If Michael Weston, James Bond, Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne got together to design a belt I’m pretty sure they’d come up with this belt. Since they are fictional characters they can’t, but SlideBelts can. The SlideBelts Survival Belt is the first belt I’ve been genuinely excited by. I can appreciate a well-made belt, but SlideBelts takes it a step further and legitimately excites me. I’m not the only one, most everyone who’s seen it appreciates the design and finds it as cool as I do.
What is The Survival Belt?
So what makes the SlideBelt Survival Belt so exciting? The buckle mostly. The belt buckle is a mini toolbox that contains four survival gadgets. The belt buckle contains a very small, but very sharp knife blade made from AUS 8 Steel. The blade knife is only about an inch long. The knife isn’t a weapon it’s an emergency cutting tool when you are stripped of your EDC knife. The blade is Titanium Nitride coated to resist rust and the elements in general. When folded the backside of the blade is also outfitted with a bottle opener that’s quite functional and easy to use.
On the opposite side of the knife is a combination flashlight and ferrocerium rod fire starter. This miniature LED light is quite bright for its size. It’s obviously no Surefire Scout light, but it lights up a room quite well. Its textured cap makes it easy to remove from the buckle and it turns on with a simple twist of the cap.
The rear side of the light is the fire starting rod. It’s quite short and takes a little effort to get the technique right to use just right. It takes some practice but there is a little notch in the blade that fits the rod perfectly and allows you to preserve your edge when striking a fire up.
Does it Hold Up your Pants?
Okay, so it’s a belt and tasked with the difficult job of holding up your pants. Sure it has an amazing belt buckle, but its kind of useless if it can’t hold your pants up right? Luckily, it does hold your pants up, very, very well. The key to SlideBelt’s design is the ratcheting nature of the belt and buckle. There are no holes in this belt. Instead, the belt uses a set of teeth sewn into the underside of the belt. The belt buckle locks into the teether. The Survival Belt functions like a giant zip tie, except it’s easily removable. All you have to do is pull the belt buckle upwards and it releases the belt.
What’s great about this system is the fact you can make minimal adjustments to really tighten the belt down. This is great if you are packing a piece. It’s honestly an excellent gun belt and supports even the largest guns. The SlideBelts Survival Belt fully supports my CZ P09 with Streamlight TLR-1 with HTC holster. The ability to fine-tune the belt to your body is invaluable for carrying a gun, knife and whatever other EDC gear you want to toss on.
Speaking of EDC this is a fantastic piece of gear. The lights bright, the blade is sharp and the belt fits. What else can we ask for?
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Originally published on the Crate Club Knowledgebase
