I thought it was time to review another of the cool products put out by SAR Global Tool as so I bring you this very nifty little survival tool.
This is the SAR Eclipse Signal Sytem (Clip) Bringing back the same amazing reflective 3M SOLAS tape as seen in the MoonGlow but this time mounted to the front of a dog-tag sized steel plate, with a hole centered in the middle, which gives a good sighting point for use as a heliograph. The inner plate is a mirror polished steel dog-tag, also for signalling, in daylight conditions. The third plate is bent to form a tightly binding clip, enabling the unit to be clipped to a belt, MOLLE or to cards and cash as a money-clip.
The bent plate gives enough torsion that the three plates fit tightly together, offering protection and stability in attachment, and the hollow riveting allows it to be fitted to a cord or chain, to make it part of your EDC. It's light, tough and very practical. I look forwards to further testing it out bush and making much more use of it in my adventuring.
SAR Global Tool
A place for me to review the various rugged, nifty and needful kit that I've accumulated, for every-day preparedness in the event of accident, disaster or world-shifting end-times Apocalypse, be it zombies, triffids or Mayan divide-by-zero errors.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Home Front: Perservering Preserving
Food, and the correct storage of food is a major component of medium and long term disaster preparedness, in my opinion, not only from a pure survival point of view, but also from a morale and social well being point of view. Any starving student can tell you that you can live on beans, porridge, rice or ramen, but that it isn't a lot of fun. Same goes with MRE's and other stockpileable staples. I've read through the LDS preparedness manual, and it didn't strike me as setting an exciting table. There are ways and means to not only make long lasting supplies, but make them interesting, and also make good use of the ample times in ways that many modern folks may simply overlook. I've done a fair bit of reading on preservation, and my background in Microbiology has served me well too. There are some basic aspects that are easy to grasp, and apply to almost all food preservation; Sterilize, aseptic technique, reduce water, inhibit growth and inhibit oxygen. By no means an exhaustive list, but a good guide.
Here's how I use these aspects to preserve food, and keep it tasty, for far longer than the base products would last fresh. The tomatoes we grow in our vegi-patches all ripened at once, and faster than we could eat, so in the grand Southern European tradition, I dried them. I used an electric dehydrator with herbs also from the garden after scalding them with boiling water, and packed them in a steam sterilised jar, covering them with oil. Dehydrated, [naturally acidic], inhibited oxygen (the oil), delicious. I also make my own beef (and other meat, although I haven't been allowed to use our rabbits) jerky, which alas, I have none remaining to photograph, but, really, dehydrated meats are an awesome means of preserving them, if not making delicious snacks.
A girlfriend of mine had a lemon tree overburdened with fruit a couple of years ago, and we collected a cooler full. As well as lemon tart, lemon juice and the like, we quartered many of them, packed them with salt and covered this in juice. This salt-lemon juice slurry eventually jellified, and the lemon quarters took up the salt. Again, dehydrated, oxygen inhibited and delicious. A combination of super high salt and acidity inhibits bacterial growth. These will last for years, and make an amazing addition to my cooking.
Similarly, a glut of fruit from my partners family's house gave us the opportunity to try our hand at making quince jam. This was harder, quinces requiring a bit more preparation to being good, but as an experiment we had nothing to lose. Jam is again, a dehydrated, acidic, highly concentrated, (and if made properly, with good aseptic technique) long lasting method at turning a crop of fresh food into a long lasting food stuff that can improve man simple recipes, add valuable calories and be utilized in a variety of ways. We've added it to sauces, marinades, on toast and into baking. Jam-making can be laborious, but is well worth the effort, month if not years down the track. Its a skill anyone with thoughts of preparedness should ad to their repertoire.
Salting and sugaring are not always the best ways to preserve all foods though, and pickling is just as ancient, and downright tasty a means to make fresh produce last a long time. A combination of acidic and oxygen depleted environments, as well as good sterilization lets you preserve a variety of foods (eggs from our chookens here, with herbs from the garden, mustard and garlic). Looks horrific, tastes amazing. A layer of olive oil on top acts and a further oxygen barrier. Eggs, cucumbers, cabbage, fish, the range of foods than can be pickled is vast, and it's really easy to do. Just be sure to read up and follow instructions to ensure its all done safely, because as will all preservation, getting food poisoning from it would be terrible!
Which leads me to the last means by which I preserve foods, fermentation. I have a home brewing kit, and a rather large collection of Grolsch swing-top bottles thanks to my beer-drinking friends, and have turned apples, ginger, honey and the like into a variety of bacteria-free, yeast enhanced, safe to drink beverages containing anywhere from a slight tingle to fountainously foaming carbonation. The fact that these may have also been mildly to highly inebriating is merely a side effect, but after a day of converting car tyres to body armour, or fighting off waves of triffids, a relaxing home made foamy drink is a great refresher!
Here's how I use these aspects to preserve food, and keep it tasty, for far longer than the base products would last fresh. The tomatoes we grow in our vegi-patches all ripened at once, and faster than we could eat, so in the grand Southern European tradition, I dried them. I used an electric dehydrator with herbs also from the garden after scalding them with boiling water, and packed them in a steam sterilised jar, covering them with oil. Dehydrated, [naturally acidic], inhibited oxygen (the oil), delicious. I also make my own beef (and other meat, although I haven't been allowed to use our rabbits) jerky, which alas, I have none remaining to photograph, but, really, dehydrated meats are an awesome means of preserving them, if not making delicious snacks.
A girlfriend of mine had a lemon tree overburdened with fruit a couple of years ago, and we collected a cooler full. As well as lemon tart, lemon juice and the like, we quartered many of them, packed them with salt and covered this in juice. This salt-lemon juice slurry eventually jellified, and the lemon quarters took up the salt. Again, dehydrated, oxygen inhibited and delicious. A combination of super high salt and acidity inhibits bacterial growth. These will last for years, and make an amazing addition to my cooking.
Similarly, a glut of fruit from my partners family's house gave us the opportunity to try our hand at making quince jam. This was harder, quinces requiring a bit more preparation to being good, but as an experiment we had nothing to lose. Jam is again, a dehydrated, acidic, highly concentrated, (and if made properly, with good aseptic technique) long lasting method at turning a crop of fresh food into a long lasting food stuff that can improve man simple recipes, add valuable calories and be utilized in a variety of ways. We've added it to sauces, marinades, on toast and into baking. Jam-making can be laborious, but is well worth the effort, month if not years down the track. Its a skill anyone with thoughts of preparedness should ad to their repertoire.
Salting and sugaring are not always the best ways to preserve all foods though, and pickling is just as ancient, and downright tasty a means to make fresh produce last a long time. A combination of acidic and oxygen depleted environments, as well as good sterilization lets you preserve a variety of foods (eggs from our chookens here, with herbs from the garden, mustard and garlic). Looks horrific, tastes amazing. A layer of olive oil on top acts and a further oxygen barrier. Eggs, cucumbers, cabbage, fish, the range of foods than can be pickled is vast, and it's really easy to do. Just be sure to read up and follow instructions to ensure its all done safely, because as will all preservation, getting food poisoning from it would be terrible!
Which leads me to the last means by which I preserve foods, fermentation. I have a home brewing kit, and a rather large collection of Grolsch swing-top bottles thanks to my beer-drinking friends, and have turned apples, ginger, honey and the like into a variety of bacteria-free, yeast enhanced, safe to drink beverages containing anywhere from a slight tingle to fountainously foaming carbonation. The fact that these may have also been mildly to highly inebriating is merely a side effect, but after a day of converting car tyres to body armour, or fighting off waves of triffids, a relaxing home made foamy drink is a great refresher!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Review: Barz Optics Sunglass Prescrption Goggles
I've known that I've needed glasses since I was about 15, and have had a variety since then. I've also lived in some very sunny and bright places, like Dubai, Calgary, Melbourne to name a few and I've had to either choose squinting because of glare, or squinting because I'm a touch short sighted. I tried contact lenses a few years back, but reacted badly and came down with conjunctivitis rather badly, and haven't been game since. I'd rather see badly than not at all... They are also inconvenient when it comes to being out and about, occasionally submerged and generally annoying. I eventually decided that what I needed was prescription sunglasses and shopped around. I looked at several of the brands that one sees professional rugged and bad-ass people wearing, but whilst doing my market research, I came across and Australian company whos products took my fancy.
These are my Barz ARFA goggle-sunglasses.
Originally designed for surfers, they are billed as being fit for a variety of extreme sports, watersports, and industrial use. Rather than having arms like traditional sunglasses, they are goggles, with a elastic strap feeding through eyelets and adjusting at each temple. I can't tell you how many times I have come across snapped off arms of glasses, or had my head smacked and lost my regular glasses. No such issue with goggles! Barz offers a range of frame and lens colours, allowing you to customize the finish in quite a combination of ways.
They also offer several lens filtering options such as polarization, photochromatic and bifocal prescription as well as single focal prescription lenses. I oped for a black frame, amber lenses and prescription polarized lenses and have never looked back! Not only can I now see in the bright outdoors, but with the added bonus of polarisation, I can see things in a whole new light, so to speak. These are my go-to glasses when ever having to do powertool or spray assisted yard work, whether it is whipper-snippering, chainsawing or metal cutting.
The gasket fitting keeps chips and spray out of my eyes so I can keep watching what I am doing. I've also had great use for these whilst doing burning off, as they also greatly reduce the smoke and heat-glare that would otherwise inhibit my ability to see. This was of great concern whilst the Black Saturday bushfires were raging, and I was living in the forested mountains, and on high alert. Recreationally, I've worn these whilst running around the bush, camping and driving around with the windows down to great success. The UV400 treatment of the lenses fills me with confidence.
One very cool feature that I have not yet had the chance to test out is that the eye gaskets can be swapped out from the vented ones seen here, to a solid ring, to give a water-tight swim-goggle seal. The reason I've not done so is that whilst not only are the gaskets but also the nose bridge user-modifiable (three options for the nose) but the gaskets are a very fiddly modification, and I have had a lot of trouble in hot, still conditions with the goggles steaming up, something I'd rather not make worse. The manufacture is very solid, with great life so far on all parts. I sat on them once and broke one nose-bridge but they have survived considerable abuse in my care.
These are my Barz ARFA goggle-sunglasses.
Originally designed for surfers, they are billed as being fit for a variety of extreme sports, watersports, and industrial use. Rather than having arms like traditional sunglasses, they are goggles, with a elastic strap feeding through eyelets and adjusting at each temple. I can't tell you how many times I have come across snapped off arms of glasses, or had my head smacked and lost my regular glasses. No such issue with goggles! Barz offers a range of frame and lens colours, allowing you to customize the finish in quite a combination of ways.
They also offer several lens filtering options such as polarization, photochromatic and bifocal prescription as well as single focal prescription lenses. I oped for a black frame, amber lenses and prescription polarized lenses and have never looked back! Not only can I now see in the bright outdoors, but with the added bonus of polarisation, I can see things in a whole new light, so to speak. These are my go-to glasses when ever having to do powertool or spray assisted yard work, whether it is whipper-snippering, chainsawing or metal cutting.
The gasket fitting keeps chips and spray out of my eyes so I can keep watching what I am doing. I've also had great use for these whilst doing burning off, as they also greatly reduce the smoke and heat-glare that would otherwise inhibit my ability to see. This was of great concern whilst the Black Saturday bushfires were raging, and I was living in the forested mountains, and on high alert. Recreationally, I've worn these whilst running around the bush, camping and driving around with the windows down to great success. The UV400 treatment of the lenses fills me with confidence.
One very cool feature that I have not yet had the chance to test out is that the eye gaskets can be swapped out from the vented ones seen here, to a solid ring, to give a water-tight swim-goggle seal. The reason I've not done so is that whilst not only are the gaskets but also the nose bridge user-modifiable (three options for the nose) but the gaskets are a very fiddly modification, and I have had a lot of trouble in hot, still conditions with the goggles steaming up, something I'd rather not make worse. The manufacture is very solid, with great life so far on all parts. I sat on them once and broke one nose-bridge but they have survived considerable abuse in my care.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Years from Apocalpse Equipped!
Happy 2012 from us at Apocalypse Equipped. Tactical Baby and I had a good night out, and we blinked and flashed our way through a gig, with bottles stowed in FUP Pouches, and a full complement of changing materials slung on a comfy belt . She wore ear-pads, a Zombie Hunter morale patch by MilSpec Monkey and traveled in her BabyBjorn Active baby-carrier.
She ended up with more lipstick on her than I did, but that's the way it goes when you wear a baby to an Amanda Palmer gig!
She ended up with more lipstick on her than I did, but that's the way it goes when you wear a baby to an Amanda Palmer gig!
Review: Yukon NVMT 3x42 Nightvision & Riflescope kit
I had desperately wanted to get some night-vision gear for years, and saw some listed online, but did some shopping around, and found what appears to have been a better deal, for a more interesting set up. Some of my friends have had NVG, either as givaways with First Person Shooter games, or purchasing scopes from overseas, I was pleased to find via Ozscopes a division of the OzHut which sells a variety of things but most importantly to me included this, a 3x42 night vision monocular and riflescope kit. I tossed and turned about either getting the fully Maritime certified version, of going the only slightly less sealed but modular and rugged Spartan version.
I liked the fact that the basic scope could have both objective and eyepieces, allowing for either 2x, 3x or 4x power and either rifle-scope or binocular style eye-relief. When using the scope I found that with simple adjustment I could have near-to day visibility in my urban environment easily enough, even without the built in IR illumination. Like any magnification device, it needs focus adjustment for different ranges, but its a simple enough. The case is solid and the rubber edgings to give it a good positive grip in the food when damp, as well as offering a bit of padding. Its rated as water resistant, so not for underwater nighttime play, or casual tossing into a pond, but for my needs, its fit for purpose. The built in IR illumination is amazing, at least to my eyes, but be warned, when using in a reflective environment, its very "bright" to the receptors!
The unit is powered with a single CR123A, both the monocle and the illuminator are controlled by press buttons, and have indicator lights that light up for both. I found these to be placed in a slightly awkward position, especially when using it attached to the rifle scope kit. Opening my off-scope eye would dazzle me with the indicator LED. I think I will tape over it for my next outing The rifle scope kit comes with a mounting plate which affixes to a Weaver style rail, along with an integral pressure switch activated laser sight. The combination laser and night vision gave me a real advantage at the last Stargate LRP event, and I've also had fun watching my local wildlife, our bunnies and the like. A real win for my collection.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Review: Platatac Young Guns belt & Braces
I thought it was time to cover some of my more martial kit. I have a saying, "when the going gets tough, the tough get MilSpec". Here is a piece that I've found to be very useful. I'm sure we've all had the less than ideal experience of having a belt load of tools and gear sagging and digging into your hips whilst you're running about, being very distracting. Distractions lead to poor survival outcomes. One way to avoid this is to carry less gear, which isn't really in my first choice.
The second option is a better belt. Here is what I've come across that fills that gap. Here is the Platatac Young Gun Belt.
This belt is filled with stiff foam padding and lined on the inside with a breathable mesh, reducing sweating and sticking. The outer is the standard Codura 1000d, which I chose in khaki, as usual. There are three bands of MOLLE running on the left, back and right giving ample attachment options, and I was especially interested to see that the back panel is made up of the loop side of hook-and-loop, for fitting to the internals of a pack, to act as a waist band. This kind of modularity really scores points for me and it is something I've come to expect from this brand. I used it as a place to put my Stargate LRP name-strip, and morale patches. The MOLLE on the left and right flanks also features an extra-wide attachment point,which is the perfect place for a drop-leg sling, or a holster, whichever is most appropriate.
The belt itself curves, tailored in a wide C shape, rather than being straight, adding to the ergonomics of the unit when worn under load, but something important to note is that this is an outer belt fitting, and doesn't actually include a belt to fasten it. However, any belt up to 50mm wide can be fitted through its middle and I used my old trusty webbing belt to secure it, with a piece of scrap paracord weaving as a fob (because I like having busy hands and don't like throwing away scraps.) I tend to use this belt as my "first layer" of kit carriage, with an entrenching tool (not pictured) at my back left, my drop-leg dump pouch from front left, and utility pouches and canteen on the right hand side.
One more excellent feature of this belt are the four D-rings that enable the fitting of the belt to either a vest or armour carrier, or to a set of braces such as the Platatac Combat braces. I was fortunate to get a set bundled in with my belt, after talking to the guys in the shop, and after some time spent fitting and adjusting (as I have a skinny torso, and the braces would easily suit a large manly man) I got a setting that was comfortable enough to wear long term, even with quite a load on the belt.
This is really touch and well put together piece of kit. I'm really satisfied with this set as a load bearer, and good for keeping my "first layer" gear together and on hand, be it for LRP, wilderness adventure or responding to a disaster!
The second option is a better belt. Here is what I've come across that fills that gap. Here is the Platatac Young Gun Belt.
This belt is filled with stiff foam padding and lined on the inside with a breathable mesh, reducing sweating and sticking. The outer is the standard Codura 1000d, which I chose in khaki, as usual. There are three bands of MOLLE running on the left, back and right giving ample attachment options, and I was especially interested to see that the back panel is made up of the loop side of hook-and-loop, for fitting to the internals of a pack, to act as a waist band. This kind of modularity really scores points for me and it is something I've come to expect from this brand. I used it as a place to put my Stargate LRP name-strip, and morale patches. The MOLLE on the left and right flanks also features an extra-wide attachment point,which is the perfect place for a drop-leg sling, or a holster, whichever is most appropriate.
The belt itself curves, tailored in a wide C shape, rather than being straight, adding to the ergonomics of the unit when worn under load, but something important to note is that this is an outer belt fitting, and doesn't actually include a belt to fasten it. However, any belt up to 50mm wide can be fitted through its middle and I used my old trusty webbing belt to secure it, with a piece of scrap paracord weaving as a fob (because I like having busy hands and don't like throwing away scraps.) I tend to use this belt as my "first layer" of kit carriage, with an entrenching tool (not pictured) at my back left, my drop-leg dump pouch from front left, and utility pouches and canteen on the right hand side.
One more excellent feature of this belt are the four D-rings that enable the fitting of the belt to either a vest or armour carrier, or to a set of braces such as the Platatac Combat braces. I was fortunate to get a set bundled in with my belt, after talking to the guys in the shop, and after some time spent fitting and adjusting (as I have a skinny torso, and the braces would easily suit a large manly man) I got a setting that was comfortable enough to wear long term, even with quite a load on the belt.
This is really touch and well put together piece of kit. I'm really satisfied with this set as a load bearer, and good for keeping my "first layer" gear together and on hand, be it for LRP, wilderness adventure or responding to a disaster!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Review: LazerBrite
I've loved cyalume sticks for as long as I can remember, for festivals and parties as a boy, camping and LRPing as an adult, and as part of my bug-out-bag, and emergency kit in bot the car and at home. However, they are one-use-only. Even if you get more than a single night's light out of them, which in a pinch, and in a cold climate, you may, once the glass phial of hydrogen peroxide is broken, the chemical clock is counting down. This is a real shame be cause it not only means you need to replace the glow-stick, the waste builds up. Ask anyone who cleans up after raves or music festivals.
Then along came the crazy folks from LazerBrite with their very ingenious product. Instead of a once off chemiluminescent mixture in a translucent tube, they fitted high efficiency LED's to a translucent tube. Or rather, they fitted the LED to a nodule, which can be threaded onto a translucent tube.
These modular lights have threaded ends at either end, enabling the LED to be fitted either facing into, or out of the tube, lending itself to being used either as a traditional looking glow-stick, or with the fitting of one of the "glow-dome" ends, produce a diffuse, wide area illumination source. The added bonus of this is that the lights can be tailored to the need, and reconfigured at a moments notice. Simply unscrewing the heads and rotating the bulbs allows one, the other or both LED's to be facing in or out as the need requires. No tools required. Brilliant!
The second generation "Multi-Lux" version of the heads have three settings; Low, High and a two-flash pulse. This gives not only several options for both signalling, but endurance and light discipline purposes. Another awesome feature is the range of colours available in the LED's; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and White. They also offer an IR option, but due to ITAR regulations, were not able to ship me any (yet). Battery replacement needs a coin or flathead screwdriver to quickly achieve. There is also a lanyard end which warrants mention, allowing either the whole tube, or in fact just the LED head, to be fitted to a lanyard, or affixed to your kit. I plan on using mine as a "light grenade", sort of high-powered LED-Throwies for not only my Stargate LRP, but also just camping fun. Its also worth mentioning a key feature that several of the tubes can be daisy-chained together, as each head is threaded front and back, to make a sizable pole of illumination.
Modular, rugged, 10 year battery shelf life, small, lightweight, waterproof and reliable, with up to 75 hours of battery life per head, reported to be visible 1 mile away. Whats not to like?
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