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Earthquakes, forest fires, floods, tornados, hurricanes, and other disasters seem to be common news items these days. Tragedy can strike almost anywhere at any time, so it is best to be prepared. Life Gear is a company that specializes in disaster preparedness equipment. I have two of their personal safety devices to tell you about.

PSD Tools

This personal safety device is housed is a yellow and black tough plastic case. It consists of a flashlight with a high and low beam that also flashes. To make yourself even more locatable, it also has a siren. To keep in touch with what is happening, it offers an AM and FM radio with a telescoping antenna. It features a foldaway removable crank. A door in the base of the unit opens to reveal a set of six driver bits in slotted, phillips, and square format that fit into the removable handle. Of particular interest to this audience is a phone charging chord. It only comes with one tip, but you can order free adapters to fit your particular phone or mobile device. It has a detachable wrist strap

PSD NOAA

In case you are not familiar with the acronym NOAA, it stands for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. OK, I admit that I had to look it up and that I’ve never heard of it before. Anyway, this agency offers free weather broadcasts that you can tune into with the radio on this device that also features WX weather along with AM and FM bands. It functions as a super-bright flashlight and has two red flashing lights. This unit also has a high pitched siren. It will output 12 V DC current to charge other portable devices. You can select an adapter free from the Website. It has a non-detachable wrist strap.

Discussion

Indeed both devices would be very handy in an emergency situation. I particularly appreciated the screwdrivers available with PSD tools but fear that the detachable handle could be easily lost rendering the entire device useless. I like the two flashlight intensities of the PSD Tools model. I think the flashing red lights on the PSD NOAA model would be more noticeable. The weather channels of the NOAA unit are an attractive feature. The non-removable crank cannot get lost, and that is a comfort.

I found the radios on both units to be of poor quality, but would certainly be welcome in a disaster situation when you are probably not going to be worried about the sound quality of the music. I was surprised at how little power storage capacity each device has. It seems that you almost have to crank them continually, which I found annoying and hope that future versions could be improved in this area.

Purchase

Nevertheless, I feel better prepared for an emergency in the company of one of these PSDs. I plan to keep one in my car, and another at home. Both units are on sale now: the PSD Tools for $36.95, and the PSD NOAA for $39.95. To order, please visit www.lifegearcompany.com, and while you are there, check out all the other emergency equipment this company offers.

Tim Hillebrand (105 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook