At the London Boat Show in June, British safety equipment manufacturer McMurdo introduced their latest 406 MHz Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs). The new Smartfind E5 and Smartfind Plus G5 (with GPS) provide improved performance and features over the previous generation. These new EPIRBs have now received approval from COSPAS-SARSAT and the [...]

Never one to let a marketing opportunity pass it by, Amazon.com recently sent an email out to some of its customers announcing its Emergency Preparedness Store:
“As a valued Amazon.com customer who has purchased items for the home, you may be interested in knowing that our Emergency Preparedness Store has products to help keep your family [...]

Wenger poured 100 years of craftsmanship into their showpiece Giant Swiss Army Knife. This hand-assembled unique knife contains all 85 tools produced by Wenger at the time, which have a total of 110 functions. While it was developed primarily as a marketing exercise to generate buzz and serve as a show piece [...]

Time Magazine has published an excellent article on “the national culture of unpreparedness.” It notes,” Because the real challenge in the U.S. today is not predicting catastrophes. That we can do. The challenge that apparently lies beyond our grasp is to prepare for them.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1229102,00.html

Leatherman Charge Changes
The cast titanium handles on the current Leatherman Charge Ti and XTi will be replaced by smooth 6061-T6 aluminum with a black Type III hard anodized coating. The Leatherman logo is engraved onto a polished stainless steel insert that is riveted to the aluminum handle.
I was told that weight is virtually unchanged. The [...]

Here’s a few of the new products that captured my attention at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City this past week.
While PLBs aren’t new, it was gratifying to see the ACR booth busy (McMurdo didn’t attend). Industry perception of PLBs is improving and there’s a lot more interest. ACR’s signing of Aron Ralston, [...]

The Doug Ritter RSK Mk3™ fixed blade is my first fixed blade design to reach production and it is a direct descendant from the very successful RSK Mk1™ folder. The RSK Mk3™ is a medium-sized lightweight fixed blade with premium steel designed for practical survival, hunting and everyday utility use. The 4.5 inch (11.43 cm) [...]

Knives are man’s oldest tool. A diverse group of concerned knife and tool owners has formed the United States Knife & Tool Association (www.USKTA.org) to oppose efforts to restrict knife ownership and carry. Recent events have escalated concerns about efforts to implement irrational and needless restrictions on civilization’s most fundamental tool.The July 25, 2006, Wall [...]

Robinson Helicopter Company apparently has had something of an epiphany and has released the following:
Safety Notice SN-40
Issued: Jul 2006
POSTCRASH FIRES
There have been a number of cases where helicopter and light plane occupants have survived an accident only to be severely burned by fire following the accident.  To reduce the risk of injury in a postcrash [...]

Today’s edition of Tom Gresham’s nationally syndicated Gun Talk Radio Show will feature Doug Ritter, Editor of Equipped To Survive and Chairman of the Equipped To Survive Foundation and Les de Asis, President of Benchmade Knife Company. The subject will be the poorly researched, highly biased and inflammatory anti-knife Wall Street Journal [...]