Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight .3 Review (79g / £10)

Overview

Iv'e looked at these kits several times and wondered whether or not they'd be good value and whether or not they'd be a suitable foundation for an ultralight first aid kit.

An ultralight first aid kit is primarily about dealing with inconvenient things rather than life-threatening things and so the things that you tend to want in it tend to be light.

If you have done any first aid training then things like triangular bandages, splints and absorbant wadding and padding can be created from existing gear if you really have to. In an emergency I think it's fair game to 'destroy' kit if it gets you to safety.

If you have a broken arm or a broken leg then it is no time to be prissy about cutting up your UL tarp if the alternative is that you have to lie down and die.

Anyway,

I was at the Outdoors Show 2008 and one stand was doing an offer where 3 pairs of expensive socks entitled you to a free med-kit. Since I'm on a quest for the 'perfect' sock for use with my Vasque trail shoes I thought it was worth a punt.

I looked at the packaging (tamper-sealed) and the front and back pictures and thought it looked like a reasonable-but-expensive collection of medical bits for £10 and better value with the socks.

I did note that the picture and the list did not match. I also noted the disclaimer - "contents may vary" and that this kit was the "International Version" whatever that means.

Contents

When I had the thing home and opened it up I was less than amused to find the actual contents to be somewhat different from the advertised contents. In particular the Steri-strips (useful and expensive) were missing and the medicines were missing. It felt like I'd been ripped off!

In a fit of pique I went down to my local chemist to price up what it would cost me to build a similar kit from scratch using generic components for all of it. There is after all no point in buying branded Ibuprofen for £2.50 when the generic equivalent (which is 100% identical) costs 37p

In medicine it is always beneficial to read the labels. Many expensive flu cures consist of aspirin+caffeine+vitamin c. Putting these three items together somehow multiplies the price by 10...

DIY AMK .3

From this list it can be seen that the cost soon adds up.

What is surprising is how fast it adds up. The problem is that whilst building one medical kit is expensive building two or three is cheap.

Conclusions

Initially I was disappointed that the 'good stuff' had been left out and thought the kit to be expensive for what it was. I was also disappointed that the list of items on the cover didn't match too well the contents - extra plasters (cheap) had replaced steri-strips (expensive) and the drugs.

Overall however, the thing is still reasonable value.

The problem is really that a lot of the kit is not going to be used - at least by me. Scrapes and cuts small enough to require a plaster I just do not worry about. I'm more interested in closing bigger wounds.

However, I will take items from this kit and especially the case to supplement my own medical kit.

You can see my current 2-3 day medical kit here...