Simply having a survival kit will not ensure or guarantee your survival. Once understood, your risk of making unnecessary mistakes will go way down. The result will be fewer negative surprises. With that in mind, you’ll put more efforts into your skills and knowledge. The benefit? If you caught without your kit, your survival kit will be in your head.

Here are the 8 survival kit myths.

Myth 1 – My kit will always be with me

This thinking is unrealistic. For instance, imagine being at work and your kit is at home. An earthquake hits and your gear is out of reach. The highways are clogged, and the bag is out of reach and of no use to you.

Your Plan: EDC kit, keychain, carbag. The idea is to pack a smaller bag in your car. It doesn’t have everything your normal bag has, but its good enough. An EDC is also know as an Every Day Carry bag. Its small enough to carry with you every day, in the trunk of your car.

Myth 2 – My survival kit will get me through the disaster

The problem with this: but what if the disaster is 7 days? Its good to have a kit. But how long is your survival kit supposed to support you? 1 day? 3 days? 4 days? Or maybe just a few hours? How do you even figure out how long it will last? And how long is the aftermath of the disaster going to last?

Your Plan: plan for 72 hours, and have a cache kit ready to take you beyond that first 3 days. The idea here is to pack something that’s light and that will get you through the first hours. Then from there, it will get you to a second/backup kit. In a way, you could chain a bunch of these together. Of course, this all assumes that you are not able to get home.

Myth 3 – The gear in my kit is appropriate for my expected disasters

The problem with this: something off the wall might come up. The problem here, is that most kits that are premade have generic contents in them. Let me give you an example. The other day I was looking at Ebola survival kits. I found one online. It had a mylar tent, a survival whistle and some gloves. I can assure you, that this wouldn’t save anyone in an Ebola outbreak. This comes at the price of lives that depend on the gear.

Your Plan: Don’t rely on someone else’s kit. If you are expecting a specific kind of disaster in your area, then plan things out. Do your research and learn what’s necessary to come out alive on the other side. Then slowly start acquiring the items and gear that you determine is necessary. Naturally, you’ll choose higher quality gear, and the payoff will be when the disaster hits. Your gear will stand up to any disaster.

Myth 4 – my survival kit gear is rugged enough to withstand tough use

The problem with this: if you have a premade kit, you might be surprised. A number of people have reported that pieces of gear have broken in their hands after light use. The survival kit manufacturers source out the cheapest gear just to fill the bag.

Your Plan: Just like the previous myth, research for your own gear and check out product reviews. If its a piece of gear that’s expensive, then save up a little each week until you get the full amount. Good quality reliable gear is more assuring in a disaster than something that fall apart in your hands.

Myth 5 – I don’t need any clothing in my kit. I’ll just wear what I’ve got.

The problem with this: what if you get wet and its cold? Wearing wet clothing in the cold is a recipe for hypothermia. Without question.

Your Plan: Bring very light clothing in your Bug-Out Bag. One brand that I’m impressed with is Frogg Toggz. Although they primarily make rain gear, some of the shells are worth wearing as light pants or a jacket/shell. They pack very tight because they are similar to Tyvek or Kevlar.

Myth 6 – I’ll just use my phone, so I don’t need alternative communications gear

The problem with this: what if the cell towers go down? If you are relying solely on your phone and the network goes down, then you have no backup. Now its true. If the lines go down, there’s a chance that SMS will still be working. But even that can go down.

Your Plan: signalling mirror; ham radio. A mirror can signal for 10’s and even 100 miles away. If you are in an urban area, then a radio like a CB or a ham radio would be much more effective.

Myth 7 – A survival kit is a survival kit. I don’t need to practice with it.

The problem with this: The problem is that you are assuming that your survival depends on your gear. You are thinking that if you have the right gear, then you’ll be in good shape. But there’s a crack in this kind of logic. The crack is this. What if the gear breaks down? Then what?

Your Plan: To get around this, you will want backup plans. Back up plans for all of your critical gear. For instance, if you have battery operated items, do you have chargers? Do you have solar chargers? Or what if there’s no sun? Do you have alternatives to generating power?

Myth 8 – I need a bug out bag, because I’m planning on bugging out.

The problem with this: most people think that they will be bugging out. But the reality is that there’s a high chance that you will be bugging in.

Your Plan: it’s good to have a bug out bag, but don’t ignore the supports that you have at home.

Survival shows and gear can be deceiving. They lull you into believing you can survive anything. But its not true. Read through these 8 myths one more time and learn what not to do the next time a disaster hits.

Article Source: 8 Survival Kit Myths That Are Your Worst Enemy