By David Ponce

You never know when the need might come to rappel down a building. So it might make sense to go around holding your pants up with carefully braided 550 paracord. When that moment comes, simply take the belt off, pull the tab and you have 80+ feet of cord at your disposal. You might look a little stupid going down a building in your underwear but if things get to that point, we suspect that’ll be the least of your worries. We’re also not sure just how hard it’ll be to braid it back into its former belt shape once you’ve deployed.

Still, it’s $28.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Boingboing ]

By David Ponce

Surviving by yourself in inhospitable conditions is really only fun on TV. There’s only so much of your own pee you can drink, so many camel testicles you can eat and so many carcases you can crawl into before you realize that you really should have packed something like DeLorme’s InReach two-way satellite hookup before leaving for a trek across the Sahara. For $250 and a $10 a month subscription, you can send distress SMSs to pre-designated recipients along with your GPS coordinates, with a delivery confirmation. If you happen to also be carrying an Android phone, you can pair through Bluetooth and actually send and receive messages. There’s an SOS button in case all you’re able to do before passing out is to press a button. Finally, the InReach is rugged, waterproof, shock-resistant and buoyant.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Crave ]

By David Ponce

The marketing department has gone and given the Gerber Gator Pro a zombie apocalypse angle. Yes, we suppose it could separate a zombie’s head from its body in a hurry. But when was the last time you were in a zombie apocalypse? Please. What we really have to worry about is a hipster invasion and I hear New York City is turning into ground zero. But we won’t seriously get on the record condoning any kind of violence. No, really, we aren’t, that’s just sick. What we’re saying is that instead of thinking about killing zombies, the Gerber Gator Pro is pretty badass for any survivalist, woodsy type of folk. It has a multi-purpose blade that can act as an axe, a machete or a knife and might, just might have kept you a little safer if you were in the woods in Ohio recently (wild animals escaped, if you don’t know). It has a rubber grip, weighs 18 ounces and costs $53.

We want one.

[ Gerber Gator Pro ] VIA [ Uncrate ]