By Kevin Miller
When the editor told me I had to write an article for the outdoor issue my first thought was, “Oh, that’ll be easy.” Then, as I thought about it my ending thought was, “What in the heck am I going to write about?” It dawned on me that there is a myriad assortment of items we could take for granted or not really give much thought to that can come in darned handy when we least expect it. So, the more I thought about it the more I realized an article about the “handy dandy” things available for our outdoor or camping use might be appropriate. Here’s what I cam up with.

As I composed this article I found myself breaking the items down into several categories. They are:
? Clothing
? Weapons
? Tools
? Electronics
? Hydration
? Emergency survival

Clothing:

Dress in layers is something I remember being taught from a young age. My mother always told me it was easier to shed a layer or two than it was to freeze for lack of wearing a single heavy coat. I never understood her logic (was often absent) but I eventually grew into comprehension. If I put on a heavy coat and got hot, I’d take it off – and as a kid, probably lay it down someplace and end up leaving it. Then I’d potentially end up cold someplace for lack of my coat. If I dressed in layers and got too warm I’d only shed what I needed until I reached a comfort level – and usually I wouldn’t leave shirts, sweatshirts, etc laying around. I was never shy about tying the arms around my waist and keeping it with me.

So, as I prepped this article, I realized there were two clothing items I heavily depend on. One is the zip sweatshirt from EOTac. It’s not so much of a sweatshirt as it is an insulated polo with a zippered collar. There are also zippers at either hip in case you want more freedom of movement and a pocket on the left sleeve for pens, ipod, cell phone, etc. It’s pretty warm but won’t over heat you too quickly if you find yourself in warm spot.

The second item is 5.11 Tactical’s 5-in-1 jacket. On the New American Truth website you can find a full review of this garment, but I like it for its versatility. The outer shell can be worn with or without the fleece liner. The fleece liner can be worn with or without the outer shell. Just separating them gives you two different garments of varying protection levels from the elements. You can also zip the sleeves off of either so you can have an insulated (or not) vest. There’s a hood that folds / rolls up into the collar of the outer shell so you can have it up if necessary, down if not, and remove it totally if you feel the need or desire. The different ways you can assemble and wear the pieces of this 5-in-1 jacket far exceed the “5” part of that name. I like that because I can adjust it as field conditions demand. I make sure to leave room in my pack for whatever I take off as I go.

Weapons:

Elsewhere in this issue is an entire article about selecting a handgun for your outdoor trips. When it comes to “handy dandy” weapons I think almost all handguns fit the bill. In that article, if I’ve been told correctly, is a comment or three about how handguns are secondary to rifles in many ways. So how many rifles are “handy dandy”? I can only think of one: The Henry Rifles AR-7 “Survival” Rifle. The rifle, although long viewed as a “gimmick” gun in some circles, gained some notoriety when Sean Connery, as James Bond, used it in the movie “From Russia With Love” released in 1963. The biggest strength of the weapon is its ability to collapse completely into the stock. The stock itself is primarily a foam filled plastic material that is watertight when sealed.

Given the nature of this weapon it shoots well and with few glitches. I learned early on with mine not to shoot soft lead ammo. The feed-ramp is non-existent on this weapon. If the bullet nose doesn’t line up with the chamber just right, a soft lead bullet will get hung up on the chamber edge. Jacketed or Jacketed Hollow Point ammo with a small cavity are mandatory for reliable functioning. The iron sights (windage adjustable rear, fixed front blade) provide adequate accuracy out to about fifty yards for small game. For a man size target you can easily engage out to a hundred or more yards.

When you first handle the rifle it feels goofy because of how light the stock is making the weapon feel front heavy. You get used to it and because the overall weight is so light, once you’ve mounted the rifle, you don’t notice the weight distribution. Recoil in the semi-automatic system is as light as you’d expect from any .22lr weapon making follow on quick shots pretty easy. Overall length assembled is 35 inches which is still very compact for a shoulder fired weapon.

To me, the ability to completely collapse it into the stock qualifies it as “handy dandy”. The fact that it’s functional and useful when put together (obviously) adds to the value.

Tools:

For the purposes of this article “tools” are the things you use to cut, chop and pry with. The fewer tools you can use to accomplish all those tasks then the better off you are and the more “handy dandy” the tool is. The challenge is to find one tool that does everything you need. No single tool does everything perfectly. Think about it…

What do you use to chop with? An axe or a hatchet. No knife will ever do as well as a hatchet; no hatchet will ever do as well as an axe; no axe will do as well as a chainsaw. We have to pick what level of performance we’re willing to accept when we compromise it against the weight we’re willing to carry (or capable of carrying). In your vehicle that might be one thing; on your back in a pack it’s entirely different.

As I reviewed the items I’ve seen or experienced seeking a single knife that I would consider the best viable tool for cutting, chopping and prying I settled on the KA-BAR Becker “TacTool” or BK3. This is not a light tool. The BK3 weighs 1.3 pounds. That doesn’t sound like a lot but when you compare it to other knives – with the BK3 in one hand and whatever other knife in the other – it is a noticeable difference. When you have to consider carrying it everywhere you go, it matters.

Blade length is 7″. The blade width is a full 1/4″ to within 5/8″ of the tip. Overall length of the knife is 12.5″. Just in front of the choil there is 1.75″ of serrated edge. On the spine, 2″ back from the tip, is what I’d call a gut hook although it can just as well serve to snag and cut string, cord, twine, nylon, etc. There is a black epoxy coating on the blade that reduces reflection. The sheath is synthetic and can be worn on a belt or mounted on anything MOLLE. If you need to get creative, use zip-ties. They’re fantastic for increasing your versatility when you’re putting gear together.

The grips are nicely molded so that they swell in the palm but hang over at the front and rear of the grip to protect from slippage in rough use. The grip slabs are secured to the full-tang blade with hex-head screws and counter-sunk bolts. Aside from the ergonomically shaped grip slabs and the recessed holes where the hex-head screws and bolts sit into the grip slabs themselves, there is no other texturing. I don’t like that much because it makes the grips slippery when wet. If you’ve got to depend on this tool for use in the rain, or slick with blood because you’re butchering something, slick sucks. That’s my only complaint though. The BK3 will cut; it will chop; you can pry with it. In that sense it’s “handy dandy”.

For a separate chopping tool I’ve always preferred – as has our editor – the tomahawks from K5 Tactical. Sure, any hatchet will do, but anything that does more than one job is desired, remember? The K5 ‘hawk I have experience with could be used for chopping, or the back flat for hammering and the handle was specifically designed for use as a pry bar. Yes, the tomahawks K5 Tactical designs and manufactures are designed for use as breaching tools by law enforcement officers. That said, they serve magnificently well for “every day” field use as well. The sheaths are nylon and can be MOLLE attached to your pack – or otherwise strapped on if needs be. The ‘hawks aren’t light but they are a lot more efficient at chopping than any knife you’ll find.

Sometimes, though, there are smaller cutting chores to be done. And there are other times when you’d just kill for a screwdriver, a bottle opener or a pair of pliers. For all these situations you just can’t beat having a multi-tool with you. Leatherman has been around a long time making such tools, and we (the New American Truth staff) have tested heck out of the assortment of multi-tools from SOG Knives as well. The average multi-tool will have:
? Needle nose pliers
? Wire cutters
? Knife
? Slotted Screw driver
? Philips head screwdriver
? Bottle opener
? Can opener
? 8” ruler (give or take an inch)
? Awl (leather punch)

The circumstances during which any one of those tools might come in handy can’t be anticipated, but having a multi-tool and not needing it doesn’t carry a heavy cost. Big deal. You have to carry it around in your pack or pocket or belt pouch. It doesn’t weigh much and offers pretty good versatility. Compare that to the cost of NEEDING a pair of pliers and not having any available. Oopsy… For the size vs. capability, multi-tools make the “handy dandy” list.

Electronics:

As I reviewed items, those that ended up in this heading included:
? Flashlights
? GPS units
? Weather gadgets

Now remembering that I like single unit items that do more than one thing, I kept my eyes out for a flashlight that did more than one thing. There are several out there that offer variations in flashing lights, power of light, etc. I think that lights serving as signaling devices are an exceptional idea, but that’s not the primary usage I want or anticipate for my light – so I dismissed them. There are plenty of handheld LED driven lights that have adjustable power, strobe capability and more. While those things are important for cops on the street or soldiers in combat zones, they don’t severely impact my happiness in my campsite. What would?

I wanted a light I could perform basic, non-emergency navigation with; use to search through my camp kit for a needed item; carry with me comfortably and count on to work for hours on end. What I end up selecting was the Gerber Recon that retails for less than $25. The four-LED light allows for Red, Green, Blue and white light. True, it’s not cranking out hundreds of lumens of light, but it’s sufficient for the needs as I described them. The clip allows you to put it on your hat or secure it in your pocket. It runs on a single AA battery which means you can find power for it in every corner store. Neat…

GPS units were something else. I’m not a fan of electronic navigation but it’s so invasive in today’s outdoor world that you can’t escape it. Still, if you’re backpacking you can’t plug it in, so what’s the solution? My choice would be the Suunto X9 Wrist-top watch / computer than has a GPS unit built into it. For land navigation it has both a compass function and a navigation function.

The Compass function is simple but valuable. Most wrist-worn compasses give you an eight- or sixteen-direction heading limited to north, south east, west and variations on them. Bring on the X9. In addition to the eight digital compass headings it displays the exact heading in 360 degree increments. Like every other compass made, you have to hold it level to use it in this manner, but it’s awfully easy to see and read – and it’s comfortable enough to wear for weeks of outdoor activity.

As a stand alone Navigation tool, the X9 provides you a couple ways of tracking your path. Using the GPS functions, the X9 can “Mark Home” for you. It locks into its memory the latitude and longitude of your location when you activate this function. Everything else you do in relation to “home” is dependent on you marking the right place as “home” (duh). It is imperative that you understand that “home” is a relative term that refers to where you’re standing when you activate the “Mark Home” function. (If anyone ever invents a watch that can find my house by pushing a button, I’m going to worry)

With “Home” marked in your X9, you can then begin a hike, outing, whatever – and wherever you end up find your way back by using the “Find Home” feature. From wherever you ended up, the X9 will direct you back to the location you were in when you “Marked Home”. That’s one way not to get lost.

The X9 also has something called “Active Track” as one of its navigation features. Using the time-interval GPS fix captures, the X9 can track your hike over time and distance, recording into memory which direction you went in for what period of time. Just like “Find home” directs you back to whatever location you used to “Mark home”, “Track Back” will direct you back along the path you took as the X9 recorded your “Active Track”. In other words, it gives you opposite directions than those you would have followed going out, so that you are lead back along the same path you used to travel out. Again, makes it hard to get lost. But it gets even better.

The X9 has a “Routes” feature. By preloading waypoints into the X9, you can create a planned route of travel which takes you from waypoint to waypoint. As you travel your route, the X9 will tell you which direction to go in to get to the next waypoint. Because you preload the waypoints in by latitude and longitude, the X9 can even tell you how to get from waypoint to waypoint even if you want to get to them out of order from your original route plan.

Now, in today’s contemporary personal computer world, people have a tendency to plan things in front of their desktop. That’s cool – Suunto planned for that. The X9 comes with companion software that allows you to create waypoints and plan routes, and allows you to download them from your computer to your X9. Further, the X9 can upload into your computer activities which you have completed, to include your path, speed of travel, altitude profile, etc. The software user interface is very friendly and is thoroughly explained in the manual that comes with it – as well as the information available from the Help files. If you don’t consider this thing “handy dandy” just stop reading now because the rest of what I’ve selected won’t impress you.

Before I get into OTHER weather gadgets let me point out that the Suunto X9 also has a weather alerts function. NOW do you think it’s “handy dandy”?

Moving on… knowing the weather while you’re out is a good thing. I’m not talking about looking at the sky and thinking, “Hmm… looks like rain.” I’m talking about being able to see trends in humidity, wind speed, wind direction, etc. Kestrel makes some pretty thorough pocket weather stations that I believe would be good to have on any long backpacking trip. Certainly it can tell you when you need to seek shelter because something ugly is coming your way. They have an assortment of models that have different capabilities at different price points so you can select the minimum capabilities you need and purchase that model.

Hydration:

We can all live without food for a few days (even though we won’t like it) but we can’t live without water. Dehydration is a relatively quick and silent killer when you’re out in the boonies. That said, drinking contaminated water can be worse than drinking no water. So, you need a method for carrying fresh water AND a method for sterilizing or cleaning the water you find if you can.

In recent decades the two biggest improvements for carrying water have been the hydration bladder systems such as those from CamelBak or HydraStrom (Blackhawk) and the development of nalgene water bottles / canteens. Nalgene is a plastic like material that won’t bleed anything into your water (no carcinogens) and that maintains its strength in both high and low temperature extremes. In lightly colored but still see through variations the nalgene containers allow you to see the condition of your water.

Now, as I’ve already stated several times, I like versatility. For hydration systems my favorite, most versatile pack is the Transformer from CamelBak. Bear in mind that I’m not talking for backpacking; I’m talking for day hikes and to take with you while hiking away from your base camp. The Transformer is comprised of three consecutively smaller sections that you can put together and take apart and configure within the limits to suit your needs. It has both adjustable padded shoulder straps and a removable waist belt to help keep some of the weight off your shoulders. It is large enough to carry everything you would need for a day hike or the emergency survival supplies you’d need if you get caught out unexpectedly overnight.

For nalgene water bottles, CamelBak makes a good sipper bottle that you can attach to your belt or pack with a crabiner. Where canteens are concerned, since I tend to use surplus LBE kit quite a bit, the one quart canteens from Blackhawk suit me well. I’ve never been disappointed by them and as clumsy as I can be, I’ve never had one break when I dropped it either.

So, your method of carry is determined; how about cleaning the water? There are plenty of filtration systems available but the easiest and most thorough I’m familiar with is made by Hydro-Photon: the SteriPEN. The SteriPEN is an electronic device that uses UV radiation to purify the water. The SteriPEN products operate on batteries to produce ultraviolet light that damages the DNA of microbes. Without that functioning DNA, the microbes can’t reproduce which apparently also means they can’t make you sick (I say “apparently” because I’m not an M.D.). The promotional material claims that SteriPEN is effective against (and this is quite a list):
- Viruses
- Bacteria
- Giardia
- Cryptosporidium (most common dysentery causing agent)
- Bird Flue and Influenzas
- E. coli & salmonella
- Staph & Strep

Additionally, according to published material, the SteriPEN kills natural disaster / bio-terror agents that can cause:
- Botulism
- Cholera
- Smallpox
- Typhoid

The only short-coming I can see to the SteriPEN at all is that it doesn’t necessarily make the water TASTE clean. For that you’ll need something different – a filtration system or flavor powder or something. But for simple quick purification of water to make it safe to drink, the SteriPEN works.

Emergency Survival:

When it comes to emergency survival supplies – the stuff I put in that CamelBak Transformer to have in case I get caught out unexpectedly overnight – there are a few things I’d like to list real quick with their (obvious) benefits.

An emergency “space blanket” or “space bivvy”. These very compact extremely light items can be the difference between life and hypothermia. The bivvy is essentially an open topped sleeping bag made out of the “space” material that reflects your body’s heat back to you. The space blanket does the same in a more open and less efficient way.

Blast matches, or a flint and steel, are vital to have at hand. For everything from keeping warm to cooking food, fire is a necessary and important tool. In this case, it takes tools to make tools. Neither of these items take up much room and some fire-starter fuel cubes are equally compact. Better to have them and not need them rather than the reverse condition.

So… that my list of “handy dandy” items for the outdoor world this month. If you have items you’d like to add to the list, please share your thoughts and comments on our blog.

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