It doesn’t take much to get me excited about something, but I was REALLY excited when I saw the Survival Strap bracelet. It is such a handy idea: a fashionable bracelet that equips you with several feet of strong military spec paracord that you could unwrap in an emergency situation. And the stainless steel shackle makes the bracelet adjustable for nearly any wrist size.
Survival Straps are produced right here in America and they have an entire line of bracelets for the Wounded Warrior Project in which the company donates a percentage of the sale right back to the organization that supports the brave men and women as they return home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Awesome, right?
When the bracelet arrived, I was immediately ready to get myself into an emergency situation where I would need some rope. When that didn’t pan out, we decided to test it anyway just to see how easy it would be to unwind.
Unfortunately that part didn’t go as easily as we had hoped. You would naturally assume you wouldn’t need to read the instructions on how to unwind the bracelet, but you would be wrong. Once we figured it out, it came apart, but it did take a little time. The odds of someone having the instructions in a true emergency are almost nil, so our advice to owning a Survival Strap is to just be patient and understand that it will take a little time to unwind. .
Other than that, you will be pleased with your investment (prices start at $24.99) because it’s still a great idea to have that much rope available when you need it. Plus, if you use it, the company will send you a new one for free!
—Katie Burke, PDB Assistant Editor
