Ozark Trail 46pc Survival Kit - Coghlan’s Survival Kit
This survival kit review is on the Ozark Trail 46pc Survival Kit that is found at Wal-Mart. The company that makes this for them is known as Coghlan’s. So, you may find this same kit minus the Ozark Trail packaging at your local outdoor store labeled “Coghlan’s Survival Kit” or “Coghlan’s Survival Guide”.
Official Product Name: Ozark Trail 46pc Survival Kit which may also be named Coghlan’s Survival Kit
Suggested Retail Price: $18.95
Place of purchase: Local Wal-Mart, also available as Coglan’s Survival Guide/Kit at local outdoor stores.
Advertised Survival Contents & Quantity:
- 1 - Coghlan’s Survival Guide
- 1 - Emergency blanket.
- 1 (package) - waterproof matches. (The matches in my kit are NOT waterproof they were simply placed in a small waterproof baggy.)
- 1 - signal whistle.
- 2 - firesticks.
- 1 - 12 hr. lightstick.
- 1- pencil. (My kit was missing this item)
- 1 - notepad.
- 1 - salt packet.
- 4 - antiseptic pads.
- 4 - 1×3″ bandages.
- 4 - 3/8×1-1/2″ bandages.
- 1 - 2×3″ elastic patch bandage.
- 1 - 3×3″ sterile pad.
- 2 - 4″ adhesive strips.
- 1 - compass.
- 1 - poncho.
- 1 - signal mirror.
- 50′ orange trail tape.
- 10′ snare wire.
- 2 - razor blades.
- 1 - needle. (rather large)
- spool of thread.
- 2 - safety pins.
- 12′ nylon rope.
- 30′ fishing line.
- 2 - fish hooks.
- 2 - fish sinkers.
- 7″x10″ waterproof pouch.
- 35′ nylon cord.
- reusable 8×12″ PVC pouch.
- 5 hr. candle.
Items that come in this survival kit have been made in the U.S.A, Canada, Korea, Taiwan and China.
This is what the kit looks like minus the Ozark Trail / Wal-Mart survival kit package it was wrapped in.
These are the contents of the survival kit arranged so you can see most/all of it.
This kit focuses on a lot, and provides a lot for each thing. I believe the reason is that it is a rather large kit and not something you would carry on your person every day. That doesn’t mean this is a bad kit or not something good, just something more suited for a back pack or a vehicle.
One of the first things I noticed was the amount of first-aid bandages provided. Not only did they provide standard bandages but also adhesive strips, and Sterile Gauze Pads, as well as Alcohol Prep Pads (which double as fire starting aid).
One of the rather large items is the Coghlan’s Survival Guide. The guide is rather large and bulky at 10 pages with large font. It could have been printed on half the paper to save space, trees, and weight. The guide starts with factors that affect survival: fear, pain, cold, thirst, hunger, fatigue, boredom and loneliness and then gets into your primary survival concerns. The book outlines primary survival concerns as warmth - location, preporation, and substaining; shelter - location, fallen tree shelter, lean-to shelter, snow-shelters, and using a shelter to stay dry. Almost a full page is dedicated to each type of survival shelter. Next on the list in the book is water. In my opinion water should be number one as you can not live to long without it, and you can live a lot longer without food or shelter (assuming it’s not -100). The book touches on foraging for water as well as purification. Next on the list is food and how to obtain it. In my opinion if a survival kit is providing you with fishing line and hooks they should at least toss in a couple jolly ranchers or other hard candy to help raise your moral and give you a little boost of sugar energy. Next up in the book is hypothermia, and this takes up two pages that include symtpom of hypothermia as well as hypothermia treatment. Signaling is on the next page and includes many methods such as using a fire, mirror, light, flags, sound, ground marking and waving your arms around! The last couple pages are dedicated to the contents of the survival kit and how to use them.
The last page closes with telling you additional items you should bring such as medication, water ablets, flint, a knife, eyeglass repair and insect repellent. Again this is a rather large kit and their instructions make sense for someone going camping, boating, etc.
The compass provided is very tiny, has a small bubble and would be easily lost, broken or both at the same time! The fire starters are nice but probably not required (at least not both) in this kit. They are large items, weigh a decent amount and that space could be utilized by a waterproof plastic storage container to hold the non-waterproof matches.
The glow stick included is a decent 12 hour unit. Our tests have shown that the Coghlan’s glow stick do not last as long as others on the market. None the less a glow stick is a one time use item so using it for an signal or other real emergency while in a survival situation would be the only time I would use it. Since this kit provides a candle, fire starters, and matches save the glow stick for when you need light right away!
As mentioned previously the matches are normal ‘bar matches’ in a waterproof baggy. This could cause an issue if your bags rip, melt or get lost while in the survival situation. This is one of the survival items from Canada apparently.
The poncho and space blanket make nice additions to this kit as they both can really help you stay dry and warm in some cases. The poncho is your every day $1.99 poncho found at wal-mart, football games, etc. The space blanket falls into the same category as it’s nothing expensive or fancy. The space blanket is loud, super thin, and once it gets a rip it keeps on going. The space blanket can be used CAREFULY for a shelter or to wrap up in. The problem with these kind of blankets is after the night/usage is over you have to weight it down so it doesn’t blow away during the day… also be careful not to rip it because then you may have two space blankets that are harder to use.
The sewing, snare, rope, fishing kit is rather large and includes many items that will come in handy when building a survival shelter, repairing clothes or trying to catch a wild animal or fish. The kit includes many key items such as hooks, needle, rope, thick snare wire, yarn, and thread. One thing I had to be careful with was the large needle, it did not come packaged or with tape on it and it could solely be responsible why your package is no longer waterproof and why you can not start a fire. I ended up wrapping it in plastic that was leftover from opening the sewing/survival rope kit package.
The last two large items in the kit are the trail tape and whistle. The whistle is standard orange safety whistle. By standard I mean not a quality survival whistle due to the amount of air required to get a very loud sound out of it. It’s also bulky, feels cheap, and is my belief easy to crush if sat on. The trail tape is a nice addition to mark where you are going but as a survival item is really bulky, heavy and not going to help you SURVIVE. Trail tape MAY help you get rescued but not survive. My problem with trail tape is more than people needing to be rescued use it so there is a bunch in the woods already so a rescue team will not know which is yours or someone else’s. This is of course not true for every location. Trail tape can be used for other things as well during a survival situation but in my opinion it would be better substituted for quality para cord (even orange or colored to double duty). The mirror provided has a protective film so you do not scrape it while in the package it is approx 3″x3″ and is very reflective.
In conclusion this kit includes a lot of survival items that are good to have in a survival kit and due to the price makes using these items cheaper than buying them separate and putting them togethr in a similar kit. The kit needs a knife, a little bit of candy or food, and quality waterproof matches. The fire starting tools are VERY lacking in my opinion. I suggest this kit to anyone who wants to put together their own quality kit because for very little money you get a bunch of nice items, and the ones that are not needed can be used for something else around the house. This would also make a good vehicle kit for people who have a knife, toss in better matches and you are good to go.
I hope you enjoyed this survival kit review as I am trying to imrpove on each one. This one included pictures of almost every item seperately as well as where you may find this item for purchase.
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