Category: Review

Scot’s Product Review: The Orb and UV Paqlite

We have many needs; food, water, air, shelter, and heat come to mind. To acquire and use all those things, we have to be able to find them, and the tool used the most is our vision. Our eyes work great during the day but not so well at night, so having a way to make light is vital. We started off making light the same way we made heat and cooked, with fire, but that has drawbacks. We finally came up with electricity, and now the most common way we make light is to flip a switch on the …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Springfield Armory’s Loaded Operator 1911

Over the years, I’ve owned more 1911 handguns than any other type of handguns. No matter what new type of polymer handguns that come into my hands, I always turn back to the grand ol’ 1911 as my favorite handgun. It’s just hard to argue with success. The 1911 was first made in, well, 1911, and it celebrated more than 100 years of age a few years ago. To be sure, I honestly can’t keep track of all the gun companies that are making 1911s these days. If a person could sit down and start counting all the different companies …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Cold Steel’s Battle Shades

Whenever I teach a firearms class, I require my students to bring three things. One is a baseball cap to prevent hot brass from falling on their face, while the other two things are hearing protection and some type of eye protection. These last two things require no explanation, right? Wrong! Most students show-up for a training session with no eye protection, for some reason. I simply don’t understand this at all. Nevertheless, it happens, so I keep extra pairs of eye protection in my shooting box along with extra ear plugs for those who don’t think their hearing is …


Scot’s Product Review: MagnetoSpeed V3 Ballistic Chronograph

One of the most basic needs for all living creatures is the ability to defend themselves. When there are bad times and problems in our society, it is essential to own and be able to use weapons for self-defense. The situation could be a regional disaster, like Hurricane Katrina, or it could be the worst of times, such as a Carrington or EMP event. In either case, there are wicked people who will take advantage of those who are weak. Even if you can avoid evil people, there are predators to be dispatched and game to be gathered for the …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: CRKT Hunt ‘n Fisch Knife

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of hearing about people dying from cancer. We’ve all been touched by this deadly disease; we all know someone who has passed away after a fight with cancer. We keep hearing encouraging reports that “they” are close to finding a cure for cancer, but there are so many different types of cancer that I wonder if we’ll ever get a leg up on it. Still, we all continue to hope and pray. Just last week, my oldest daughter lost one of her German Shepherds to cancer. It was a fast-moving …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Kershaw – Siege Tomahawk

Please indulge me for a few minutes, with some of my past. I was raised by my grandparents from the time I was 6-weeks old. The sad thing is that my grandparents had already raised nine kids of their own, and it sure wasn’t fair to them to have to raise me, but that’s the way it was. I had a good life though; I have no complaints. I didn’t realize it, but back then, in the 1950s, my grandparents were dirt poor. When I was younger, they both worked in the same factory on different shifts so one could …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Inter Ordnance “AK-47”

As many SurvivalBlog readers will remember, I’ve reviewed several AK-47 type rifles in the past; some were better than others. To be sure, when we are talking about an AK-47 in civilian terms, we really aren’t discussing genuine AK-47s, rather we’re talking about a mixed bag of semiauto-only rifles that resemble the real McCoy, which is made in Russia. I did have the opportunity to fire a genuine AK when I worked for the late Col. Rex Applegate. It was part of his collection of more than 20 select-fire weapons, from his more than 850-gun collection. As I recall, his …


Scot’s Product Review: ARMASIGHT Spark CORE

Seeing in the dark is huge. Danger comes in the darkness, while darkness can also provide cover to move effectively and to counter attack. The military calls night vision a force multiplier, and the ability of American troops to see in the dark with night vision technology has provided us with a dramatic edge in conflicts since WW II. As preppers, night vision could be invaluable. Controlling predators that could take out our livestock or damage our crops is one critical use, while defending our homes is another obvious one. The first night vision gear was German and based on …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Rechargeable Batteries and Chargers

Disclaimer: I make no pretense that I’m an expert in electronics, batteries, or devices that use batteries in them. However, as I’ve stated numerous times in my SurvivalBlog articles, I’m a serious student, and I’m always increasing my learning curve on many subjects. I have many devices that use all battery sizes, with AA and AAA batteries being the most commonly used batteries. We were always buying batteries and would rotate through them, all to no avail! Before we could rotate through our battery supply, some of the Alkaline batteries would already be dead or leaking. That’s not a good …


Scot’s Product Review: Horseshoe Leather Products

Horseshoe Leather Products http://www.holsters.org/index.htm isn’t one of the best known holster makers, but that doesn’t really matter. What is important is that it is one of the best holster makers on the planet. Horseshoe holsters are of impeccable quality and superbly designed for the concealed carry of handguns. One of the keys to this high level of quality is that Horseshoe is a one man shop and each holster is handmade for each customer by Horseshoe’s owner, Andy Arratoonian. If he made it, it bears the distinctive Horseshoe symbol he hand stamps on every item. The quality of Arratoonian’s work …


Pat Cascio’s Review: Magnum Research, Desert Eagle 1911s Siblings

Whenever anyone finds out that I’m a gun/knife/outdoor writer, the first question out of their mouth is “What’s your favorite gun…?” Quite often, when I’m hanging out at the local gun shop, a customer will ask about a certain handgun, and one of the sales guys will point them to me, and I get this same question over and over again “What’s your favorite handgun?” I don’t try to side-step the question, but it’s just impossible to answer, for many reasons. If I’m going out big game hunting with a handgun, I’ll probably grab a revolver in .44 Magnum. If …


Scot’s Product Review: Burris Handgun Scope 2x20mm

This review is a bit overdue. Burris Optics was kind enough to let me borrow their Burris Handgun Scope 2x20mm to try on several projects, but somehow I kept writing about the projects and never got around to saying much about the scope. The short and sweet rating is I liked it well enough to buy it, but I should tell you more. The first thing I like about the scope is the Burris Forever Warranty, which covers everything other than loss, theft, or deliberate damage. In other words, if I don’t smack it with a hammer after missing a …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Coast HP5R Rechargeable Flashlight

My wife, bless her heart, is always making fun of me about all the flashlights I have all over the house, as well as in vehicles, and even on my person. Right now, there are three flashlights sitting on my two-drawer filing cabinet, next to my computer desk. On the end table, on my end of the sofa, sit three more flashlights, and there are three more on my nightstand. There’s always one in my jacket pocket, too, and let’s not forget the one or two on the kitchen table and some emergency battery-operated lanterns in the living room, and …


Product Review: Springfield Armory XD-45 Mod.2

Last month, SurvivalBlog readers got an in-depth look at the Springfield Armory XD-9 Mod.2 sub-compact 9mm handgun, and to be sure, it’s a winner in all respects. However, not everyone thinks that the 9mm round is the best all around caliber for self-defense or other uses. Some of us believe nothing less than the .45ACP will make do, and I’m in that group myself. Yes, quite often I can be caught carrying some kind of 9mm pistol, but if I know in advance that I’m headed into harm’s way I’ll elect to carry a .45ACP of some sort. Many gun …


Scot’s Product Review: Anker 14W Foldable Dual-Port Solar Charger

We have had a number of requests to review ways to make electricity without the need for the grid, particularly for things like cellphones and tablet computers. I’ve been looking into options, and they usually boil down to solar, though I hope to get some products that use other strategies. There is a huge range of solar solutions out there, from systems that can power a whole house to something that can keep a small battery charged. The whole house solutions can easily hit $40,000 or more when you include the battery backups, while the least expensive small ones can …