I'm trying to round-up all of the little things that I want to keep in the new Tacoma 24/7 and one of them is a good first aid kit.

I have done a lot of searching on here and other places and Adventure Medical keeps popping up.

Now I need a little extra help. AMK has several different types of kits. Most them of them wouldn't suit the kind of terrain that I would go camping in but there are two types that I think would be good.

The Sportsman Kits and The Mountain Kits.

I was originally planning on getting The Hunter Kit from the Sportsman series but after looking through some of the kits from the Mountain series, The Weekender Kit caught my eye. Seems like that one is more suited to the type of stuff that I will be doing.

Although The Fundamentals Kit seems to be the most popular, granted it's $40 more than either The Hunter Kit or The Weekender Kit.

In no way am I a serious off-roading/expedtion traveling kind of guy but I am the type of person that would rather be prepared for the worst and maybe not use half of what he has than go a shorter/cheaper route and not have what he needs.

I am hoping that all of them will fit behind the rear seats of my Tacoma.

Let me know what you guys think about all of these, $100 is more than I was originally wanting to spend but it'd be worth it on a good first aid kit.

Thanks for the help!

Fink

 

Im no help at all, my first aid kit is a bottle of Ibuprofen, a box of bandaids, a roll of ductape, a tube of superglue, and some bug repellant...OH, and a bottle of water and 3 or 4 ganola bars...Sorry.

 

It's alright man, whatever works for you.

Fink

 

Take note of the items in each kit, realize what you can use and have no use for. Then go to the local pharmacy and spend about 30 bucks on what they are charging 50 or more for.

The supplies in those kits are of no use unless you know how to use them. People often buy the big $$$ kit but dont know how to use 90% of the stuff so its just wasted space and weight.

Here is what I stock (simply put of course):
-Gauze, lots of it you can never have to much. I have 2" and 3" wide rolls, at least 10 rolls of it
-Assorted bandaids of all shapes and sizes, more the merrier
-Advil, tylenol, excederin, bayer (some people cant take each one so carry them all, I carry about 24 of each in plastic baggies)
-Gauze sponges, get alot of these too, 25 or so will do most people
-A activated icepack (the kind you crumple and they get cold, one time use only but can help)
-Tweezers, med scissors, nail scissors.
-Few ace bandages and clips
-Safety pins
-Dental floss and needle (unwaxed), for sewing you up or sewing other stuff, dental floss is sanitary and strong as hell. Nylon thread is good too.
-X-acto knife, for whatever you need, carry a few spare blades too. Makes a good scalpel
-Large Trauma bandage, I carry an israeli made one thats for major gunshot or horrifc wounds and becomes a tourniquet.
-Pepto and immodium
-Alky swabs
-Neosporin

The list can go on and on but thats the basic stuff I would want.

 

Those kits are nice but honestly I think they are overrated. For $100 I can send you a GREAT first aid kit minus a container. I'm serious. I have been thinking about making and selling them anyways.

Lamm

 

Yeah, that's what I figured.

I do like how they are organized. If I could find a similar bag that those are put in and then just go get my own stuff that'd be awesome. I like the bag idea versus like a tupperware because the bags are easier to store.

Fink

 

I have a big "family" size first aid kit from Red Cross. It folds up nicely in a small pouch. Has everything from bandaids to gauze to wipes, etc. Picked it up when I took a CPR/First Aid class, $25 bucks. I'd like to say it leaves me prepaired for everything from a scratch to broken bones (you can be crafty and make a splint).

EDIT: Infact, it looks just like those kits, only red. I can take pictures if needed, but you can imagine

 

I think tomorrow I'm going to try and make it out to a local place called Pack Rat, they're really close and they stock the Wilderness kit so that will give me a good idea of it's actual size.

Any other thoughts on the kits that I spoke about in the first post?

Thanks.

Fink

 

I have got what was called a 'Combat LifeSaver Bag' from when I was in the army. They come up on ebay every now and then. I tossed out the expired IV's and associated needles a while ago, expired. But the rest of the kit is pretty good, expecially the Sam Split-padded and formed aluminum that is great for brakes and sprains...
I have also purchased a pretty good first aid kit, one in each vehicle and house, from Costco that was about $25 that has got a lot of what the Weekender Kit from your first post. I have also added an Ace Bandage, a couple of instant Ice packs, bee sting, Hot pack...
You might consider taking a First Aid course at the Red Cross. I have to go through them annually since I am an ERT member where I work. It surprises me what I forget and what I remember. I doubt you have an REI in Arkansas, but if you get the chance they have got a great wilderness first aid course...
The items CJM mentioned is a great list...
Hope you never need to use it...I had my leg stitched up during a military mountaineering course in Alaska...amazing how much dental floss will sting

midway down on this link has got some good stuff on what one guy takes to the woods: http://www.brian894x4.com/ExpeditionLCGear.html

 

Sounds cool, I wish I had one of those!!

I wish we had an REI here...we do have a couple really good places though. Lewis & Clark, mainly kayaking, biking and climbing. Pack Rat, a good all around store. Sportsmans Warehouse, basically heaven...camping (not very extensive unfortunately), hunting (VERY extensive), knives, guns, gear, clothing, boots, shoes...it's awesome and it is literally across the street from the ANB Holding Company that I work at...

Good advice on that guys website, I do need to take a good first-aid class somewhere. I bet my university has a good one that I could get some credit for.

Thanks guys!

Fink

 

I caved in...I bought The Weekender.

Pretty awesome little kit, small enough to perfectly fit behind the driver side rear seat next to the Maglite holder.

It's pretty well-equipped and I think there's a little bit of room to add a few small things into the pockets if I want extra items.

I may keep looking around and see if I can find something better, I do need a good first aid kit at the house so if I do find something better than I could swap out The Weekender with the new kit.

Thanks for all of the advice.

I think now I will start trying to put together my own First Aid kit and see what I can come up with.

Later,

Fink

 

Go take a Wilderness EMT or First responder class before you buy some High buck MEdi-Kit. Im a Wilderness EMT/EMT-B and Firefighter, all the gear in the world won't make up for the fact that you don't know how to fix an injury or what to use on said injury. I work in an ER so I built my Medi-kit from our store room, it fits in a larger Ammo-Can and it's like a rolling ER in and of itself. Thing is I know how and what to use, and I only realy ever use a few things most of the time. Go to an Army Surplus store, get an AmmoCan and start collecting First aid suplys. IMO MOST of the pre made kits have a little of everything which is utterly useless. You'll need 10 times as many small band-aids, tape and wound dressing than they give you.

Cheers

Dave