I agree. Most 'cheap' kits are just that, cheap. Cheap components, cheap container, poor concept. I do not consider my life a cheap commodity and do not want to depend on protecting and maintaining it with cheap items.
Many of the items I have and use in various kits are inexpensive. However, as just about everyone on here is aware, cheap and inexpensive can be and usually are two very different things. There are many inexpensive items that are very useful for preppers that are decent quality. There are also many very good quality items that are inexpensive simply due to the nature of the item, and often the size of the items.
One of my major objections to many of the cheap premade kits, and, unfortunately, many of the compact kits put together by preppers, is the propensity to add items, even if of good quality, simply because they are very small and will fit. I do not want something taking up space and adding weight, even if he space and weight are miniscule, if they are not highly useful items. And most especially if they are low quality, with the cost (cheap) being as much a factor as size. One of those items, more a group of sub-kit actually, is an 'emergency' fishing kit. First of all, this area, while there are fish, quite a few of them actually, does not have 'good' fishing, again, especially if you are in an actual emergency situation. Double especially if it is winter. The amount of energy expended, and the many risks that exist when trying to catch a very small number of usually very small fish, almost never justify the return in calories.
And if you wind up getting wet, even just your hands, or hands and feet, and do not wind up soaked, you will be burning huge numbers of calories as your body tries to warm the extremities. Not to mention wet, and therefore cold, hands and feet mean that it is far more likely to wind up doing something that causes more problems than if one had simply huddled down, kept warm, and either wait through hunger pains or used other means to allay them. I will not say that there is never a reason to have a fishing kit, but make it a decent one, even if compact and more limited than your normal summer fun time fishing expeditions. It is doable.
There are some other items, one of which beorn mentioned. The spark maker. It looked to work pretty well, and there are some that are very, very good. They are rather more expensive, but worth the money in terms of the quality of materials and workmanship that went into crafting them. I am not so sure they are worth either the space or the expense when, as beorn showed, a mini-Bic in a kit, even if it winds up losing all its gas, is still quite effective as a spark maker and not that much, if any, larger. Use the space and weight allotment for the type of kit being put together to have the very best options at a reasonable size and weight.
I could do a lot more detail, but everyone will want a kit to suit them and their situation. So, sure, look over the commercial kits, because they can give some ideas, but unless there is some specific feature that one has that you need or really want, do not bother purchasing one, use the money to pick up any of the items you want in your kit that you do not already have. And most of us will have many of the different items, and several of each, as often as not when we are ready to put together a kit.
Great object lesson, beorn. I would hate to see someone go out with that that kit and have real trouble. Since they have a kit they think is fine, they are depending on it to do what they think it should, so wind up doing things they would not if they had any idea just how tenuous their ability to survive with those items is.
Good job.
Just my opinion.
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