Eric, I just did a quick price check for November 2023 in this kit it came out to about $365 dollars. big difference from $230 for the kit now. Prices have gone up a lot.
@@michelleparks but those does not ship internationally(outside from US), do they? At least they do not to Sweden. So actually getting the kit may be double the price for many outside of US. Very doubtful anything above 350 USD for this kit would be woth it. Probably much more cost effectivc to custom build it yourself. Also, there are probably alternate brands that will have good enough quality, but lower cost.Not saying the high price brands are BAD, just saying the regular person would make do with alternate brands costing less.
Pointing out the prices of the items was very helpful. I was in the group that thought this was highly overpriced. You changed my mind. Thanks for the extra effort that bit of your review must have required.
If I should by this particular kit today from Sweden it would cost at least 332 USD plus shipping. Some sell it with a basic pouch and it then reaches a whopping 449 USD. It may by the currently weak Swedish crown, but honestly, you can easily build your own kit for less than half of this without compromising on quality. By maximal price range of every given item now, the total may look fair, but it is a biased compare as it kind of compares with itself (very brand wise) and with very little situational adjustment. As survival is highly situational, you may find yourself dropping some items irrelevant in your climate zone, season etc. and by removing those items to buy others you loose even more money. Building up your kit from the start is very likely to not only be more cost effective, but also highly adjusted to the situations you may find yourself in and the skill sets you happen to have. Some of these ready made kits are overpriced and most if not all contains items of practically no real value in a less ideal survival situation.
I may have missed it when you were adding up the individual costs however the container would add a significant additional amount . I also approve of your personal additions. GREAT JOB !
Fantastic video!! Getting the space-blanket, lighter and med kit in the tin was a feet of magic. Your rebuild is what ESEE should use as a standard. Should hire you as a consultant.
As soon as you were down to where I could see my fist thought was the blanket. Thank you! My second thought is either olight or micro headlamp ...or some longer burning candle somehow. Glad you broke down the pricing. Very helpful.
At Last! A compact survival tin whose mess tin is of s size that can be used to boil water and cook food! The size and quality of the tin was the second indicator that this would be a good kit, the first being who made it! Whilst I believe the Victorinox Huntsman would be preferable to the Hiker for that excellent saw, or the Farmer X Alox for extra strength, but at the cost of losing the superb tweezers and toothpick of the Huntsman, any Victorinox is a bonus! This exceptionally well considered kit is, in my opinion well worth every penny and the quality is truly something one can rely on. I would love to buy that mess tin, as I'm currently building kits into a non stick copy of the Trangia 210 Mess Tin, which I then put into a non Trangia cordura case made specifically for the 210 sized tins which allows additional kit to be stored (like the compact Blizzard Trauma Blanket, etc). Those of us that enjoy building kits may be inspired by the real professional kits, but we don't necessarily build our own to save money. One kit I put together has a Gransfors Bruks Mini Hatchet, a Silky Gomboy Outback Saw, a Mora Companion Heavy Duty, a Victorinox Huntsman and a Leatherman Micra. Other kits have a Silky Saw F180 or the original Gerber Sportsman Saw, both of which are lightweight and process wood well, and are much lighter and smaller than the Gomboy. This kit also has space for a Garmin InReach Mini 2 Satellite PLB, which in itself is propably the most important item for a survival kit! Edited to say that I just found a UK supplier of this excellent tin and bought one. This tin is almost the same size as the Trangia 210 Mess Tin, which is 17cm long (Esee 15.8cm), 9.6cm wide (Esee 10cm), and 6.4cm high (Esee 6.35cm), but I prefer this size for carrying on the person. Your add on's to the kit were really well considered, and inflation has resulted in this kit now costing around $300.
Great kit with some good quality items, I own a couple like the Suunto compass & Victorinox Hiker (it has a saw!). Even the price estimates you did were pretty good prices, I actually paid a little bit more than the prices you quoted for those items. The mess tin as a container is following the Lofty Wiseman (author of the SAS survival handbook and ex SAS) system, to be carried in a belt pouch and the next step up from an Altoids tin pocket kit (it was originally a pipe tobacco tin, there are no Altoids in UK). Add to this for cover a poncho, mylar bivvy bag and large drum liner (or plastic survival bag) and you have covered shelter, the drum liner is to stuff with foliage and use as a mattress.
It looks like the Victorinox is actually a Tinker, the Hiker being the same as the Tinker but with an added saw. Keep the videos coming; this is quickly becoming my favorite channel!
So far this is the best survival kit I ever saw. I will add TWO space blankets. ONE for shelter and ANOTHER to cover yourself. I think is a reasonable price for the quality of the items. There are people that think that emergency situations will never happen to them and when they get stuck into it, the regrets erupt like a volcano. To have a kit like this on your trips or always in the car doesn't hurt. We spend that much money sometimes on things that we'll never need or we'll never use, things that stand as decorations or hug on our walls.
Good kit! Anything in it can be upgraded, replaced, added to or omitted as your conditions may require...I would add a quart sized ziploc bag, to hold the contents of the kit while using the pan.
Yeah, that would take almost no space but would be helpful. Another option would be a small nylon pouch/bag to story the tin in; when using the tin just dump the stuff into the stuff sack.
Items can be 'upgraded', replaced or simply removed in ANY kit so I fail to understand that as an argument this is a good kit. It is so overpriced today it is silly. Counting item per items is irrelevant as it then compares with itself and not what you need. Upgrading and replacing adds too the cost and what did you pay for exactly at the start? The option to replace...?
I love your videos with these prebuilt kits. I followed the 10cs and built a kit with redundancies for my car with mres and I think I spent around 600 bucks. I have a lot of stuff left over. Keep in mind I built a very comfortable kit. I keep heavy jackets in my backseat even in the summer for bedding or cover and I carry edc in my pockets that would fill many needs because I'm a mechanic by trade and I only have 30 miles to traverse from work to home.
Glad you broke down the price, another thing to consider is when buying the ingredients yourself, you some places have to pay shipping and tax, that is an additional expense, if you can find most of the things locally you still have the sales tax, and if you are like me and the closest place to shop is 17+ miles away, there is gasoline price too. So looking at that it would cost even more than you project which makes the cost of the kit sound even better.
Good points. Not to mention the time and effort to unpack, prepare for packing, and actually pack and assemble the contents of the kit as a shippable unit.
What the hell could the 90 + people have a problem with in this video by giving it a thumbs down? Great video and I doubt all those Karen’s giving thumbs down have no reviews here.
Some losers just get a kick out of giving videos thumbs down...not realizing that they are helping the video regardless of whether they give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Other people don't understand that the thumb rating is meant to grade the quality of the video...not whether or not you like the subject of the video.
I made my own..I realized I had the Izula 2 ,..which is a better knife.,.added a leatherman Sidekick with Saw instead of the Victorinox..Other than that,. I ordered the empty tin and filled it like they do..(with akl similar products) ..I love the finished product alot...I keep it vacuum seal in a bag with the SOL emergency shelter,(with cord and stakes) ..Emergency Blanket and 50 gal 3 mil trash bag...It makes a pretty awesome lightweight complete outdoor survival kit,..combined with First Aid kit and Food kit kept in same place..
Nice kit I'm very impressed with the quality of the contents. Thank you for a great information video have a great day and keep looking for that better tomorrow
Great information. Just an observation, The Esee knife looks to be designed as a neck knife. Taking it out of the tin should free up a decent amount of room for anything else you may want to include . Also I agree with the suggestions that a SAK with a saw is a worthy substitution. IMO several of these items really belong on your person rather than in a tin.
That's a good kit! But the Fishing Kit is taking up too much space and reduced with a more efficient way...maybe just 50 ft of a 10 lb line and 10 hooks. Worms can be found near the fishing spot, and leaves or a piece of wood could be floaters. The Emergency blanket, Mini FAK, Mini Glow sticks, Bday candle and Bic lighter are great additions! If there is more room consider adding Prescription meds, Allergy meds, Single use Iodine packs, a Large Garbage bag, and a couple of Vitamin C drink mixes.
If I was Mr. ESEE, I would make one slight change to this valuable kit: exchange that SAK model with their "Walker" model -- it has a saw blade, very useful building emergency shelters.
Very good video and very well done! It might be a good thing the tea candle didn't fit. I've had those things melt in hot weather and make a real mess of my kit.
The green light. I dunno who decid3d red is night vision must have on head torches. But anyone that used the 2 D cell angle head signal torches will tell you green is best to read maps by and not destroy your personal night vision. I know theres been a few gens between now and then, perhaps red works better with night vision equipment
Love these videos. However, and this has me cracking up, while using the closed caption, whoever did it, they apparently think that you said "Six advils, to imodium x' and two Binet drills...... that alone was worth watching this video. Made my night. Awesome reviews.
Very awsome survival kit. Wat I do to make a fire starter kit is that I get a pill bottle rap duck tape around it then put 3 packs of machis in it with Kindle to start a fire and a little flint and steel then I rap electric tape around the cap of the bottle to make it water prof.
To buy one of these kits in the uk it cost £370.00, so convert that into US dollars and it’s nearly $500.00. I have just purchased one from 5col survival and including postage it cost me, £190.00 about $260.00. Can’t wait for this to be delivered.
They should leave out the knife. The little candiru would make an excellent utilitarian EDC but when you should already have a capable knife carried on you in a way that you can't loose it, just takes up space and adds to the cost. I'll concede that the Victorinox Tinker ( the hiker has a corkscrew) is an okay addition to the kit since said knife could potentially fall out of your pocket, I still think most people probably already own their preferred Vic model to take with them or add themselves.
@@matthewshannon6946 Sure, but it should not come with the kit. Just choose your own knives to carry and they can save space and money in the kit. I always have 1 and sometimes 2 knives on me at all times, were I going into the woods I'd add the two woods related blades along with what's already on me.
Best kit I’ve seen... but I’d of liked to have seen in it a maglight solitaire with a spare battery, mini bic lighter and a Vaseline stick.. also they’ve doubled up a lot on cards which could be replaced with a few band aids maybe?
It would be nice if those flashlights flashed an SOS, you could place it high it a tree or something and let it ask for help for you. This kit needs aspirin, Imodium and a few Band-Aids. You could also put those space blankets under the rubber band on the outside. Nice video.
I'm a good fisherman and IMHO all a modestly skilled fisherman needs is a couple if bait hooks, a couple of split shot sinkers and a water with fish in it. I would ditch most the fishing kit to save space. You could and I would ditch the swiss knife for a mini multi tool with saw knife like the Gerber Dime Muti-tool. Mini Bic was a must have addition
Excellent after seeing this plan to order one of these kits and follow your add on items also ! Sure want to get a t candle in I may put the blanket on bottom under the ranger bag to free up a little space 👍 great work & Thx ! 👍
I had to revisit this video. It's a great explanation of how quality effects cost. I'm wanting to save up for the ESEE advanced kit or at least the bag and tin from the advanced kit to make my own.
I have found stuff of theirs on Canadian military surplus website. Not sure if it's cheaper but they have an awsome selection of just about every thing. It has honest to god military issue gear along with the usual reproduction and civilian gear.
If I should by this particular kit today from Sweden it would cost at least 332 USD plus shipping. Some sell it with a basic pouch and it then reaches a whopping 449 USD. It may by the currently weak Swedish crown, but honestly, you can easily build your own kit for less than half of this without compromising on quality. By maximal price range of every given item now, the total may look fair, but it is a biased compare as it kind of compares with itself (very brand wise) and with very little situational adjustment. As survival is highly situational, you may find yourself dropping some items irrelevant in your climate zone, season etc. and by removing those items to buy others you loose even more money. Building up your kit from the start is very likely to not only be more cost effective, but also highly adjusted to the situations you may find yourself in and the skill sets you happen to have.
Disclaimer, I am not an expert! But, on those mini snap lights, I would find an empty pen to use as a case for them, just to keep them safe until needed. I would combine all of the cards along with the note pad into one ziplock bag. A couple of tongue depressors would be helpful. I would also try to discard anything that is duplicate, (NOT counting fire starters.) Now, just what do you do with all the contents when you open up the mess kit to use? I would try to find a cloth bag to put the whole kit into and then have a way to carry the kit minus the mess kit pan after use. Note: Both the vinyl tape and the duct tape could be used as fire starter material.
Let's say you get it for 180 or 160. How much time would it take you to gather all these things, how much driving and research would you have to do to get all these things together? You have to take your time and gas into account. So if you need something right away and dont want to put it together this is a decent kit.
I believe the price of this kit is in line as far as consumer costs as you stated. I put together a kit using more high end products costing me about 400 bucks. If I truly needed a kit to survive, I want to trust the items I pack into it. My kit is enclosed in an Emerson Chest Pack with an Esee Izula 2 mounted scout carry on the front. Enclosed are the Suunto MC2 compass, Ranger pace beads, Leatherman multitool, a Victorinox Rangergrip 178, a Smith PP1 sharpener, a custom hand made hatchet with sheath and shortened handle, Bic and Croc lighters, Light My Fire ferro rod, trioxane cubes, small canister of pepper spray, Rite in the rain flip memo pad, a Pilot G-2 07mm pen (able to write upside down) and so on; includes mylar poncho (bright orange on the outside), camo space blanket (mylar), SOL bivvy and a pot I made from a Tyson chicken breast can keeping the lid. A push pin serves as a lid handle. The Tyson can contains two tea bags, a small bag of coffee, small bag of trail mix and compacted energy snacks. A ranger band secures the lid and can. Camo Impact mechanics gloves fit between the layers of the pack. On the lower strap on the left side hangs an Aoutacc radio pouch with a Baofeng UV-5R radio with NOAA/FM channels; no interference with my range of motion. I'm working on acquiring a ham radio license. When I backpack (or "bug out") this kit is a part of my loadout and the total loadout weight is usually between 25 and 30 pounds, depending how much water and food I carry. The Emerson chest pack loaded weighs 5.64 pounds. I tested everything over a span of a month backpacking in mountains, forests and several hiking trails. A couple changes in gear and gear elimination resulted.
That's a nice kit but there are many ways to procure items for a it that are just as good or better and wont add up to $220. You have to be frugal and persistent and pick things up one at a time but if you put your mind to it, it can be done, and cheaper too.
Haven't seen this one, and it was great as I wait for your video in the advanced kit with the bag. Thanks for the price breakdown, it was helpful. I'm in Canada, so I have to factor in conversion rates, and sometimes amazon CA doesn't carry some of the gear that COM does (or it's the cheap version). Watching your videos helps me think outside the box. Really enjoy then!
Good video. I think there's a lot of great gear in that kit, no doubt. But I'm baffled by some of the choices ESEE made. If you think about the rules of three you'll immediately note that in bad weather you can die of exposure in three hours, yet you can go three weeks without food (and that's the average- the longest medically supervised fast was 400 days! The guy took vitamin supplements, salt and water but no food for over one year!). So I'm really at gobsmacked that there'd be a survival fishing tin and no space blanket! If it were my kit I'd probably ditch the fishing tin so make room for two space blankets, or one blanket and a couple of tealight candles. In a small kit I'm not sure it's necessary to have two knives, especially with no shelter elements. You'd probably be better served by one knife and two or three Whirl-Pak bags since water is a lot more important than having a cutting tool. That said, it's clear that this is a very good base kit to build on! Apropos of nothing (and maybe I made this comment on another video) I find it humorous that the bigger, more advanced kits are called "Advanced Kits" when really it's just the opposite! A person who's an expert in survival can get by with far less kit than an average person, so realistically a tiny kit as advanced kit. A beginner's kit is pretty much a backpack. Keep up the good content, Eric!
Look up the Doug Ritter PSK (or don't, I'm going to tell you anyway :) ) The only reason he includes a survival fishing kit is because people see a survival kit and think it isn't complete without one. It's generally useless for what you'd normally encounter, but if you want your kit to be purchased, it needs one. Of course that's why it's usually 20 cents worth of fishing gear.
$200-$230 for this kit seems steep but it is actually pretty good when you itemize it all and add up what you'd spend gathering it all yourself at retail prices.
A good kit and i will buy that for 200! I will add my comments though. They shouldve put a SAK with the saw, sa saw in most SAKs works well and i use mine a lot. It will be a big help. 2. I didnt see the sewing thread in the patching kit with needles. 3. Athough the matches are good, i couldve replaced that with an iodine bottle. I dont see a small FAK there? We can make one perhaps. 4. I can put a better amount of paracord there. 5. Some non lubricated condom for water holding. Where will use the pur tabs for? 6. An extra blade that you can fashion to a spear with a good wood pole you can find. All those you added are good esp the space blanket. Just my two cents. Thanks good vid. Am subscribing!
This kind of survival kit is really a great idea. But it is quite bothersome, when you have to play "suvival kit mikado" to get this puzzle kit together in the box again. Put this here or there, fold this in half, pack this on top or bottom. A little bit annoying, when you just need one or two items, and put this box back in your pack again. Nevertheless I'm going to buy such a suvival kit. That's why I am still comparing them with help of your videos. Thanks for sharing. It's a great help.
Good video, but I have mixed feelings about the kit. Although its "value for money" compared to buying the same items individually at retail, I would not want many of the items in there. For instance there are better alternatives for that compass, I have no use for that neck knife, and I would prefer a slightly different model SAK than the one provided. There are even cheaper alternatives to the mess tin itself...I sure there are many people who will love the kit, especially with some of the additions you suggest, personally I will still to building my own...
Thanks for the content! One tiny, tiny, tiny, trivial thing: it's Victorinox, not Victor I onox...Again, being kind of petty, and really enjoyed the video!
for me, the problem is not if that stuff value or not 200 bucks, but that you do not need to buy most of that stuff. a Vic Hiker costs 5 bucks more of the one in the kit and has a pretty good saw. With 20 bucks more you can get a 111 like a trailmaster or a soldier. the small knife was pretty useless. you dont need tripwire if you get a good paracord. most of the cards are rendundant. a good roll of 3m dutchtape costs 3 bucks. ...etc. and still miss items that costs like nothing, like a 2 bucks thermal blanket, a saw, a knife to chop some wood (a 111 vic can).... i mean, it is cool, but it works? a lot of pieces are priced just becouse of the brand. no way that a tin costs 18 bucks and a set of matches 10 (50 costs around 7). For 200 bucks i expect to see a ready to use kit, not a cart filled by a child. this set can be used by an expert or an advanced... but is totally useless for a consumer. and i think an advanced or an expert wont buy that.
I always wonder if people think about how you have to go buy a whole roll of tape to get the 3 cents worth of you don’t already keep it around. And if you already keep it around, why be shopping for these kits? These are ideal for people who will only ever need this stuff in an emergency. People who already own all this really shouldn’t be looking at these kits. They might still want to watch just because not everyone is that smart about marshaling their resources, and seeing what goes in here can help the unimaginative realize what they can do with what they’ve got. We all need inspiration.
A good looking kit, but the tools are a bit big. I kinda wished, they went with the approach of small, but high quality items. There's so much, that I could put in a kit THAT large, AND make it actually fit neatly in there. They just seem to have thrown the items in, unarranged. Rattle is not something you want, if your survival kit is also your hunting/SERE kit.
Great video. I'm from the UK and would happily pay £162 ($200) for a kit of this quality We can get hold of ESEE products here (not this kit though) but they are expensive. Totally approve of all the additions you made, taking a good kit into being a very good one.
Eric, I just did a quick price check for November 2023 in this kit it came out to about $365 dollars. big difference from $230 for the kit now. Prices have gone up a lot.
Ouch!
It's available for$220 on Amazon, as of Jan 2024.
@@michelleparks but those does not ship internationally(outside from US), do they? At least they do not to Sweden. So actually getting the kit may be double the price for many outside of US. Very doubtful anything above 350 USD for this kit would be woth it.
Probably much more cost effectivc to custom build it yourself. Also, there are probably alternate brands that will have good enough quality, but lower cost.Not saying the high price brands are BAD, just saying the regular person would make do with alternate brands costing less.
Pointing out the prices of the items was very helpful. I was in the group that thought this was highly overpriced. You changed my mind. Thanks for the extra effort that bit of your review must have required.
If I should by this particular kit today from Sweden it would cost at least 332 USD plus shipping. Some sell it with a basic pouch and it then reaches a whopping 449 USD.
It may by the currently weak Swedish crown, but honestly, you can easily build your own kit for less than half of this without compromising on quality.
By maximal price range of every given item now, the total may look fair, but it is a biased compare as it kind of compares with itself (very brand wise) and with very little situational adjustment. As survival is highly situational, you may find yourself dropping some items irrelevant in your climate zone, season etc. and by removing those items to buy others you loose even more money.
Building up your kit from the start is very likely to not only be more cost effective, but also highly adjusted to the situations you may find yourself in and the skill sets you happen to have.
Some of these ready made kits are overpriced and most if not all contains items of practically no real value in a less ideal survival situation.
Nice video. Thanks from Switzerland 🇨🇭. I’ll drop
the fishing kit and add a space blanket, a candle, a tea bag or a stock cube.
That's one of the most complete compact kits that I've seen in a long time. Probably one of the best...
I may have missed it when you were adding up the individual costs however the container would add a significant additional amount . I also approve of your personal additions. GREAT JOB !
Fantastic video!! Getting the space-blanket, lighter and med kit in the tin was a feet of magic. Your rebuild is what ESEE should use as a standard. Should hire you as a consultant.
Dan Scholl thanks!
@@djzrobzombie2813 I agree. I don't like background music
As soon as you were down to where I could see my fist thought was the blanket. Thank you! My second thought is either olight or micro headlamp ...or some longer burning candle somehow. Glad you broke down the pricing. Very helpful.
Very nice kit and I am trained as a Sapper and those map cards are very helpful for reading a map...
At Last! A compact survival tin whose mess tin is of s size that can be used to boil water and cook food!
The size and quality of the tin was the second indicator that this would be a good kit, the first being who made it!
Whilst I believe the Victorinox Huntsman would be preferable to the Hiker for that excellent saw, or the Farmer X Alox for extra strength, but at the cost of losing the superb tweezers and toothpick of the Huntsman, any Victorinox is a bonus!
This exceptionally well considered kit is, in my opinion well worth every penny and the quality is truly something one can rely on.
I would love to buy that mess tin, as I'm currently building kits into a non stick copy of the Trangia 210 Mess Tin, which I then put into a non Trangia cordura case made specifically for the 210 sized tins which allows additional kit to be stored (like the compact Blizzard Trauma Blanket, etc).
Those of us that enjoy building kits may be inspired by the real professional kits, but we don't necessarily build our own to save money.
One kit I put together has a Gransfors Bruks Mini Hatchet, a Silky Gomboy Outback Saw, a Mora Companion Heavy Duty, a Victorinox Huntsman and a Leatherman Micra.
Other kits have a Silky Saw F180 or the original Gerber Sportsman Saw, both of which are lightweight and process wood well, and are much lighter and smaller than the Gomboy.
This kit also has space for a Garmin InReach Mini 2 Satellite PLB, which in itself is propably the most important item for a survival kit!
Edited to say that I just found a UK supplier of this excellent tin and bought one.
This tin is almost the same size as the Trangia 210 Mess Tin, which is 17cm long (Esee 15.8cm), 9.6cm wide (Esee 10cm), and 6.4cm high (Esee 6.35cm), but I prefer this size for carrying on the person.
Your add on's to the kit were really well considered, and inflation has resulted in this kit now costing around $300.
Great kit with some good quality items, I own a couple like the Suunto compass & Victorinox Hiker (it has a saw!). Even the price estimates you did were pretty good prices, I actually paid a little bit more than the prices you quoted for those items. The mess tin as a container is following the Lofty Wiseman (author of the SAS survival handbook and ex SAS) system, to be carried in a belt pouch and the next step up from an Altoids tin pocket kit (it was originally a pipe tobacco tin, there are no Altoids in UK).
Add to this for cover a poncho, mylar bivvy bag and large drum liner (or plastic survival bag) and you have covered shelter, the drum liner is to stuff with foliage and use as a mattress.
It looks like the Victorinox is actually a Tinker, the Hiker being the same as the Tinker but with an added saw. Keep the videos coming; this is quickly becoming my favorite channel!
Evan Cox It has a saw, I just forgot to pull it out
So far this is the best survival kit I ever saw. I will add TWO space blankets. ONE for shelter and ANOTHER to cover yourself. I think is a reasonable price for the quality of the items. There are people that think that emergency situations will never happen to them and when they get stuck into it, the regrets erupt like a volcano. To have a kit like this on your trips or always in the car doesn't hurt. We spend that much money sometimes on things that we'll never need or we'll never use, things that stand as decorations or hug on our walls.
I have this kit. I added a sewing kit from Walgreens, some personal meds, a handkerchief, a few band-aids and alcohol swabs and a whole roll of tums.
Good kit! Anything in it can be upgraded, replaced, added to or omitted as your conditions may require...I would add a quart sized ziploc bag, to hold the contents of the kit while using the pan.
Yeah, that would take almost no space but would be helpful. Another option would be a small nylon pouch/bag to story the tin in; when using the tin just dump the stuff into the stuff sack.
I would just put that under the ranger bands.
Items can be 'upgraded', replaced or simply removed in ANY kit so I fail to understand that as an argument this is a good kit. It is so overpriced today it is silly. Counting item per items is irrelevant as it then compares with itself and not what you need. Upgrading and replacing adds too the cost and what did you pay for exactly at the start? The option to replace...?
I love your videos with these prebuilt kits. I followed the 10cs and built a kit with redundancies for my car with mres and I think I spent around 600 bucks. I have a lot of stuff left over. Keep in mind I built a very comfortable kit. I keep heavy jackets in my backseat even in the summer for bedding or cover and I carry edc in my pockets that would fill many needs because I'm a mechanic by trade and I only have 30 miles to traverse from work to home.
Glad you broke down the price, another thing to consider is when buying the ingredients yourself, you some places have to pay shipping and tax, that is an additional expense, if you can find most of the things locally you still have the sales tax, and if you are like me and the closest place to shop is 17+ miles away, there is gasoline price too. So looking at that it would cost even more than you project which makes the cost of the kit sound even better.
Good points. Not to mention the time and effort to unpack, prepare for packing, and actually pack and assemble the contents of the kit as a shippable unit.
Now that is an all inclusive kit! Tons of items great brands and holy cow 50 water purification tabs!
What the hell could the 90 + people have a problem with in this video by giving it a thumbs down? Great video and I doubt all those Karen’s giving thumbs down have no reviews here.
Some losers just get a kick out of giving videos thumbs down...not realizing that they are helping the video regardless of whether they give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Other people don't understand that the thumb rating is meant to grade the quality of the video...not whether or not you like the subject of the video.
Because of the price I guess.
I made my own..I realized I had the Izula 2 ,..which is a better knife.,.added a leatherman Sidekick with Saw instead of the Victorinox..Other than that,. I ordered the empty tin and filled it like they do..(with akl similar products) ..I love the finished product alot...I keep it vacuum seal in a bag with the SOL emergency shelter,(with cord and stakes) ..Emergency Blanket and 50 gal 3 mil trash bag...It makes a pretty awesome lightweight complete outdoor survival kit,..combined with First Aid kit and Food kit kept in same place..
debo1177 cool!
Why do I find these kind of stuffs beautiful
Right👍
They are just plain fun and knowing you have them if you need them is a beautiful thing
Nice kit I'm very impressed with the quality of the contents. Thank you for a great information video have a great day and keep looking for that better tomorrow
Thanks, you too!
Great information. Just an observation, The Esee knife looks to be designed as a neck knife. Taking it out of the tin should free up a decent amount of room for anything else you may want to include . Also I agree with the suggestions that a SAK with a saw is a worthy substitution. IMO several of these items really belong on your person rather than in a tin.
That's a good kit! But the Fishing Kit is taking up too much space and reduced with a more efficient way...maybe just 50 ft of a 10 lb line and 10 hooks. Worms can be found near the fishing spot, and leaves or a piece of wood could be floaters. The Emergency blanket, Mini FAK, Mini Glow sticks, Bday candle and Bic lighter are great additions! If there is more room consider adding Prescription meds, Allergy meds, Single use Iodine packs, a Large Garbage bag, and a couple of Vitamin C drink mixes.
I just built a kit of similar size and boy the shelter element always takes a lot of space.
If I was Mr. ESEE, I would make one slight change to this valuable kit: exchange that SAK model with their "Walker" model -- it has a saw blade, very useful building emergency shelters.
The included SAK knife has a saw, I simply forgot to pull it out.
@@KitbashedSurvival Never mind.
Very good video and very well done! It might be a good thing the tea candle didn't fit. I've had those things melt in hot weather and make a real mess of my kit.
Thanks for the info!
I would like the SAK to have the saw...(nitpicking) otherwise it's excellent!
KungFuTweety1 it does have a saw, I forgot to pull it out.
It's a Hiker, it has a saw.
And the cork screw to mount it on a stick and use it as a extended saw
The green light. I dunno who decid3d red is night vision must have on head torches. But anyone that used the 2 D cell angle head signal torches will tell you green is best to read maps by and not destroy your personal night vision. I know theres been a few gens between now and then, perhaps red works better with night vision equipment
Yes, blue/green lights near 625 nanometer wavelength, it's best for NVG's and night vision protection.
I really wish the Victorinox would have been a Tinker! Scissors are invaluable for Bandaids and other fabric items!!!
For 5 bucks extra you have the Huntsman....with saw and scissors
@@michelroubos8440 agreed! Even better!
You could make space for the tealite by using the Paracord to replace the ranger bands.
I've seen a lot of kits this is one of the better put together ones I can see about 200
Love these videos. However, and this has me cracking up, while using the closed caption, whoever did it, they apparently think that you said "Six advils, to imodium x' and two Binet drills...... that alone was worth watching this video. Made my night. Awesome reviews.
Very awsome survival kit. Wat I do to make a fire starter kit is that I get a pill bottle rap duck tape around it then put 3 packs of machis in it with Kindle to start a fire and a little flint and steel then I rap electric tape around the cap of the bottle to make it water prof.
To buy one of these kits in the uk it cost £370.00, so convert that into US dollars and it’s nearly $500.00. I have just purchased one from 5col survival and including postage it cost me, £190.00 about $260.00. Can’t wait for this to be delivered.
They should leave out the knife.
The little candiru would make an excellent utilitarian EDC but when you should already have a capable knife carried on you in a way that you can't loose it, just takes up space and adds to the cost.
I'll concede that the Victorinox Tinker ( the hiker has a corkscrew) is an okay addition to the kit since said knife could potentially fall out of your pocket, I still think most people probably already own their preferred Vic model to take with them or add themselves.
1 is none- 2 is 1
@@matthewshannon6946
Sure, but it should not come with the kit.
Just choose your own knives to carry and they can save space and money in the kit.
I always have 1 and sometimes 2 knives on me at all times, were I going into the woods I'd add the two woods related blades along with what's already on me.
Best kit I’ve seen... but I’d of liked to have seen in it a maglight solitaire with a spare battery, mini bic lighter and a Vaseline stick.. also they’ve doubled up a lot on cards which could be replaced with a few band aids maybe?
A vaseline stick and a couple of condom's (you just might get lucky). Sheep 🐑 can be girlfriends too. Best wishes from Yorkshire.😂
It would be nice if those flashlights flashed an SOS, you could place it high it a tree or something and let it ask for help for you. This kit needs aspirin, Imodium and a few Band-Aids. You could also put those space blankets under the rubber band on the outside. Nice video.
Great review Eric!!! Love your reviews brother keep up the good work!!!
Thank you for doing these survival kit reviews 👍
I'm a good fisherman and IMHO all a modestly skilled fisherman needs is a couple if bait hooks, a couple of split shot sinkers and a water with fish in it. I would ditch most the fishing kit to save space.
You could and I would ditch the swiss knife for a mini multi tool with saw knife like the Gerber Dime Muti-tool.
Mini Bic was a must have addition
Pace beads are also nice
Excellent after seeing this plan to order one
of these kits and follow your add on items also ! Sure want to get a t candle in I may put the blanket on bottom under the ranger bag to free up a little space 👍 great work & Thx ! 👍
You should look
At the Henry survival kit.
Skinner sights also makes a survival kit
Yeah I've got reviews for those scheduled
I had to revisit this video. It's a great explanation of how quality effects cost. I'm wanting to save up for the ESEE advanced kit or at least the bag and tin from the advanced kit to make my own.
I have found stuff of theirs on Canadian military surplus website. Not sure if it's cheaper but they have an awsome selection of just about every thing. It has honest to god military issue gear along with the usual reproduction and civilian gear.
@@toryknotts8026 can you please tell me what site? Anytime I can buy in CAD is great, the conversion is a killer!
If I should by this particular kit today from Sweden it would cost at least 332 USD plus shipping. Some sell it with a basic pouch and it then reaches a whopping 449 USD.
It may by the currently weak Swedish crown, but honestly, you can easily build your own kit for less than half of this without compromising on quality.
By maximal price range of every given item now, the total may look fair, but it is a biased compare as it kind of compares with itself (very brand wise) and with very little situational adjustment. As survival is highly situational, you may find yourself dropping some items irrelevant in your climate zone, season etc. and by removing those items to buy others you loose even more money.
Building up your kit from the start is very likely to not only be more cost effective, but also highly adjusted to the situations you may find yourself in and the skill sets you happen to have.
I have never been a fan of most pre-built survival kits, however Esee ones seem to be the best quality.
Disclaimer, I am not an expert! But, on those mini snap lights, I would find an empty pen to use as a case for them, just to keep them safe until needed. I would combine all of the cards along with the note pad into one ziplock bag. A couple of tongue depressors would be helpful. I would also try to discard anything that is duplicate, (NOT counting fire starters.) Now, just what do you do with all the contents when you open up the mess kit to use? I would try to find a cloth bag to put the whole kit into and then have a way to carry the kit minus the mess kit pan after use. Note: Both the vinyl tape and the duct tape could be used as fire starter material.
Thanks!
Sir, your videos is awesome. I really love it.
Wrap the para cord round the handle ?
Very good kit. I am going to try to put together a kit like this with all the stuff I have already. Money already spent.
Let's say you get it for 180 or 160. How much time would it take you to gather all these things, how much driving and research would you have to do to get all these things together? You have to take your time and gas into account. So if you need something right away and dont want to put it together this is a decent kit.
For this kit we need some plastic bags to store the content when using the tin. Also i would like to see a thermal blanket like in the first aid kits.
Excellent improved kit
Hi great review! What are the dimensions of the bright strike lights.. lxbxh cm or inches? Thanks!
Doesn't keeping a compass in a metal box around other stuff that is metal mess it up or is that just a myth?
I wonder if the tin is stainless or aluminium
I believe the price of this kit is in line as far as consumer costs as you stated. I put together a kit using more high end products costing me about 400 bucks. If I truly needed a kit to survive, I want to trust the items I pack into it. My kit is enclosed in an Emerson Chest Pack with an Esee Izula 2 mounted scout carry on the front. Enclosed are the Suunto MC2 compass, Ranger pace beads, Leatherman multitool, a Victorinox Rangergrip 178, a Smith PP1 sharpener, a custom hand made hatchet with sheath and shortened handle, Bic and Croc lighters, Light My Fire ferro rod, trioxane cubes, small canister of pepper spray, Rite in the rain flip memo pad, a Pilot G-2 07mm pen (able to write upside down) and so on; includes mylar poncho (bright orange on the outside), camo space blanket (mylar), SOL bivvy and a pot I made from a Tyson chicken breast can keeping the lid. A push pin serves as a lid handle. The Tyson can contains two tea bags, a small bag of coffee, small bag of trail mix and compacted energy snacks. A ranger band secures the lid and can. Camo Impact mechanics gloves fit between the layers of the pack. On the lower strap on the left side hangs an Aoutacc radio pouch with a Baofeng UV-5R radio with NOAA/FM channels; no interference with my range of motion. I'm working on acquiring a ham radio license. When I backpack (or "bug out") this kit is a part of my loadout and the total loadout weight is usually between 25 and 30 pounds, depending how much water and food I carry. The Emerson chest pack loaded weighs 5.64 pounds. I tested everything over a span of a month backpacking in mountains, forests and several hiking trails. A couple changes in gear and gear elimination resulted.
Trangia make a good quality mess tin with a lid the same size if people wanted to start their own kit.
I was thinking the knives alone were close to half the cost of the kit. It's expensive, but all the components appear to be high quality.
True
Good kit only thing missing is a wire saw
That's a nice kit but there are many ways to procure items for a it that are just as good or better and wont add up to $220. You have to be frugal and persistent and pick things up one at a time but if you put your mind to it, it can be done, and cheaper too.
Haven't seen this one, and it was great as I wait for your video in the advanced kit with the bag. Thanks for the price breakdown, it was helpful. I'm in Canada, so I have to factor in conversion rates, and sometimes amazon CA doesn't carry some of the gear that COM does (or it's the cheap version). Watching your videos helps me think outside the box. Really enjoy then!
Great video, some top quality product.
Good video. I think there's a lot of great gear in that kit, no doubt. But I'm baffled by some of the choices ESEE made. If you think about the rules of three you'll immediately note that in bad weather you can die of exposure in three hours, yet you can go three weeks without food (and that's the average- the longest medically supervised fast was 400 days! The guy took vitamin supplements, salt and water but no food for over one year!). So I'm really at gobsmacked that there'd be a survival fishing tin and no space blanket! If it were my kit I'd probably ditch the fishing tin so make room for two space blankets, or one blanket and a couple of tealight candles. In a small kit I'm not sure it's necessary to have two knives, especially with no shelter elements. You'd probably be better served by one knife and two or three Whirl-Pak bags since water is a lot more important than having a cutting tool.
That said, it's clear that this is a very good base kit to build on! Apropos of nothing (and maybe I made this comment on another video) I find it humorous that the bigger, more advanced kits are called "Advanced Kits" when really it's just the opposite! A person who's an expert in survival can get by with far less kit than an average person, so realistically a tiny kit as advanced kit. A beginner's kit is pretty much a backpack.
Keep up the good content, Eric!
Thanks!
Look up the Doug Ritter PSK (or don't, I'm going to tell you anyway :) )
The only reason he includes a survival fishing kit is because people see a survival kit and think it isn't complete without one. It's generally useless for what you'd normally encounter, but if you want your kit to be purchased, it needs one. Of course that's why it's usually 20 cents worth of fishing gear.
Looks like a good kit. The items look quality.
$200-$230 for this kit seems steep but it is actually pretty good when you itemize it all and add up what you'd spend gathering it all yourself at retail prices.
Well done video. The background music isn't necessary and I found it just added noise.
Great vid, i would drop the fishing kit.
Thanks!
@Paul Revere pointless for people who have no clue how to fish lol
I’d never drop the fishing kit. If you don’t know how to fish then learn how to. Fishing is one of the best ways to get meat without much gear
@@Live-ib5yi you may as well drop the whole kit then because if you don't know how to fish, it's not likely you'd know how to use anything in the kit.
Good quality items in that kit. Good answer to the not worth that much crowd. Add a paracord neck cord for that knife
No, first aid component?
Re configure that fishing kit and take it out of the can it gives you a lot more room
is it made of stainless steel or aluminum?
Great videos!!!
When you shoot is your phone on a tripod? What are you using to film?
SAK hiker has a saw on it, fairly certain thats the tinker
A good kit and i will buy that for 200! I will add my comments though. They shouldve put a SAK with the saw, sa saw in most SAKs works well and i use mine a lot. It will be a big help. 2. I didnt see the sewing thread in the patching kit with needles. 3. Athough the matches are good, i couldve replaced that with an iodine bottle. I dont see a small FAK there? We can make one perhaps. 4. I can put a better amount of paracord there. 5. Some non lubricated condom for water holding. Where will use the pur tabs for?
6. An extra blade that you can fashion to a spear with a good wood pole you can find.
All those you added are good esp the space blanket.
Just my two cents. Thanks good vid. Am subscribing!
The SAK knife does have a saw. I noted that during the video with a text overlay because I forgot to pull it out.
In Canada it would be about 300 dollars
What would you consider the best wire saw
This kind of survival kit is really a great idea. But it is quite bothersome, when you have to play "suvival kit mikado" to get this puzzle kit together in the box again. Put this here or there, fold this in half, pack this on top or bottom. A little bit annoying, when you just need one or two items, and put this box back in your pack again. Nevertheless I'm going to buy such a suvival kit. That's why I am still comparing them with help of your videos. Thanks for sharing. It's a great help.
Impressive little kit.
Great review Eric
Price update: August 2024 - US$230 on Amazon
Amazon won’t ship fero rods to AK. But all these kits , with fero rods are ok.? Amazon needs to adjust its policies.
Just a thought the patch doesn't come with any thread.
Looks like the junk drawer in my kitchen... kidding, little "kits" are neat : )
where are those little lights available from, as well their name ?
Good video, but I have mixed feelings about the kit. Although its "value for money" compared to buying the same items individually at retail, I would not want many of the items in there. For instance there are better alternatives for that compass, I have no use for that neck knife, and I would prefer a slightly different model SAK than the one provided. There are even cheaper alternatives to the mess tin itself...I sure there are many people who will love the kit, especially with some of the additions you suggest, personally I will still to building my own...
Thanks for the content! One tiny, tiny, tiny, trivial thing: it's Victorinox, not Victor I onox...Again, being kind of petty, and really enjoyed the video!
Cool Video 👍
Thank U for the Info and the Links 👍
No shelter items nor medical items. Surprising for such a large kit.
Great video. Good upgrade items.
Have you checked the price on Esee website? This kit cost $287
Great video of an awesome kit!
All name brand stuff. Best of the best
They also have to pay a person to assemble the kits.
for me, the problem is not if that stuff value or not 200 bucks, but that you do not need to buy most of that stuff.
a Vic Hiker costs 5 bucks more of the one in the kit and has a pretty good saw. With 20 bucks more you can get a 111 like a trailmaster or a soldier.
the small knife was pretty useless.
you dont need tripwire if you get a good paracord.
most of the cards are rendundant.
a good roll of 3m dutchtape costs 3 bucks.
...etc.
and still miss items that costs like nothing, like a 2 bucks thermal blanket, a saw, a knife to chop some wood (a 111 vic can)....
i mean, it is cool, but it works? a lot of pieces are priced just becouse of the brand. no way that a tin costs 18 bucks and a set of matches 10 (50 costs around 7).
For 200 bucks i expect to see a ready to use kit, not a cart filled by a child. this set can be used by an expert or an advanced... but is totally useless for a consumer. and i think an advanced or an expert wont buy that.
I love your survival kit videos
Thanks!
I always wonder if people think about how you have to go buy a whole roll of tape to get the 3 cents worth of you don’t already keep it around. And if you already keep it around, why be shopping for these kits? These are ideal for people who will only ever need this stuff in an emergency. People who already own all this really shouldn’t be looking at these kits. They might still want to watch just because not everyone is that smart about marshaling their resources, and seeing what goes in here can help the unimaginative realize what they can do with what they’ve got. We all need inspiration.
Great kit, nice video, thanks.
A good looking kit, but the tools are a bit big. I kinda wished, they went with the approach of small, but high quality items. There's so much, that I could put in a kit THAT large, AND make it actually fit neatly in there. They just seem to have thrown the items in, unarranged. Rattle is not something you want, if your survival kit is also your hunting/SERE kit.
Great video. I'm from the UK and would happily pay £162 ($200) for a kit of this quality We can get hold of ESEE products here (not this kit though) but they are expensive. Totally approve of all the additions you made, taking a good kit into being a very good one.
Thanks, Peter!
Very good review.. Thank you.
Glad you liked it!