ZCord Paracord Bracelet

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Alright guys I just wanted to introduce you to ZCord. The guys at Zcord were good enough to send us one of their paracord bracelets. I have talked about this a little bit in the past but I will kind of go over a few things that I look for in good paracord furniture and what my reasoning behind it is.
For the most part a paracord bracelet “is what it is”. That being said there are a few things which can set one apart from the rest of the market. The great thing about ZCord is that if you have some specifics you can shoot them an email on FB and they will make what you need.
Something so miniscule as how the paracord on a bracelet is tied off can be a ease of use consideration. The ZCord I received did not have the ends melted together as all of the other paracord furniture that I have owned, and made. At first I wasn’t sold on it until I began to consider that not having everything melted together can actually be a tactical benefit if I was without my knife or use of an arm. Having them unbound doesn’t seem to negatively affect the ability to use the bracelet and it holds together just fine (which was a concern of mine since paracord does have the tendency to stretch and unravel when the inner cords are still in it).
While im on the subject of inner cords, they are a must if you are going to spend hard earned money on a piece of EDC equipment. I have a few pieces which I have bought which have the inner cords taken out to make them flatter or tighter, and while they have a beautiful set of knots, they have simply lost the ability to multitask. I wont begin to go over all of the uses for the inner strands because that has been done by thousands of others.
Metal shackles are much more preferred to me than plastic clip style. The ZCord unit that I received has an adjustable metal horseshoe shackle with a thumbscrew type pin. I dig this style because it gives almost a half inch of adjustment on the wrist. I also have had incidents in the past busting the tabs of plastic clips so I know I wont have that problem on the ZCord. The one downfall is that the ZCord shackle didn’t seem to be powdercoated, as after a few days of use (albeit rough use) some of the coating on the shackles had scraped off.
While paracord bracelets are a dime a dozen now don’t just buy the first one you find. Treat it like you would any other piece of EDC gear that you carry. Buy the one that will suit your needs the best and serve you if the need ever arises. Work with a company like ZCord and you can get what you need made specifically for you.

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Plasti-Dip the stuff works what more is there to say

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If you haven’t heard about Plasti-dip spray I seriously suggest you check it out. As a part of my truck maintenance schedule I had a few minor interior issues which I wanted to get taken care of. Now that my truck is almost 10 years old it is showing a few signs of wear on the interior plastic pieces, not to mention I have been considering a new color scheme on the interior for the Avalanche project, I needed a solution which would allow me to temporarily change colors without having to completely redo the interior again if I didn’t like it. Enter plasti-dip.plasti1
Some of you may be familiar with plasti-dip as it has been around for quite some time now. It started out in little cans which you would dip your tools or other devices you needed coated in plastic in and they would set up with a molded plastic coating. A few years ago plasti-dip found a way to put the product in an aerosol can making it much more useful for random everyday projects. With a few coats of the stuff you have a coating of plastic on anything you could possible imagine. Here is the kicker for the plasti-dip, you can peel it off if you don’t like it or simply want to change your look. I could sit here and describe the process but I just think its better if you youtube it and take a look for youself, (and yes, it is as easy as it looks in the videos).
I have seen the product on the shelves for quite some time but I was very skeptical of its usefulness and durability. After surfing around on a few truck forums searching for parts and ideas for the Avalanche project I found that a bunch of people had been using the stuff to do some remarkable things. After reading a few peoples posts on it I had to youtube the whole mess and see it for myself. I was astonished how easily this stuff worked and how little prep it takes, so I absolutely had to try it.
I bought 5 cans of the stuff for around 30 dollars and started my investigation. The first thing that I used it on was the bezel on my dashboard. It is one of those pieces which needed a bit of attention, the color on the plastic had been worn through and it was looking rather rough. I actually did not have high hopes for the plasti-dip, having worked on other dash boards in the past it can be a real pain to get the paint or dye to stick. To my surprise with VERY little effort and prep I was able to get the plasti-dip to not only stick but set up very fast. My prep consisted of spraying the bezel down with simple green to cut any grease or oils, then giving a quick hand wash with a sponge and soap and water. No sanding, no paint thinner, just a good cleaning. After prep I sprayed one light coat of plasti-dip, I was a little concerned because the first coat was so light but that is actually one of the keys to getting it right. Following the initial coat I waited around 15 minutes and applied coats 2-7 (only 4 were recommended but knowing that it is a high use area I applied more) using the same interval. After applying the final coat I let the plasti-dip set up for around 3 hours before handling it.
So how did it turn out? I can honestly say that I am well impressed. I have only had it on for a little over a week but it is showing no wear and has given the dash a new fresh look. I changed it from grey to black and there is no area where grey peaks through, it is more even than any other plastic paint project I have done to date, and the best thing about it is when I am tired of it I can just peel it off.
After my dashboard success I found a few other things around the house which looked like they needed a coating of paint, and a few that didn’t, and hit them with a few coats. In every test I did the plasti-dip worked great. From wood, to bare metal, it coated everything I sprayed it on and set up just like it should. I peeled most of it off just to experiment on how that process works and it is just like taking off a coat of shrink wrap, peels right off after working a corner loose. Another issue that was put to rest was, does it peel off “too easily”? The simple answer is not really. Since the plastic is bonded to a lot of surface area it is stuck pretty tight, it takes some work to get a corner to pull up and from there you can work it loose a bit at a time until you can just pull it like a sheet.
Ok. So my evaluation of the Plasti-dip is that it is a good thing to have around. While it has its limits I think it definitely has a place in a workshop, or preppers basement. The one downfall that I found with it is that the stuff stinks when you’re spraying it. When I say stinks I mean don’t spray it in the house stinks. After curing there is no smell though, I didn’t notice it at all when I put the dash piece in my truck so no worries there. Another thing that disappointed me was that I couldn’t find many colors in my local hardware stores, and the guy at the autoparts store didn’t know what I was talking about, but there are tons of colors available online including a set of camo colors (next purchase). It is very rare when I find a product that actually does what it is supposed to but plasti-dip actually fills the bill. I will just have to see how long it lasts.

Luminox Watches

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Luminox
I have been wanting to get my hands on a Luminox to test for a while and finally I got one. I knew going in that the product probably wouldn’t live up to the marketing hype. Luminox is famous for billing itself as being built for S.E.A.L.s, and that is true they were designed for the teams but it is not by any means an issued watch. I think the fact that Luminox markets themselves that way makes a lot of haters come out of the woodwork, I will try to give an honest evaluation of the watch and cut through the B.S. on both sides.
So I have wanted one for a while, partially because I bought into the marketing, but also because I wanted a fairly tough watch that didn’t weigh a ton and had a low profile. I have seen a lot of watches lately which look like a grandfather clock strapped to a wrist and I just don’t see any need or purpose for that except to scream out “look at me please I need attention”. The Luminox is definitely Low profile in the fact that most people who would see that watch would look at it and say that’s a cheap crappy watch that guy has on. Its also low profile in the literal sense, it doesn’t stick up very high and the straps keep close to the body and don’t slip and slide even when your arms are wet.
The same features that make the Luminox look a little cheap are also what makes it as functional as it is. It is polycarbonate with a rubber watch band. The only metal on the watch is the buckle on the band, what that means for the wearer is that no matter how much it is exposed to the water it is not going to corrode. I have a couple of divers watches from ESQ and Movado which are both metal and they have both corroded over the years, they also both sustained a lot of wear on the gold plating (not cool for 600 dollar watches), it is simply the nature of the beast, metal corrodes. Because I paid attention the day we covered corrosion in chemistry I know that the Luminox will not corrode as long as all of the seals are kept in good condition.
As I have mentioned a few times before, the Luminox is a divers watch so it is intended for sustained use underwater. It is rated for 200 meters, or 600 ft. Just to give you an idea of how deep that is it is the height of a 60 story building. I’m no diver, but I do spend a lot of time around the water so I want a watch that is going to work where I go. I have read a few forums where people are saying that you cannot wear the Luminox in the shower and things like that, first off these are the aforementioned haters that I spoke of.. The Luminox is not a get it and forget it watch. It requires yearly cleanings and seal checks so that it maintains its waterproofing. If you aren’t big on checking your gear this is probably not the watch for you, if you maintain your gear like Im sure most of our readers do you will get many years of good service, in the shower and out.
The Luminox is a traditional style watch with a Swiss movement so it also begs the question, do I want a dial or digital. Personally I don’t think it matters a whole lot either way. I prefer a watch with a dial because I think it has a little more personality. While we are on the issue of the dial I should also talk about what makes a Luminox a Luminox. The Luminox dials are all impregnated with tritium (the same stuff in night sights) which is rated to self-illuminate for 25 years. This is another reason that I prefer the dial system. With gloves on it can be a bitch to flip a little tiny switch on a digital watch to illuminate the screen, some of them also aren’t very stealth when you do flip the switch. I have seen some GShocks which would send a beam into space and contact aliens the light was so bright. The tritium is perfect and works great, all of the dial notches are in green and the 12 position is in amber. It glows more than enough to be seen at night but not so much that it illuminates the area around the watch. For me its perfect and I don’t have to worry about having to use ambient light to charge the filaments like my Movados did.
Lastly I will say that Im not a huge fan of the rubber wrist band but it is functional. Some of the 3000 series watches offer a Velcro band, I may in the future look into seeing if the bands will swap out. For the time being I am getting used to the rubber one, its not as bad as I had initially thought it would be. I imagined that it would really pull at the arm hair and be uncomfortable, but I have not experienced it at all, as a matter of fact it’s a really comfortable watch.
All in all, I am a fan of the Luminox. I do however realize its not for everybody and it is certainly not as multifunctional as a watch like the Suunto Core, but it does its job and does it well. I also think that it has an understated kind of dignity to it. And Im not gonna lie I like seeing the Navy Seal emblem on the back casing of the watch when I take it off.
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Stanley 450 amp Jump Box/Compressor

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After neglecting my product testing duties for too long, let me try and get caught up. One of the cooler things that I got for Christmas this year was a Stanley Jump box. I love jumper boxes, but like anything they have their strengths and weaknesses.

Stanley 450 amp jump box

Stanly 450 amp jump box

The Stanley jump box that I have is a 450 amp model with 900 peak amps. What that means to the layman is that you will be able to jump off almost any vehicle with it. Some trucks (large diesels mostly) may require a larger unit, but with 900 amps you should be able to get any vehicle to turn over. Now that we have established that you will be able to get your dead battery going again, or most likely someone else’s dead battery, lets talk about why you may want a battery box over jumper cables.

Let’s imagine that your spouse has taken off to the store to spend a whole bunch of money and she comes out to the parking lot where their car is blocked in on all sides and there is no way to pull another vehicle up to jump it off. With the jump box you just pull it out of the trunk, hook up the alligator clips, flip the switch to on and start the vehicle. For scenario number 2, lets imagine that you were out hiking around the boonies for a few days or a week when you come back to the vehicle (hungry and out of food cause you ate it all on the trail) and you discover that you left the map light on and there is no juice left. Unless you are Mr. Wizard (for those of you 30+), or the professor from Gilligan’s Island, you are stuck until you hoof it out a little farther or someone happens to find you. Anyway we could keep going on like this, but you get the picture. The jump box does not require another battery or person to get you back on the road. For those reasons I just mentioned it would be enough reason for me to carry one.

Having gone over the benefits of a jump box in general let me just go over some of the cool things about my Stanley Jump box that some of the others on the market don’t offer. The Stanley jump box also contains a pretty stout air compressor built into the box powered by the internal power pack. I have carried a small compressor for a number of years now but all of them seemed very underpowered and would take forever to put air in a truck tire. The Stanley compressor is more than sufficient for a portable unit, it also contains a built in dial (up to 120psi) that is extremely clear to read and doesn’t jump around like many of the small portable units I have used.

Along with the compressor the Stanley unit also has some other features which make it multifunctional. There is a small directional light which is built into the side of the box which allows you to keep your hands free while hooking up the unit, inflating a tire, or just making yourself visible on a dark road if your car is broken down. This is a simple thing but super handy (no pun intended).

The Stanley unit also has a usb port and car adapter port for plugging in anything you may need to charge up, like a cell phone or ipod. This may not be a big deal for a lot of people but if your alternator goes out, you cant jump the car, and your phone happens to be dead, I bet you will be glad you had it.

With all of the functionality of the unit and the ease of use I would highly recommend checking them out. They are around 80.00s and are well worth the money. I personally have used mine twice on family members cars since Christmas and it worked like a charm both times. One of the batteries was as dead as it gets (6 years old and would not hold a charge at all) and it cranked right up. So in conclusion the Stanley Jump box has been tried, tested, and approved.

Gadget review: Anker Astro3E

Gallery

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The four blue led lights indicate how much of a charge is left in the Anker. The black button on the bottom middle is used to turn the Anker on and start the charging process.

This gallery contains 6 photos.

While Mike is prepping his Avalanche for his EDSV project, I am on the other end of the spectrum and have an older pickup that I plan on driving until it dies – I’m a fan of not having a … Continue reading →

Gear Prep Phase 1 (getting ready for the trail)

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Before I get started let me just apologize for the lack of articles coming out over the winter. Its not for lack of material, just lack of time. I am making a concerted effort to correct that this year so that you will have a constant stream of content. I have tons of products to get reviewed, several trips planned, and several projects planned including the Avalanche project.

To start the new year off I am going to be going over some of my gear preps for the new year. I am going to do these Blog style and keep a running log of when and how I do my prep. I do have to admit I get a little obsessed this time of year when I start looking at how much I need to get done before hitting the trail. My shooting equipment is always maintained so that’s never an issue, but seasonal items can deteriorate in the off season and need to be checked and maintained so that the work properly when it comes time to get them out of the pack.

First thing is first though. I have to get to the trail, and in some cases get down it, so the truck needs to be the first thing I look at. This year I ticked over 75,000 so I have a few more things to do than I typically would. I know that some of you instantly just yawned and are about to click off the article because you aren’t all about twisting wrenches. Before you jump ship on me let me just explain in real numbers how much I saved this year. I have spent 513.00 so far this year (including a few tools I didn’t have or needed to replace), after getting some local quotes at the best prices in town I would have spent well over 1500.00 to have someone else perform simple maintenance on my truck. That saved me enough money to get project jon-boat (which I will reveal more about at a later date).

I know that for lots of you I am preaching to the choir, but I am working hard to get the converts here. I truly believe that the benefits of doing your own work far outweigh the amount of time invested. What may take a shop 15 minutes may take you an hour the first few times but the skill you will gain doing the repair/maintenance yourself will be invaluable. You get the picture, after all this site is about Skills and Gear.

Alright for part one of this I will just be going over the parts list, and cost.
Trans fluid/filter/gear oil 143.00
Shocks 171.00
Chassis Lube 6.00
Plugs/Wires 120.00
Belts 73.00
Total 513.00

I have to admit that I didn’t expect to spend that much on maintenance this year, but it is good insurance. These parts were all brand name performance parts so there was no skimping on that, I also have the benefit of knowing exactly what went in and on my truck. I also have the knowledge that the parts weren’t just slung on there. Imagine that you have a stack of papers on your desk that needs to be taken care of before you go home. Are you going to be as careful with those as you would with, lets just say, your tax returns? No…simply No. Mechanics are the same way. I have seen mechanics working on cars in 3 different bays at the same time, this cant be good for the customers. I don’t want that to be my vehicle. I will stop proselytizing and let you make your own minds up now.

I will be going over part one of the maintenance in the next part of the Blog and tell you what problems that I ran into and how to hopefully
prevent them in the future. I hope to have this up later today depending on whether the rain lets up or not.

As always thanks for reading and please feel free to leave your comments, questions, and suggestions for new articles.

The Strategy of the “Wasted Vote”

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Editorial by James Funderburk

For those who find themselves leaning Libertarian (http://www.lp.org/platform) but think voting for Gary Johnson would be a wasted vote, here are a couple reasons why your vote for Gary Johnson matters and is impactful this election and beyond:

1 – Electoral Votes: the election will be decided on who gets to 270 electoral votes. All but 2 states are “winner take all” states, meaning that the candidate who has the most electors voting for them in each state will get all of that state’s electoral votes. The Electoral map on www.270towin.com lists 11 states as likely battleground states.

Especially in battleground states, the number of people who vote Libertarian instead of Republican or Democrat could mean the difference in whether Obama or Romney wins that state. This is often cited by Republicans and Democrats as why it is so important that you vote for their candidate instead of a 3rd party candidate that more closely aligns with your values.

Voting for your values instead of voting for who is the most electable is always important – but is an especially powerful statement in these battleground states. When the election is over, political analysts will be mining though the data and will see that there were groups of people who value liberty over electability – whose votes could have changed who the electoral votes of those states went to – and that if they want members of this group to vote for their candidate in the future they need to make changes in their platform or risk losing these electoral votes in future elections. The electoral votes of just one state could make the difference in who wins the election.

This means parties will have to address issues that they largely can avoid when there is no 3rd party to hold them accountable, such as:

Seeing that so many are concerned about these issues may make the two major parties realize that these issues are important to people who vote and cause them to revise their platforms. If not, we repeat.

 

2 – Popular Vote: If Gary Johnson receives 5% of the popular vote, the Libertarian party will have access to Federally matching funds for the next election and getting on the ballot in all 50 states in 2016 will be an easier process. Because there is so much money pouring into the Republican and Democratic campaigns – which thanks to the Citizens United ruling much of it is anonymous and is without limits – these funds are much needed to let the American people know there is another choice.

With greater ballot access, achieving 5% of the popular vote in 2012, and more money for advertising so there is more platform recognition the Libertarian Party should be included in the preliminary polling for 2016, giving them a greater chance of not being excluded from the Presidential debates.

If Libertarians are allowed into the Presidential debates, Americans will see 3 candidates on stage actually debating ideas rather than 2 candidates maneuvering answers into their preplanned stump speeches and talking points.

 

Why is this year so important for the Libertarian movement? 

Many informed voters from both major parties are disappointed in their candidates and are considering voting for a 3rd party.

On the Republican side:  during the Republican nomination process the RNC changed their own rules at the last minute disenfranchising the Ron Paul delegation at the convention in order to expedite the Romney nomination and give the appearance of party unity. They disrespected the man who championed the Liberty movement and his supporters and did not include his input in the party platform – and only now that they need our votes for the election are they asking us to unite and side with Romney.

The candidate they did choose was an unpopular one-term governor who implemented an “assault” weapons ban in his state and supported a Federal one as well, implemented a program similar to what he now derisively calls “Obamacare”, and has taken both sides of pretty much any given issue. He’s clearly a man of political expedience, not a man of any convictions.

On the Democratic side:  Many who actively supported Obama in ’08 including myself, while applauding a few of his actions, have overall been disappointed in his Presidency – especially his actions that are in direct opposition to his promises during his candidacy. He’s continued many of the policies of George W. Bush that his supporters opposed and in many instances made them worse.

In contrast, Gary Johnson was a successful 2-term Republican Governor of New Mexico, a traditionally Democratic state, who:

  • “is highly regarded in the state for his outstanding leadership during two terms as governor. He slashed the size of state government during his term and left the state with a large budget surplus.”
  • “… left the state fiscally solid”, and was “arguably the most popular governor of the decade . . . leaving the state with a $1 billion budget surplus.”
  • “During his tenure, he vetoed more bills than the other 49 governors combined—750 in total, one third of which had been introduced by Republican legislators. Johnson also used his line-item-veto power thousands of times. He credits his heavy veto pen for eliminating New Mexico’s budget deficit and cutting the growth rate of New Mexico’s government in half. (all quotes cited here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Johnson#Legacy)
In addition, he was a ”successful businessman before running for office in 1994, Gov. Johnson started a door-to-door handyman business to help pay his way through college. Twenty years later, he had grown the firm into one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico with over 1,000 employees. Not surprisingly, Governor Johnson brings a distinctly business-like mentality to governing, believing that decisions should be made based on cost-benefit analysis rather than strict ideology.” (http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/about)

 

With a candidate who has a such a strong executive and business background and a  coalition of informed Republican, Democratic, and Independents who believe in the cause of Liberty we can get the 5% we need on Nov 6th to move our country in the right direction if we have the courage to vote with our convictions instead of our fears.

A Year of Fighting – Tactical Response

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About a week ago Tactical Response announced an amazing offer they are running thru Dec 1 2012 for anyone who wants to train in 2013, check it out:

$2500 lets you take as many of their courses in Camden, TN as you want through the end of 2013. AND of course if you are one of the first 12 to sign up for any class you will be able to stay in the Team Room at no charge.

Below are some of the courses they have listed on their site, descriptions can be found here – http://www.tacticalresponse.com/courses.php

Five Day Courses

  • High Risk Civilian Contractor – CQB (Raids and Rescues)
  • High Risk Civilian Contractor – Direct Action
  • High Risk Civilian Contractor – Driving Package
  • High Risk Civilian Contractor – Medical Package
  • High Risk Civilian Contractor – Small Unit Tactics
  • Prepping for Survival
  • Sniper
  • Tactical Instructor
  • Tactical Response Trifecta
  • The Way of the Pistol
  • The Way of the Rifle
  • The Way of the Shotgun

One Day Courses

  • Basic Fighting Pistol
  • The Red Zone

Two Day Courses

  • Active Shooter
  • Advanced Fighting Pistol
  • Advanced Fighting Rifle
  • Advanced Fighting Shotgun
  • AK Armorer
  • Alumni Training Weekend
  • AR-15 / M-16 Armorer
  • BugOut 101
  • Fast and Accurate Pistol
  • Fighting Pistol
  • Fighting Rifle
  • Fighting Shotgun
  • Immediate Action Medical
  • Intermediate Distance Fighting Rifle
  • Precision Rifle
  • The Fight – Force on Force Scenarios

This is an awesome deal, I wish I could afford it this year. Yeager’s running it now as an experiment – hopefully it becomes a yearly option – but if not congrats to any of you able to take advantage of it!

RIBZ Frontpack. so many uses

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OK guys, I know I am way late on this one but I have been super busy trying to get some things lined up for the next few reviews. Ray Richardson from RIBZ was good enough to send us out one of his front packs and I am really glad he did. Ray is a super cool guy that is really concerned about getting his gear out and having it really tested. One of the reasons it took so long for me to get this review done is that I really wanted to put it through its paces and test out some of the things that I had questions about when I initially received it.
First I will just kind of explain the theory behind the need for the Frontpack. It is pretty academic for anyone who does a lot of activities outdoors that require packing around gear that needs to be accessible. On those long hikes it really does get old having to stop and access gear from your backpack, especially when it has to be hoisted back up and readjusted every time you stop. The front pack allows for you to put the things that are most commonly used in a pack on your chest, this makes it quick and easy to grab things like cameras, ponchos, med kits, flashlights…really anything you can think of. Over all I saved a lot of time and energy having all of that in a place where I could get to it without dropping my whole kit to get to it.
Like I mentioned before, there were some things which I was concerned about after the first time I used the frontpack. I really wasn’t to sure how well the material was going to hold up. Most of my gear is either 1200 to 2000 denier and has a really rough looking exterior. The frontpack that Ray sent us was one of his newer camo models and is made of the same type material which you would find on some of your more expensive camo jackets (other frontpacks are made with ripstop nylon). So far I have put the front pack through its paces out in the woods no less than a dozen times and it hasn’t so much as suffered a scratch. The material seems to be holding its own no problem, and that is fully packed out with around 6 pounds of gear. So as far as material strength goes I would give it a four and a half out of five.
Another thing which I was initially concerned about were the straps. I kept having a problem with them twisting on my while I was just stashing the frontpack away while I was at camp. Several times I had to have one or two people help me untwist it before I could put it back on, this was mostly out of user error though. I am used to running a chest rig for my AR which buckles in the back and it ended up just being a learning curve on how to keep it from twisting on me. I also don’t think that it could hurt maybe beefing up on the nylon webbing, but I don’t foresee it ever being a problem. The webbing itself is plenty strong and the loops are strong enough to hold anything you would typically sling off of MOLLE or gear loops.
So those were my two concerns and I have satisfied myself that they are minor enough to make no difference. Now, on to the things which were bonuses that I didn’t really expect from the RIBZ Frontpack. I knew that in theory it would be handy to have things I needed right in front of me but I never expected how much it would increase my ability to enjoy my outdoor time. The first weekend that I used it I was on a camping trip with quite a few friends and we noticed that the persimmon were ripe where we were camping so we took a hike around to collect them. The frontpack made this chore a lot easier by just allowing me to jam it full while I kept moving, everything being right there where you need it really keeps you working and moving a lot faster. Just a few weeks ago it was crabapple season here in the south and so I strapped up again to go out and collect a few gallons for jelly. It may seem like a fairly trivial thing but I find things like this are what sets some gear apart from others, I would never put on a pack to do a chore like that but the frontpack fits that bill perfectly. So, I would say that if you are a forager it would be well worth looking into. As I was using the frontpack I kept thinking more and more of other situations where I would have the need to access things quickly, yet the need to pack a good amount of gear.
One of the first things that came to mind, and one that I am looking forward to using the frontpack for is duck hunting. I love duck hunting but down here in the south the weather can be terribly unpredictable that time of year so all of your expensive duck hunting jackets can quickly go to waste on a 65 degree opening day. Just about 5 years ago on opening day we were in the blind in T-shirts so we were forced to cram our shells in our cargo pockets and jean pockets, really cutting into our response time. I really cant wait to try this out this year so that I can wear lighter gear and have all of my shells right there where I need them. I will definitely keep you guys posted on how it works out.
The frontpack is absolutely not limited to hunting duck. I can also see a huge value in having the frontpack on when you are up in a deer stand and don’t want to make those exaggerated movements and create a lot of noise. The camo model that we received is a soft plush material that is virtually silent and the zipper makes next to no noise as well. I really do believe that this is an extremely useful piece of hunting gear.
As far as other bonuses go, I noticed that the front pack also kept me a lot fresher on longer hikes by distributing the weight better from front to back. I felt really well balanced with the frontpack and my ILBE mainpack on. It really kept me from shifting around a whole lot, and because I didn’t have to worry about readjusting the pack everytime I needed to grab a piece of gear my packs stayed right where I needed them to be. I actually felt much less fatigued after a day of hiking with the frontpack than I have in the past hiking with just the pack on my back. I also really liked having my wet weather gear right there in the frontpack so that when the weather did change it was just the matter of unzipping the pack to access my weather gear. In the end I feel like the frontpack has more than exceeded my expectations.
From wilderness medics to landscapers, I believe that there are tons more uses for the frontpack than I had the opportunity to test. I would love to get this thing out to an Immediate Action Medical class sometime and put it through its paces. I typically carry a fairly large med kit and it fits in just one side of the frontpack with plenty of room left over. I think the frontpack is made for this kind of job and would excel at it.
Again, I just have to thank Ray and commend him on building a great piece of gear, that I have only just begun to explore the uses for. And if you guys are looking for a new piece of gear for your photography, fishing, boating….etc. check them out at http://www.ribzwear.com/front-pack/.