Review: Silva - Luminous Wrist compass

I picked up  couple of these little compasses from Platatac, when my step daughter asked for a compass to put in her bag "so I don't get lost". How could I refuse a request like that?

I have a little button compass as a part of my ITS Urban SERE kit, and there is a magnometer built into my phone, for times when my GPS wont give me a location and bearing. However, compass navigation is something that is really important for everyone, and it pays to have backups as well as a primary.
This is the Silva Luminous Wrist Compass.  It is a button sized luminous compass that is designed to fit directly on your watchband. This compass has 8 graduations for the cardinal and cross-quarter points (800 mils). North is marked out with a good solid red triangle. The other cardinal points are clearly marked, in orientation so that they are readable forwards regardless what your bearing is.

The compass fits directly onto your watch band with the built in flattened loop band, but only if your watch band is narrow enough. The band I put onto my Pebble is too wide, and though a baracord bracelet would be a perfect place to add it.


With its luminous face, the compass is visible in dark environments with only a brief exposure to light, say the residual charge from a days outdoor activity.


I have attached mine to the ITW Grimloc carabiner I have on my Hazard4 Loader RG holster harness.

In prime position for me to glance down and take a bearing.


Being a little compass, it is not super accurate, given that it only has eight points, and had a bit of variance when I compared it to my other compasses, but as an EDC, holdout compass, it is all but weightless and takes up no space.

Home Front: log, it's log!

A couple of weeks ago I came home to this rather large pile of timber in my front yard. Apparently the local arborists know that I have a wood fire and after propositioning them to take the least tree they cut down, they've taken it on themselves to not have to mulch any logs they fell, and after asking my eldest who was getting home from school, they tossed a tree into my front yard.
At least this time I didn't have a veggie patch for them to crush.

Welcome Mt Birchmore, altitude 1.2m.
I'm pretty sure it was birch, although there was no foliage for me to confirm with.
One thing I know, there was a whole tree's worth.

Obviously this would need to be seasoned before burning it, but as we've just come into spring here, and summer brings "total fire bans" for weeks at a time, I will be able to comfortably sit through the six months of drying time that is recommended for green wood. Given Melbourne's zany weather, probably just for the best, anyway.

I was lucky that the arborist crew chainsawed most of the logs into pretty uniform lengths, and even the larger blocks of wood into manageable chunks.
I spent a number of hours hauling all this around to the back of our house and stacking it up.

Before stacking my new haul, however, I needed to clear out my vine, leaf litter and as it turns out, bush rat nest filled old log pile.
This pile of mixed logs, including redgum and a variety of other woods that I have salvaged from around my neighbourhood and on my drives to and from Triceratops Girl on the weekends. It's become part of out urban-scavenging mindset to always be on the lookout for logs piled up out the front of houses. When we can, we stop and load up the back of the RAV4 and restock our supply.

After cleaning out my log store spot, a paved area beside the trampoline and fenced off chicken run in what used to be a bare patch of grass, I stacked up my timber booty in three layers, on one side, and a single stack behind the wall my smoker sits on, with a good mix of large logs and thinner ones so that I have a selection when it comes time to burn it. I covered the main body of the stack to attempt to keep the spring rains from setting it to rot. Triceratops Girl was even keen to get involved with the hauling and stacking she has a slow-combustion stove at her mothers place, so knows all about having nice wood fires.

Wood fires may not be the most ecologically friendly, often producing a lot of particulate waste, especially in open fires, or when using green wood, but when it comes to survival and self-reliance, having a supply of firewood, and the means to both cook and heat with it can make the difference between comfort and squalor. In snow-bound areas, it can mean the difference to life itself.

Review: Strike Plate Lock

In a very cool piece of happenstance, I came across a Kickstarter project that was a direct upgrade to another item that I covered not too long ago. The Zazz QuickLock portable door lock which lets you convert a regular latch to a physically blocked lock, but was a pretty flimsy piece of security.

This hefty piece is somewhat less portable, but offers a significant security upgrade to any strike-plate equipped regular door with a knob, and attaches in minutes. This is the Strike Plate Lock.

The principle of the lock is to replace the existing strike plate with a hinged plate, attached to a heavy-duty chain and a ring, which loops over the door-knob, providing a frame-mounted, door-knob fixed physical restraint to your door.

The metal is 16 gauge 300 series stainless steel and 0.050" thick the ring is 2.5" inside round and 1/4" thick. It affixes to the frame using the existing strike plate screw-holes, and two long screws came along with it.


I used my multitool, undid the old screws and removed the old plate, and attached the new one in less than two minutes, and immediately bolstered the effectiveness of my front door.

I wondered how much the latch and facing would be exposed and whilst you can see both strike-plate, latch plate and the chain are visible, the door is only open a crack, and there is no easy bolt-cutter access to the chain, just a nice balistraria for me to fend off invading triffids and zombies.

The creator, Robert Dieguez, gave it a very thorough workout, in the video I pulled from his site, below:

I didn't want to put my (rental) houses' front door through this kind of test, so I'm glad that Robert did so with his testing-frame. I was pleased to note that the whole rig seemed to slide itself out of the way either due to good design, or just how my screws alignment shifted the center of balance, but when not in use, it folds out of the way, and when in-use, I have a very secure additional feature to home security.It was a fast, easy and unobtrusive addition, and appears to be outperforming other chains and door-bolts.

Go check out his Kickstarter,  the webpage and Facebook .

[EDIT] prototype proof video

Review: Power Practical - Practical Meter

Here's a very cool gadget that I backed via Kickstarter, and have added to my mobile power ensemble. I've previously covered power generating thermo-electric systems such as Tellurex tPod1
and the bioLite power generating campstove as well as some options for going solar.

I've also covered a couple of power units, such as the Snow Lizard SLXtreme-5 iPhone case and the Power Travellers Power Gorilla.


This is the Practical Meter which is a clever little in-line USB unit, which gives you a visual means of determining the power usage and output. The LED's built in give an indication of the number of Watts (0-10W, 0-2A) that is being drawn to a given device. This display is in two stages, blue LED's lighting up for 1-5W, and then with the flashing red LED indicating 6-10W.

This level of resolution enables the user to customise the output, either by adjusting cables for better USB version, or the power source. For example, with solar collectors, it would be possible to adjust the angle of the panel to catch the maximum solar output. The same would stand for a thermo-electric generator, or any USB source combination.


Having an adjustable and monitoriable source of power means that a survivor can tailor their resources to best serve their needs in the event of being cut off from reliable mains power. Whether it is solar, fire or from a variety of battery sources, with an item like the Practical Meter, you can at least see what you are getting. It's not a robust piece of tech, so needs to be treated with more care than a ruggedised piece of bug-out kit, but at 12g (0.4oz) it's a great value piece of tech to add to your "power-pack pack".

Review: Platatac - SICC belt

As first seen on BreachBangClear. Due to OpSec, they can't confirm or deny that I am the GyroPilot from MadMax, and I am sticking to that.

I'd been lusting after one of these belts for some time. I have a fair collection of both "tactical", "practical" and "everybody" belts. I have skinny little hips, and really long legs, so getting a pair of pants, or one of my many sets of kilts. to fit can be a real issue, so I depend on belts to carry the load, and protect my dignity. I have been very happy with the 215Gear Ultimate Riggers Belt and the 5.11Tactical TDU belts, as well as the PM Leather Hobble Belt for more personal use.

This is the very multifunctional and heavily engineered Soldier’s Integrated Combat Cobra Belt (SICC Belt) by Platatac .

Constructed from three layers of MILSPEC high breaking strain para tape and tube tape, the resulting belt has both the stiffness and body to provide a stable platform for covert carriage as well as a platform for a padded first line belt such as the Young Guns Belt

The primary standout feature of the SICC is that it is wrapped in PALS. This allows it to be used as a platform in its own right. With 18 channels, which are slightly off-set to favour the left side, this single row of PALS loops allows you to mount a variety of pouches and accessories directly and securely to the belt.
The belt is both wide enough and stiff enough that you could carry a pistol and magazines without any drama, or in my case, a variety of pouches and tools. I regularly carry both my multitool and Hexbright light, but have also run both my Tactical Tailor Joey Hydration pouch and my ITS/ZuluNylon skeletonized carrier to carry my ZombieSquad Nalgene. Even with a liter (32oz) in the bottle, the belt felt stable and didn't twist or sag.

You can see it here with the 5x12ga Shingle by Platatac which I've used to secure ranger-bands and cord. You can see the hook-and-loop adjustment closure that is standard for the Cobra belts I've seen, I found this one gave me lots of room, and plenty of space for bigger folks too.

The other stand-out feature of the SICC is the loop beside the Cobra buckle. I've previously used this type of belt loop to attach carabiners, as a backup climbing or retention point, but I also looped my EDCpen through it, and can see how it would serve admirably as a pistol retention loop, for those who need that kind of security.

I really liked being able to secure my EDC pouches, which usually slide between belt loop to belt loop, as well as being able to change my loadout with the convenience of the PALS/MOLLE options. Interestingly, for those of us who -don't- want have the full "tacticool" look, Platatac offer essentially the same belt, without the PALS loops and lanyard loop as their "Regular Guy" version of the belt.

Home Front: Ebola 2014

One of the things that that working in the industry I do, with the academic background I have, when things like the West Africa 2014 Ebola outbreak occur, I have both a cold clinical reaction, and a very fierce panic about all the possibilities.

One of the advantages of working where I do, is that we are kept very well informed of trends and the prospects of this kind of event to affect us as "health workers" but also because of the particular nature of our cohort. We get all the notifications for all the major illness outbreaks from swine flu to gastroenteritis. 

We even get annual influenza immunization as part of our workplace amenities.   The notifications we get are the same kind that hospitals and government agencies around the world issue.

I also follow sources like the CDC, via twitter
through its main site and generally pay attention. I might not be able to tell you who won the World Cup, but this is the kind of news I follow closely.

I lived in Gabon, west Africa when I was 4, and contracted malaria whilst there. Malaria, by way of mosquitoes is one of the biggest killers of humans of all time, nicely tabulated here, and I can personally attest that it is not pleasant at all. However, it is not anywhere as visceral and horrific as Ebola hemorrhagic fever. 

It's also worth noting that Gabon also had it's own Ebola outbreak, in 2002 as did Sudan, and a raft of other central African countries between 1995 and 2014. I've lived and traveled to some exciting places, and have been pretty lucky, health wise.

Given how much air travel has increased since the first modern documented outbreak of Ebola in 1974 has come, and the particularly unpleasant nature of the disease, it's little wonder that it has so vividly peaked our collective imagination.

However, it's methods of transmission, symptoms and prevention methods are now well understood and documented, and the fact that it is so very debilitating runs in favor of public health reaction.

It's horrific presentation and high mortality rates are rightfully alarming, especially when you consider that historically many of its victims were primary healthcare workers. Check out his graphical representation of the history of Ebola outbreaks for some perspective of the current situation. 

The scariest part of this, and other pandemic type threats, especially for a scientifically minded prepper like myself, is that there are diseases with long enough incubation times, and infectivity rates, with symptoms that might be otherwise shrugged off or ignored that we could be exposed to just going about ones normal life.

My recent pieces on public transport, on holiday travel and even going to the supermarket are just reminders of the interactions and environments that most take for granted, that could well leave even the most diligent and forward thinking planners, who happen to look, dress and act like regular folks, without gown, glove and mask.

Who knows what you might be bringing home to your family, into your bunker with you?

The trick, to my mind, however is to not be petrified, but to remain cautious, aware and informed of the risks, likelihoods and trends.

Review: Pry/Open pocket tool

Shaped like a Battlestar and just as tough.

I backed this via Kickstarter back in May 2013, and it's been sitting in my pocket since August 2013. I've never once thought about stripping it from my collection of pocket tools, and most days, I don't even think about it being there. Unobtrusive is high on my list of desirable features in a pocket widget, and this certainly lives up to that expectation.

Matt Hall of Obstructures is a designer with a vision I can appreciate. This tool is evidence of that.

This sand-blasted stainless steel tool is only 9.5cm (3 3/4”) long and a touch under 5mm (3/16") thick and yet offers some serious prying action. The front end is split with a nail-puller, and each prong is slightly different, offering two different screw-driving options.

The tool features jimping on both sides, promoting solid thumb-grip when using either end of the tool, which is very forwards thinking.

The back end features a single, broad pry edge, as well as small hole to attach a lanyard or split ring, as well a bottle opener.

A slit with a narrow neck facilitates looping through a belt loop, or looping over a pocket edge, which is where I wear mine almost exclusively. It was designed to fit into and sit snugly into MOLLE webbing too, which is an awesome thing for a designer to come out and say.

The middle of the tool is skeletonised to enable the provided cable ring which you might think is a strange place to fit a keychain, but there is method to the madness.
By placing the cable ring in that central gap, you can flip the bundled goodies from one end to the other of the tool, freeing up the working end from the carrying end.

Not clanking my bottled beverage with a collection of keychain tools is all good and well, but anyone with a keychain screw-driver can attest to how annoying trying to loosen a stuck screw is with a collection of keys in the way. This is a tool that I don't worry about snapping when prying open cans or the occasional locked drawer.

Some very forward thinking design has gone into this, as well as some bomb-proof, no-nonsense ergonomic choices. All set to frak up some toasters!