Bargain Alternatives Thread

[Illusion]

Gear can be expensive. We all know that. So how about a thread where we can discuss cheaper, but effective, alternatives to expensive kit!

I'll kick it off!

Item: Different Photography Lens
Replacement: Adapter Lens! Admittedly, not as high quality as a dedicated lens but with the advantage that they're smaller, you can carry more, being cheaper you wont mind too much if they get damaged...

Item: Climbing Gloves
Replacement: Weight Lifting Gloves. I've used half leather ones for years (until June) and they've allowed me to maintain an extent of dexterity (manipulating a camera, setting up a tripod, untying knots in DIY barbed wire installations, undo fence clips (and do them back up)) whilst still protecting the palm of my hand from glass, sharp metal and other things I've often found on top of walls. I'm a firm believer that they enhance my ability to hold my own weight, and pull myself up onto places - due to the comfort and protection.

To demonstrate their effectiveness, I was waiting for a buddy to climb over a wall - when he frantically kicked out to warn me not to follow him up. Turns out he'd sliced his hand up on the top of the wall; someone had put glass into the concrete and also lined barbed wire up along the other side at the top! Surprisingly, my climbing gloves allowed me to get up there, untangle his combats from the wall - and jump down myself; before cleaning his hand up and patching it up with my first aid kit.

[Highlander]

Rope- good rope can be expensive so i've resorted to using braided Sisal twine and braiding 12 stings at once 3 parts of 4 individual strings and doing a simple braid and if you know how- splicing in new lengths of rope - so with enough time time and twine you can make decently long and strong rope

[Nukes]

Well back on the topic of bargain alternatives then; instead of buying a full on respirator, hospital masks or those white pocket masks work fine most of the time. Also if you are just climbing short distances going up you can use multiple Prussiks versus a ascender.

[Lucian Neo]

I don't know if you guys know about it or not, But Cheaper Than Dirt has some good stuff for pretty cheap prices,

[Illusion]

I've just cleaned up the thread a little - by moving the paracord discussion to "The Uses of Paracord - Safety and Really Awesome Uses"; as it got derailed slightly. Feel free to discuss any safety aspects there - but mainly; suggest other awesome uses there!

Prussik Knots are awesome Nukes, there's an animation on how to tie one here - a long with a video here! Truly are really useful.

Something I've done in the past is use coloured tissue paper or even sweet wrappers to make coloured filters for my flashlights! Cheaper than buying dedicated filters and available in a whole range of colours! I've used them for photographic reasons - so coloured light painting etc; as well as for red/green filtering.

[Nukes]

Something I've done in the past is use coloured tissue paper or even sweet wrappers to make coloured filters for my flashlights! Cheaper than buying dedicated filters and available in a whole range of colours! I've used them for photographic reasons - so coloured light painting etc; as well as for red/green filtering.

We used to do something similar to this back before we all got red lights, we'd just put our lights in our gloves or cover them with our shirts, it would mask the light enough to keep it low profile but enough so we can see. Also saw a article in PopSci latley that showed how to make DIY hothands. I think they took a ziplock full of like de-icing salt and a smaller ziplock full of water and put one inside the other. Ill try to dig up the article later.

[Illusion]

That would be really cool Nukes, I managed to stock up from a camping store which was closing down luckily - but making them would be a good idea.

2xAA Maglites (Other brands are available ) could double up as a Kubotan in the similar way of a full size Maglite doubling up as a baton. Whilst not strictly a bargain alternative; it is pretty much a two for the price of one! Similarly, a surefire type flashlight can work as a Yawara stick.

Learning about traditional items such as these, does present many legal advantages - meaning you can be prepared to defend yourself regardless of the location (nowhere has yet banned a flashlight!). Furthermore, you can carry less!

[Nukes]

For those of you with ALICE packs with no frame, it is way cheaper to make your own out of wood or PVC, im looking up how to do this for my own

[Nukes]

This would be more useful in a survival situation more than it would being out on an op, but you never know what could happen. Mixing potassium permanganate and glycerin creates fire without using matches or anything. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWzZoaAOE3Y
The potassium can also be doubled as a treatment for unsafe water and the glycerin can be used for chapped lips, dry skin, and to clean wounds or use on burns. Like I said, more of something to use while camping or in a survival situation, but it's still awesome.