Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

It’s the run-up to the gift giving season…Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Flying Spaghetti Monster Day, etc, etc….The day after Thanksgiving is usually the semi-official kickoff for the shopping frenzy. What is on the Zero’s wish list for Christmas? Well…a lot of stuff, actually. And while I am focussed mostly on the gimme, I’ve been introduced to some cool products I’ll share with you for those still in need of gift-giving ideas to fellow like-minded individuals:

Nanostriker XL – I’m loving the clever design on this ferro rod firestarter. The scraper and rod are integrated into the handle to create a compact, slender package that can fit anywhere. Matches are my first choice for firestarting but I usually carry around a striker of some kind ‘just in case’. This looks to be slimmer and perhaps more rugged than the Gerber product I’ve been carrying for quite a while now.

Buck Hoodlum – Buck gets back in the ‘big knife’ market with this headchopper. Made in USA, which is not always a guarantee with many manufacturers these days, this thing is marketed as a survival knife. Personally, I like my BK&T knives for their affordable sheer brutality, but I wouldn’t mind having one of these…it’d go great with my first-gen BuckMaster as a collectible.

SAR Eclipse Signal System – A buddy of mine showed me this little gizmo and it was love at first sight. It’s the size and shape of a dogtag but contains a signal mirror, sighting device, and a clip to keep it on your gear. Simple and cheap, this would make an awesome stocking stuffer.

So many wonderful toys out there….trick is weeding through the ‘wants’ to trim the list down to the ‘needs’. Money is a limited resource, y’know.