A new Indiegogo “crowdfunding” project just went live. It’s called “GyverGear”. Their motto is “Survive like a Navy SEAL”. Here’s the Indiegogo page and the GyverGear website. The guy behind the project is a Navy SEAL. Since he does not give his name, you might be skeptical about his identity. But I see no reason to doubt him. He says:
It’s our standard procedure to have an emergency kit within arm’s reach at all times. Usually, we carry it in a durable bottle that can fit nearly anywhere: a backpack pouch, a cargo pocket, or even a belt loop. When I came back from my most recent combat deployment I realized that my family and friends wouldn’t have this incredible “tool” at their fingertips during a crisis. So, I went out to buy it for them, only to discover that it doesn’t exist. The only options were uselessly cheap, inadequate or completely out of touch with realistic survival situations. It was from this void that GyverGear was born with a mission: to create the ultimate everyday survival kits — small enough to carry, yet powerful enough to count.
The gear being offered is a set of useful survival items, in a compact container, and at a lower price than if you put the kit together yourself. The smaller kit is the GyverTin, which is small enough to fit in a back pocket, yet contains over a dozen survival items. It’s $30 with free shipping in the U.S.
The more interesting and more useful product is the GyverCan. It’s a 1 liter stainless steel bottle, which you can use to boil water. But it also functions as a container for over 3 dozen survival items, useful for: cutting, light, combustion, cover, construction, first aid, water purification and more. The GyverCan by itself (empty) is $25, which is not a bad price (with free shipping). But filled with dozens of survival items and delivered in time for Christmas, it’s only $65. You can get the empty one liter stainless steel bottle and make a DIY kit. But I don’t think you can get as many survival items for as low a price as the filled kit.
A cautionary note: Crowdfunding projects are typically a commercial endeavor, and, like any business venture, they can and sometimes do fail. I’ve bought items from a few different crowdfunding projects, but I always limit the amount of money I spend, so as to limit my risk. That said, this particular project is not a pie-in-the-sky claim to be able to design some revolutionary new product, like The World’s First 3D Printing Pen. It’s a collection of readily available survival items in a simple useful container. The main benefit to joining a crowdfunding project of this type is to take advantage of the lower prices that come from high volume wholesale pricing.
My take: I like the one liter bottle kit. It’s a great deal of useful survival items in a very compact form. The bottle can be used for boiling water. It also has a good look to it: a stainless steel bottle wrapped with 550 paracord, with a compass and carabiner hanging from the top.
Check out the Indiegogo project, and see what you think: GyverGear at Indiegogo.
- Thoreau
