

Staying dry is far to important in survival situations, spend the extra money on something that will not only last, but will work. Marmot and Frogg Toggs make some very nice stuff, just to name a couple, in the summer I trade out some of my cold weather gear from my BOB for a HH. Sure it weighs more than 10 ozs, but nothing is worse than being in the woods and being wet and cold.

Hi, thanks for your reply and input. I wouldnt want to venture into the wilds and rely on them but they are ideal to keep in your bag (EDC) or your car. I dress for the weather/time of the year but if my car broke down on the motorway they offer some protection from the elements whilst I await recovery (not safe to stay in your car on the hard shoulder or else you get spanked by a left hand drive HGV).

Rgds

I have to side with salchana. Do you really want to place your life in the hands of inferior kit? I understand many people here are on a fixed budget and can only afford so much, but it can really be a matter of life or death, especially when wet. While I don't expect you to buy a poncho from Sea To Summit or Golite, you should at least look into a milspec [military spec] surplus poncho. It is an amazing piece of kit that will not only keep you dry but can be improvised into a myriad of uses, including a shelter, stretcher, or raft. It may keep you alive.

respectfully

reluctantpawn

reply to post by reluctantpawn


I have both types of poncho, I keep a plastic one ( cheap one ) in my EDC bag because this works as my get me home bag. A Walk home in the driving rain would be alot less hassle due to my poncho.

My Army spec poncho is in my BOB and thats where it will stay until needed.

My army poncho would take up a fair amount of space in the EDC.

That sounds o.k. by me. I was under the impression that the cheaper poncho was all you had. I have spent more than a few nights under my old army poncho. However I did break down and buy a sil light poncho. It hasn't been tested yet.

respectfully

reluctantpawn

I think the intention of this thread is a very good idea. Not everyone is aware of some of the awesome bargains that are available on military surplus and survival gear. Maybe if everyone could post a few deals they have found on survival gear along with a brief review, it would help those on really tight budgets get their preps in order.

I purchase mostly military surplus gear for my family's personal use because it's inexpensive,durable and of good quality. It does tends to be a bit heavier though. I also buy cheaper items when I find them for barter goods. The way I see it, anything is better than nothing when your cold, tired, and in a jam. Even a cheapo pocket knife has value to someone without one. What a great way to make friends as well at a minimal cost to yourself.


[edit on 21-1-2009 by LLoyd45]

It was only a heads up, at 98p for the pair I thought bargain and bought 4. 2 are going in the "other halfs" car just in case. She already thinks Im mad in being prepared but shes slowly coming round.

As they say, slowly, slowly catch the monkey.

Ive been testing the 3W LED Tesco torch and I must say that its shocked me.
Has some great reviews on the net!
Black machined alloy, switch in tail unit, cree LED and runs on 2 x AA (included), rubber "O" ringed though I greased the joints with vas to improve waterproof ability, all for £8.00 (slightly less with reduced VAT). Well worth the money.

They also do a 3 LED wind up torch that is identical to the Gelert one advertised in camping shops etc, on 1 LED, 1 min of winding gives 90min use, with the 3 LED mode 1 min wind gives 30 min use. Cost, just under a fiver (£5.00)

Rgds

reply to post by Dark Vengeance


I think this is an excellent thread, sure buy the best you can but again something is much better than nothing at all.

My local poundland last year had a wide range of outdoor / survival gear.
I picked up some mess tins, a compass that will make do till I purchase a better one, two silver emergency space blankets, 2 packs packs of lighter, a big pack of emergency candles with holders and not to forget my 2 packs of 3, 6inch glow sticks in green.

I hope this year they will carry on with a similar idea so I can purchase some more bargains.

Thing is, these items all do the job well so to me they are worth having.

colec

Originally posted by Dark Vengeance
It was only a heads up, at 98p for the pair I thought bargain and bought 4. 2 are going in the "other halfs" car just in case. She already thinks Im mad in being prepared but shes slowly coming round.

As they say, slowly, slowly catch the monkey.

Ive been testing the 3W LED Tesco torch and I must say that its shocked me.
Has some great reviews on the net!
Black machined alloy, switch in tail unit, cree LED and runs on 2 x AA (included), rubber "O" ringed though I greased the joints with vas to improve waterproof ability, all for £8.00 (slightly less with reduced VAT). Well worth the money.
Rgds

Just a comment on your excellent post, I have had problems with using vaseline on the O rings on my flashlights, they in time either dried out and snapped or swelled up. So I use silicone grease now with much better results.

Originally posted by colec156
reply to post by Dark Vengeance

 

I think this is an excellent thread, sure buy the best you can but again something is much better than nothing at all.

My local poundland last year had a wide range of outdoor / survival gear.
I picked up some mess tins, a compass that will make do till I purchase a better one, two silver emergency space blankets, 2 packs packs of lighter, a big pack of emergency candles with holders and not to forget my 2 packs of 3, 6inch glow sticks in green.

I hope this year they will carry on with a similar idea so I can purchase some more bargains.

Thing is, these items all do the job well so to me they are worth having.

colec

On the subject of compasses do you get your with mils or degrees scales?.

reply to post by colec156


One of my best buys was from.... Tesco 2 man cook set comprising pan, frying pan, 2 plates and 2 mugs (all in ally) they all pack together. Normal retail price £12.50 I paid £2.50 Discontinued stock.

In these hard times when just paying for the shopping/bills etc can be a pain in the bum its good to find bargains.

Oh and 2 6" glo sticks from the pound shop for £1 last halloween, i bought a few pkts and the little on who is 6 got scared of the glowing stick i had activated in his bedroom. It glowed for over 14hrs!

Rgds

Originally posted by colec156
reply to post by Dark Vengeance

 

My local poundland last year had a wide range of outdoor / survival gear.
I picked up some mess tins, a compass that will make do till I purchase a better one, two silver emergency space blankets...

colec

Are you shopping in my store!!!

They were obviously doing the rounds. I added the above to the fish hooks and various weight fishing line I purchased roughly around the same time.

reply to post by Northern Raider


All 3 of mine are in degrees.

Not really a one liner

Originally posted by Northern Raider

Originally posted by colec156
reply to post by Dark Vengeance

 

On the subject of compasses do you get your with mils or degrees scales?.

I will dig it out of my BOB and let you know. It's rather worrying that at the moment i have a memory blank and really can't remember.

Originally posted by Northern Raider

On the subject of compasses do you get your with mils or degrees scales?.

*unpacks half of BOB*

If it's the same as mine it has degrees.

Mils?

[edit on 21-1-2009 by Nirgal]

Originally posted by Nirgal

Originally posted by colec156
reply to post by Dark Vengeance

 

My local poundland last year had a wide range of outdoor / survival gear.
I picked up some mess tins, a compass that will make do till I purchase a better one, two silver emergency space blankets...

colec

Are you shopping in my store!!!

You never know my friend, I live in the south.

I do alot of fishing anyways and have made my fishing kit out bits and pieces that I have already. Again though, having something is better than nothing and I can't see a problem with any of the stores fishing tackle at all, esp for a survival sitx

*unpacks half of BOB*

If it's the same as mine it has degrees.

Mils?

[edit on 21-1-2009 by Nirgal]

Yessum Boss, Mils

Civilians tend to navigate using degrees, but only having 360 of the buggers makes for pi** poor navigational accuracy esp in wooded or arid areas. the military and expeditioneers use Mils, 6400 of them against only 360 degrees. In mils you can navigate a helluva lot more accurately. I respectfully suggest you keep your eyes open for Silva or Sunnto models like the type 4 tritium that has both scales on it. Its only a suggestion mind you I am not telling anyone what they have is wrong, what works for others is fine by me. The point is using degrees you can be out by over 50 meters left or right within 500 meters of walking, thats a bugger if you are trying to avoid swamps or minefields or check points etc.

www.tracklogs.co.uk...

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 21-1-2009 by Northern Raider]

reply to post by Northern Raider


Cheers NR, I will have to look into that


Still not a one liner

Side Bar Alert.

Yes, that is my lesson for the day. Thank you NR. Just had a quick reccy and have done some sums just so I'm clear that each "mil"? really is roughly 1 metre apart at a 1 km distance.

Just one thing, is having 6400 graduations on something that small as practical as you make it sound? The lay-man in me says that might be too difficult to read.