Jim,
There is a plethora of gear on the market, whether it is nominated as ‘survival’ or ‘hunting’, etc. Through the years I have basically used military surplus gear as opposed to what the civilian market offers. This includes back packs, sleeping bags, clothing, etc. I have found that much of it is superior to what is offered on the civilian market as those products lack the necessary function, form and fit for day to day and week to week use. My Gortex field jacket is light years beyond the hyper-expensive Cabela’s type jacket my brother owns. With his, you stay dry but it is cumbersome, bulky and not designed to wear while conducting the myriad things one might otherwise find themselves doing on a daily outdoors basis.
However, there are some things that I use that are exclusively found on the civilian side such as footwear is an example. I’ve never owned military surplus boots because I just didn’t want to risk the investment when I had a winning thing already.
Here’s my question: ‘Over the broad spectrum, would you recommend military surplus gear over the civilian gear market?’ and ‘Over the narrow spectrum, where would you diverge from the military surplus and use exclusively the civilian market?’ I have the military bags but you recommend the Wiggy’s product, likely because of its weight, et cetera. Anyway, maybe your comments would be instructive and helpful for the readers. – Matt B.
JWR Replies: I generally prefer full military specification (“mil-spec”) gear or most applications like backpacks, clothing, and web gear. However, much like your preference for civilian boots, I consider sleeping bags a “special case”. I have found that Wiggy’s brand sleeping bags are superior to both military surplus and other civilian brands in a number of ways. Their greatest advantage is loft retention. Unlike most other bags, they do not lose their loft when stored compressed, even for long periods of time. Because of their method of construction, they have no “cold spots”. Since they are synthetic, they dry quickly. (Wiggy’s uses a proprietary synthetic insulation called Lamilite.) They are also more lightweight than military surplus bags with the same temperature ratings.
As previously noted in SurvivalBlog, I prefer the Wiggy’s brand FTRSS. (A two bag system, where you can use either the inner bag or the overbag separately, or zip them together for the coldest weather.) We have five sets of FTRSS bags here at the Rawles Ranch, and they have served us very well for many years. I have probably spent more time sleeping in a Wiggy’s bag than even Jerry Wigutow. (The president of Wiggy’s.) Because I had a very bad back injury in a black ice vehicle rollover accident in 1994, I ended up sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag with just a thin pad. (Sleeping on any bed put my back into spasm.) In fact, it has only been in the last year, after I built a special bed–that is topped with a piece of plywood and a thin memory foam mattress–that I was able to stop sleeping on the floor. So for more than 10 years I slept every night in a Wiggy’s sleeping bag. That was the equivalent of three lifetimes of normal field use for a sleeping bag belonging to an avid outdoorsman. (If I had anticipated that I would have been using the bag every night for so many years, I would have kept track.) Through all that use, the Wiggy’s bag held up amazingly well: No clumping, no loss of loft, and no broken zippers. It was simply amazing. I lost count of how many dozens of times the bag was machine washed. Both halves of the FTRSS that were used in the “10 year test” are still quite serviceable. That is a testament to their excellent design, materials and workmanship. Lastly, unlike virtually all of their competitor that have outsourced to China, Wiggy’s bags are still made here in the United States. That is commendable. If this sounds like a gushing endorsement, you are right. I would never own a different brand. And given the amazing longevity of Wiggy’s bags, I don’t think that I’ll ever have to.