The worst thing about the outdoors is that at any moment, a
simplistic serenity can turn into an urgent emergency. While most of us who
brave the outdoors can make a fire, collect water, and maybe find something to
eat, it’s the making of shelter that is often the most crucial. However, with
large, bulky tents, hammocks that take up an entire backpack, and the park
rangers frowning upon the practice of making natural shelters in their own
backyard, what’s a woodsman to do? How about a survival tent?
Ultimate survival technologies (UST) have a product known as
the Survival Reflect Tent. For the low price of $9 at my local Walmart, I was
given a box about the size of a typical sandwich. Before I go any further I would
just like to say, “I am not being paid to endorse this item. I paid for
it with my own money under my own volition. My review is genuine and accounts
are from my, and mine alone, experiences with this item.” With
that being said, let’s continue with the review.
From the box, it shows the tent being set up in a typical
pup tent fashion, similar to an A-frame, but with a floor. You can clearly see
a ridge line being strung through the top of the tent. It also says “all
weather emergence protection” and the individual using the tent is on a lightly
snowed ground. On the back, it says that it has enough room to accommodate one
person, plus gear, or, two medium sized adults. It refers to itself as a tube
tent, however, it mentions other uses such as a water-proof ground cloth, tarp,
or a signaling device. It also mentions that the reflective material helps
conserve body heat in cold weather conditions. You should also be able to infer
that the reflective material would be ideal to signal with due to its unnatural
appearance.
Not having two trees 14’ apart, I was forced to use my 25’
of paracord. I started with a simple knot, just something that would form an
anchor point in my ridge line. Next I unfolded to the best of my ability the
tube tent and found both openings. I fed my paracord through it and tied it off
to the other end again using a variation of a trucker’s hitch. Nothing legit,
just something anyone would be able to come up with on their own. Quick note,
there are yellow pieces of tape that look like they hold part of the tent
together. I believe these can be used to pull apart and change the tent’s
shape. I do not know if you pull these apart if your tent will go back
together. I would be careful when setting up your tent not to pull these apart.
When setting mine up, I made sure that what laid upon the ridge line was one
piece that would not split apart.
During my test I was a little nervous due to claustrophobia.
The tent creates a very tight, confined space. I have never, ever, had that
fear before and I think it was sparked due to the reflective material making it
appear that the space was smaller than it actually was. However, when I crawled
in, all those fears left me. The first thing I noticed while lying on my back was that I could
see a hazy version of everything outside of my tent through the transparency of
the material. This giving the impression of open sky, helped alleviate the tightness. It didn't take long for me to understood what it meant about keeping my warmth in, as it didn’t seem as cold as it should have while lying on the ground.
Problems that I
encountered was that the tent seemed to cling to me, and didn’t seem to have
any structure. Without any grommets, there was no way for me to stake out the
corners to make it sturdy easily. If the material had been present, I would
have placed two smooth limbs, 8’ long each, in the tent to push the corners of
the tent apart which would create a bit more space. However, a problem that
could occur would be puncturing of the light material if the limbs were not
perfectly smooth.
After my initial test, I did attempt to fly the material.
This worked pretty well being that it held on to the ridge line. The problem
was that the material just seemed to blow in the breeze with nothing to stake
the corners down with. Once
again, some sticks or stones would be a makeshift
way to hold the material down with, however, I was attempting to use only what
the tent came with. On the bright side, and I do mean bright, the reflective
material was blinding and I do believe someone would have noticed me if
signaling was my intended purpose. With it flying in the wind, it did
immediately draw the eye to it no matter how you faced it.
Finally, I attempted to fold and place the tent back into
the plastic pack with its cordage, and place it back into the box. The material
had no tears or rips into it, which is a good sign as I was sure it would, but
it held on pretty well. However, folding it back into its original shape was
more of a challenge than I bargained for. I ended up with an 18-20” cylinder
about
2” in diameter, wrapped in the cordage provided. I will admit that this
is more likely user error and not necessarily a strike against the product.
In closing I believe putting together your own shelter with
a tarp is a safer option than this product. There are more options with a tarp,
and it is sturdier than this material. In the future, I will be picking up
other emergency tents and testing them out to see if it is simply a flaw in
their design, or if it is just the quality of this product. Next week we will be going over what cordage is and which you should take. Don't miss out next Tuesday, it's gonna be a BLAST!!!As always feel
free to comment, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one.
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Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.