#exotac

Rustic leather pocket slip for a pimped Exotac copper XL Nano striker, for a good customer in Canada .

Back again with another box review, this time is the big bad BATTLE BOX. Man, as I scoped this one out on their website I was salivating, seemed like so much cool stuff. Currin's videos of the past boxes looked awesome. so when the time was right I signed up. Battle Box has several different levels of subscription with different price ranges. I'll be reviewing the “Pro+” box for this one. Let's just start from the top down!

The Gerber LMF II Infantry Survival knife...This thing is awesome. I've always wanted to get my hands on one. Getting it in this box made it even cooler. Now, this is a BIG knife. It's hard to tell from pictures online, but once you actually hold it you'll be surprised...”That's what he said”.

THE GOOD - Made in Portland Oregon USA, says right on the blade. The handle has three holes for lashing as a spear. The pommel is also made of steel and come to a point to be used as a glass breaker. 4.84″ Drop Point blade made of 420HC stainless steel.The handle is supposed to be insulated and fire-retardant. not sure I want to test that. The Sheath is belt loop and MOLLE compatible, it also features thigh straps and an integrated pull through sharpener. The Handle is comfortable in both forward and inverted grip.

THE BAD - ...it's a little heavy? but that’s normal for its intended purpose as a survival knife, as opposed to a self-defense knife.

THE UGLY - Not a damn thing, Its Design is simple, functional, and serious. 

Battle Box Single person tent. Pretty cool thing for a starter box. Gets you ready to get outside and adventure. Set up, is two tent poles and several stakes for the ground.

THE GOOD - It's light and small, easy to lash to a pack and carry. or just leave in your vehicle so you're ready to hit the road anytime. once you get used to it set up is relatively easy. I like the colour and aesthetics. Matches any kind of tactical gear you might have. Has the Battle Box logo printed on the rain fly. What you see in the picture is the outer layer which you can remove, most of the tent underneath is netting so you can be cooler on warm nights or just see the stars.

THE BAD - It's a tight fit. If you’re even a person of the average size you have to sort of slide in feet first. there's not enough room to crawl in and turn around, but this may be nothing new to people who use backpacking tents. in terms of length, it's fine, even for a tall person, but height and width are in short supply. If you’re the claustrophobic type this may not be your jam. May want to use the tent stakes included in the box, cause the ones that come with the tent kinda suck. They’re small, metal, and difficult to pull up from the ground.

THE UGLY - nothing much, I like it.

Sawyer Picaridin Insect Repellant. Nothing more annoying than going on a camping trip, then spending most of your time swatting pests away from your face, eyes, and ears cause of that irritating buzzing noise...I HATE THEM SO MUCH. we’ll now you can make them regret ever being spawned! We’re just getting into summer now, so I haven,t been able to put this to the test yet, but I hear it's serious business.

Camp Stove Set. Includes a two-piece housing, burner, cap, and two cups with handles, large and small. Also, comes with a carrying pouch and microfiber towel. This is not a propane stove...to be honestly I'm not even sure what its suppose to run on. There were no instructions. Seeing as the burner is a small cup I,m assuming its a liquid fuel like alcohol? I've never used one like this before. So I looked up the advantages of liquid fuel stoves: consistency of heat, fuel economy, cleaner burn, and easily measurable.

THE GOOD - It's light weight and packs up easily. comes with everything you need. I won't say its small though cause I’ve seen plenty of pocket stoves that are smaller even with a can of propane, like the one in the Camp Comfort box.

THE BAD - again there were no instructions it took me three attempts and some common sense to figure out how it assembled. I'm still not even sure I’ve got it right. Now, this type of stove may be familiar to other people but it was new to me, as I've used the propane camp stoves

THE UGLY - maybe it's just me but I hate the feel of it’s material and coating. A lot of camp cookware is made out of this stuff, but I hate it. I hate the way it feels in my hands. I hate the way its sounds when you grind the pieces together, and you have to assemble it.

Self Reliance Outfitters Mini Inferno. This company is owned by Dave Canterbury, who use to co-host the Dual Survival TV show. These are highly flammable discs of tinder to help you start a fire in even wet conditions. Be sure to read the tin as there are some very specific instructions as to their use.

THE GOOD - These things are small and light. The container makes them easy to pack away in your gear. Definitely one of the more practical items in the box.

THE BAD - they don't seem to burn for too long. Now every time you try to start a fire there are a lot of factors that determine your success and most of it is individual effort put into preparation. So what happened could just be my fault. But on a camping trip, I used one of these to get a fire going and it just didn't burn long enough to get the twigs and split wood flakes going. I also don't think the tin is air tight enough. all the oils seem to have dried up out of mine. but that could be normal. I've had a better experience with those little one-inch fuel cubes.

Light My Fire Camp Spork - pretty self-explanatory.

THE GOOD - It’s all inclusive, spoon, fork, knife, all in one piece. lightweight and easy to pack away.

THE BAD - it's a little flimsy. For eating MREs and light fare its fine, but for heavier pieces of meat probably not gonna cut it. I'm sure this product is just intended for light backpacking gear. 

Zippo Campfire Starter - Not much to say about this. It’s a disk of fire tinder. probably not something you would keep in your pack, it will jus crumble up, and be gone within 2-5 camping trips.  Cool to have none the less.

Exotac Fire Sleeve - A protective sleeve meant to keep your lighter dry in rough conditions. Has loops for tying a lanyard, bright and visible, easy to find in your gear, or should you drop it somewhere.

Murphy’s Mosquito Sticks Pack - Comes with a few incense and candles...you can tell this is a company from the south-east when they're so concerned about mosquitos lol. These are cool cause they're apparently made from natural ingredients, but they have a strong smell. Made everything in the box smell like ginger citrus. This will probably be good for family outings. keeping the bugs away from your eating space.

Speed Cinch Stakes - These are actually one of the coolest and more useful items in the box. I big improvement over the stakes that usually come with tents. They make tie down quick and easy. I can see getting use out of these for many other things, not just tents. On a recent camping trip, I used them to hang a tarp over our tent for extra rain protection. their big size means they're easier to pull up from the ground, and clearly visible so you're not tripping over them.

Final Thoughts - Also included in the box is a subscription to readyman.com. A website full of training videos for all kinds of useful skills, including self-defense, survival, and tactical thinking.

Overall this box is awesome, getting a tent and the LMF knife are highlights, some of the smaller items are great and practical too. For some people in some regions, the mosquito and pest repellant might not be so useful. I'd like to see the more expendable items replace by more permanent bits of gear. The price tag for Pro+ stings a bit, but if you do the math it’s a great value. So if I ignore the guilt of the price, I'm happy with the result.

Fat Rope stick.

Ive seen this product about a lot but its only recently that Ive managed to get hold of some to test out .

As part of a dedicated fire kit or go bag set up or for use as an expedition tinder the reviews Ive seen have been quite favorable so am interested to see how well it works especially once it gets wet .

Cheers to Alex @alphabushcraft for sending some down to play with .

 Full specs here.

Rustic Exotac Nano .

A pimped version of the very cool solid copper striker from Exotac .

This one was etched then brass blacked before an all over stone-wash .