seventy2-survival-system-review-did-uncharted-supply-co-create-best-bug-out-bag

Seventy2 Survival System Review: Did Uncharted Supply Co. Create the Best Bug Out Bag?

If your definition of “emergency preparedness” is simply having a battery charger for your iPhone, you need to check yourself. Everyone should have an emergency preparedness kit—aka bug out bag—that includes, at the very least, basic survival tools and supplies. While you can build your own bug out bag, the team at Uncharted Supply Co. has done the work for you with their Seventy2 Survival System.

Uncharted Supply Co. worked with first responders, doctors, special forces personnel, and outdoor experts to curate an emergency preparedness kit to get you through the first 72 hours of an emergency survival situation. The Seventy2 Survival System features a waterproof outer shell that serves as a backpack, canvas insert, screen-printed graphics, and more than 30 tools and essentials, including a knife, fire starter, first-aid kit, flashlight, food, water purification system, and more.

After hearing Uncharted Supply founder/CEO Christian Schauf on Jay Cutler’s Uncut podcast, Outsider purchased a Seventy2 Survival System for a first-time field test and review. Prepare yourself to be impressed—and keep coming back to Outsider for Reviews you can trust.


Seventy2 Survival System Specs

  • Weight: 11 lbs.
  • Dimensions: 18 x 12 x 6 inches
  • Capacity: 32 Liters
  • MSRP: $399
  • Buy: Amazon

Pros

Design – The waterproof shell/backpack, canvas insert, fold-out panels, labels, compartments, and instructions are a blueprint of organization and efficiency.

Contents – The pack’s thorough curation of tools and supplies is both thoughtful and utilitarian (foldable shovel/pickaxe, flat-packed duct tape, hand-cranked USB charger, etc.) to get you through a variety of 72-hour survival situations.

seventy2-survival-system-review-did-uncharted-supply-co-create-best-bug-out-bag
The Seventy2 Survival System is exceptionally designed and organized.

Room to Personalize – The pack has extra room for personal necessities, such as prescription medication, glasses, contacts, and a specific phone charger. It’s not bursting at the seams like a camping chair that won’t return into its own bag.

Portable – Weighing only 11 pounds, the lightweight kit/backpack features padded shoulder straps, a sternum strap, and hip straps for easy transport in a survival situation where you need to flee or remain mobile.

Versatile – The full pack serves as a flotation device (it kept our 180-pound test dummy afloat), while the contents remained dry.

The packed kit also functions as a flotation device.

Cons

First-Aid Kit – The first-aid kit is rudimentary, at best. It needs an overhaul, including larger gauze, an elastic bandage, dedicated tourniquet, butterfly closures, and metal tweezers.

Food – The emergency rations have a five-year shelf life, but our rations were packaged in 2020 and are now almost two years old.

Upgrades – While the pack’s multi-tool, knife, and fire starter will most likely get you through 72 hours, we’re upgrading our bag with a Leatherman Multi-Tool, Benchmade Hidden Canyon Knife, and Prepared4X Fire Starter. In addition, we’d love to have some bug spray, a compass, and a poncho.


Decide for Yourself

Size – The Seventy2 Survival System (18 x 12 x 6 inches) stores neatly in an SUV or closet, but is it too bulky for your compact car or boat?

Plenty of space for the Seventy2 in our SUV, but it could be a tight fit in a smaller car.

Seventy2 Survival System Full Review

We purchased our Seventy2 Survival System at Bass Pro Shops in Nashville for $398.99 ($435.90 after tax), before field testing it at Five Star Retreat in Nunnelly, Tennessee, where we have access to more than 400 acres of challenging terrain, flowing creeks, and a lake.

After unpacking all of the contents for a quick perusal, the kit was really easy to re-pack (we can’t stress this enough). So we loaded the pack onto our back and hit the terrain. The padded shoulder straps are comfortable, and the 11-pound load felt extremely manageable, even up and down the rough terrain.

We set up camp at the creek and decided to test several of the bag’s tools and components, including the tent (pass), blanket (pass), shovel (pass), knife (pass), and fire starter (pass). In fact, we dug a hole with the shovel and built a tinder bundle in the hole (to block the wind). Utilizing a cotton ball that was packed with matches, we lit a fire on first strike with the fire starter and knife blade (no luck with the back of the knife).

One strike with the knife and fire starter produced a fire.

The last test of the day was using the full pack as a flotation device. Yup, we jumped into 10 feet of chilly water. The pack immediately bobbed to the top of the water and kept us afloat. The contents of the pack remained dry.

Back at the office, we tested the flashlight (pass), hand-cranked USB charger/radio (pass), multi-tool (pass), matches (pass), glow sticks (pass), and just about everything else, sans the water filtration system, food bars, and individual components of the first-aid kit. Everything passed our non-emergency tests. Impressive.


Final Thoughts

Over the last two years in Nashville, we have experienced deadly tornadoes and floods, as well as an ice storm that knocked out power for five days and a psychopath who detonated a bomb on Christmas Day 2020. Having an emergency preparedness kit could be the difference between life and death. Or, on a lesser note, it can mean knowing the exact location of your flashlight, matches, back-up phone charger, and emergency radio so you can have it with you in your safe room at 3 a.m. when a tornado knocks out your power.

At 11 pounds, the Seventy2 Survival System is highly portable (and comfortable), even over rough terrain.

It’s easy to say that you could build a better pack for less than $400. However, very few people will take the time. And if they did, coming in below $400 would be difficult. This kit is designed to keep you alive for 72 hours, and we feel it lives up to that claim. A price tag of $400 doesn’t seem unreasonable.

In addition, we feel like the Seventy2 Survival System is a great gift for those who don’t have the expertise—or are too lazy—to build their own kit. It just might save their life.


5 Comparable Bug Out Bags

  1. Sustain Supply Co. Premium Emergency Bag, $199
  2. Sirius Survival Emergency Survival Kit, $299
  3. EL Hanes 72 Hour Bug Out Bag, $372
  4. Uncharted Supply Co. Seventy2 Pro Survival System, $589
  5. Prep Store Elite Emergency Pack, $699