I was just spending my money at exduct.com (again 
) and I saw that they now sell "Survival Bracelets"?
Is this a new fashion trend or something?
I recall reading somewhere that 'survival' was a major top growing trend for 2010 in media. Military chic has been increasingly fashionable for quite some time.
Managers of the Chinese manufacturing are watching to see what sells, and people talk about on the forums. Labour and string is really cheap in China. Ten cents of materials and 10cents of labor for your costs... sell it for $10. It's a good mark up!
Oh.. and I highly doubt it's true milspec type III 550 paracord.
Well, I'm all for being prepared but as far as I am concerned, these survival bracelets are in the same league as tactical pens and disguised kubatons. If all you want is something tacticool, sure, go for it. After all, it's your money and who am I to tell you what to do with it? And the simple fact of the matter is that this kind of stuff sells. Big time.
If you really care about your personal safety or that of your family, you're probably better off taking a class of some sort. Martial arts, the NRA's basic pistol/shotgun, IDPA/USPSA/etc. - chose whichever you like best and chances are you'll learn something.
And if you often find the need to MacGyver/mallninja yourself out of a life-threatening situation, you probably want to take a different route to work anyway. :D ;)
That Exduct stuff is useless. True urban heroes weave their own paracord bracelets. I’ve done it. With my threeish meters of 550 commercial paracord + my EDC Leatherman Wave I can prevent world wars, sustain local peace, survive in the woods for months, or carry and open beers no matter what container they come in. Thats what I call life saving equipment.
On a practical note , the weave used in the survival bracelets at Exduct use the Cobra weave , which takes a long time to unravel if you need to use the cordage .
A far better weave for a survival bracelet is the Ripcord Sennet or a simple Zipper Sennet . These two weaves allow you to simply pull on both ends of the cord and unravel the whole deal in seconds .
I'm with HID45 on this one , weaving your own bracelet is a lot more fun . Here is a spool woven Type 1 paracord bracelet . This can turn into a 6 ft. piece of cordage in seconds .
It got REAL popular last year or there about. Former friend and I started making them, after that we started seeing them in the mall and at books stores, even gas stations being sold.
When even the Home Depot sells paracord bracelets, paracord is passe.
Paracord is passe ?
Nah .
It may never be as cool as buying all of the latest flashlights , but ...
Just imagine, you stop wearing your bracelet because it’s not cool anymore and then you find someone in need of rescue and don’t have any cord…
Coming from exduct I very strongly doubt it is legit spec 550.
2012 was the year of Prepping. It kinda went mainstream. As with most things, the majority are clueless to what is really what.
Should come as no surprise Mr Paracord himself (Jack) has better ideas to utilize/store cordage. Something to be said for being quickly accessible. Another one I’ve heard is to replace your boot laces with 550… if need be, you can gut the internal strands and put the casings back on as laces. (Un-tied boots never helped in a survival situation.)
It may be kinda lame of me… but I really enjoy that show Dual Survival. That root-chewer dude Cody has amazing primitive knowledge and skills. SpecOps guy Joe is very talented at orientering and navigation. Watch them and you realize you can never really be prepared. Improvisation & adaptation (wits & cunning) are the most vital skills of all.
Jack, you are without a doubt one of the top practitioners of the art, but when you can buy a bracelet at the Home Depot, paracord has lost some of its gravitas as a fringe hobby.
I never said it wasn’t still a good idea to have cordage on your person all the time. The Cone family still ties and still wears paracord, but once the general population is temporarily into it, it is a fad and, therefore, passe.
But…. its usually easy to tell those that weave their own from those that buy from home depot. 
Yup! Every store bought bracelet i’ve looked at looks like 100% crap compared to what I make myself.
Also…this has been discussed on other forums where people love paracord. When you care if a store is selling paracord bracelets and you’re put off from wearing it…that ends up being your own issue. Don’t let it make a difference in what you carry for your own personal reasons.
Of course. We should all pursue what we enjoy without consideration for what others think of it. Doesn’t mean we can’t poke a little fun at the posers too.
But seriously, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and vice versa. I say the more the merrier. Just need to educate those new to the hobby so they don’t run around like clowns embarrassing themselves.
I’m curious… If it’s really hot, where would you have it? (imagine I’m drowning or something at a beach!)
!!!
I suppose these would be useless in that case!
Not sure how I’d feel if I saw someone extract paracord from their “deep carry tube”.
LOL, Chloe, you are one cool chick.
I imagine that I wear more clothing at the beach then you, so…
All kidding aside, the bracelet can be worn anywhere, even at the beach. Personally, I mostly eschew most jewelry, so I generally carry six feet or so inside my pant leg. Just fold it in half and loop it through a belt loop. Completely unobtrusive.
A similar method can be used with shorts as well.
I also have some in every vehicle and in every bag.
And for the record, I’m not anti paracord, I’m just amused that it is going mainstream. It is fun to watch.
Replace each of the two strings with doubled up paracord! 36” waist x 4 = 12 ft of cord.
A triangle top bikini could have doubled up paracord too! One string is removable on a triangle top.
Of course you would have to really want to save someone to use it…
It does make the statement that your dedicated to survival & being prepared even if you never use it.
[quote=Helios-]
lol!