Though our new SOL Escape Bivvy won’t hit store shelves until January 2012, the product continues to receive major awards from leading outdoor interest media. The most recent plaudits come courtesy of prominent outdoor gear blog, the Gear Junkie, which included the Escape Bivvy in its 2011 “Top 10 Gear List”.

The Bivvy also received a 2011 “Best in Show” award — recognizing the most innovative gear that debuted at the Summer Outdoor Retailer Show — from the Gear Junkie in August and a Fall/Winter 2011 “Gear of the Year” nod from National Geographic Adventure Magazine. Here’s what the Gear Junkie had to say about the SOL Escape Bivvy, following a thorough field test of the product earlier this fall:

Hey all you hunters and anglers, AMK needs your help re-designing our Sportsman Series of medical kits. And we are certainly willing to make it worth your while! Fill out our hunting and fishing survey and you’ll get a promo code good for 50% off the regular price of a SOL Origin or SOL Core Lite. Pretty sweet deal, no?

The deadline for completing the survey is Saturday October 29th. All purchases using the discount code must be made through the AMK website by October 31st. Here’s your chance to have a say in how the new version of the Sportsman Series should look and function.  So c’mon, start checking those boxes!

Backpacker selected two of our products for the 2011 edition of the mag’s influential April Gear Guide issue. BP chose the SOL Core Lite and SOL Hybrid 3 tops in the “Knives” and “First Aid” categories, respectively.
Here’s what the editors dug about each product:

SOL Core Lite

“KILLER DEAL: More than just a mini-blade, the Core Lite is a multifaceted survival tool weighing just 1.4 ounces.”

SOL Hybrid 3

“Get the SOL 3 Survival, Medical & Gear Repair pack, and you’re equipped for every emergency – not just splinters and blisters!”

Q. What’s the shelf life of a Quickclot bag? Is there one? It’s entirely possible that I’ll never use it, or may use it within a few years – so I just want to make sure it’ll survive in the bag for a year or few years.

Thanks.

–Nick

A. Hey Nick,

An unopened package of QuikClot has a shelf life of three years. The only Storage No-No — don’t leave a pack of QuikClot in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. Other than that, QuikClot can be stored at  high or low temperatures (even below freezing). Please note: once the package has been opened, QuikClot loses sterility and should be used immediately.

I spend a ton of time backpacking and hiking the outdoors and there are two pieces of equipment that are with me on each and every trip: an Adventure Medical Kits Weekender and an Adventure Medical Kits Suture Syringe Kit. Both proved invaluable on my most recent adventures to the Wrangell — St Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

Many of us at Adventure® Medical Kits just got back from another busy but great Outdoor Retailer Summer Market — the trade show for leading outdoor manufacturers and retailers, which takes place the first week of August in Salt Lake City, UT.  Prior to and during the show, AMK was recognized by OR’s organizers as one of its ’40+ Legacy Partners’. The initiative, which included special call-outs on OR’s website and signage on the convention floor, honored AMK as one of only 54 companies that has exhibited at Outdoor Retailer for at least 40 shows. Below is a summary of other highlights that occurred during OR:

Here’s an interesting question that came in over our blog today:

Q: I’d like to make a vest out of the SOL Thermal Bivvy-  should the seams be sewn or will an iron work to weld seams?

A: My advice is to sew the seams, rather than trying to weld them.  If using an iron to weld seams, I would be worried about excessive heat weakening the fabric or causing the two layers of the fabric to separate.

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Here are some questions that people reading our blog have submitted recently…

Q: How do I verify the expiration date on your oral rehydration salts?

A: The manufacturer of the oral rehydration salts we use does not include and expiration date on the package, as rehydration salts aren’t classified as a drug by the FDA.  Because this product is fairly inert (unlike a pharmaceutical), I wouldn’t have a problem stocking a packet that was a few years old in one of my own kits.  However, if you are concerned that your product is too old to be used safely, you can contact our customer service department and arrange a replacement.

Hey all you shutterbugs now is your chance to show off your photography skills and to win a free trip to boot! Enter the Natrapel^® 8 hour ‘Ditch the DEET’ Photo Contest and you could win a vacation for four to New Hampshire’s White Mountains Region. Secondary prizes include passes to local White Mountains attractions and tons of free swag from Adventure^® Medical Kits.

'Ditch the DEET' Photo Contest runs till July 31st

Q:  used the heatsheets emergency bivvy (3.8 oz). next morning discovered a lot of moisture in the bivvy. this gave rise to an extra cold and damp start to the day. is this a common with the bivvy? many thanks for a small but important bit of kit. it may not seem like the back country but when i am here in northern ireland events can turn bad.

A:  Condensation inside the bivvy is par for the course with this product – since the material itself is not breathable, moisture accumulates fairly rapidly.  This is why we classify the Heatsheets Bivvy as an emergency product – since, in an emergency, it is necessary to preserve heat and get warm at all costs, even if condensation results.