The SEVENTY2™ Survival System

As the name suggests, this survival system from Uncharted Supply Co. is designed to keep you dry, warm, fed, and, most importantly, alive in an emergency. To be quite clear, we did not pull a Bear Grylls and get dropped off in the woods with nothing but this kit for three days straight—though that does actually sound somewhat fun. In reality, we tested this kit over months of road tripping and used many of the included tools extensively during our travels. 

Inside the waterproof 48L backpack is a handy insert, with eight pockets designated as follows: electronics, air & vision, food, water, light, first aid, tools, and warmth. Though the pack only weighs 11 lbs., these pockets include survival essentials like a 3-in-1 crank-powered radio, flashlight, knife, fire starter, paracord, duct tape, space blanket, etc. The pack also includes some survival essentials you might not consider when building your own survival backpack: hand warmers, beanie, 2-liter nalgene, splint, sunscreen, and more. 

While the quality of the Seventy2 gear is by and large middling, certain elements like the multi-tool and flashlight, for instance, do fall short of outdoor enthusiast’s expectations. However, part of the beauty of buying this kit is that you don’t need to stock it up with your favorite pieces of gear. It’s more of a standalone backpack that you can grab if disaster strikes. Of course, you can (and many will) swap out certain items or add additional ones to customize the kit. 

As we tested various pieces of the Seventy2 puzzle on our road trip—digging cat holes with the shovel, patching wounds with the first aid kit—we always made sure to replace and replenish the kit back to its original state. It would be a double disaster to actually need this backpack during a disaster, only to find out that you used all the matches and forgot to restock ‘em. 

Tester Comments:
“Chucking this in the van was a sweet insurance policy. We ended up using many of the elements separately,  but in a real survival situation, this would’ve been the first thing I grabbed. I was happy to have it in the van during sketchier parts of the drive in rural Mexico.”

Bottom Line:
Though expensive, this survival kit is packed with multiple essentials and instructions on how to use them, making it preferable to many roadtrippers than building a bug-out bag from scratch.