Category Archives: Reviews

Are you looking for a great stocking stuffer for the outdoor adventurer on your list? Then look no further than the Survival Medic from Adventure Medical Kits. Like any other product from AMK, this little med kit is packed full of useful goodies that could come in handy when dealing with emergencies on the trail.

The Survival Medic tips the scales at just 4.8 ounces (136 grams), which means you can throw it in your daypack and barely notice that it is even there. But don’t let its diminutive size fool you, as AMK has managed to pack a lot of useful items into this tiny package.

Read More: Gear Box: Adventure Medical Kits Survival Medic

Though Adventure Medical Kit’s new SOL Escape Bivvy won’t hit store shelves until January 2012, the product continues to receive major awards from leading outdoor interest media. The most recent plaudits come courtesy of prominent outdoor gear blog, the Gear Junkie, which included the Escape Bivvy in its 2011 “Top 10 Gear List”.

The Bivvy also received a 2011 “Best in Show” award — recognizing the most innovative gear that debuted at the Summer Outdoor Retailer Show — from the Gear Junkie in August and a Fall/Winter 2011 “Gear of the Year” nod from National Geographic Adventure Magazine. Here’s what the Gear Junkie had to say about the SOL Escape Bivvy, following a thorough field test of the product earlier this fall:

“I can say hands-down that the SOL Escape Bivvy is the finest minimal/emergency bivy solution I have ever seen. We woke up dry even after going to bed wet in this truly breathable bag! It’s about 8 ounces rolled up, and it is well worth the weight in your pack.”

Read the Gear Junkie’s full review the SOL Escape Bivvy.

Staying healthy while on the go is one of the most important aspects for us to enjoy our travels. Nothing ruins a “trip of a lifetime” more quickly than contracting a stomach ailment or developing nasty blisters on our feet. Anticipating everything we might need to take with us to avoid these issues can be tough however, and invariably we end up leaving home without the one thing we really need.

That’s where Adventure Medical Kits comes in. The company makes a line of medical kits and survival gear that have long been favorites amongst the backpacking and adventure racing crowd. But they also have a fantastic set of med kids designed specifically for travel that offer everything we need for our next trip in one compact, well organized, package.

Take for example their Smart Travel kit, which is designed to support one or two people on an extended trip. The kit is essentially a well stocked medicine cabinet that you can take with you wherever you go. Weighing in at just over a pound, the Smart Travel comes packed with bandages, gauze, a thermometer, tweezers, medical tape, and much more. It also includes medications to treat a variety of stomach ailments, blisters, dehydration, fever, and other minor aches and pains. A comprehensive patient assessment form helps to diagnose exactly what it is that ails you, while a visual communications card allows you to communicate what is wrong, in multiple languages, just by pointing.

Read More: Gadling gear review: Adventure Medical Kits Smart Travel

SOL Escape Bivvy. Adventure Medical Kits calls it a “breathable Space Blanket bivy.” We tested the lightweight bag on trips from Utah to British Columbia this year and fell in love with its crinkly, reflective material (a “vacuum-metalized spun-bonded olefin,” according to the company). We have been using AMK’s regular “Space Blanket” bivy sacks for years. They are lightweight and body-heat-reflective, though always clammy — water condenses inside the original design. But with this new bag, condensation can escape better through the material — though the exterior is rain-, snow- and wind-resistant — leaving you more dry after a night’s rest, both inside and out.

The SOL Escape Bivvy weighs about 9 ounces. It packs up to the size of a Nalgene bottle. The bag will sell for $50 in 2012 when the company ships to stores.

Read More: Gear Junkie ‘Top 10′ Gear of 2011 Awards!

“Most people think of snowshoeing as an incredibly slow, duck-like trudge.  Yet with Atlas’ Run snowshoes ($200) the experience is emancipating, thanks to just enough floatation, lightweight materials, a comfortable and efficient binding system,biomechanically-accommodating frames, and rugged aluminum cleats.”

Read More: Competitor.com Gift Guide: Atlas Run Snowshoe

Hey all you hunters and anglers, AMK needs your help re-designing ourSportsman Series of medical kits. And we are certainly willing to make it worth your while! Fill out our hunting and fishing survey and you’ll get a promo code good for 50% off the regular price of a SOL Origin or SOL Core Lite. Pretty sweet deal, no?

The deadline for completing the survey is Saturday October 29th. All purchases using the discount code must be made through the AMK website by October 31st. Here’s your chance to have a say in how the new version of the Sportsman Series should look and function.  So c’mon, start checking those boxes!

“Space blankets, as it turns out, are wildly uncomfortable. I was forced to use a reflective aluminum bivvy sack in Iceland and became sopping wet from sweat. Yes, the blanket traps body heat—and every molecule of water. It was almost worse than being exposed to the elements. The new 10-ounce SOL Escape Bivvy from Adventure Medical Kits, however, is lined with a breathable reflective layer that lets moisture escape. It doesn’t bounce back as much body heat as a space blanket, but it’s infinitely more comfortable.”

Read More: National Geographic Gear of the Year 2011

Essentially a cross between a space blanket and a bivy sack, the SOL Escape Bivvy from Adventure Medical Kits promises to reflect the user’s body heat back (like a space blanket), to be durable, and to be waterproof and breathable. Big promises. But this bag, which will cost $50 in 2012 when the company ships to stores, delivered big time in the Idaho race.

After using the bivy for five nights of consecutive bivying (with no sleeping bags, just insulated jackets), and including a test in light rain and temps that dropped low enough for ice to form, I can say hands-down that the SOL Escape Bivvy is the finest minimal/emergency bivy solution I have ever seen. We woke up dry even after going to bed wet in this truly breathable bag! It’s about 8 ounces rolled up, and it is well worth the weight in your pack.

Survival expert Brian Brawdy appeared on FOX News Weekend for a Hurricane Irene-related segment on what gear to include in your evac pack. Two key items he recommended were Adventure Medical Kits’ Weekender (featuring the Easy Care system) and Ben’s 30 Insect Repellent Wipes.