Archive | Survival

Bargain – Outdoor Products 3-Pack Ultimate Dry Sack

I have been using these Outdoor Products dry sacks for about a year now. They have been on several multi-night and day hikes and they have never let me down.

I was pretty skeptical of them at first due to their low cost, so I tested them before I trusted them to keep my stuff dry. I stuffed the bags full of t-shirts and let them sit under running water. The contents remained dry. Then I actually submerged the bags for 2 minutes and the contents still remained dry except for some very small areas where water came in at the closure. I was thoroughly impressed. For use inside of a backpack in the rain and even in quick accidental dunks, these are completely sufficient.

These have turned out to be an excellent way to keep gear dry and keep it organized. The bags are made of light weight rip stop nylon. They are light enough to use as organizers even when you don’t expect rain. The seams are fully taped and the closures do a good job of keeping water out if you follow the directions.

I used to just use a trash bag to keep my things dry in the rain but these smaller bags offer more organization potential. They will only set you back $10 for the 3 pack at Wal-Mart. For the price, you can’t beat them.

ESEE Junglas Laserna Pack

Jeff and Mike at ESEE showed the prototype for a new pack several months ago on their forum. I was impressed then and I am even more impressed now that it is on the market and the details are out. The pack has some serious organization potential, comes in all the right colors, and has a waistbelt that actually looks useful (rare in smaller packs).

The Junglas Laserna Pack can be purchased directly from ESEE. You can also read more about the pack and the Junglas for which the pack is named at the link.

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Ray Laconico Now Making Locking Folders

Ray Laconico has been making some of the hardest working fixed blade knives around for years. He has also dabbled in slip joint folding knives. Recently, as he stated in his interview here on Jerking the Trigger, he has been concentrating on locking folders.

This is great news for those who love the performance and character of carbon steel and like locking folders because Ray has been making liner locks with O1 tool steel blades. Carbon steel locking folders are all but non-existent on today’s knife market so Ray is really filling a niche.

If you are interested in owning one of Ray’s knives you can contact him through BladeForums.

MacheteSpecialists.com Review

Machetes just might be the perfect survival knife. They are inexpensive yet exceedingly tough. They can be used for everything from clearing a trail, to fire starting, to game cleaning, to shelter construction. You simply can not beat the utility of a good machete. Once you are used to using a machete in the woods, it will be hard to carry anything else (especially an expensive “survival” knife).

Until recently, finding a good machete in the USA could be a bit of a challenge. Many of the best brands and designs were available only in South America where the machete is a far more pervasive tool. There was a serious void in the US market for brands like Imacasa and Tramontina.

The good folks at Machete Specialists have filled that void! Now you can purchase some amazing machetes from all over the world. They offer a 30 Day Guarantee and even have videos on proper machete use that were made by machete designer and knife writer Joe Flowers. Machete Specialists are THE definitive source for machetes on the web.

Review: Leupold Yosemite 6×30 Binoculars

The word is out on the Leupold Yosemite binoculars (bins). If you read any forum dedicated to optics you will find people praising these bins for their brightness, clarity, and ergonomics. Their performance is unmatched by bins costing two to three times as much money. So how good can a pair of $80 bins be? In this post, we will take a look at what makes the Leupold Yosemite 6×30 binoculars special and we will learn a little about binoculars along the way.

Porro Prisms

The Yosemites use porro prisms instead of roof prisms. Porro prism bins will generally cost less than roof prism bins. They will also generally outperform low priced roof prism bins. The old rule used to be that you would have to spend three to four times as much on roof prism bins to get equal performance to a good set of porro prism bins. That rule is not quite as true today thanks to the proliferation of quality, low cost imported glass, but it is still true that inexpensive porro prism bins will outperform similarly priced roof prism bins. If you are on a budget, porro prisms will yield the best bang for your buck. Porro prisms will generally offer wide field of view, great depth of field, and a more three dimensional looking image than typical roof prisms.

The biggest drawback of porro prism bins is that they are typically larger because of how they are constructed. Roof prism bins can have straight barrels which means they can be more compact. Porro prism bins have two 90 degree turns incorporated into the construction. This makes the barrels larger. Even with these larger barrels, the Yosemites are still quite compact at only 4.6 inches long and 6.3 inches wide.

Exit Pupil

The Yosemite is also offered with 8x magnification and the same 30mm objectives. These are also quite clear but will be dimmer than the 6x model. This is due to exit pupil. Exit pupil is basically the virtual aperture that is created by your bins. Only light that passes through this aperture can be transmitted to the eye. The human eye is dilated to about 4mm in bright light and opens to 5-9mm in low light situations. The larger the exit pupil of your bins, the more capable they will be in low light. If the exit pupil is too small, the bins will appear dim because they are not transmitting all the light that your eyes can receive.

Exit pupil is calculated by dividing the objective size by the magnification. In this case, 30mm divided by 6 magnification, equals an exit pupil of 5mm. Using the same formula on the 8×30 model we get an exit pupil of 3.75mm. So, as the magnification increases, the objective size must also increase in order to provide the same amount of light. As objective size increases, so does the size of the binocular. The 5mm exit pupil of the 6×30 Yosemite bins mean that they will provide enough light to work very well at dusk and dawn while still being compact.

Magnification

Some of you may be thinking that 6x magnification is not enough. However, most binocular users are surprised to find that they can actually see more detail with lower power bins! Bins with higher magnification not only magnify the object you are viewing, but also the shakiness of your hold. Sometimes you can even see your heart beat. Most users would get more out of their bins if they stuck with 6-8x magnification.

Other Features and Specs

  • Rubber Armor for toughness and improved grip
  • Available in black, tan, and camo colors
  • Center focus wheel
  • Right eye diopter
  • Waterproof/dust proof
  • Comes with lens covers, soft case, and neck strap
  • Leupold Lifetime Warranty
  • Eye relief: 20mm
  • Field of view: 420 feet at 1000 yards
  • Weight: 17 ounces

So What?

Everything above may not mean much to you so I will break it down. These bins are light weight and compact. They carry very light and don’t take up much space in a pack. I have found them to be very durable and very easy to use. The focus wheel is stiff enough without being too stiff and the diopter stays set. The eye cups work well and seem well made. These are constructed very well, but the real story here is the optics.

If your only experience with bins are cheap compact models from the grocery store, these will blow you away. They are extremely sharp and bright. They offer excellent low light performance. The colors are bright and true to life. The optics are just excellent. To put it in perspective, they are slightly brighter, clearer, and sharper than my $250 8×42 Nikon Monarch bins. I can actually see more detail with the 6x Yosemites in some scenarios than I can with the 8x Monarchs. That is impressive for a $80 pair of bins.

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