The Blizzard Survival Blanket Review
The Blizzard Survival Blanket isn't exactly your everyday pocket size emergency sheet. Its a sleeping bag sized blanket that puffs up a little bit for extra thermal insulation and comes in a vacuum packed packet about the size of a house brick. It wont be accompanying you on an average hike but for the more adventurous who may be going into the great cold unknown this is an amazing asset. You can fit it in your backpack easily and it doesn't weigh a lot so, if your life is important to you and you live in a colder climate, then this could be the ultimate piece of emergency survival gear.
Unfortunately due to a computer crash I lost my photo's and the original article but a friend and I walked over a patch of common land local to us while we had this years SNOW. I promise I did go out in the snow. It was horrible. I wanted to go home after 5 minutes. It was closer to 5 hours.
The winds howled and the snow kept falling. It was over a foot deep across the valleys while myself and future SurviveUK writer David braved the wilds of Wales. The temperatures bit at us like the three headed hound Cerberus...... It was really cold is what I'm saying. Colder than any other day in the last 11 months. I set my cold numb sausage fingers to work on the package. I intentionally ignored the use of a pocket knife as I wanted to make it as hard as possible for myself to mimic a bad situation. Much to my delight I noticed a little red spot on the edge of the packet where it had been designed to open with ease. It makes sense as there are rescue services across Britain which use these and there are situations (probably all of them) where using a blade is potentially dangerous to themselves or their patients. I quickly set about un-shrinking the blanket. It wasn't easy in the wind but we got there and I found that, while it was not thick, it was lined enough that wind could not penetrate and suck the internal warmth away. Immediately upon entering I felt a huge difference. I wasn't warm but all of the cold had gone. After a few minutes I was starting to get to the point where I wanted to test it more. I hunkered down in a small crevasse in the mountain side. I must admit I found the cold snow still seeped in through the bottom while laying down. It was always going to happen (and Blizzard know also) which is why they and I advise you to find some insulation to put between the blanket and the ground. If you had access to some shrubbery you could pile up then that would be perfect but anything you might have in your pack including the pack itself would need to be sacrificed for maximum heat retention in a life threatening situation. I had nothing except David at hand and I certainly wasn't going to lay on top of him. Unless I was fighting for survival of course in which case I would wear him like a Tauntaun. It really performed better than expected and David, who is ex military and has braved far worse conditions agreed. So four frozen thumbs up from us.
Outside of life threatening survival it may still be a good tool for cold weather camping. I imagine it would be better inside rather than outside of a sleeping bag but if you cut the little strap on the bottom you could easily wrap it around a hammock for extra insulation (that's what I plan to do since its open now). I think for preppers this is a must have item. A couple of these in your car for those times you go on long journeys or keeping a few in the shed/cupboard in case of a power cut/apocalypse (not sure they are as likely as each other but still).
I had a couple of emergency dog blankets as well however, getting my dog to stay in it was definitely out of my capabilities. They are meant for veterinary practices rather that taking your dog for a walk but I figured it was worth mentioning as some of you may like taking your pooches camping with you. This makes a perfect bed for them if they can stop freaking out about the rustling. I have an Alaskan Malamute so he doesn't really need a blanket for normal circumstances but if he injured himself while we were out hiking this could be just what he needs to keep him going until an emergency service could get there. The pet blanket is substantially smaller but just as good as the people version. Another win for Blizzard as my dog is a frequent companion like many other hikers so its a perfect item to keep in your daysack.
Overall I'm really impressed with the Blizzard Survival Blanket. True, it now fills a shopping bag rather than its brick sized packet but it is compact before first use. It keeps the wind out and really does keep your body heat in. I have one in my works van as I often go to remote areas and in the winter anything could happen. If I crash or just breakdown it could be a long time for help to arrive and this gives me my best chance of survival while minimising its required storage space. There is a reason emergency services across Britain use the Blizzard Emergency Blanket and given that it costs about as much as a case of beer I think it's well worth the money too. I cant praise Blizzard enough for making these products as I know they have already saved many lives in the UK (both human and animal alike). They are great products and I hope some of you seriously consider getting some as they may just save your life too.
If you are interested in purchasing a blizzard survival blanket please visit the link below.
https://www.surviveuk.com/survival-blog/the-blizzard-survival-blanket-review/