Do you test your gear

[protus]

Honestly look at your kit.
Do you use it once , for example a filter on a 3 day backpack trip and consider the filter 100% reliable for shtf and shove it in your kit.
Do you use it constantly and not baby it, wanting to know how much it will take before breakage?
Or do you just go by what others say and buy the gear and then set it in your kit and forget about it till its time to be used.

Does anyone here buy a rifle for shtf( HD,competition etc etc ) and consider it good to go with out some range time......if you said no......why should the rest of your kit be different.

[610Alpha]

Darn you protus why do you have to keep callin me out like this!!!! Just kiddin man I appreciate you not pulling any punches even if it hurts my pride a little bit I know you got my best interest in mind.

So I will lay it out like this.

Some items I use a couple of times and put in my kit (there are some things that you don't necessarily have to beat up all the time). On the same note I put my water filter in my kit right after doing the vid...haven't used it since. I should probably pull it out a couple times a month and run a couple liters/gallons through it just to make sure it works.

I don't know if I have any items that I use constantly.

Some items I do buy based on what others say....but that list is very small. In the world of information I always look at the source, if I don't have any experience with the source they get a low rating, I also look at how important is the info, life or death or saving me some money. I take all of that into consideration and if the trust numbers are there and the importance factor lines up then I will buy but I test it at least once just to make sure it functions cause hey it could have been shipped broken and have nothing to do with the person that gave me the info.

I recently bought a ferrocerium rod from a store made by a name brand company and well I am not that impressed with it. I will do some more testing with it just to make sure it isn't the idiot operating it. lol

[Yeti]

Honestly it depends on the item.
Knife that's in the pack, probably only pull that one out often enough to check the edge.
Flashlight, well that gets used almost weekly.

Generator during the Summer I fire it up about every other for an hour. During the Winter I check it about once a month.

So really it depends on the item.
Food gets rotated regularly, some stuff is just there.

[Cimarron]

Honestly?
Not very often. Like others I have some "stuff" I use more than others but do not pull out/check my gear near enough.

We moved a couple months ago and while moving gear I had in "deep storage" I thought to my self. "Self, we ought to get this back out and check it over real good when we get setteled", While we both agreed, the gear never seen the light of day as of yet.

I don't know why. I have a bunch of excuses but none of them sound really all that good right now.

Could be just because I don't have to and as I'm full of Human nature and just kind of lazy..I just didn't do it.

[610Alpha]

my excuse is I am tired....but in actuality its more of forgetting and being lazy.

[EX121]

It kinda depends, most stuff I put in the pack and use backpacking & on SAR missions. Some of it I use a bit & then put in the kit. But I feel pretty comfortable that they will work when needed. I do admit that I need to learn to maintence on some of it more often.

[WiseOwl]

Yall can all try the Wise Owl test, which was used just this morning as I was mailing my BOB back home at FED Ex so I could get on an airplane.....(ya cant take the BOB on airplanes these days apparently)......I took it and tossed it up in the air twice and let it hit the ground hard. And then pulled everything out and made sure it was good. I don't trust logistics companies to baby my box even though it says fragile 9 times on it......................and yes everything was good. I try to pack all of the fragile'r stuff in the middle behind padding, i.e. water filter kit, etc, so if I fall wall hiking or whatnot everything will be good.....and 2 tests, 2 passes.

On another note of crazy stuff....this TSA agent here at Richmond International gave me a "talk" because my toothpaste was too big as he was throwing it away. Then went on to tell me how small liquid explosives can be to blow up a plane and THEN, told me he knew of some websites that teaches you how to make C4.......I said, " The only C anything I care about is my gate.....Bless his crazy heart! But this was the weirdest conversation I have ever had in a security line

[Rmplstlskn]

I also say, "It depends..." Only the most hard-core survivalist, whom it occupies his whole life, has the free time to test his gear HARD and REPEATEDLY... I have quite a few items I test a few times a year that are what I would call TRUSTWORTHY, such as my Brunton Solaris 26 solar panel, Aqua-Rain gravity filter, knives, axes, etc..., but some, just like in REAL LIFE, are based on assumptions and calculated risk. Just the way it is for me... I choose to balance preparing for TEOTWAWKI and living life as best I can...

I also have other interests that I enjoy, such as kayaking with the family and taking our old 1965-retro Shasta travel trailer camping, as well as family trips here and there. Between work and homestead chores, that leaves precious little time to get all hardcore as much as I would like. Those are my PRESENT priorities, subject to change at any moment...

Within this lifestyle I have chosen to live, I try to use and test as much stuff as possible, but I am always behind and do it less than I would call ideal. This is also why I try to buy QUALITY as well, as the trust level is higher once you know it has worked previously. Just trying to do the best I can while still enjoying this wonderful earth our Creator has supplied for us, trusting that my best efforts will meet the minimums that may come my way one day...

[protus]

elitte- this wasnt aimed at anyone here. More of a thought/reminder.

Rmpl.

Im the test it, use it, store it, use it when i can type.
Example- katadyn hiker. I didnt trust it for my backpacking trips till i filtered some nasty H20 at a local park..i dint trust it for my BOB till 3-4 multi day trips.....
I use a katadyn drip filter on my counter top. wanna know where my water comes from...the city . Its made our drinking water tatse better and since i have 2 of their backpacking style pumps, i trust the drip to deal with ANY water in my AO when the time comes..

see my line of thought....

i also like you will buy qaulity to save time beating things up.


i understand and i for sure am not one, who T and E's there stuff 24/7 in hardcore scenerios. Are some items used till they break sure, but i aint made of gold yet, so i try not to buy junk just to break it.


when i see a guy posting and acting like he is light years ahead of everyone, then shows a brand new 20$ LAPG day pack, stuffed to the gills with the typical 20 mags, 4 mre's and 2 liters of dasani water shoved in there for good measure along with a BIG knife and a bunch of walmart camping gear still in the wrappers cramed between the mags and big knife...........it gives me inspiration for these kinda of threads..

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Test it all the time, broke way to much stuff in the Army to not know better. Ran with my GMHB the other day and a radio pouch fell off, good to know, dang near passed out bending over to get it from the blood rush LOL. Murphy made all my stuff, on a friday, hungover, after a breakup with his girlfriend just before a 3 day weekend!
Read the Sig line brother and keep preaching it !!!

[Grinnan Barrett]

My wife does more than me. Over the weekend we lost water to our home from the local supply. Line broke and what little we got was black at times. She broke out our reserves and got one of our Katadyns out and was working away when I got home. I have to admit that there are some items I have had for years that have never been used. Most of them are backups but that is no excuse. the worst part about it is if an item is bad how do you go back to the person you bought it from after ten years and say it doesn't work?

One thing we have done for years is as a group taste test all of the Freeze dried foods we buy before we make a bulk purchase. We want to have products we use and not just store. Nice post and keep on pushing us. GB

[610Alpha]

@Protus - I didn't think it was...just that the truth hits you right in the gut is all!!! I was just being open about me not checking/testing everything in my BOB. It just happens that you make these shout outs to us and they always hit me in the gut...not intentional on your part you're just helping us stay focused. Muchas gracias mi amigo!!

[Grand58742]

when i see a guy posting and acting like he is light years ahead of everyone, then shows a brand new 20$ LAPG day pack, stuffed to the gills with the typical 20 mags, 4 mre's and 2 liters of dasani water shoved in there for good measure along with a BIG knife and a bunch of walmart camping gear still in the wrappers cramed between the mags and big knife...........it gives me inspiration for these kinda of threads..

And exactly where did you see my BOB at? And really, it's only 19 magazines and Fiji water. :D

In all seriousness, great thread! One thing I would like to point out about this is the fact you cannot, I repeat cannot depend on brand new in the packing items to work every time. I.E. you buy item X and use it hard. You buy a spare item X for your BOB but never take it out of the package (assuming you can) and test it to see if it works. Sometimes things arrive broken from the factory which can't be discovered until you need them really badly. Additionally, sometimes things have seals, gaskets and whatnot that will rot over time if they aren't used.

Just my addition to the thread.

[protus]

@Protus - I didn't think it was...just that the truth hits you right in the gut is all!!! I was just being open about me not checking/testing everything in my BOB. It just happens that you make these shout outs to us and they always hit me in the gut...not intentional on your part you're just helping us stay focused. Muchas gracias mi amigo!!

They arent meant to be negative, but more of a " hey,maybe that guy has apoint..let me go look...."
Though at times im sure it comes off like a rant fest LOL.

Its commonsense for many of us to check, test and T+E our gear before trusting it or upgrading it. For some, they toss money at it, and stow it. But at what chance and cost? I cant fathom how anyone who consider's themselves prepared, or a survivalist/prepper would not use,test and check their kit.Below is some of the gems ive gleamed from the poster that inspired me....

I keep a BOB, to save it for when the SHTF....

yes my BOB does sit in my closet.....My BOB stays tucked away safe.....

i dont see how that menatilty fits in to being prepared. Im sure though the guy uses his firearms more than his kit........makes you think about what we all have to prepare for if tshtf for real and that non tested kit fails......

[Mjollnir]

At this point I've thoroughly tested everything in my BOBs on numerous hikes and backpacking trips as well as general use around the homestead. I use to toss stuff in a pack and call it good. But after carrying it for miles and numerous backpacking/camping trips it is amazing the amount of stuff you don't need. While some things can make certain tasks a little easier, more often than not it seemed I would spend twice the energy hiking with the added weight than what it might save in actual use.