Active New Top (30 days) Compact Card People who have taken a course from the prepared, was it worth it? Liz Klein - January 31, 2021 I’ve been eyeing the courses that The Prepared has been putting out and am interested in taking them. But before I do, I want to make sure it is worth the money. Has anyone taken the knife sharpening or water course? Did you learn something new that you didn’t know before or was it things that most people know about? Do you feel like you got your money’s worth? Read More 11 14 AdviceSkills How to start a fire Ron Brown - January 28, 2021 My parents burned wood throughout my childhood and I’ve heated with wood most of my adult life. I use about one box of matches per year. So from age 20 to age 80 (that’s where I am today) is 60 years. And 60 years @ 1 box = 60 boxes. And 60 boxes @ 250 matches = 15,000 fires. Not sure how precise that estimate is but how many thousands of fires have you started? Here’s what it’s come down to. If I need to start a new fire from scratch, I skip the kindling wood and newspaper and all that, stack up my wood, and insert a cloth soaked in kerosene into the stack. One match and I have a fire. Here’s a link to the “Azerbaijani Lady” (with 3 million views) cooking outside. At 4:08 to 5:08 she is shown starting a campfire with one match sans kindling or newspaper. Gee, I wonder how she does that? The Azerbaijani Lady does all her cooking outside and has dozens if not hundreds of videos showing either herself or her husband lighting a fire in similar fashion. Sometimes you can glimpse the kero rag but mostly they hide it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOfhIny0pi4 My other fire-starting scenario is where, in this morning’s ashes, I have some glowing coals left over from yesterday. In general terms, I gather the coals together, put some kindling on top, and blow some air on the coals using bellows. To gather the coals together I use a 6-inch stainless steel strainer. I scoop up some glowing red coals mixed with ashes, shake the strainer to get rid of the ashes, and dump the coals in a little pile of their own. Leather gloves give my hands better traction. The handle of the strainer is a bit slippery. For bellows, I don’t use old-fashioned blacksmith bellows. I use a BBQ Fan that runs on one D-cell battery. Try it. You’ll like it. And that’s what you search for on eBay: “BBQ Fan.” One of the more amusing things I’ve ever had happen to me is to be camping with friends at a provincial park in Canada and have a 15-year-old boy kneel down next to me at the fireside and ask (with a touch of awe in his voice), “How do you know so much about fires?” It takes a lot to impress a 15-year-old. Read More 7 7 Skills KN95 mask recommendations? matthew.Contributor - January 28, 2021 Hello all, if you are like me you are both overwhelmed and a bit suspicious of all the KN95 masks on the market. And every time one seems to be proven legit, it sells out quickly and is never found again. Is there any consensus on which KN95 masks are good? And where are you finding your information? Read More 10 13 Cool form of passive indoor lighting during the day Essie Carroll - January 27, 2021 I was browsing on Facebook when I came across this YouTube video of how people used old soda bottles and turned them into a bright light source for their homes. You cut a hole in a galvanized steel roof and slide in a water bottle completely filled with water and bleach. (I imagine the bleach will prevent algae growth) They then seal up the area around the bottle to keep the roof water tight. This method provides the equivalent of a 50W incandescent light bulb and doesn’t use any electricity. The team, Liter of Light, have installed 350,000 of these light bulb water bottles in 15 countries. I thought this was incredibly cool. If I had a little shed with a steel roof I would like to try this and see how long the bottle and water lasts before needing to be replaced. I find passive forms of energy use so interesting. Another form of passive energy use that I thought was genius is the soup can solar heater. You take a bunch of old soup cans and spray paint them black to attract as much heat from the sun as you can. Place these in a box and the sun will heat up all the air inside. The air is then pumped out using a small computer fan and reaches temperatures of 140 degrees. Another super smart idea to add to a shed or something like a greenhouse. I imagine it would keep a shed from dropping below freezing and you could run the computer fan off a $10 solar panel. I think it is smart to know about things like this and even build and try them so if something like an EMP hits and we lose power for years, we still have ways to recycle trash into light and heat. But like I said above, these could be great ways to provide light and heat to an off-grid shed or greenhouse even during good times. Read More 9 1 Skills What is the most hassle free way to get your ham radio license remotely during covid? Jonnie PekelnyContributor - January 27, 2021 I’m getting ready to take the test for my technician ham radio license. Since, obviously, every test is currently online, I’ve checked out three recommended sites for online testing. They all have really intense and intricate requirements as far as the physical setup of the test environment, etc. to make sure people don’t cheat while taking the test remotely. Each site has different requirements for calculators, for example and of course I have the wrong type of calculator. Some of the sites require two cameras, which isn’t easy to set up in my case. I know I can jump through the necessary hoops if I need to, but I’m just wondering if folks have any recommendations for places to take the online test that aren’t so high maintenance. Read More 9 2 Get free weekly credit reports – prevent identity theft and fraud Supersonic - January 27, 2021 One of the good things to happen from Covid is the ability to request a copy of your credit report for free weekly. This used to be reserved to one free report a year from each of the three main credit bureaus. Is this an issue? Yes. With social distancing and lock downs this past year, banks and other financial institutions have expanded the ability to apply for credit remotely. This is great to prevent the spread of the virus, but makes things easier for the bad guy to open a new line of credit under your name. The bad guy can pretend to be you over phone, email, or the internet and using readily available information about you, that can be bought online for as little as a dollar, they can open up a new bank account, credit card, or take out a loan. Why you should check your credit report If someone has opened up a line of credit under your name, or even your child’s name, the sooner you move and report it, the easier it is to fix. If you don’t catch this, it can harm your credit score and prevent you from getting a credit card, car loan, or even a mortgage when you need it. How do I check my credit report? ONLY go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com. This is the only authorized and official way to access your credit report. Other may charge a fee or give you a partial summary of your credit report. Once you pull up your credit report, print it off or save it as a PDF on your computer. Once you exit that window, you lose access to that report until next week, then you have to request it again. I like to save them so I can refer back to them in the future if I need to, or know when the last time I checked my report was. What do I look for on my credit report? Look through your entire report and see if it is accurate. Do you always pay your bills on time but see that there is a late payment in November on your credit card? You need to look into that and try and fix that as that is hurting your credit score. Look for any names or addresses on the report that you don’t recognize. You’ll see a section listed as soft/hard inquiries or soft/hard pulls. Soft pulls are done for marketing purposes and even though it feels like an invasion of your privacy, it isn’t harming your credit and probably isn’t fraud. This is done all the time by banks and other organizations that sell your data and send you credit card and loan offers. Your current bank will also do the occasional soft pull to then see if they should offer you a higher limit on your credit card in hopes that you will spend more. Hard inquiries are when you open a new line of credit such as a new bank account, loan, or increase your credit card limit. These will affect your credit score for a time (so don’t do a bunch within a short amount of time if possible) and this is an additional place where you look for fraud. Do you see a hard pull from a bank in another state that you don’t recognize? Probably fraud. What do I do if I see something on my credit report? Check the credit reports with the other two credit bureaus and see if it shows up on there as well. Sometimes it won’t. Contact the institution that the line of credit was opened under. For example, if you see that a credit card was opened up at Discover two months ago, but you don’t have a Discover card and you certainly haven’t gotten a credit card in the past year, then contact the fraud department at Discover. Tell them that you were checking your credit report, you see that a card was opened up in your name, and it was not you. You will then have to prove you are who you are, and they will do an investigation. Before you hang up, write down as much information about the call as you can. Who did you talk to, what did they say they will do, when/will they get back to you, do you have a case number, and any other information you can think of that would be valuable for a smoother follow-up. Also, tell them to contact the credit bureau and have them remove the information from your credit report. Go to the credit bureaus that you have noticed the fraud under and report it to them as well. Check your credit report again after you think it has all been resolved to make sure it was properly removed from your credit report. What can I do to prepare or be proactive against this form of attack? Go to the three credit bureaus, Transunion, Experian, and Equifax and request a credit freeze. This will lock down your account and not allow anyone to open a new line of credit unless you contact the bureaus and ask for a temporary unfreeze of your credit so you can then go apply for a line of credit. How this relates to prepping I feel that good security of your finances is critical to prepping. If you don’t have money because some scumbag stole it all or ruined your credit, then you can’t buy your preps right? Just how we secure our homes against home invaders, we need to have good operational security (OPSEC) of our finances too and make sure we fix any break-ins there as well. Have you ever found fraud on your credit report? Do you check your credit report regularly? What other steps or tricks do you use to protect your finances? Any other questions you have? Hopefully I can answer them. Read More 9 2 I took a deep dive down the flashlight rabbit hole matthew.Contributor - January 26, 2021 Several weeks ago I posted a query asking for flashlight suggestions, and shortly after went down a deep rabbit hole researching and testing out several models. If it’s been a few years since you’ve shopped for a flashlight, you’ll find that the days of conventional battery powered flashlights have been augmented with an overwhelming selection of new, specialized rechargeable LED flashlights that offer an array of bells and whistles. It’s clear that the boom in battery technology that’s been fueled by smartphones and electric cars has also benefited the flashlight industry. While I make no claim of being an expert, below are some guidelines that might help you navigate the overwhelming world of modern-day flashlights, plus some thoughts on a few models I purchased and tested myself. I will note that I’m coming at this from the perspective of a prepper, and not simply trying to identify the brightest or fanciest flashlight out there. [Image caption: From top to bottom; Olight Barton S1R Baton II, Thrunite TT20, Streamlight PrtTac HL, Thrunite Archer 2AV3, Olight I1R 2 Eos] One of the first choices you’ll need to make is whether you want a basic flashlight powered by “old fashioned” standard batteries, or a fancy new USB rechargeable flashlight that comes with a specialized proprietary battery. Speaking purely of measurable metrics, the new USB flashlights are superior in just about every way, but lack the convenience and assurance that comes with being able to stockpile and swap out cheap, easy-to-find standard disposable (or rechargeable) batteries. Before choosing one over the other, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of each, as well as having a good idea as to how you intend to use, and power, the flashlight. USB Rechargeable Flashlights with Specialized Proprietary Batteries Pros: Significantly brighter, lighter, and smaller than comparable “traditional” flashlights. Can be recharged by plugging the flashlight into a USB charger, allowing for on-the-go charging. Represent the future of battery powered devices. Cons: Extra batteries and stand-alone chargers are expensive and can be difficult to find. If you are separated from your USB charger, or don’t have a powersource to charge with, you’ll literally be left in the dark. Are more expensive. Traditional Flashlights (anything using standard 1.5 volt AA, AAA, C or D type batteries) Pros: Uses cheap and easy to find disposable or rechargeable batteries. Are less expensive. Have stood the test of time. Cons: Are often bigger, heavier, and not as bright. When making a selection, it is important to envision how you will power, and potentially recharge, your flashlight. One advantage of the USB rechargeable flashlights is that, in a power-down situation, they can be charged with a USB power-brick, portable solar or hand-crank charger, or with a car charger. It is important to note that some flashlights come with their own proprietary chargers, which often offer faster charging but will leave you in the dark if you are separated from the charger. Other flashlights come with more common micro-USB or USB-C chargers, which are easy to find but may not charge as quickly. Before investing in a USB rechargeable flashlight, it’s worth tallying all of your USB-chargeable devices and inventorying the types of chargers you’re already using to see how this new device might fit in. But, if all this talk of USB charging sounds overly complicated, or you are already invested in some standard rechargeable batteries, then sticking with traditional flashlights may be the way to go. (For a deep dive into rechargeable batteries, I highly recommend this article: https://theprepared.com/gear/guides/battery-basics/). [Image caption: The Thrunite TT20 and Olight Barton SRII “window charging” with a Big Blue 28 W Solar Charger.] How you intend on using the flashlight will also dictate how bright your flashlight will need to be. “Lumens” is a technical term used to describe the brightness of a light. A lumen is a unit of measurement wherein the higher the number, the brighter the light. High-power flashlights (1500 lumens and up) are ideal for outdoor use, and can be used to blind an attacker in a self-defensive situation. But you’d never want that kind of brightness for reading, digging through a BOB, or illuminating your fusebox in a dark basement. For situations in which you need to simply illuminate what’s immediately in front of you, a lumens rating of 50 to 100 will likely suffice. Many flashlights also offer a “firefly” setting (usually less than 3 lumens) which can often be enough light to get you through an emergency while allowing your battery to last for days. Adding to the complexity is the flashlight’s “beam pattern,” which indicates how the light is directed and dispersed by the shape of the flashlight’s reflector (the mirror-like surface directly behind the bulb). Most flashlights have a beam pattern that combines a focused center with an ambient flood, and are useful across a number of situations. Specialized high-intensity flashlights have a focused beam pattern like a spotlight and are best suited for hunting and search-and-rescue type situations. Both lumens and beam pattern play a role in the overall distance the light will travel, so if you’re comparing flashlights and you find one that has lower lumens but a further throw than another, it’s likely due to its beam pattern. Don’t jump to the conclusion that the higher the lumens, or further the beam distance, the better the flashlight. For most preppers, an adjustable flashlight with low/medium/high settings (with a range of 3 lumens to 1000 lumens) will be a solid choice. So that all said, here are some thoughts on several flashlights I’ve tested. I’ve broken things down into three categories: hand-sized USB rechargeable flashlights, hand-sized traditional flashlights, and pocket-sized every-day-carry flashlights Good choices for a hand-sized USB rechargeable flashlight for your home, car, or BOB: Thrunite TT20: I like this flashlight because of its versatility and wide range of brightness settings. With what’s essentially a built-in dimmer switch, you can adjust anywhere between 31 and 1468 lumens, plus it has an additional .5 lumen “firefly” setting and a staggering 2526 lumen “turbo” mode for emergencies and self-defense situations. It uses the newish and common USB-C charging cable (the same USB cable currently used for most Android smartphones) and charged faster than other USB models I tested. It is waterproof, impact resistant, and feels good in the hand. While it’s too big for pocket carry, it will easily fit in a bag or pack. The dual switch system takes a minute to figure out, but overall this is a great hand-sized, versatile flashlight. Thrunite also offers a “tactical” version of this model, the BSS V4, which offers very similar lumens settings, but also has a pointed ‘strike bezel’ which would literally allow you to use this flashlight as a weapon, as well as an attachable red filter for light concealability. The downside, at least for now, is that the BSS V4 appears to be a generation behind the TT20. It’s still using a micro-USB charger (as opposed to the TT20’s USB-C) and it neither charges as fast or holds a charge for as long. Comparing these two lights made it clear that flashlights are now like smartphones, with improving upgraded models released faster than you can keep up with. [Image caption: the Thrunite TT20 and BSSV4] Another USB flashlight I tested and liked was the Streamlight ProTac HL, a real workhorse. It has high, medium, and low settings of 1000, 380, and 65 lumens, as well as a strobe setting for emergency signalling. It’s a bit bigger and heavier than the Thrunite, but it’s simpler to use and rugged as they come. It uses a micro-USB charger, which is extremely common but also a bit dated. My favorite thing about this light is that it puts itself into low mode as the battery nears empty, so you have some warning before the battery dies. Excellent hand-sized “traditional” flashlights for home, car, or BOB If the complexity of USB rechargeable flashlights seems a bit too much, or if you’re already invested in standard rechargeable batteries, here are a couple choices you can’t go wrong with: MagLite Mini Pro LED Flashlight: Simple and dependable, MagLite has been in the flashlight game for a long time. Powered by 2 AA batteries, the MagLite Mini Pro pumps out 332 lumens, a fraction of what the above mentioned flashlights offer but still plenty of light. MagLites are also one of the few flashlights that you can easily adjust the beam pattern, allowing you to shape the light to fit your exact needs. I’ve had one of these for years and it’s rock solid. ThruNite Archer 2A V3 Flashlight: Similar to the rechargeable USB Thrunite listed above, the Archer 2A V3 has high, medium, and low settings of 500, 70, and 17 lumens, as well as a .2 lumen “firefly” mode and 400 lumen strobe. This popular flashlight is lightweight and powered by 2 AA batteries. Good pocket-sized Every-Day-Carry flashlights It’s important to note that pocket-sized flashlights are not going to offer particularly long battery life, so they’re not great as primary flashlights, but their portability makes them perfect for EDC and get-home bags. Olight S1R Baton II: There is no denying the popularity of Olight, who make a wide array of excellent flashlights. Not much bigger than a tube of Chapstick, their S1R Baton II offers a staggering 1000-lumens max setting, as well as four additional settings ranging between 600 and .5 lumens, which is truly impressive for its size. It’s two-way clip also allows it to easily ride in your pocket, or be clipped to the brim of a hat for hands-free use, potentially replacing a headlamp. My only gripe is the proprietary magnetic charger – it charges quickly, which is great, but if you are separated from the charger you’ll be hard-pressed to find a replacement. ThruNite T1: The only reason this is a runner up to the S1R Barton is because it is slightly bigger and heavier, which is significant when you are talking pocket-sized EDC. But otherwise this little flashlight packs an impressive 1500 lumen “turbo” max setting, as well as dimmable high-low settings ranging from 685-15 lumens, as well as a strobe and .5 lumen “firefly” mode. Another big difference is that it uses a micro-USB charger, which isn’t nearly as fast as the Olight’s magnetic charger but would be infinitely easier to replace if need be. A good option for a Keychain Flashlight OLIGHT I1R 2 Eos: If for whatever reason you can’t EDC a pocket-sized flashlight, OLight’s I1R 2 Eos keychain light packs an impressive 150 lumen brightness in a flashlight no bigger than a pen cap. Charged via a micro-USB cable, this little beamer is a no brainer for anyone wanting to be prepared when the lights go out. Conclusion The brightness and features of the newer USB flashlights are truly impressive, and the varying options allowing one to easily recharge while on the move are an obvious plus. It’s also clear that this new battery technology is the wave of the future, and we will continue to see improvements and new innovations at a blistering pace. However, there is no denying the value of ubiquity, and the simple fact that standard batteries can be found in every convenience store, or or cheaply stockpiled, makes it clear that traditional flashlights still hold much value. Ultimately, the best choice from a preparedness point of view may be “all of the above,” or at least some level of diversification that considers both the immediate and long-term challenges that we hope our flashlights will resolve. I look forward to hearing everyone’s own flashlight insights and recommendations, and while I’m no expert, I’ll try to answer any questions that anyone might have. Read More 19 18 Gear So the UK coronavirus variant is more deadly…now what? LNMOt - January 26, 2021 I am now just starting to see articles claiming the UK variant of the coronavirus is more deadly – gulp. I haven’t been able to find anything yet that gives actual DATA and NUMBERS to support that claim. Nor have I seen any information on exactly how much deadlier it is. 1. Has anybody actually seen data, numbers or percentages? Is the different more on the side negligible or are we talking something more serious than that? 2. IF this variant is actually more deadly – what are everybody’s thoughts on what we should all do to better prepare, above and beyond what we are already doing now and have been doing for the “wild” version of the novel coronavirus? For me, thus far: -I just stocked up on KN95 masks and ordered about $100 worth of N95 masks. I will order more once they arrive and I confirm the seem to fit ok. -I went to my prepper pantry, took inventory and placed an online order to top everything off (it was getting close to that time anyways). Read More 11 7 ChargeTab emergency phone charger Bigwig - January 26, 2021 I’m wondering if anyone has an opinion on the ChargeTab Emergency Phone Charger packs? They are small, weatherproof, have a 2 year shelf life, and are made from recycled batteries. https://chargetab.com/ Read More 10 5 Gear Lightweight/small water containers Janet Hughes - January 25, 2021 I’m a beginner and researching water containers for my home. I have a compromised back and can not lift more than 20 lbs, which seems to be approx 2.5 gallons of water. Most like the Rhino seem to start at 5 gallons. Read More 10 12 Advice Raising fish – Great recreation & a great survival resource. RedneckContributor - January 25, 2021 In another discussion I mentioned I feed catfish, and I was asked to provide more info. My farmstead did not have a pond when I bought it, so in the spring of 2013 I decided to put one in. I love fishing… even in small farm ponds. But as a prepper, I realized even a small, one acre pond could contain thousands of pounds of fresh meat that could be sustained indefinitely due to natural reproduction, as long as I fed the fish. Feeding them accomplishes two things. First it allows for a much larger population of fish than a normal pond could sustain naturally. Second, grain fed catfish are far superior to natural fish. The flesh is pure white, firm & has no fishy flavor. My problem was, I didn’t have a ravine or gully that would allow me to simply, and cheaply, put across a dam. My only choice was to dig out the whole pond in a corner of my bottom pasture, where rain runoff naturally flowed. Then that created a new issue… what to do with all that dirt. Being an avid shooter, I had them build a large berm next to the pond, where I could set up targets. Then the rest of the dirt was spread out across the pasture in a way where any rain runoff funneled to the middle of the pasture & then would flow into the pond. Here are some pics & a rather poor video showing the construction. In the following pic, notice the trees that were knocked down & stacked in the pond. Also note where the trackhoe dug a bunch of holes and mounded that dirt. That is all structure to provide different habitats underwater & to provide safe areas for fish to hide. Also the pond is dug with different elevations where in spots it is pretty deep & then tapers to a water depth of 2 feet. https://videos.files.wordpress.com/cQHi2mvV/img_0606_mpeg1video_std.mp4 Below is the shooting berm. Added a small dock a bit later. At our local farm supply, you can order fish from a company that comes a few times each summer. They put the fish in clear bags and then you rush them to your pond. The next spring, 2014, I brought in channel catfish, hybrid bream & fathead minnows. I then added an aeration system using Vertex bubblers to improve water quality. I put in two of the dual units pictured below. They sit on the bottom of the pond & put out millions of micro bubbles. This adds oxygen directly to the bottom of the pond & keeps the water circulating throughout the whole pond. I put a small compressor in the tack room of the horse brn & ran the pvc piper out to the edge of the pond. This pic was taken in July 2016. These fish are two years old. Read More 16 23 Advice Missile Silo fixer-upper for sale TJ - January 23, 2021 8.7 acres at the northern tip of the Adirondacks https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1039-W-Hill-Rd_Ellenburg-Center_NY_12934_M38574-94204 Read More 9 7 Beginning the journey EdNerd - January 21, 2021 I live and work in the SW corner of AZ. My work area can range from the Colorado river west and the Gila River north about 50 miles each way. It’s a 30-ish mile drive one way from home to work. The area is low-elevation desert, with huge tracts of agriculture in between chunks of barrenness. The ag means the areas closer to town and the rivers are criss-crossed with canals. Farther away, though, there’s just the dirt, sagebrush, and cholla. I’m just starting my “preparedness” journey, where I’m actually thinking about how vulnerable I am if my comfort zones collapsed. I bought my first gun a year ago (M&P full-size 9mm), and recently a second one (Ruger PC Charger), and had security screens installed on my house. Anticipating a possible grocery shortage, I also bought two 3-day boxes of Mountain House from Amazon. I almost feel foolish thinking like this – but I have seat belts, fire extinguishers, and AAA towing for the same reason: just in case! (AAA has saved my bacon a few times!) Now I’m starting to think about scenarios where I can’t drive down the highway to get home for more than 24 hours. It’s the only main road between the city and any point north. It would probably be one of three scenarios: — One of the ag chemical plants had a blowout, contaminating the region – including the road – for an extended period of time — A military exercise (we have two bases in the area, and both utilize live explosives and various weapon systems) went awry and has rendered the highway unsafe to travel — The most likely is a weather event – probably a heavier-than-anticipated storm with high winds and heavy rain. Flash floods are uncommon, but we do have some washes that will fill quickly and run for more than 12 hours, leaving the roads either washed out or covered in dirt and debris. There are alternate routes home from some points, but they would become unpassable before the highway did. In any case, I’m banking on being able to at least shelter in my vehicle overnight – perhaps two nights if I get caught farther up north. If I’m working (which is the only reason I’d be up there), I’ll have my lunch box and water cooler. But those are only good for that work day. So what I’m thinking of is a shelter-in-place bag with essentials that anticipate a maximum 48-hour ordeal. So far, my list includes: — Fire-making — Food rations — Water purification — Keeping warm — Emergency first aid — Comms other than cell phone — Maps of the vicinity (area and topographical) — Defense (Firearms not allowed: work policies will not let me have one in my personal vehicle on company property, and 30 years long into the job and 3 years short of retirement, it’s not worth it to sneak around it.) Anything else y’all might recommend? Ed Read More 10 6 AdviceScenarios Are five-gallon water dispensers good for water storage? ccross - January 20, 2021 Hi everyone- I am so happy I stumbled upon this page. I am new to all of this and just starting my prepping journey. COVID was a major eye opener. When the shut downs started, there was nothing at our local grocery stores and I felt like I could not provide what was needed for my family and I NEVER want to feel like that again. My current question is in regards to water storage. I read the blog post on the emergency water containers but are those what is best to store water at home or are the 5 gallon water dispensers a good option too? Thanks in advance for the input! CC. Read More 14 17 Advice What car flashlights and associated batteries do you use? Frank San Diego - January 18, 2021 One of the areas that I am concerned with is emergency flashlights stored in our cars. I leave these flashlights in the glove compartment for long periods of time without thinking about them. Too often, when you go to use them in some type of an emergency, the flashlights are dead. The batteries are either discharged or leaked. The extreme heat and cold are very rough on the batteries. I have been using Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries (18650) and pulling them out every 2 months to recharge. I live in Southern California, so cold is not that much of an issue. My question is what is the best batteries to use in these extreme conditions. What do you guys use? Read More 9 17 Gear How to pack a BOB isaiah cruz - January 18, 2021 I’m new to this forum so please bear with me. I have been following the BOB by priority kit, working all the way through to level 3. I am new to prepping so I am having trouble figuring out how to pack everything in. I’d appreciate advice or even better a tutorial or guide. If this has been asked before I do apologize. Read More 8 4 AdviceGear Need bug out bag packing tips Jonnie PekelnyContributor - January 18, 2021 As a terrible packer, I thought I’d start this thread to collect best practices for how to maximize space in our packs. Specific tips welcome! To start us off, here is my current challenge. I bought a nice fleece as my top layer. Very comfy. But I’m a large person and the fleece is thick. It takes up a ton of room! I’ve been wondering if there is a way to compress clothing for storage in the BOB? Read More 8 9 Advice Increased news coverage on secession and civil war Paul Martin - January 16, 2021 If you haven’t been following the activities of the Tranisition Integrity Project, I highly recommend you start. I outline their activities in the blog post below, along with suggestions everyone can undertake in response to the threat. In short, political leaders are war gaming post-election scenarios in which states threaten to secede the Union if their preferred candidate doesn’t become president. This is not tin foil hat stuff. The New York Times and Boston Globe are reporting on it. https://paultmartin.com/blog/f/project-dealing-with-the-growing-talk-of-civil-war Read More 5 3 Worried about the fall season Jon StokesStaff - January 16, 2021 I find myself increasingly worried/stressed about the upcoming fall and winter, and for a bunch of different reasons. So I thought I’d make a list, and see what others think of it: Extended unemployment is running out Eviction moratoriums are ending Even if we get another round of PPP, inventories in many retail outlets are still very down, so there’s not much to buy even if there was foot traffic. So commercial retail looks grim right now. New jobs numbers are very very bad. (We’re still bleeding jobs, and the “gains” in the previous stats were from seasonal adjustments and not from reporting). Flu season + COVID = overloaded hospitals, possibly in places like NYC that thought they were done with all that. The November election Classes in many school districts are going online-only, and that is going to wreck social cohesion (parents in my extended network are FURIOUS at this). It’ll also be bad for the economy because some won’t be able to work, or if they do productivity will be lower. Finally, the pandemic is well and truly back on, at least here in the South. If we’re destined to go the full Wuhan in Texas, the timetable for that would probably be right around back-to-school or a little after. All of these things seem to be converging in a kind of vortex of awful that will make landfall sometime in or after September. Even if just half of them turn out to be real bad, that is enough to make social cohesion and instability even worse than it has already been this summer. Thoughts? Am I being too pessimistic, here? Read More 31 59 Single female prepper resources? lyn83 - January 15, 2021 I was just wondering if anyone knew of any single female preppers that may have blogs, YouTube channels, etc. The prepping community seems to be male dominated and geared towards families (but I’m very new so I could be wrong!) And I feel like being a single female prepper is sort of a unique thing. Read More 33 82 Prepping my computer Alisa Felix - January 14, 2021 I have all of my documents, family pictures, videos, songs, and more between my two devices, my desktop computer and my phone. I really want to prepare for the eventual computer crash, lightening surge, burglary, or virus that can affect my computer and phone and would take out my family memories, tax documents, recipes, etc… What are some things I can do to prevent me from having my devices crash, and if they do crash should I have some sort of back up on another hard drive or on the cloud? Read More 20 17 Advice Improving your vehicle maintenance Paul Martin - January 12, 2021 What sort of preventative maintenance do you do on your vehicle to enhance your vehicle’s readiness in case of an emergency? https://paultmartin.com/blog/f/project-improve-your-vehicle-maintenance Read More 16 7 US capitol protests, what can we learn? Gideon ParkerStaff - January 12, 2021 Sure was a crazy day yesterday (1/7/21) if you saw the news, where protesters charged the US Capitol building to delay a vote. Let’s not talk about the politics about it. But instead do a little thought experiment. When the protesters were breaching the building and the employees had to evacuate. Accord to this tweet, it looks like they had little go kits that they could grab. If your place of business entered the media for some negative reason, and you had dangerous protesters trying to get into your building, what would you do? Do you know multiple escape routes? Can you just pick up and go in a moment’s notice? What if they break into your building before you can have a warning and now you are confronted by them? Just some things we can think about and learn from this experience. Feel free to answer any of the above questions, and add in any other things you may have learned from seeing this yesterday. Again, no talking politics… Read More 16 20 Emergency lighting Ron Brown - January 12, 2021 Hi. I’m Ron Brown, author of “The Non-Electric Lighting Series” on Amazon. Emergency lighting is my area of expertise but I’m brand new to The Prepared. In this write-up, I’d like to share a few ideas on the topic of emergency lighting. I’m not here to sell anything. Or editorialize. I just want to share some ideas. Let’s say you’re at home and the lights go out. Sure, you have a flashlight. But the batteries are dim and getting dimmer. You scrounge through the kids toys, the toothbrush, and the carving knife and find a few batteries. But they don’t fit your light. Or you need two and can only find one. May I suggest a collection of cheap flashlights — $20 total for the whole bunch — that will run on any battery you can find. And let’s make that any battery SINGULAR. One D. One AAA. Etc. Here’s a link to a YouTube article I wrote that specifies, by brand and part number, flashlights requiring just one battery. The listing starts at 2:18. It’s worth a look-see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv7Bx6usT-g&t=1s Next topic. Vegetable-oil lamps. They produce a candle-size flame and have been around since biblical times. Call it proven technology. You can Google for them and get how-to information. Or search YouTube for them. Or read “Olive Oil Lamps &c.” by yours truly. It’s Book 2 in “The Non-Electric Lighting Series.” The beauty of vegetable-oil lamps is that they require ingredients you already have on hand. Good stuff to know if you’re away from home when the Big Blackout occurs. Let me offer a few tips. First, the wick in a vegetable-oil lamp needs to be cotton (a natural fiber). Oil is fed to the flame by capillary action. Polyester is a man-made fiber. Polyester will melt in the heat of a flame. Melting kills the capillary action. That means no lamp. The fluff in the top of your vitamin bottle might be cotton or it might be polyester. Who knows? But you really can’t trust it to make a reliable wick. That much we do know. Second, vegetable oil can be fiendishly difficult to light. But a drop of flammable liquid (cigarette lighter fluid or gasoline) will solve the problem. And how to get one drop with no eyedropper? Off the tip of a teaspoon. One drop of gasoline, BTW, is not going to explode and blow the windows out of your house. Third, that same characteristic of being difficult to light makes vegetable-oil lamps very safe lamps. If you drop and spill a lit kerosene lamp, odds are you’ll start a house fire. But if you drop and spill a lit vegetable-oil lamp you will for sure make a heck of a mess but a fire is extremely unlikely. Fourth, try to make one. Experiment. See what works for you. Don’t wait until the lights go out. It’s like sex. Reading about it and doing it are two different things. You need to know, ahead of time, what works. Last topic for today, diesel fuel. This is info that’s really hard to come by. There are pressure lanterns with mantles that burn white gas (Coleman fuel). And others that burn kerosene. Pressure lanterns can produce a couple hundred watts-worth of light. But diesel? Are there any lanterns that burn diesel fuel? Yes. Although they’re not sold or advertised for that. Most kerosene pressure lanterns will NOT burn diesel fuel. But a few will. IF you know what lantern model to use. And what lantern generator to use. And which cloth mantle to use. Book 6 of “The Non-Electric Lighting Series” is entitled “Kerosene Pressure Lanterns” and lists eight lantern models, originally designed for kerosene, that will burn diesel. I know they will because, in every case, I’ve done it. And these lanterns are being sold on eBay as we speak. Can you picture a highway lined with abandoned tractor trailers, each one loaded with diesel fuel, and yourself (sitting in the dark) with no way to use it? IMHO, this is precious info. Info to tuck away against your time of need. This is prepping. Read More 16 11 Advice My BOB really needs some work… Gideon ParkerStaff - January 11, 2021 Oh boy… where to start? The quick lesson of this forum post is to check your preps. And here is why I say that: About 3 or 4 years ago I decided to make a BOB. I didn’t have much of a budget to put towards it, so I just used things that I had laying around the house and bought a few smaller items. And for the past few years I told myself “You have your BOB, you are prepared in that area and you don’t have to worry about that anymore.” I finally knew that something was wrong though when I went to go lift the bag and seriously couldn’t lift it. (I am in a wheelchair, and can’t lift too much like a normal person could, but still it was very heavy) And there isn’t much of a point having a bug out bag if you can’t even carry it. So I decided to record a video of me going through my BOB like a time capsule, not knowing what I would find. My prepping knowledge has increased significantly in the past few years, especially thanks to The Prepared, so I knew what to look out for as I went through my old bag. Here is a summary of what I discovered about myself while going through my BOB in case you don’t want to watch the video: I had one bag full of all the items for my wife and I. This is something I want to change and make two separate smaller BOB’s for each of us. Distribute the load, and if we ever got separated, we could survive on our own. Back when I built this bag, I kind of just threw old camping gear, extra things I had laying around, bulk first aid items, and old EDC things that I had since found better replacements for. This really is a budget bag and I spent so little on it. I guess I should go easy on myself because I did pretty good with being resourceful and making a step in the direction of making a BOB is better than not having one at all. I really lacked in some areas such as fire making, light sources, and tools such as knives, saws, and multitools. I had a bit too much in some areas such as just throwing all of my extra Mylar blankets in the BOB, and having quite a lot of first aid gear. Some items I just didn’t really need. While they would be nice, they are taking up valuable room and weight. Like the notebook, pen, and pencil. While better than nothing, some of the items really are horrible for a survival situation and should be replaced. Like my all cotton extra pair of jeans, t-shirt, underwear, and socks. These won’t give me much protection and help. I need to think about the most likely scenario for my bugging out. Will I bug out to the woods and camp and make fires? or will I bug out to a hotel and the fire making stuff will be pretty useless? I need to tailor my new BOB a bit more to what I think I will be doing. In the video I say that I want to split the one big bag into two smaller backpacks that I had just laying around. While I still want to do this, the two smaller backpacks that I show in the video are way too small and couldn’t hold the minimal gear I was putting into them. So I need to invest in a slightly larger and better bag. Here are some things that 4 year ago me did pretty good at: I still like categorizing my things into gallon ziploc bags. So I just need to reach in for the first aid bag, or the shelter bag. I liked how resourceful I was by using things around the house like free sample shampoo in my toiletries kit, but probably should invest in other items not likely to burst in the bag. So I’m going to add a goal this year to improve my BOB. I want to make it more balanced. Weight, size, quality of items, and making sure each category is covered not too much or too little.I will do an update as I make a new one and will present it in a very nice kit using The Prepared’s kit builder. But for now, I need to go back to square one and really work on figuring out what I want in there, and how to do it. So what do you think? What would you rate my BOB? I give it a 4/10, better than nothing, but lots of room for improvement. What are some items you recommend? Have you taken a look at your BOB recently? I think you probably should… Read More 14 6 AdviceGear < Prev 1 2 3 … 49 50 51 … 57 58 59 Next > Recently Active What is the best camp stove for an emergency power outage or camping? - 1 day agoChickens for preppers: Important considerations - 2 days agoNews for the Week 2024-04-15 - 5 days agoAlexapure - 1 week agoPlants with Saponins - 2 weeks ago RULES This forum is heavily moderated to keep things valuable to as many people as possible. Full community policies are here. The basics: 1. Be nice to each other. 2. Stay focused on prepping. 3. Avoid politics, religion, and other arguments. 4. No unfounded conspiracies, fake news, etc. 5. Debate ideas, not people. FILTER Show all Advice Gear Meta News Scenarios Skills

People who have taken a course from the prepared, was it worth it?

Liz Klein - January 31, 2021

I’ve been eyeing the courses that The Prepared has been putting out and am interested in taking them. But before I do, I want to make sure it is worth the money.

Has anyone taken the knife sharpening or water course?

Did you learn something new that you didn’t know before or was it things that most people know about?

Do you feel like you got your money’s worth?

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AdviceSkills

How to start a fire

Ron Brown - January 28, 2021

My parents burned wood throughout my childhood and I’ve heated with wood most of my adult life. I use about one box of matches per year. So from age 20 to age 80 (that’s where I am today) is 60 years. And 60 years @ 1 box = 60 boxes. And 60 boxes @ 250 matches = 15,000 fires. Not sure how precise that estimate is but how many thousands of fires have you started?

Here’s what it’s come down to. If I need to start a new fire from scratch, I skip the kindling wood and newspaper and all that, stack up my wood, and insert a cloth soaked in kerosene into the stack. One match and I have a fire.

Here’s a link to the “Azerbaijani Lady” (with 3 million views) cooking outside. At 4:08 to 5:08 she is shown starting a campfire with one match sans kindling or newspaper. Gee, I wonder how she does that? The Azerbaijani Lady does all her cooking outside and has dozens if not hundreds of videos showing either herself or her husband lighting a fire in similar fashion. Sometimes you can glimpse the kero rag but mostly they hide it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOfhIny0pi4

My other fire-starting scenario is where, in this morning’s ashes, I have some glowing coals left over from yesterday. In general terms, I gather the coals together, put some kindling on top, and blow some air on the coals using bellows.

To gather the coals together I use a 6-inch stainless steel strainer. I scoop up some glowing red coals mixed with ashes, shake the strainer to get rid of the ashes, and dump the coals in a little pile of their own. Leather gloves give my hands better traction. The handle of the strainer is a bit slippery.

For bellows, I don’t use old-fashioned blacksmith bellows. I use a BBQ Fan that runs on one D-cell battery. Try it. You’ll like it. And that’s what you search for on eBay: “BBQ Fan.”

One of the more amusing things I’ve ever had happen to me is to be camping with friends at a provincial park in Canada and have a 15-year-old boy kneel down next to me at the fireside and ask (with a touch of awe in his voice), “How do you know so much about fires?”  It takes a lot to impress a 15-year-old.

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Skills

KN95 mask recommendations?

matthew.Contributor - January 28, 2021

Hello all, if you are like me you are both overwhelmed and a bit suspicious of all the KN95 masks on the market.  And every time one seems to be proven legit, it sells out quickly and is never found again.  Is there any consensus on which KN95 masks are good?  And where are you finding your information?

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Cool form of passive indoor lighting during the day

Essie Carroll - January 27, 2021

I was browsing on Facebook when I came across this YouTube video of how people used old soda bottles and turned them into a bright light source for their homes.

You cut a hole in a galvanized steel roof and slide in a water bottle completely filled with water and bleach. (I imagine the bleach will prevent algae growth) They then seal up the area around the bottle to keep the roof water tight.

This method provides the equivalent of a 50W incandescent light bulb and doesn’t use any electricity. The team, Liter of Light, have installed 350,000 of these light bulb water bottles in 15 countries.

I thought this was incredibly cool. If I had a little shed with a steel roof I would like to try this and see how long the bottle and water lasts before needing to be replaced. I find passive forms of energy use so interesting.

Another form of passive energy use that I thought was genius is the soup can solar heater. You take a bunch of old soup cans and spray paint them black to attract as much heat from the sun as you can. Place these in a box and the sun will heat up all the air inside. The air is then pumped out using a small computer fan and reaches temperatures of 140 degrees. Another super smart idea to add to a shed or something like a greenhouse. I imagine it would keep a shed from dropping below freezing and you could run the computer fan off a $10 solar panel. 

I think it is smart to know about things like this and even build and try them so if something like an EMP hits and we lose power for years, we still have ways to recycle trash into light and heat. But like I said above, these could be great ways to provide light and heat to an off-grid shed or greenhouse even during good times.

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Skills

What is the most hassle free way to get your ham radio license remotely during covid?

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - January 27, 2021

I’m getting ready to take the test for my technician ham radio license. Since, obviously, every test is currently online, I’ve checked out three recommended sites for online testing. They all have really intense and intricate requirements as far as the physical setup of the test environment, etc. to make sure people don’t cheat while taking the test remotely. Each site has different requirements for calculators, for example and of course I have the wrong type of calculator. Some of the sites require two cameras, which isn’t easy to set up in my case.

I know I can jump through the necessary hoops if I need to, but I’m just wondering if folks have any recommendations for places to take the online test that aren’t so high maintenance.

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2

Get free weekly credit reports – prevent identity theft and fraud

Supersonic - January 27, 2021

One of the good things to happen from Covid is the ability to request a copy of your credit report for free weekly. This used to be reserved to one free report a year from each of the three main credit bureaus. 

Is this an issue?

Yes. With social distancing and lock downs this past year, banks and other financial institutions have expanded the ability to apply for credit remotely. This is great to prevent the spread of the virus, but makes things easier for the bad guy to open a new line of credit under your name. The bad guy can pretend to be you over phone, email, or the internet and using readily available information about you, that can be bought online for as little as a dollar, they can open up a new bank account, credit card, or take out a loan.

Why you should check your credit report

If someone has opened up a line of credit under your name, or even your child’s name, the sooner you move and report it, the easier it is to fix. If you don’t catch this, it can harm your credit score and prevent you from getting a credit card, car loan, or even a mortgage when you need it.

How do I check my credit report?

ONLY go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com. This is the only authorized and official way to access your credit report. Other may charge a fee or give you a partial summary of your credit report. Once you pull up your credit report, print it off or save it as a PDF on your computer. Once you exit that window, you lose access to that report until next week, then you have to request it again. I like to save them so I can refer back to them in the future if I need to, or know when the last time I checked my report was.

What do I look for on my credit report?

Look through your entire report and see if it is accurate. Do you always pay your bills on time but see that there is a late payment in November on your credit card? You need to look into that and try and fix that as that is hurting your credit score.

Look for any names or addresses on the report that you don’t recognize.

You’ll see a section listed as soft/hard inquiries or soft/hard pulls. Soft pulls are done for marketing purposes and even though it feels like an invasion of your privacy, it isn’t harming your credit and probably isn’t fraud. This is done all the time by banks and other organizations that sell your data and send you credit card and loan offers. Your current bank will also do the occasional soft pull to then see if they should offer you a higher limit on your credit card in hopes that you will spend more.

Hard inquiries are when you open a new line of credit such as a new bank account, loan, or increase your credit card limit. These will affect your credit score for a time (so don’t do a bunch within a short amount of time if possible) and this is an additional place where you look for fraud. Do you see a hard pull from a bank in another state that you don’t recognize? Probably fraud.

What do I do if I see something on my credit report?

Check the credit reports with the other two credit bureaus and see if it shows up on there as well. Sometimes it won’t. Contact the institution that the line of credit was opened under. For example, if you see that a credit card was opened up at Discover two months ago, but you don’t have a Discover card and you certainly haven’t gotten a credit card in the past year, then contact the fraud department at Discover. Tell them that you were checking your credit report, you see that a card was opened up in your name, and it was not you. You will then have to prove you are who you are, and they will do an investigation. Before you hang up, write down as much information about the call as you can. Who did you talk to, what did they say they will do, when/will they get back to you, do you have a case number, and any other information you can think of that would be valuable for a smoother follow-up. Also, tell them to contact the credit bureau and have them remove the information from your credit report.

Go to the credit bureaus that you have noticed the fraud under and report it to them as well. Check your credit report again after you think it has all been resolved to make sure it was properly removed from your credit report.

What can I do to prepare or be proactive against this form of attack?

Go to the three credit bureaus, Transunion, Experian, and Equifax and request a credit freeze. This will lock down your account and not allow anyone to open a new line of credit unless you contact the bureaus and ask for a temporary unfreeze of your credit so you can then go apply for a line of credit.

How this relates to prepping

I feel that good security of your finances is critical to prepping. If you don’t have money because some scumbag stole it all or ruined your credit, then you can’t buy your preps right? Just how we secure our homes against home invaders, we need to have good operational security (OPSEC) of our finances too and make sure we fix any break-ins there as well.

Have you ever found fraud on your credit report? Do you check your credit report regularly? What other steps or tricks do you use to protect your finances?

Any other questions you have? Hopefully I can answer them.

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I took a deep dive down the flashlight rabbit hole

matthew.Contributor - January 26, 2021

Several weeks ago I posted a query asking for flashlight suggestions, and shortly after went down a deep rabbit hole researching and testing out several models. If it’s been a few years since you’ve shopped for a flashlight, you’ll find that the days of conventional battery powered flashlights have been augmented with an overwhelming selection of new, specialized rechargeable LED flashlights that offer an array of bells and whistles. It’s clear that the boom in battery technology that’s been fueled by smartphones and electric cars has also benefited the flashlight industry.

While I make no claim of being an expert, below are some guidelines that might help you navigate the overwhelming world of modern-day flashlights, plus some thoughts on a few models I purchased and tested myself. I will note that I’m coming at this from the perspective of a prepper, and not simply trying to identify the brightest or fanciest flashlight out there.

[Image caption: From top to bottom; Olight Barton S1R Baton II, Thrunite TT20, Streamlight PrtTac HL, Thrunite Archer 2AV3, Olight I1R 2 Eos]

One of the first choices you’ll need to make is whether you want a basic flashlight powered by “old fashioned” standard batteries, or a fancy new USB rechargeable flashlight that comes with a specialized proprietary battery. Speaking purely of measurable metrics, the new USB flashlights are superior in just about every way, but lack the convenience and assurance that comes with being able to stockpile and swap out cheap, easy-to-find standard disposable (or rechargeable) batteries. Before choosing one over the other, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of each, as well as having a good idea as to how you intend to use, and power, the flashlight.

USB Rechargeable Flashlights with Specialized Proprietary Batteries

Pros:

Significantly brighter, lighter, and smaller than comparable “traditional” flashlights. Can be recharged by plugging the flashlight into a USB charger, allowing for on-the-go charging. Represent the future of battery powered devices.

Cons:

Extra batteries and stand-alone chargers are expensive and can be difficult to find. If you are separated from your USB charger, or don’t have a powersource to charge with, you’ll literally be left in the dark. Are more expensive.

Traditional Flashlights (anything using standard 1.5 volt AA, AAA, C or D type batteries)

Pros:

Uses cheap and easy to find disposable or rechargeable batteries. Are less expensive. Have stood the test of time.

Cons:

Are often bigger, heavier, and not as bright.

When making a selection, it is important to envision how you will power, and potentially recharge, your flashlight. One advantage of the USB rechargeable flashlights is that, in a power-down situation, they can be charged with a USB power-brick, portable solar or hand-crank charger, or with a car charger. It is important to note that some flashlights come with their own proprietary chargers, which often offer faster charging but will leave you in the dark if you are separated from the charger. Other flashlights come with more common micro-USB or USB-C chargers, which are easy to find but may not charge as quickly. Before investing in a USB rechargeable flashlight, it’s worth tallying all of your USB-chargeable devices and inventorying the types of chargers you’re already using to see how this new device might fit in. But, if all this talk of USB charging sounds overly complicated, or you are already invested in some standard rechargeable batteries, then sticking with traditional flashlights may be the way to go. (For a deep dive into rechargeable batteries, I highly recommend this article: https://theprepared.com/gear/guides/battery-basics/).

[Image caption: The Thrunite TT20 and Olight Barton SRII “window charging” with a Big Blue 28 W Solar Charger.]

How you intend on using the flashlight will also dictate how bright your flashlight will need to be. “Lumens” is a technical term used to describe the brightness of a light. A lumen is a unit of measurement wherein the higher the number, the brighter the light. High-power flashlights (1500 lumens and up) are ideal for outdoor use, and can be used to blind an attacker in a self-defensive situation. But you’d never want that kind of brightness for reading, digging through a BOB, or illuminating your fusebox in a dark basement. For situations in which you need to simply illuminate what’s immediately in front of you, a lumens rating of 50 to 100 will likely suffice. Many flashlights also offer a “firefly” setting (usually less than 3 lumens) which can often be enough light to get you through an emergency while allowing your battery to last for days.

Adding to the complexity is the flashlight’s “beam pattern,” which indicates how the light is directed and dispersed by the shape of the flashlight’s reflector (the mirror-like surface directly behind the bulb). Most flashlights have a beam pattern that combines a focused center with an ambient flood, and are useful across a number of situations. Specialized high-intensity flashlights have a focused beam pattern like a spotlight and are best suited for hunting and search-and-rescue type situations. Both lumens and beam pattern play a role in the overall distance the light will travel, so if you’re comparing flashlights and you find one that has lower lumens but a further throw than another, it’s likely due to its beam pattern. Don’t jump to the conclusion that the higher the lumens, or further the beam distance, the better the flashlight. For most preppers, an adjustable flashlight with low/medium/high settings (with a range of 3 lumens to 1000 lumens) will be a solid choice.

So that all said, here are some thoughts on several flashlights I’ve tested. I’ve broken things down into three categories: hand-sized USB rechargeable flashlights, hand-sized traditional flashlights, and pocket-sized every-day-carry flashlights

Good choices for a hand-sized USB rechargeable flashlight for your home, car, or BOB:

Thrunite TT20: I like this flashlight because of its versatility and wide range of brightness settings. With what’s essentially a built-in dimmer switch, you can adjust anywhere between 31 and 1468 lumens, plus it has an additional .5 lumen “firefly” setting and a staggering 2526 lumen “turbo” mode for emergencies and self-defense situations. It uses the newish and common USB-C charging cable (the same USB cable currently used for most Android smartphones) and charged faster than other USB models I tested. It is waterproof, impact resistant, and feels good in the hand. While it’s too big for pocket carry, it will easily fit in a bag or pack. The dual switch system takes a minute to figure out, but overall this is a great hand-sized, versatile flashlight.

Thrunite also offers a “tactical” version of this model, the BSS V4, which offers very similar lumens settings, but also has a pointed ‘strike bezel’ which would literally allow you to use this flashlight as a weapon, as well as an attachable red filter for light concealability. The downside, at least for now, is that the BSS V4 appears to be a generation behind the TT20. It’s still using a micro-USB charger (as opposed to the TT20’s USB-C) and it neither charges as fast or holds a charge for as long. Comparing these two lights made it clear that flashlights are now like smartphones, with improving upgraded models released faster than you can keep up with.

[Image caption: the Thrunite TT20 and BSSV4]

Another USB flashlight I tested and liked was the Streamlight ProTac HL, a real workhorse. It has high, medium, and low settings of 1000, 380, and 65 lumens, as well as a strobe setting for emergency signalling. It’s a bit bigger and heavier than the Thrunite, but it’s simpler to use and rugged as they come. It uses a micro-USB charger, which is extremely common but also a bit dated. My favorite thing about this light is that it puts itself into low mode as the battery nears empty, so you have some warning before the battery dies.

Excellent hand-sized “traditional” flashlights for home, car, or BOB

If the complexity of USB rechargeable flashlights seems a bit too much, or if you’re already invested in standard rechargeable batteries, here are a couple choices you can’t go wrong with:

MagLite Mini Pro LED Flashlight: Simple and dependable, MagLite has been in the flashlight game for a long time. Powered by 2 AA batteries, the MagLite Mini Pro pumps out 332 lumens, a fraction of what the above mentioned flashlights offer but still plenty of light. MagLites are also one of the few flashlights that you can easily adjust the beam pattern, allowing you to shape the light to fit your exact needs. I’ve had one of these for years and it’s rock solid.

ThruNite Archer 2A V3 Flashlight: Similar to the rechargeable USB Thrunite listed above, the Archer 2A V3 has high, medium, and low settings of 500, 70, and 17 lumens, as well as a .2 lumen “firefly” mode and 400 lumen strobe. This popular flashlight is lightweight and powered by 2 AA batteries.

Good pocket-sized Every-Day-Carry flashlights

It’s important to note that pocket-sized flashlights are not going to offer particularly long battery life, so they’re not great as primary flashlights, but their portability makes them perfect for EDC and get-home bags.

Olight S1R Baton II: There is no denying the popularity of Olight, who make a wide array of excellent flashlights. Not much bigger than a tube of Chapstick, their S1R Baton II offers a staggering 1000-lumens max setting, as well as four additional settings ranging between 600 and .5 lumens, which is truly impressive for its size. It’s two-way clip also allows it to easily ride in your pocket, or be clipped to the brim of a hat for hands-free use, potentially replacing a headlamp. My only gripe is the proprietary magnetic charger – it charges quickly, which is great, but if you are separated from the charger you’ll be hard-pressed to find a replacement.

ThruNite T1: The only reason this is a runner up to the S1R Barton is because it is slightly bigger and heavier, which is significant when you are talking pocket-sized EDC. But otherwise this little flashlight packs an impressive 1500 lumen “turbo” max setting, as well as dimmable high-low settings ranging from 685-15 lumens, as well as a strobe and .5 lumen “firefly” mode. Another big difference is that it uses a micro-USB charger, which isn’t nearly as fast as the Olight’s magnetic charger but would be infinitely easier to replace if need be.

A good option for a Keychain Flashlight

OLIGHT I1R 2 Eos: If for whatever reason you can’t EDC a pocket-sized flashlight, OLight’s I1R 2 Eos keychain light packs an impressive 150 lumen brightness in a flashlight no bigger than a pen cap. Charged via a micro-USB cable, this little beamer is a no brainer for anyone wanting to be prepared when the lights go out.

Conclusion

The brightness and features of the newer USB flashlights are truly impressive, and the varying options allowing one to easily recharge while on the move are an obvious plus. It’s also clear that this new battery technology is the wave of the future, and we will continue to see improvements and new innovations at a blistering pace.  However, there is no denying the value of ubiquity, and the simple fact that standard batteries can be found in every convenience store, or or cheaply stockpiled, makes it clear that traditional flashlights still hold much value.  Ultimately, the best choice from a preparedness point of view may be “all of the above,” or at least some level of diversification that considers both the immediate and long-term challenges that we hope our flashlights will resolve.

I look forward to hearing everyone’s own flashlight insights and recommendations, and while I’m no expert, I’ll try to answer any questions that anyone might have.

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Gear

So the UK coronavirus variant is more deadly…now what?

LNMOt - January 26, 2021

I am now just starting to see articles claiming the UK variant of the coronavirus is more deadly – gulp.  

I haven’t been able to find anything yet that gives actual DATA and NUMBERS to support that claim.  Nor have I seen any information on exactly how much deadlier it is.

1.  Has anybody actually seen data, numbers or percentages?  Is the different more on the side negligible or are we talking something more serious than that?

2.  IF this variant is actually more deadly – what are everybody’s thoughts on what we should all do to better prepare, above and beyond what we are already doing now and have been doing for the “wild” version of the novel coronavirus?

For me, thus far:

-I just stocked up on KN95 masks and ordered about $100 worth of N95 masks.  I will order more once they arrive and I confirm the seem to fit ok.

-I went to my prepper pantry, took inventory and placed an online order to top everything off (it was getting close to that time anyways).  

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ChargeTab emergency phone charger

Bigwig - January 26, 2021

I’m wondering if anyone has an opinion on the ChargeTab Emergency Phone Charger packs?  They are small, weatherproof, have a 2 year shelf life, and are made from recycled batteries. https://chargetab.com/

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Gear

Lightweight/small water containers

Janet Hughes - January 25, 2021

I’m a beginner and researching water containers for my home. I have a compromised back and can not lift more than 20 lbs, which seems to be approx 2.5 gallons of water. Most like the Rhino seem to start at 5 gallons. 

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Advice

Raising fish – Great recreation & a great survival resource.

RedneckContributor - January 25, 2021

In another discussion I mentioned I feed catfish, and I was asked to provide more info.

My farmstead did not have a pond when I bought it, so in the spring of 2013 I decided to put one in. I love fishing… even in small farm ponds. But as a prepper, I realized even a small, one acre pond could contain thousands of pounds of fresh meat that could be sustained indefinitely due to natural reproduction, as long as I fed the fish. Feeding them accomplishes two things. First it allows for a much larger population of fish than a normal pond could sustain naturally. Second, grain fed catfish are far superior to natural fish. The flesh is pure white, firm & has no fishy flavor.

My problem was, I didn’t have a ravine or gully that would allow me to simply, and cheaply, put across a dam. My only choice was to dig out the whole pond in a corner of my bottom pasture, where rain runoff naturally flowed. Then that created a new issue… what to do with all that dirt. Being an avid shooter, I had them build a large berm next to the pond, where I could set up targets. Then the rest of the dirt was spread out across the pasture in a way where any rain runoff funneled to the middle of the pasture & then would flow into the pond. Here are some pics & a rather poor video showing the construction.

In the following pic, notice the trees that were knocked down & stacked in the pond. Also note where the trackhoe dug a bunch of holes and mounded that dirt. That is all structure to provide different habitats underwater & to provide safe areas for fish to hide. Also the pond is dug with different elevations where in spots it is pretty deep & then tapers to a water depth of 2 feet.

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/cQHi2mvV/img_0606_mpeg1video_std.mp4

Below is the shooting berm.

Added a small dock a bit later.

At our local farm supply, you can order fish from a company that comes a few times each summer. They put the fish in clear bags and then you rush them to your pond. The next spring, 2014, I brought in channel catfish, hybrid bream & fathead minnows.

I then added an aeration system using Vertex bubblers to improve water quality.  I put in two of the dual units pictured below.  They sit on the bottom of the pond & put out millions of micro bubbles.  This adds oxygen directly to the bottom of the pond & keeps the water circulating throughout the whole pond.  I put a small compressor in the tack room of the horse brn & ran the pvc piper out to the edge of the pond.

This pic was taken in July 2016.  These fish are two years old.

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Advice

Missile Silo fixer-upper for sale

TJ - January 23, 2021

8.7 acres at the northern tip of the Adirondacks

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1039-W-Hill-Rd_Ellenburg-Center_NY_12934_M38574-94204

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Beginning the journey

EdNerd - January 21, 2021

I live and work in the SW corner of AZ. My work area can range from the Colorado river west and the Gila River north about 50 miles each way. It’s a 30-ish mile drive one way from home to work. The area is low-elevation desert, with huge tracts of agriculture in between chunks of barrenness. The ag means the areas closer to town and the rivers are criss-crossed with canals. Farther away, though, there’s just the dirt, sagebrush, and cholla.

I’m just starting my “preparedness” journey, where I’m actually thinking about how vulnerable I am if my comfort zones collapsed. I bought my first gun a year ago (M&P full-size 9mm), and recently a second one (Ruger PC Charger), and had security screens installed on my house. Anticipating a possible grocery shortage, I also bought two 3-day boxes of Mountain House from Amazon. I almost feel foolish thinking like this – but I have seat belts, fire extinguishers, and AAA towing for the same reason: just in case! (AAA has saved my bacon a few times!)

Now I’m starting to think about scenarios where I can’t drive down the highway to get home for more than 24 hours. It’s the only main road between the city and any point north. It would probably be one of three scenarios:

— One of the ag chemical plants had a blowout, contaminating the region – including the road – for an extended period of time

— A military exercise (we have two bases in the area, and both utilize live explosives and various weapon systems) went awry and has rendered the highway unsafe to travel

— The most likely is a weather event – probably a heavier-than-anticipated storm with high winds and heavy rain. Flash floods are uncommon, but we do have some washes that will fill quickly and run for more than 12 hours, leaving the roads either washed out or covered in dirt and debris. There are alternate routes home from some points, but they would become unpassable before the highway did.

In any case, I’m banking on being able to at least shelter in my vehicle overnight – perhaps two nights if I get caught farther up north. If I’m working (which is the only reason I’d be up there), I’ll have my lunch box and water cooler. But those are only good for that work day. So what I’m thinking of is a shelter-in-place bag with essentials that anticipate a maximum 48-hour ordeal. So far, my list includes:

— Fire-making

— Food rations

— Water purification

— Keeping warm

— Emergency first aid

— Comms other than cell phone

— Maps of the vicinity (area and topographical)

— Defense (Firearms not allowed: work policies will not let me have one in my personal vehicle on company property, and 30 years long into the job and 3 years short of retirement, it’s not worth it to sneak around it.)

Anything else y’all might recommend?

Ed

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AdviceScenarios

Are five-gallon water dispensers good for water storage?

ccross - January 20, 2021

Hi everyone- I am so happy I stumbled upon this page. I am new to all of this and just starting my prepping journey. COVID was a major eye opener. When the shut downs started, there was nothing at our local grocery stores and I felt like I could not provide what was needed for my family and I NEVER want to feel like that again. 

My current question is in regards to water storage. I read the blog post on the emergency water containers but are those what is best to store water at home or are the 5 gallon water dispensers a good option too? 

Thanks in advance for the input! 

CC. 

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Advice

What car flashlights and associated batteries do you use?

Frank San Diego - January 18, 2021

One of the areas that I am concerned with is emergency flashlights stored in our cars. I leave these flashlights in the glove compartment for long periods of time without thinking about them. Too often, when you go to use them in some type of an emergency, the flashlights are dead. The batteries are either discharged or leaked. The extreme heat and cold are very rough on the batteries.

I have been using Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries (18650) and pulling them out every 2 months to recharge. I live in Southern California, so cold is not that much of an issue.

My question is what is the best batteries to use in these extreme conditions. What do you guys use?

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Gear

How to pack a BOB

isaiah cruz - January 18, 2021

I’m new to this forum so please bear with me. I have been following the BOB by priority kit, working all the way through to level 3. I am new to prepping so I am having trouble figuring out how to pack everything in. I’d appreciate advice or even better a tutorial or guide. If this has been asked before I do apologize.

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AdviceGear

Need bug out bag packing tips

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - January 18, 2021

As a terrible packer, I thought I’d start this thread to collect best practices for how to maximize space in our packs. Specific tips welcome! To start us off, here is my current challenge. I bought a nice fleece as my top layer. Very comfy. But I’m a large person and the fleece is thick. It takes up a ton of room! I’ve been wondering if there is a way to compress clothing for storage in the BOB?

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Advice

Increased news coverage on secession and civil war

Paul Martin - January 16, 2021

If you haven’t been following the activities of the Tranisition Integrity Project, I highly recommend you start.  I outline their activities in the blog post below, along with suggestions everyone can undertake in response to the threat.

In short, political leaders are war gaming post-election scenarios in which states threaten to secede the Union if their preferred candidate doesn’t become president.

This is not tin foil hat stuff.  The New York Times and Boston Globe are reporting on it.

https://paultmartin.com/blog/f/project-dealing-with-the-growing-talk-of-civil-war

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Worried about the fall season

Jon StokesStaff - January 16, 2021

I find myself increasingly worried/stressed about the upcoming fall and winter, and for a bunch of different reasons. So I thought I’d make a list, and see what others think of it:

Extended unemployment is running out Eviction moratoriums are ending Even if we get another round of PPP, inventories in many retail outlets are still very down, so there’s not much to buy even if there was foot traffic. So commercial retail looks grim right now. New jobs numbers are very very bad. (We’re still bleeding jobs, and the “gains” in the previous stats were from seasonal adjustments and not from reporting). Flu season + COVID = overloaded hospitals, possibly in places like NYC that thought they were done with all that. The November election Classes in many school districts are going online-only, and that is going to wreck social cohesion (parents in my extended network are FURIOUS at this). It’ll also be bad for the economy because some won’t be able to work, or if they do productivity will be lower. Finally, the pandemic is well and truly back on, at least here in the South. If we’re destined to go the full Wuhan in Texas, the timetable for that would probably be right around back-to-school or a little after.

All of these things seem to be converging in a kind of vortex of awful that will make landfall sometime in or after September. Even if just half of them turn out to be real bad, that is enough to make social cohesion and instability even worse than it has already been this summer.

Thoughts? Am I being too pessimistic, here?

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Single female prepper resources?

lyn83 - January 15, 2021

I was just wondering if anyone knew of any single female preppers that may have blogs, YouTube channels, etc.

The prepping community seems to be male dominated and geared towards families (but I’m very new so I could be wrong!) And I feel like being a single female prepper is sort of a unique thing.

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Prepping my computer

Alisa Felix - January 14, 2021

I have all of my documents, family pictures, videos, songs, and more between my two devices, my desktop computer and my phone. I really want to prepare for the eventual computer crash, lightening surge, burglary, or virus that can affect my computer and phone and would take out my family memories, tax documents, recipes, etc…

What are some things I can do to prevent me from having my devices crash, and if they do crash should I have some sort of back up on another hard drive or on the cloud?

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Advice

Improving your vehicle maintenance

Paul Martin - January 12, 2021

What sort of preventative maintenance do you do on your vehicle to enhance your vehicle’s readiness in case of an emergency?

https://paultmartin.com/blog/f/project-improve-your-vehicle-maintenance

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US capitol protests, what can we learn?

Gideon ParkerStaff - January 12, 2021

Sure was a crazy day yesterday (1/7/21) if you saw the news, where protesters charged the US Capitol building to delay a vote. 

Let’s not talk about the politics about it. But instead do a little thought experiment. 

When the protesters were breaching the building and the employees had to evacuate. 

Accord to this tweet, it looks like they had little go kits that they could grab. 

If your place of business entered the media for some negative reason, and you had dangerous protesters trying to get into your building, what would you do? Do you know multiple escape routes? Can you just pick up and go in a moment’s notice? What if they break into your building before you can have a warning and now you are confronted by them?

Just some things we can think about and learn from this experience. 

Feel free to answer any of the above questions, and add in any other things you may have learned from seeing this yesterday. 

Again, no talking politics…

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Emergency lighting

Ron Brown - January 12, 2021

Hi. I’m Ron Brown, author of “The Non-Electric Lighting Series” on Amazon. Emergency lighting is my area of expertise but I’m brand new to The Prepared. In this write-up, I’d like to share a few ideas on the topic of emergency lighting. I’m not here to sell anything. Or editorialize. I just want to share some ideas.

Let’s say you’re at home and the lights go out. Sure, you have a flashlight. But the batteries are dim and getting dimmer. You scrounge through the kids toys, the toothbrush, and the carving knife and find a few batteries. But they don’t fit your light. Or you need two and can only find one.

May I suggest a collection of cheap flashlights — $20 total for the whole bunch — that will run on any battery you can find. And let’s make that any battery SINGULAR.  One D. One AAA. Etc. Here’s a link to a YouTube article I wrote that specifies, by brand and part number, flashlights requiring just one battery. The listing starts at 2:18. It’s worth a look-see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv7Bx6usT-g&t=1s

Next topic. Vegetable-oil lamps. They produce a candle-size flame and have been around since biblical times. Call it proven technology. You can Google for them and get how-to information. Or search YouTube for them. Or read “Olive Oil Lamps &c.” by yours truly. It’s Book 2 in “The Non-Electric Lighting Series.” The beauty of vegetable-oil lamps is that they require ingredients you already have on hand. Good stuff to know if you’re away from home when the Big Blackout occurs.

Let me offer a few tips. First, the wick in a vegetable-oil lamp needs to be cotton (a natural fiber). Oil is fed to the flame by capillary action. Polyester is a man-made fiber. Polyester will melt in the heat of a flame. Melting kills the capillary action. That means no lamp. The fluff in the top of your vitamin bottle might be cotton or it might be polyester. Who knows? But you really can’t trust it to make a reliable wick. That much we do know.

Second, vegetable oil can be fiendishly difficult to light. But a drop of flammable liquid (cigarette lighter fluid or gasoline) will solve the problem. And how to get one drop with no eyedropper? Off the tip of a teaspoon. One drop of gasoline, BTW, is not going to explode and blow the windows out of your house.

Third, that same characteristic of being difficult to light makes vegetable-oil lamps very safe lamps. If you drop and spill a lit kerosene lamp, odds are you’ll start a house fire. But if you drop and spill a lit vegetable-oil lamp you will for sure make a heck of a mess but a fire is extremely unlikely.

Fourth, try to make one. Experiment. See what works for you. Don’t wait until the lights go out. It’s like sex. Reading about it and doing it are two different things. You need to know, ahead of time, what works.

Last topic for today, diesel fuel. This is info that’s really hard to come by. There are pressure lanterns with mantles that burn white gas (Coleman fuel). And others that burn kerosene. Pressure lanterns can produce a couple hundred watts-worth of light. But diesel? Are there any lanterns that burn diesel fuel?

Yes. Although they’re not sold or advertised for that. Most kerosene pressure lanterns will NOT burn diesel fuel. But a few will. IF you know what lantern model to use. And what lantern generator to use. And which cloth mantle to use. Book 6 of “The Non-Electric Lighting Series” is entitled “Kerosene Pressure Lanterns” and lists eight lantern models, originally designed for kerosene, that will burn diesel. I know they will because, in every case, I’ve done it.

And these lanterns are being sold on eBay as we speak. Can you picture a highway lined with abandoned tractor trailers, each one loaded with diesel fuel, and yourself (sitting in the dark) with no way to use it? IMHO, this is precious info. Info to tuck away against your time of need. This is prepping.

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Advice

My BOB really needs some work…

Gideon ParkerStaff - January 11, 2021

Oh boy… where to start?

The quick lesson of this forum post is to check your preps. And here is why I say that:

About 3 or 4 years ago I decided to make a BOB. I didn’t have much of a budget to put towards it, so I just used things that I had laying around the house and bought a few smaller items. And for the past few years I told myself “You have your BOB, you are prepared in that area and you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

I finally knew that something was wrong though when I went to go lift the bag and seriously couldn’t lift it. (I am in a wheelchair, and can’t lift too much like a normal person could, but still it was very heavy) And there isn’t much of a point having a bug out bag if you can’t even carry it. So I decided to record a video of me going through my BOB like a time capsule, not knowing what I would find.

My prepping knowledge has increased significantly in the past few years, especially thanks to The Prepared, so I knew what to look out for as I went through my old bag. Here is a summary of what I discovered about myself while going through my BOB in case you don’t want to watch the video:

I had one bag full of all the items for my wife and I. This is something I want to change and make two separate smaller BOB’s for each of us. Distribute the load, and if we ever got separated, we could survive on our own. Back when I built this bag, I kind of just threw old camping gear, extra things I had laying around, bulk first aid items, and old EDC things that I had since found better replacements for. This really is a budget bag and I spent so little on it. I guess I should go easy on myself because I did pretty good with being resourceful and making a step in the direction of making a BOB is better than not having one at all. I really lacked in some areas such as fire making, light sources, and tools such as knives, saws, and multitools. I had a bit too much in some areas such as just throwing all of my extra Mylar blankets in the BOB, and having quite a lot of first aid gear. Some items I just didn’t really need. While they would be nice, they are taking up valuable room and weight. Like the notebook, pen, and pencil. While better than nothing, some of the items really are horrible for a survival situation and should be replaced. Like my all cotton extra pair of jeans, t-shirt, underwear, and socks. These won’t give me much protection and help. I need to think about the most likely scenario for my bugging out. Will I bug out to the woods and camp and make fires? or will I bug out to a hotel and the fire making stuff will be pretty useless? I need to tailor my new BOB a bit more to what I think I will be doing. In the video I say that I want to split the one big bag into two smaller backpacks that I had just laying around. While I still want to do this, the two smaller backpacks that I show in the video are way too small and couldn’t hold the minimal gear I was putting into them. So I need to invest in a slightly larger and better bag.

Here are some things that 4 year ago me did pretty good at:

I still like categorizing my things into gallon ziploc bags. So I just need to reach in for the first aid bag, or the shelter bag. I liked how resourceful I was by using things around the house like free sample shampoo in my toiletries kit, but probably should invest in other items not likely to burst in the bag.

So I’m going to add a goal this year to improve my BOB. I want to make it more balanced. Weight, size, quality of items, and making sure each category is covered not too much or too little.
I will do an update as I make a new one and will present it in a very nice kit using The Prepared’s kit builder. But for now, I need to go back to square one and really work on figuring out what I want in there, and how to do it.

So what do you think? What would you rate my BOB? I give it a 4/10, better than nothing, but lots of room for improvement. 

What are some items you recommend? Have you taken a look at your BOB recently? I think you probably should…

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AdviceGear