Reddit reviews Tourniquet - (Black) Recon Medical Gen 3 Mil-Spec Kevlar Metal Windlass Aluminum Lightweight First Aid Tactical Swat Medic Pre-Hospital Life Saving Hemorrhage Control Registration Card (1 Pack)

TBH, this can all be had for cheaper but these do look like decent quality kits, for those balling on a budget/want more bang for your buck - all this stuff can be had cheaper elsewhere as well but consider:

Tourniquet $18.99 set of two, one for your 'kit' one for your car. since people believe these can break here is the rate and proven North American Rescue.


Triangular bandage 12ct. for $6.99, can be used as sling, TQ, bleeding control etc.


Combine Pads and Tape set of 20ct. for $12.99

Total: $38.97 and it will go farther for longer.

Use the plastic bag from the triangular bandage/cravat packaging as an occlusive dressing or the 'tin foil' of the Vaseline bandage packaging but I've never actually used a Vaseline bandage, just the packaging for them. Buy these things for less than the skinnymedic has them for and get more - but you're right about one thing get training, know how to use an occlusive dressing and whether you want to tape 3 sides of it or all 4 and the issues with both, how to actually apply a TQ and when, general bleeding control etc.

EDIT

Since people seem to believe that C.A.T.s are unbreakable and that an alternative wouldn't work here is a Recon Medical for $15.97 a North American Rescue for $28.15. All equipment can fail but if you dont want to trust something that hasnt been reported to brake both of these are excellent options. - If you disagree lets have a conversation about it.

This. You might purchase a decent off-the-shelf kit and then augment it with more/better items such as pain relievers, anti diarrheal, benadryl or similar. Pads and rolled gauze (these things are VERY useful in a kit).

You might consider a good first aid book and even things like scalpels, hemostats and sutures. Quick Clot and even a tourniquet to stop blood loss.

I keep a bottle of water in my kits as well, you will likely need some water to clean wounds, etc.

Of all the things in my kit I tend to use band aids, ACE bandages, cold compresses and meds the most.

This is the one that's been recommended to me by a couple EMT's who have dealt with GSW. I bought two of them and love how easy they are to use.

Many local hospitals or Fire / EMS places will hold free or cheap "Stop the Bleed" courses, that will give you the essentials on how to stop bleeding.

Once you learn how to tie a tourniquet, then buy a few cravats, or else a medical-grade tourniquet or battle dressing. On the medical section of our CERT course, the training officer mentioned it is a good idea to have a one of these tourniquets easily accessible on the outside of whatever medkit you have, because it will often be the first thing you want to pull out, when you come across a bleeding victim.

Tourniquets can be improvised, but on a serious / arterial bleed, you would only have a minute or two to MacGyver one before the person loses too much blood.

Lung punctures require some special tools and training to handle, in order to prevent the lung from collapsing. I wouldn't go poking into someone's lungs without a class or two on how to treat it properly.

Yeah it’s not a NAR CAT. It has an aluminum windlass and is American made but I’m prepared to take the heat for it not being a NAR CAT. No good reason to not have a NAR one now that I am typing this...think I’ll grab one next paycheck.

This is it:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MS9PDA3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qVZ.Ab6C5Y19A

I taught protest first aid for years and helped get several street medic collectives off the ground.

Bulk medical supplies generally don't make sense unless you're willing to buy in serious bulk. I'm talking like a case of 50 boxes with 2,000 gauze pads each. At that point prices start dropping below what you'd pay if you just bought them straight out retail but unless you're stocking a hospital or other medical unit, you aren't going to use the supplies that fast.

For the most part, best way to go about it is to make a list of everything you need/want in a medical kit tailored to your expected needs and then shop around to find the best deal. I've ordered off Amazon before, I've bought stuff in person at medical supply places, it just depends who has the best deal.

Pre-built kits are almost always more expensive than building it yourself and about 80% of the time you're paying a huge markup for supplies that cost maybe a few dollars. There are good pre-built medical kits out there but you're still paying a premium for someone else to build it for you. Plus you'll be getting supplies you may not need in which case it's wasted money.

We used to divide things up into "hard" and "soft" supplies.

Hard supplies were things that we could afford to cut corners on if we had to and could buy from whoever had the lowest price; bags, medical tape, glucose tablets (we used candy), q-tips, cotton balls, alcohol swabs, etc.

Soft supplies were things that had to be bought from a reputable supplier and were considered critical for providing the right care; bandages, sterile gauze, antibacterial gel, gloves, masks, etc.

Hard supplies can usually be ordered from other, non-medical sources and repurposed to fit the need. For example, we bought cotton swabs from a craft supplier. They were intended for crafting use but they were clean and cheap so we used that.

AliExpress is a good source for hard supplies. Most of the time they sell the exact same thing that you can get domestically but they're selling it a lot cheaper.

Oh how I wish we'd had access to AliExpress during Occupy. Do note that shipping from China takes a while.

Soft supplies are trickier but are almost always cheaper online. You can sometimes set up a small scale bulk purchase with a local medical supply place but with the internet this isn't as feasible as it used to be. Order a single set of what you want, look at it, make sure it meets your standards, and then place a bigger order when you're sure you've got what you want.

Also be sure to check any expiration dates on what you get. Sometimes these things sit for a while and for something like bandages it doesn't matter as much, you really want to pay attention to it when it comes to things like antibacterial gel.