Use and Color Choice???

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

I am very new to this Survival and Preparedness mindset but I keep seeing something in gear reviews/pictures that seems wrong to me. Please help guide me. The colors of the items chosen and color of the items attached to it, I feel should be considered torwards its intended use.

I feel that items like Fire Starters / Survival Knives / General Tools are very important and should be "High Visibility". These tools that are NOT Tactical in use should be as loud visibly as possible. If I drop my Firesteel by accident at my camp site and my fire steel is all black well I might not see it, but if I have bright Orange cord attached maybe I can see it.

Why does it seem alot of the products I see are flat black or OD green... Seems counter productive on/in a "Survival" item?... Am I missing something?

On the subject of paracord and bright, I am looking for something like Safety Orange with Reflective Tracers... I have found plain Safety Orange and Black with Reflective tracers but not Orange with Reflective Tracers, has any one seen anything like that.

Thanks for your input!

[1Admin]

One thing I've always strived to do is stow critical gear always in the same places on equipment. I rarely lose things in the field.

Another good habit to get into is to keep your gear together at all times in the field. I've seen people that get into camp, open their pack to get shelter material out, taking half of the other stuff out. They make their shelter and hours later the other half of the crap is still strung about near their shelter, their pack still not closed up. Ditto with canteens, cleaning gear, etc.

I guess these are the types of people that actually USE the little dresser drawers in a hotel when they are only their overnight???? LOL

The only way to break people out of this sort of thing that I've found is the "it's 2a.m. wake up everyone up we are moving camp NOW!!" approach. Everyone has about 30 seconds to a minute to get geared up and moving out. The stragglers are left behind or have to try to catch up.

Someone unloads a couple rounds as the "wake up call" when that happens and it has a tendency to shake people out of the comfortable "we are going to be here for a while so my stuff can be strung out everywhere" mindset.

Even with the family, even "car camping" i.e, where you can pull the car/truck up to within 100 yards or whatever of where you are camping- I've always had them pack their essentials in rucks and keep them squared away. Sleeping gear shouldn't need to be unpacked till almost dark, etc.

If you have to break and run, you have to do it IMMEDIATELY, not five minutes later cause everyone is afraid to leave behind the crap they shouldn't have left out in the first place.

I can't tell you how many people we had to run search grids for back in the day that didn't keep their stuff wired tight, that we left at "O dark thirty" that had also forget the rally point and/or couldn't find their compass to get there, etc.

Makes people learn the lesson the hard way which is necessary sometimes.

[610Alpha]

LD3 makes a great point. But to answer your question about color...it is counter intuitive. You will have to get some bright orange/yellow spray paint for these things. If you should happen to drop something and its pitch black out and a bunch of debris/leaves on the ground it might be hard to find your widget even with a flashlight....if it is painted in neon orange or yellow it will be easier to find.

Also leads into "2 is 1 and 1 is none" as well as being able to improvise with skills/knowledge.

[EX121]

I like to tie lanyards on things so that I can keep them hooked together or attached to me or my pack.
One of the other things I do is use glow-in-the-dark paint and daub a bit on some things so I can find them at night. I've painted my gps, flashlight, & compass. I have also painted dots on some the mags for my high-point carbine, I put the dots where they wouldn't be seen once inserted into the carbine, or in my vest.

A backpacking trick I use is when taking things out of my pack I place them all on my feet until I get what I want out, and then everything goes back into the pack. I started doing this when I snowshoed a lot and found that if I placed things on the snow they got squished down into it and lost.

I too am a big believer in only taking out the minimum you need and putting the rest back.

I'm not sure about where you can find reflective stuff, but there are all kinds of colored cord you can buy for lanyards.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

I feel that items like Fire Starters / Survival Knives / General Tools are very important and should be "High Visibility". These tools that are NOT Tactical in use should be as loud visibly as possible. If I drop my Firesteel by accident at my camp site and my fire steel is all black well I might not see it, but if I have bright Orange cord attached maybe I can see it. Almost all companies have both colors for personal choice, even flashlights like surefire come in a bright yellow if desired

Why does it seem alot of the products I see are flat black or OD green... Seems counter productive on/in a "Survival" item?... Am I missing something? If you are Military, Contractor, feel the need to hide post SHTF etc etc this is why, it's not just a product for "survivalist" in fact most products were created for someone else because this is such a small market in itself

On the subject of paracord and bright, I am looking for something like Safety Orange with Reflective Tracers... I have found plain Safety Orange and Black with Reflective tracers but not Orange with Reflective Tracers, has any one seen anything like that. Anything custom paracord you can build yourself IMO and many manufactures limit what they keep in stock because they are easy to make

There are alot of people out here that need camo/subdued and there are many that need bright colors that are quick to find. I have a balance of both with specifics in mind. I have a Grylis knife with orange thats not tactical and i have several blades i carried in the Army that are. I have a bright firestarter on my keychain and a subdued one ziptied with black ties on my camelback i hunt with. Even in my camo GMHB I carry a bright orange vest so i can be seen when needed like when approaching the house so my son dont cap my behind.
Balance

[kihnspiracy]

Lanyards on smaller items are handy to have. We also use brightly colored items for certain items. Firestarters, flashlights, camp knives, etc. Makes finding them a little easier when camping.

[fallout boy]

i'm gona do this god idea

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

I have found that the Safety Orange or "Neon" Green color work well for high visiblity not many things in that naturual world those colors and you can pin point them with ease. Since I can not find the "Reflective Tracers" in a Safety Orange maybe I need to buy the Black with Tracers and then do wraps with alternating colors...

[puternut]

Check out this video at about the 2:08 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHuoQbqguPM

Just another way to mark things to be able to find them.

[Hawkeye]

Just remember, anything that will make something easier for you to spot if you drop it, will also make it easy for anyone else to spot it. This can work against you if you are working in an environment where you do not wish to be found, and drop something and dont realize it. Someone else may, and you just left them a calling card that you were there, and now they also know what you dont have with you anymore. Just something to keep in mind. Personally, I want everything as non attention drawing as possible, and just try to always practice putting things up immediately when finished with them, etc.

[snare]

+1 on what Hawkeye said. I practice my responsibility to keep track of my stuff.

[saeb]

Some of this depends on your intentions. If you are wanting to disappear or not be noticed bright colors are a bad idea. If you are trying to survive in a lost situation, bright is good. What are you referring to a bug out situation or a survival situation such as lost? Good question, me personally I keep yellow duct tape on important gear, can easily be torn off , and helps when needed. Most important thing as stated earlier is to keep your gear together and your children out of it!

[ridgerunner]

I think kelty makes a cord called TripTease Lightline. It has reflective strands wrapped into the cord material that is especially reflective at night under a flashlight or campfire. I use this to make lanyards for things during civil times. If I want to be discreet, then I can always use olive or black paracord.

http://www.kelty.com/p-136-triptease-lightline.aspx

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

Saeb,

Thanks for the idea on the Duct Tape... I have not thought about using tape but that could be a very useful trick allowing one to buy most everything as "Tactical" then applying high visibility tape to it.

Ridgerunner,

Thanks for the link about the "Triptease" that is exactly what I was looking for.

[Hawk_308]

Reflective Kayak Deck rigging works great for small items you may lose . Black to site , highly reflective .