Best products from r/searchandrescue
We found 29 comments on r/searchandrescue discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 29 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.
1. Fundamentals of Search and Rescue
- SmallRig Multi-function Double Ballhead 1138 is a multifunctional double ball head with a clamp at the bottom and a 1/4" screw on the top, with fits DIY options according to your needs, such as vlog/youtube/tiktok
- 【Wide Application】It can mount monitor/small action camera/LED Lights/microphones/flash or any gears with a bottom 1/4" thread on its one end via 1/4" screw, and then you can lock it on rod/tube/table/desk/tripod via the clamp tightened by the locking knob
- 【360° Rotation Ballhead】Easily loosens and tightens for a 360-degree pivot action, helping you to find the perfect angle anywhere. The best load < 1.5kg
- 【Study and Stable with High-Quality Material】SmallRig is always aiming at providing study accessories for those who love videos, this ballhead mount clamp is made of aluminum alloy and stainless steel, very well made and durable to use
- 【Specifications】The best load < 1.5kg
- 【What You Get】1 x SmallRig ballhead mount clamp; worry-free SmallRig customer service
Features:
2. Unigear Tactical MOLLE Rip-Away EMT Medical First Aid Utility Pouch (Red)
8.07*7.3*3.7 inches (H *W *D), 1000D anti-abrasion polyesters MOLLE pouch for emergency or tactical situationsTri-fold design, rip away Velcro panel and wide handle for removal or carrying quick access to first aid suppliesDouble zipper closer, multiple pockets, elastic loops, instrument holders and...
3. Telescoping Teachers Pointer, BonyTek Retractable Classroom Electronic Whiteboard Presentation Teaching Pointer Stick for Teachers Coach Presenter with A Lanyard & Felt Nib, Extends to 39"(1 Pcs)
- Tool free design, easy to install,Transfer Rates Up to 480 Mbps when connected to a USB 2.0 port,Transfer Rates Up to 5 Gbps when connected to a USB 3.0 port.
- Suitable for 2.5” SATA/SSD; Supports Standard Notebook 2.5″ SATA and SATA II Hard drives
- Optimized for SSD, Supports UASP SATA III,Backwards-Compatible with USB 2.0 or 1.1
- Hot-swappable, plug and play, no drivers needed
- Operating System: Supported Operating Systems: Mac,Windows;Supported Windows Versions: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP; Supported Mac Versions: Mac OS X and Higher
Features:
4. Covert Escape RG(TM) Flashlight/Tools/Camera/GPS/Cycling Chest Pack by Hazard 4(R)
Unique harness system - easily convert from chest pack mode to waist pack, bandoleer, shoulder bag modes; What's Included: 1x Splittable harness, 1x Main pack, 1x Removable shuttle bag with water-proof zipper.Main pack interior can hold: pen, AA batteries, tools, flashlight, cables, cell/PDA battery...
5. Morakniv Companion Fixed Blade Outdoor Knife with Carbon Steel Blade, 4.1-Inch, Military Green
- Fixed blade outdoor knife with 4.1-inch high carbon steel blade
- Limited lifetime manufacturer’s warranty; Made in Sweden
- Patterned, high-friction grip makes the knife comfortable to hold and easy to handle
- Blade length: 4.1 inches (104 mm);
- Blade thickness: 0.08 inch (2.0 mm); Overall length: 8.6 inch (218 mm); Weight w/ sheath: 3.9 oz. (110 g)
Features:
6. KwikSafety GODFATHER | Class 2 Safety Vest | 360° Hi Viz Reflective ANSI Compliant Work Wear | 9 Pockets Cushion Collar Reinforced Branding | Men & Women Regular to Oversized Fit | Yellow L/XL
PROPER FIT, PROPER PERFORMANCE: Correct fit is essential for proper performance; that is why we make a size chart available (located in on images) to ensure that our customers find the right size for them. Size charts are available in both inches and centimeters measurements to maximize accuracy. We...
7. 5.11 Taclite Men's EMS Pant, 32-32, Dark Navy
5.11's TACLITE EMS Pants are lightweight, breathable, and durable. Made from our TACLITE ripstop fabricThese pants feature a self- adjusting waistband, fully gusseted inseam, and double- reinforced seat and knees for comfort and mobilityThe thigh- mounted cargo pockets offer internal dividers to sor...
8. Propper Men's Lightweight Tactical Pant
Fade-, shrink- and wrinkle-resistantTeflon fabric protector finish repels stains and liquidsExtra-large belt loops designed for nylon duty beltYKK zipper and Prym snapTwo hook and loop back pockets with wallet "pocket in a pocket"Internal openings for knee padsTwo hidden coin pocketsRelaxed fit
9. Columbia Men’s PFG Bahama II Long Sleeve Shirt , Mineral Yellow, Small
- Omni-Shade UPF 30 sun protection
- Quick dry & vented
- Roll-up sleeves with tab holders. Rod holder
- Back Country Cloth 100% Tactel nylon taffeta
Features:
10. Tru-Spec Mens Combat Shirt, Tru P/C Twill 1/4 Zip
- 1/4 zip front mandarin collar with zipper that has a cover Hood for comfort
- Tactical response uniform sleeves
- Adjustable hook and loop cuff
- Pencil stall and reinforced shoulder pockets
- Reinforced external Elbow pockets with external Openings for Elbow pads secured with hook and loop closure
Features:
11. Conterra Tool Chest Radio Chest Harness (Black)
- Built entirely out of Cordura nylon.
- Cargo pocket, two side mount pockets and elastic keeper.
- Cargo Pocket measures: 7. 75" Tall x 5. 75" Wide x 4" Deep at the top, tapering down at the bottom.
- Penlight, radio, and trauma shears not included.
Features:
12. OfficemateOIC Aluminum Forms Storage Clipboard, 8.5 x 12 Inch (83200)
- Office Supplies
Features:
15. AMMEX Gloveworks HD Industrial Green Nitrile Gloves with Diamond Texture Grip, Box of 100, 8 mil, Size XXLarge, Latex Free, Powder Free, Textured, Disposable, GWGN49100-BX
- Gloveworks HD Green Nitrile (GWGN) provides high visibility and superior durability with a raised diamond texture for an excellent grip, wet or dry
- Better performance, better protection, better safety The vibrant green color stands out and enhances safety
- This glove features excellent chemical resistance from common chemicals, like pesticides and many other specialty chemicals, such as iodine, brake fluid or butane It is also powder free for working with sticky adhesives or wet paint so that no residue from your gloves can get in the way of a perfect finish
- Gloveworks Heavy Duty Green Nitrile gloves are commonly used for automotive, manufacturing, janitorial, plumbing, paint shops, heavy duty and industrial applications
Features:
16. 75 Search and Rescue Stories: An insider's view of survival, death, and volunteer heroes who tip the balance when things fall apart
- BUY WITH CONFIDENCE. LectroFan Classic is designed in the USA and backed by a 1,000 day satisfaction guarantee.
- GUARANTEED NON-LOOPING Design provides Ten unique Fan Sounds and Ten unique White Noise variations, including Pink noise and Brown noise
- BLOCKS disruptive environmental noises so you or your little one can fall asleep with ease
- SAFE, solid-state design is powered by AC or USB and dynamically creates unique, non-repeating sounds without moving parts
- PRECISE VOLUME CONTROL allows you to set the perfect level for your unique environment
- COMPACT AND PORTABLE
Features:
17. Coaxsher Radio Chest Harness Rig for 2 Way Radio, GPS and Hand Held Electronics | Ideal for Tactical Search and Rescue, Ski Patrol, Military and Emergency Response Personnel (Black, RCP-1 Pro)
- ORGANIZATION ON YOUR CHEST - Keep your radios, electronics and necessities always accessible on your chest while out in the field. Designed with Military, Law Enforcement, and Tactical Response teams in mind.
- EXTREMELY DURABLE - Made from industry best materials. These radio chest harnesses are designed and made by professionals for professionals. Backed by Coaxsher's Guarantee.
- HIGHLY ADJUSTABLE - Holds are variety of sized radios, gps units and cell phones. The backstraps are one size fits most. | Radio Holster fits all Radios/GPS Units from the BK Radio (2.50" W x 1.50" D x 8.50" H) and anything smaller
- ERGONOMIC DESIGN - Shoulder straps are designed to fit with backpacks and not overlap to cause additional chaffing.
- THIN NON-BULKY DESIGN - Fits comfortably over clothing and jackets. Antennae is designed to point to the side to keep out of the way.
Features:
18. SARcastic Wear: Search & Rescue Cross
- Lightweight, Classic fit, Double-needle sleeve and bottom hem
Features:
Traditional SAR, the teams you will find around the country operate in a whole different world than the military. For the most part you can sort of look to volunteer firefighters as an analogy, even then they tend to be more regimented than SAR. There are some SAR teams out there that have more of a military structure to them, but most of what you will find will feel more like SAR clubs (think chess clubs, hiking clubs, etc). My unit meets once a month, we have a business meeting with the whole review last month's minutes, reports on events since the last meeting, old business, new business, etc. After that we conduct a classroom training session on topics like Lost Person Behavior, Medical Techniques, Navigation, etc. We also conduct regular field trainings to bring it all together. We don't have ranks, we have a list of skillsets and we are each typed according to our ability in each skill. Our unit and all the units I know don't work with weapons, sure we carry knives, but the biggest blade most of us work with is one of these, not some giant thing that rambo would carry, no machetes, no hatchets. If there is a situation where SAR skills are needed for say a fugitive, we stay home. We have done evidence searches for things criminals have tossed into the woods, but they were already in jail.
SAR in the military is their own thing and while we can and do work together on missions they are a unit that stays a unit. When we ask for military assets we indicate what needs to be done and they tell us what they are sending and what it will do. If I show up on a mission with 5 other people from my unit we might be on a team together or I might get put in with members of a different unit.
When it comes to the actual searching it is simply a lot of covering ground. We walk, and we walk, and we walk. 99% of the time we get nothing, there are only so many clues out there. There is one really awesome clue (the person or thing you were out to look for) and tons of acreage to cover. We often start from a last known point and try to move that further along in time. An example we were out looking for a mushroom hunter, when I showed up they new where he started into the woods, we then found a clearly picked mushroom and a couple of boot prints. That advanced the last known point a few hundred feet and gave us a second breadcrumb to work with. It takes a certain type of person to do that effectively. I have seen plenty of people bow out because they had been on maybe a dozen searches over several years and never found a thing. One of our radio operators has been on 8 missions, each ended in a recovery. My hope when I got in was to find a clue at some point, and Oh Boy my first time out I got the find, I found the 24yro woman who had hanged herself. We don't have an obligation to respond to one call or another, but you also don't get to decide who gets lost and when. You also have to get along real well with the others on your team. I've been on all sorts of teams and there are people that I know I don't want to go out with, and certain combinations of people that I won't go out with.
With every one of your responses I feel more and more that SAR wouldn't be a good fit for you now. Most units welcome visitors, I would say that you might consider finding one of the local unit's meetings and checking it out. Attend a few meetings before even considering applying, and talk to the people there and be honest about what you are looking for. Once you get started into it there is a substantial investment in time, energy, gear, and training on the part of you and your team. It isn't worth it to go through a bunch of training and getting geared up to not be a productive member of a team (remember finding nothing is something). I'm not sure what exactly you are looking for, but I don't think SAR is it. There is always a "who knows?" aspect and if you spend some time around a unit you may find that it is a good fit, or that your outlook might change. Our mountain rescue unit has people "hang out" around them for several months before offering them an application, in their world they have to trust their lives to their team. While the regular old SAR doesn't require the same standard it is very easy for someone (as good at it as they may be) to be more of a distraction than a help.
TL;DR
I don't think SAR is going to get you what you want. If you do feel like continuing down this path talk to the people in the unit(s) in your area, be honest, and don't take it personally if they tell you "no".
The requirements vary massively from organization to organization.
Also some thing to take into consideration:
While you wait to move to Colorado, some training you can start out on:
Again, the requirements and what certifications will be accepted vary MASSIVELY from organization to organization. While some may accept the certifications and trainings above, others may completely reject them.
5.11 (https://www.511tactical.com/) is a bit uniform shop, but you may also want to consider going to a local uniform store and figuring out what options you have there. Your local fire fighters and cops are buying their stuff locally and having patches put on, so see what's there and what can be ordered in. Usually uniform shops have lots of catalogs about too. 5.11 carries some of the most common stuff out there, like the EMT taclite pants: https://www.amazon.com/5-11-Taclite-Mens-Pant-32-32/dp/B004DT0NQ0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1510084402&amp;sr=8-5&amp;keywords=emt+pants
For non-winter helmets look at the petzl vertex, it's got lots of accessories and is pretty popular. For winter, get a ski/board helmet with ear covers that you can drop helmet speakers into. If you'll be on snowmobiles, consider if you need special helmets for those as well.
For "medical gear" you should have someone with formal emergency medical training that can stock that for you, and the training should follow along with the equipment. A lot of people buy stuff that they've never really used before. Figure out how you'll treat traumatic bleeding, then buy that gear, train on it, and put it in the bag. Don't put stuff in because it might work someday someway.
With outer clothing (goretex stuff, etc) it can be tricky to figure out because it's super expensive and custom. If buying $800 worth of snow pants/jackets per person with $100 of customization for each one is in the cards than do it, but because of that price tag often teams on a budget will simply say "wear a red jacket and black pants" which is a little easier for people to follow. You can keep names and insignias on helmets.
You can also just require something standard like "black or dark blue pants, and a red top", and then have people toss a vest on like this: https://www.amazon.com/KwikSafety-Presidential-Reinforced-Reflective-Construction/dp/B071JR8W4G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1510084754&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=class+2+work+vest
Personally I prefer to pick my own base layers and just wear a vest or over-shirt (non winter). I'd much rather wear my own personal wool base layers, and women often find clothing fits pretty difficult.
Wanting Yellow my first thought would be a USFS wildland firefighting shirt. Yellow is the standard color. Lots of different companies make them. They are a heavier nomex though.
https://www.coaxsher.com/BetaX-Wildland-Fire-Shirt-p/fc105.htm
http://www.coaxsher.com/Vector-Wildland-Fire-Shirt-p/fc103.htm
http://www.nationalfirefighter.com/store/c/1968-Brush-Shirts-Coats.aspx
Wanting lightweight, wicking, but tough, and the ability to do patches/name tapes - the perfect thing would be a combat shirt. I don't know where you'd get them made in yellow though. The torso is a light weight wicking T-shirt material and then the sleeves have heavier poly cotton mil uniform material. obviously they have velcro for patches as well as pockets too.
https://www.opsgear.com/collections/combat-shirts
Randomly did find this one in BRIGHT orange tho
https://www.amazon.com/Tru-Spec-Mens-Combat-Shirt-Twill/dp/B071FRXT7Z
Edit: I did find columbia makes a long sleeve outdoor type vented synthetic shirt in the color "mineral yellow". Seems to be close to what you want.
https://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Bahama-Sleeve-Medium-Sunlit/dp/B018IOL4F4/ref=sr_1_22?s=sporting-goods&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1537569359&amp;sr=1-22&amp;keywords=yellow%2Bshirt&amp;th=1
they also have a bunch here on this forestry site in a color called Pilsner
https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/Search.php?csearch=Y&amp;sale=1&amp;cat=571
I used the Conterra Tool Chest for about a decade.
(In fact we used a version of this built by a local guy who knocked it off, and added a drawstring so things wouldn't fall out of it.)
One thing that is nice about this pack is it hold the radio in the vertical orientation which results in the best reception (antennas are sensitive to the orientation). Of course for best results we train members to remove the radio from the back so you're not driving signal into your body.
I use one of these metal ones: This is pretty much the same thing on Amazon. They are durable as heck, I can have it loaded up with all sorts of papers I might need. I can fit all of my pens and such. It's a little bit bulky, but it's perfect for my needs. Plus, I know I won't break it when I do run out into the field. Mine may not be the exact same brand as the one on Amazon there, but it looks the same. I picked it up for about $15 at Walmart.
You should be able to use something like this instead for mantracking: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N1HX6SS/
And castration bands from your local feed & farm are far superior to anything else you can put on there.
There are good reasons for carrying a trekking pole, but "just in case you need a tracking stick" isn't one of them. Your team might have it set in stone that it has to be a trekking pole, but I hope that isn't the case. :-)
(Am certified tracker.)
One of the lead members of our SAR dog teams recently published a book about his experiences, it should be a great source of stories if you're interested:
Search Dogs and Me: One Man and His Life-saving Dogs
For those interested in how canine SAR really works, this is an excellent book:
https://www.amazon.com/Scent-Missing-Partnership-Search-Rescue/dp/0547422571
This book was written by a member of the team I'm on and is great!
https://www.amazon.com/75-Search-Rescue-Stories-volunteer/dp/1893594114
I've used the Propper Lightweight Tactical Pants for around five years and they have done really well. You can buy them on Amazon and they come in a variety of colors.
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https://www.amazon.com/Propper-Mens-Lightweight-Tactical-Pant/dp/B00DCJPDPI
I use a Covert Escape chest pack. Holds a Fenix PD35 TAC flashlight, Brunton echo monocular, pro sharpie, pencil, radio, tape measure, mirror, various papers, flagging/trail tape, spare batteries.
Another member of my team picked up a pack that I can't seem to find on Garage Grown Gear anymore; it flips down to give you a little table and has a pouch in back for a hydration system. A few others in my group have the Coaxshers that other's have mentioned here.
Otherwise the group gear we have is the Conterra someone else mentioned.
A little shameless self promotion... This was my design that our team did up, we had ours custom printed locally so I had a spot colors, but Amazon Merch doesn't do well with printing orange colors so I had to modify it a bit. I can customize something with your logo and have it up with a private link too if you want
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077MPDTDT
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A few others I have up:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076JSWZS1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R36R2X
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071Y4CR9N
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072HCZBS6
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HQXDZLZ