Do you need new gear? Read this before your next purchase.

With all the “New”, “latest” and “ground breaking” product coming out its easy to lose track of the direction of you survival/tac gear. We all drool over the sleek new items with all the bells and the whistles that we never knew we needed and we tend to forget about the tried and true devices that have been used since we were kids.

• Everything “new” is not always better. Sometimes it is but it is usually just another version and by another its more expensive most of the time.
• Just because it is Mil Spec does not make it superior to commercial products. Mil Spec is who ever got the bid (usually the lowest), met the minimum standard and greased the palms of the decision makers. Not who makes the superior product. Also the Government has different gear for different climate (cold weather gear) whereas the civilian market tries to make a single product that works from the heat of Arizona to the chills of Alaska.  
• Not every item “used by special forces” is actually used in combat. Sometimes (most of the times) these companies get a few Spec ops guys to test their products during training then write a review. These guys get paid for this so of course it is going to be in favor of the product.
• Be aware of anything that everyone is raving about. Most of the companies that product tactical/survival gear work together if they aren’t subsidiaries of other companies. They pay and send products to magazines for favorable publicity.
• Online Ratings. Most online ratings are skewed the company who sells the products have a media team and those media people may go on to Amazon and google and give 1-5 reviews a month those reviews will always be 5 stars and always be positive. You can usually tell because the first 3 are perfect rating followed by a few not so perfect then a few more perfect ratings. Now I’m not saying all reviews are fake but there are a few that are.
• YouTube reviews. These guys are usually paid or getting free stuff for the reviews. Receiving something for the review creates a bias among the reviewer because if the leave a bad review they may not get any more business from the company.

Just remember with all things there are good and bad. So the next time you see a review of an item, read an article or hear your fav YouTube personality ranting about remember They are paid to say these things. For honest reviews check forums or FB pages. This gives you somewhat of a live interface and real unbiased experience with items.