Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog
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Musings from Doug Ritter, editor of Equipped To SurviveŽ
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post frequency (last month)
latest 15 posts
- Not Exactly Survival, But Great Customer Service
- WARNING: Defective StarFlash Ultra Signal Mirrors
- UPDATE: Skyblazer XLT Flares - SAFETY NOTICE
- Skyblazer XLT Flares - SAFETY NOTICE
- Backpacker Signal Mirror Miss
- September is National Preparedness Month
- Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008 #5
- Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008 #4
- Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008 #3
- Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008 #2
- A Different Kind of Survival Strategy - Lesson Learned
- Cool New Gear at Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008
- ACR FUD?
- What Price Your Life? Distress Alerting as a Commercial Service
- A Better PLB Standard Approved
Tuesday November 4th, 2008
Not Exactly Survival, But Great Customer Service
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 15 days ago,
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Good customer service is such a rarity these days, it’s worth mention when it does occur. I have very wide feet (9.5 EEEE). As a result, I tend to gravitate towards New Balance athletic shoes and Dunham casual and dress shoes (Dunham is now part of of New Balance). New Balance has not [...]
Friday October 24th, 2008
WARNING: Defective StarFlash Ultra Signal Mirrors
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 26 days ago,
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Earlier this year, Ultimate Survival Technologies, manufacturer of the popular mil-spec StarFlash signal mirror, introduced a “new” signal mirror, the StarFlash Ultra. The Ultra mirror was claimed to be significantly superior to the regular StarFlash; UST claiming it was 90% as reflective as a glass mirror, the gold standard. They also claimed other improvements [...]
Friday October 10th, 2008
UPDATE: Skyblazer XLT Flares - SAFETY NOTICE
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 1 month ago,
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Here’s the latest on the Skyblazer XLT Flares (the original blog entry can be found by clicking here):
Since our last notification, we have conducted exhaustive testing of the Skyblazer both in terms of measuring the dimensions of the plastic parts as well as live firing. The dimensional testing did not reveal a change. [...]
Tuesday September 30th, 2008
Skyblazer XLT Flares - SAFETY NOTICE
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 1 month ago,
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It isn’t a recall just yet, but in the meantime, Orion Safety Products has issued a safety notice and has requested that dealers quarentine all Skyblazer XLT aerial flares. To quote from their Safety Notice:
Orion Safety Products, manufacturer of the Skyblazer hand-launched red aerial flare (“Skyblazer”), has received a report indicating the safety sleeve on [...]
Monday September 8th, 2008
Backpacker Signal Mirror Miss
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 2 months ago,
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I just received my October issue of Backpacker Magazine, their “Survival” issue. I opened the magazine at random and found myself reading page 43 where it has a brief article, “How To Use A Signal Mirror.” The instructions themselves are not exactly clear, for example finding the “fireball” isn’t so easy unless you [...]
Saturday August 30th, 2008
September is National Preparedness Month
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 2 months ago,
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I’m not sure whether to be cheered that we have a National Preparedness Month, or depressed. Monday is the start of National Preparedness Month, as decreed by the Department of Homeland Security . On the one hand, it depresses me a bit that it seems necessary to make such a big deal out of [...]
Thursday August 21st, 2008
Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008 #5
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 3 months ago,
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My report on Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2008 continues (click here for the previous installment):
Leatherman Puts Folders on Diet
Leatherman’s line of folders, introduced in 2005 and expanded in 2006, offered a number of unique features including exchangeable bits in some models, and were generally well received. If there was one common complaint about them it [...]
Tuesday August 19th, 2008
Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008 #4
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 3 months ago,
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My report on Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2008 continues (click here for the previous installment):
Wine to Go…or to Hold
Nobody at Cascade Designs was telling whether the genesis of the idea was to make it easier to take along some wine on the trail while preserving its flavor, or to find a way to preserve leftover [...]
Sunday August 17th, 2008
Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008 #3
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 3 months ago,
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My report on Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2008 continues (click here for the previous installment):
Spotlight on the Spotlight
The “Spotlight,” distributed in the U.S. by Essential Gear, is a rechargeable LED flashlight with a unique charging mode. It is designed to recharge by slipping into the 12-volt power outlet/cigarette lighter receptacle in your vehicle. The [...]
Friday August 15th, 2008
Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008 #2
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 3 months ago,
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My report on Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2008 continues (click here for the previous installment):
A New Saint of Light
Surefire’s long-awaited and much anticipated headlamp has arrived. Surefire showed off prototypes of the new “Saint” model that are very close to the final specification, particularly with regards to the critical elements. Some of the machined parts [...]
Thursday August 14th, 2008
A Different Kind of Survival Strategy - Lesson Learned
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 3 months ago,
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I tend to focus on the gear and technological aspects of survival, but occasionally we touch on the all-important mental considerations. I was reminded this week that sometimes survival planning also involves making sure you’ve adequately prepared for even the most unsatisfactory circumstances, not surviving.
My wife’s step-dad was in the hospital again [...]
Cool New Gear at Outdoor Retailer Summer 2008
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 3 months ago,
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Outdoor Retailer Summer Market was held in Salt Lake City this past weekend and it was a pretty good show in most respects. Unfortunately for some exhibitors, OR has outgrown Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace and a bunch of new exhibitors were exiled to the Energy Solutions Arena (the old Delta Center) where the [...]
Saturday June 14th, 2008
ACR FUD?
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 5 months ago,
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Competition sometimes results in companies using questionable tactics to protect their turf or gain market share. It’s the nature of the beast. The line is often fine between a great marketing concept and one that wasn’t such a good idea. Sometimes it’s just how it’s done that raises a red flag. Oftentimes it is [...]
Thursday June 5th, 2008
What Price Your Life? Distress Alerting as a Commercial Service
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 5 months ago,
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The RTCM (Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services) Annual Meeting and Conference was held the week of May 5, 2008. I was asked to make a presentation as part of a panel discussing “Innovative Satellite Technologies.” Invitations to be included on the panel were sent to a number of organizations currently marketing distress alerting [...]
Tuesday June 3rd, 2008
A Better PLB Standard Approved
From Doug Ritter's Equipped.org Blog, 5 months ago,
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Ever since the first ETS Foundation 406 MHz Beacon Testing revealed significant shortcoming in the beacons I have been working to encourage improvement of the standards to which PLBs are approved and manufactured. The first stage involved tightening up the COPSAS-SARSAT standards, T.001 and T.007 that cover all 406 MHz distress beacons. Some pretty [...]