Customer Reviews

Deluxe 2-Person by SurvivalKitsOnline Perfect Survival Kit for Emergency Disaster Preparedness for Earthquake, Hurricane, Fire, Evacuations, Auto, Home and Family

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great kit, although--fortunately--I haven't had to use it yet. It is very complete, and the backpack has padded shoulder straps and a waist strap for distributing the weight. This is important if you think you might have to walk a ways with it. I keep this kit in my car; my wife also has a kit in her car. We also have a kit at home. Did I mention we live in earthquake country? :-)

If you keep this in your car, and you don't wear comfortable walking shoes most of the time when you drive/commute, you should probably do what my wife did, and throw a pair of walking shoes in the trunk along with your kit. Breaking the high heels off looks great in the movies, but it isn't practical.

The only thing I wish that this kit had was the type of rechargeable flashlight that will also recharge your cell phone; I might be getting one of those separately, but it is a shame that they didn't add that feature, since they have practically everything else!

Make sure you check the shipping cost on these: Some distributors advertise a low price, and then charge a shipping rate almost equivalent to the sales price!

There's a lot of stuff in this kit, which is nice. It looks like they spent their money wisely. Some things are high quality, some things are cheapo but trade-offs are inevitable unless you want a $300 kit. First off I like that it has a good bag/backpack. They didn't seem to skimp here, it's big and seems well made. Most of the stuff inside is pretty standard survival supplies. For the size and cost they seem to have made decent trade-offs. The am/fm radio is a little cheapy thing, but in a pinch that's fine. The "army knife" is a cheap generic, not a real Swiss army knife. I'd suggest spending extra and get a real Swiss Army or a Leatherman. But in a pinch the cheapo knife will do. I bought a 7" USMC style survival knife to add to it. For back woods use you want a real, big ass survival knife, not a 3" pocket knife. The whistle and compass is fairly cheap too but works. You can load extra matches in the container if you want. Get a real compass if you plan to be in the woods a lot. I like that there's extra room in the bag. I doubled the food rations. I also added a cheap family radio walkie talkie and threw in an old cellphone. It has no service plan but all cells can still call 911. The generator flashlight again is kind of cheap but effective, works good with no batteries needed. For serious trips, get a Surefire or similar flashlight. All in all it's a great all purpose kit, good for around the house or the car -- urban or backwoods use.

I don't really know what to say, other than BUY THIS! I live in San Francisco, and work over the bridge. My wife and I have one by our bed in case of an earthquake. We also have one in both of our cars in case we are separated. You need to add some personal effects to them (shoes, sweatshirt, etc), which it states on the tag, but when you live in a big city, if something serious happens (which is only a matter of time in this day and age) you need to be prepared to leave. Get a map, know your escape plan & meeting destination, especially if you're separated, and feel much safer knowing your loved one is prepared in case of emergency. My only feedback would be to possibly change the backpack, not because its bad quality, because it isn't. I just don't like the fact that it says "Survival Kit" on it. In a time of panic, that last thing I want people knowing is that I'm carrying a survival kit, especially in my wife's case and we happened to be separated. It draws attention, and people do anything in a time of need. For women, I would recommend carrying a can of pepper-spray or a firearm - (just to feel safe). My philosophy is its better to be prepared than not. Worst case scenario, you never use it and that's a good thing!

We all love one-stop shopping. But just how effective are pre-packaged disaster preparedness kits? Try putting this kit to use in a real-world scenario.

Example scenario:
Assume that your family of four lives on the East Coast, and a hurricane blows through. Thousands of power poles are downed, leaving you without electricity for two weeks. Gasoline is in very short supply, supermarkets are unable to restock, and local water reserves are contained due to flooding. The temperature is about 85 degrees during the day and 50 degrees at night. there are subsequent bouts of heavy rain. Worst of all, a large tree has fallen through the roof of your house. And, though not prevalent, there are scattered incidents of looting.

Let's test this kit against your family's 14 fundamental needs:

* Food--The 200-calorie energy bars are essentially about like a box of candy bars. They offer enough calories to keep a family of four alive for an additional day or two over having nothing at all. But the less than appetizing meals certainly won't help the morale of your hungry family. There is no can opener to open any cans of salvaged food.

* Water-- The water pouches will last your family of four about six hours (assuming a minimum of one gallon per person/day). After that, you will have to either boil or treat the city water in an effort to nullify whatever contaminants have entered the water supply.

* Shelter--There are no tarps or tools in this kit to patch the hole in your roof, so your shelter is slowly being destroyed by the deluge of rain.

* Light-- The kit's single squeeze radio with flashlight will be inadequate for your family to function at night. There are no emergency candles. After dark, your family will be forced to hunker down and wait for daylight.

* Heating/Cooling -- The temperatures are mild enough that you can survive without heating or cooling. Daytime temperatures will make it uncomfortably warm, as well as increase the need for drinking water. Evening temperatures will be chilly, forcing you to depend on the blankets you already have to keep everyone warm. Space blankets and emergency sleeping bags are unsuitable for anything except short term wilderness survival. They are typically small, easily torn, hard to wrap yourself in, and if questionable benefit over a simple tarp.

* Air -- In this scenario, there are no dangers to your air supply. However, if there were, the kit offers only two N95 lightweight dust masks that would be ineffective against most airborne threats.

* Sleep -- Sleeping in your home is still possible for a while, but conditions will quickly become unhealthy because of sanitation issues.

* Hygiene/Sanitation -- The few packages of tissues and wipes are inadequate for your family's personal hygiene. Without an ample supply of water, your family faces risk of disease from poor sanitation. Also, the inability to maintain an accepted level of cleanliness will drastically drive morale down.

* Medicine/First Aid -- The first aid cards might provide some useful information, but without first aid supplies, they will do little to improve your chances of survival. If anyone in your family becomes injured or ill (both very possible), you will be faced with a very serious situation.

* Communication -- There is nothing in the kit to help contact family or friends, no evacuation plan, no games or activities to keep children entertained, and no information about emergency services.

* Financial Security -- The kit does nothing to help your financial security. In particular, there are no home inventory sheets included to help itemize property damage.

* Transportation/Navigation -- The small radio might offer information to help decide if evacuation is necessary. However, with this kit alone, you will have no spare gasoline, no alternate means of transportation, and no maps of the surrounding area.

* Protection -- The kit offers no personal protection beyond a small pocketknife. Should looters invade your home thinking it empty, your family will be helpless to defend themselves.

As you can see from this simple assessment, pre-packaged DP kits do an inadequate job of preparing for real emergencies. That criticism, however, isn't directed against the companies making these products. In a sense, they are to be saluted for identifying a very real need - better to have this kit than nothing at all! Kits like these can be useful when you need just a few basic supplies, however, it is strongly recommended that you take a more practical approach to preparing your family. To be fair, I should end by saying that this kit is better than the SKO Survival Kit also sold on Amazon (for $30 less).

Written by Arthur Bradley, author of "Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family."

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This kit is really a joke. The backpack is OK....but that's about where the OK begins and ends.

The pump flashlight is cheap and it is obvious that if you really need to use it to see in the dark, its going to fail after just a few minutes of continuous use. I bought cheap toy LED flashlights that will outlast this one.

The radio actually has a couple batteries, the receiver is poor, and you really don't want batteries and that liability of needing them. You want a crank radio. And one that's better than this.

The big killer in this kit is the boxed water. With just mild abuse, those paper boxes of water rupture, and the water pretty much destroys everything else in the pack.

My advise is this.....if you want to have a survival pack....get yourself a decent backpack and load it with the following:

*Bottled water (in as small a plastic bottles as you can get-safer that way in case one leaks).
*A decent first aid kit
*A couple of good camping emergency blankets (the compact ones).
*Hand Crank Radio
*A few days of dehydrated camping meals
*A compact respirator with refills
*A good knife

And call it good.

Don't buy this kit thinking you have what you need if you are suddenly in the middle of a big earthquake and there are no infrastructure services. This kit is not that kit. And in fact, if you do buy this kit....dump it out on the floor when you do....and take a good look at it. Then replace nearly everything in it, with a similar concept item that will actually work. :-)

As an inspector of survival kits, I'm not impressed with this one....and I don't think you can buy something that will actually do you much good for under $500. And buying something cheap that will actually not do you much good, is about like not having one at all.

Best to build your own.....and then take more time paying attention to what the disaster plan is in your particular area, and you'll be way ahead of the game.

Well put together kit, nice to have items for an emergency. I was a little dissapointed at the low quality of the items. Mainly off-brand cheap items, like the fake "Swiss Army" knife, the radio, 5-in-1 survival whistle and even the waterproof matches. I'll probably make another kit myself using products that look like they might be more durable.

I bought this when I moved to SF and can truly say that I feel safer now. (I know that if a huge earthquake hit, my building would probably fall on top of my head, but that's not what this kit is for) This kit is great in times when you need the basic living essentials because of a natural disaster or even being stuck in the woods. I would also buy one for my car (if I used one). This thing has everything in it including water and food and the best part... THE BAG. It fits everything neatly contained within their own compartments in a moderately strong nylon backpack. Great for the grab and go. It also had room in it to store a few extra things so I put in a red cross handcrank radio/cell phone charger and that SAS survival handbook (because if your actually going to get stuck in the woods you have to know what to do).
It's so great I bought two, one for me and one for my dad in hawaii.*
*A note to shipping across water: they have to ship it non-air because of the lighter fluid in the lighter and candle... it took a long long time to get there, but don't worry it got there no problems.
Overall great kit.
This review is for the old red bag kit.

I needed to purchase an emergency kit because it is one of the requirements for being a foster parent, which I'm in the process of becoming. I just received the kit yesterday and it is so awesome. The backpack is amazingly high quality and it is chock-full of survival items. My Mom has always been on me to get a survival kit (because I live alone) and now I finally get it. I never imagined the peace of mind that comes with being prepared. It is very cool.

I mistakenly bought this from DS Solutions instead of Survivalkits. If you get this from DS Solutions, when you receive it make sure everything that was advertised was included. The 5 in 1 whistle, 16 function knife, and waterproof matches were not in there. Instead I got a razor blade, a cheap plastic whistle with no other functions and matches in a plastic bag. I have contacted the seller and am awaiting a reply.

Also, the radio is pretty chinsy.They left the price tag on and it was worth 2 dollars. It requires headphones and batteries which actually were included.

Other than that it looks okay. I'm going to have to add a hand crank radio, a emergency candle and other odds and ends like cards.

***Update*** After a couple of phone calls and emails I eventually got the missing items minus the waterproof matches. DS Solutions also sent some extra stuff. That being said I would not buy from this company again. It was more hassle than it was worth and I feel like the items they sent were cheap and not durable. I wish I paid the 10 bucks more and went with Survivalkits.

I really love this kit because it give me peace of mind having a comprenhensive, easy take along pack to grab in case of an emergency. I know that my husband and I are prepare when disaster occurs. I purchase the kit from SurvivalKitsOnline shortly before the fires occured in our area this year and I was suprised at how well it was packaged and how many different products were included. I only added a supply of our medication and some extra personal things to the pack and we were ready to go if necessary. We have since purchased a pack for our children and they loved it. The packs would make a very thoughtful, caring gift for any loved one. I like the idea for newlyweds or new home buyers. Not everyone thinks about being prepared.
By the way please don't listen to the comment about using bottled water instead of the water SurvialKitsOnline provides in there packs. It is common knowledge that plastic bottles don't have a long shelf live (the water provided has a 5 year shelf life) and plastic bottles break down if exposed to sunlight and can cause breast cancer in women.