Prep spending???

[The Heretic]

On Reddit, two threads got me thinking about this issue again, specifically for me - the issue of what I spend prepping $ on and what I do not.

One asked how much each person spent on prepping.

Another asked about personal armor and some (a few) were saying it wasn't necessary. My response was that if you are spending $ for guns & ammo with the idea that you may need to use those for self-defense (why else would you be getting an AR/AK instead of a lever/bolt action?), then you will also probably want/need armor.

If I include guns, ammo, vehicles and property, I have spent quite a bit on prepping.

Now granted, vehicles and property were not solely for prepping (I do at least need a place to live), but the choices I made for those vehicles (4WD trucks, manual transmission, older tech, diesel engine, dirt bikes, etc.), and my property (in the boonies, acreage, etc.), were geared towards good prepping choices. For guns and especially ammo - mostly bought with prepping in mind.

Now two things that I have not bought, that I keep feeling I should, and don't because they are expensive - are armor and NVD/Thermal optics.

But if I spent one tenth of what I have spent on guns & ammo alone, I would have armor for myself and kids, and NVD/thermal for at least one defensive rifle.

I keep going back to these excuses:

1) My disposable income has been cut by 70%, so now is not the time to be making large purchases - even though, if I add it up, the small purchases I make every month, add up to enough to buy armor & optics.

2) If I wait, what I get, at least for optics, is more and better tech, and more for my $

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[slimmer13]

I decide how much time, energy and money to spend prepping for something based on my perception of it's likelihood. Roughly this order.

I spend the most time prepping my family to not be poor, hungry, homeless. I work hard, save for retirement and try to make good financial decisions.

I prep to not raise crappy humans by investing my time and money heavily into my kids.

I prep to keep my health as long as possible by excercising regularly and making the best food decisions I can.

I prepare to not be divorced by investing work and attention to my marriage.

I prepare to be a well rounded, fairly well read and knowledgeable person on a variety of subjects by investing in myself. I am always learning new skills and believe education should be a lifelong endeavor.

Past that, I have some guns, some food, gear and supplies that could get us through alot of the more likely situations. I have fuel and power sources that could get us through a fairly lengthy power outage. I have backup heat. A ton of tactical gear, chem suits, gas masks, NV etc would be great and fun to have, and I don't begrudge anyone who makes them a priority, I just think, for me personally, needing them are pretty far down on my own risk assessment of likely scenarios. YMMV

 

[AMT]

Wait until the Chinese get a hold of a set of the night vision gear left behind in Afghanistan. Give them time to reverse engineer it and get the product on the market. Should be a fraction of what we (America) initially paid for them.

 

[Geardo]

I agree with NVD and armor being higher priority than one more gun.

I would suggest that financial difficulty is the highest risk "disaster" we all risk. Even now, or maybe especially now.

Now maybe the dollar will collapse and all that money in the bank is worthless, but thats a fairly low probability. Another great depression or large scale geological/economic disaster is more likely (la palma?)

I for one, view prepping, guns, gear, as fun, and a hobby. NVD are a lot of fun for looking around your property at night, night hiking, or star gazing. Armor is great to have for static defense, and can add to the workout you get while shooting/running drills.

The pleasure if both NVD and armor, to me, is that they add whole new sets of challenges to shooting. Fitment and comfort with armor will take a while to figure out, possibly requiring higher optic mounts and different stances.

NVD offer the ability to use a LAM (laser aiming module), which is great, but you get to research and try different types of LAMs and also figure out passive aiming through a dot incase you are dealing with an enemy wearing NVD.

Its all a great challenge, and lots of fun, but very expensive. So just go slow, research, and enjoy the process.

I would suggest looking on the reddit night vision subreddit, and buying a legit milspec PVS-14 housing so you can upgrade or replace the "tube" later on. I like steele industries.

 

[revjen45]

"Should be a fraction of what we (America) initially paid for them."

And a fraction of American build quality.

 

[Member 34319]

I decide how much time, energy and money to spend prepping for something based on my perception of it's likelihood. Roughly this order.

I spend the most time prepping my family to not be poor, hungry, homeless. I work hard, save for retirement and try to make good financial decisions.

I prep to not raise crappy humans by investing my time and money heavily into my kids.

I prep to keep my health as long as possible by excercising regularly and making the best food decisions I can.

I prepare to not be divorced by investing work and attention to my marriage.

I prepare to be a well rounded, fairly well read and knowledgeable person on a variety of subjects by investing in myself. I am always learning new skills and believe education should be a lifelong endeavor.

Past that, I have some guns, some food, gear and supplies that could get us through alot of the more likely situations. I have fuel and power sources that could get us through a fairly lengthy power outage. I have backup heat. A ton of tactical gear, chem suits, gas masks, NV etc would be great and fun to have, and I don't begrudge anyone who makes them a priority, I just think, for me personally, needing them are pretty far down on my own risk assessment of likely scenarios. YMMV

 

[The Heretic]

"Should be a fraction of what we (America) initially paid for them."

And a fraction of American build quality.

I don't have a problem with items manufactured in China, IF someone from a first world country corporation designed the item and supervised QC/QA processes, including raw materials.

 

[nwslopoke]

Food, water, shelter, security. Individuals pick the priorities.

I came into awareness late into the game. Easier to fortify what I have than to start over. If you live outside of a city already you are ahead of the curve. If by choice or happenstance you have the basics you are probably above what potential enemies have.

That said, a proper minded neighborhood might not need every prep to survive. A neighborhood with 3-4 hunters, cops or veterans might defend better than a solo family on 5 acres.

The best prep is prevention. Hopefully the current situation is the forecast America needs to see. Some people will always be too stupid to come in from out in the rain.

 

[The Heretic]

That said, a proper minded neighborhood might not need every prep to survive. A neighborhood with 3-4 hunters, cops or veterans might defend better than a solo family on 5 acres.

I think if a neighborhood community had several checkpoints/et. al., then having at least one person at each checkpoint with something that allowed them to see and identify possible threats when it is dark, would be a real benefit.

If there is a single household that has to defend itself, then if there are enough people to do shifts, night/thermal vision for each shift would be good - maybe sharing. External NV/Thermal surveillance cams that could be monitored would be a good thing too, and probably not as expensive as NVD/Thermal devices on helmets/weapons.

 

[Camelfilter]

I think if a neighborhood community had several checkpoints/et. al., then having at least one person at each checkpoint with something that allowed them to see and identify possible threats when it is dark, would be a real benefit.

If there is a single household that has to defend itself, then if there are enough people to do shifts, night/thermal vision for each shift would be good - maybe sharing. External NV/Thermal surveillance cams that could be monitored would be a good thing too, and probably not as expensive as NVD/Thermal devices on helmets/weapons.

I would imagine thermal would be a better option for scanning large swaths, with NV used to identify...

*might* also *help* folks stay more alert, giving them something to keep themselves mentally active. Rather than just standing / sitting / "listening"...

Then, folks should listen towards far more experienced than myself. Insofar as how to deal with scheduling sentry duty & such & whatnot.

Solo, for extended periods of time, is asking for complacency. Is my understanding.

 

[Howard1955]

In good times, spending money on prepping seems foolish to some people.

But if/when a serious calamity happens, it'll probably seem like we didn't spend enough.

 

[revjen45]

"I don't have a problem with items manufactured in China, IF someone from a first world country corporation designed the item and supervised QC/QA processes, including raw materials."
And if Mama had a dong she'd be daddy. Most of the stuff they make was designed by 1st World engineers, and acquired by the Chicoms through theft of intellectual properties.

On the way to Sturgis in '98 my bike (the one in my avatar) quit charging. Upon disassembling the Chicom made generator I found that the commutator had snapped off of the shaft. This is an example of their QC.

 

[oremike]

Prepping???? same as always, Wife is going shopping and will come back with meat for the freezer, canned goods for the pantry, a weeks worth of garden fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, butter, eggs.

 

[The Heretic]

"I don't have a problem with items manufactured in China, IF someone from a first world country corporation designed the item and supervised QC/QA processes, including raw materials."
And if Mama had a dong she'd be daddy. Most of the stuff they make was designed by 1st World engineers, and acquired by the Chicoms through theft of intellectual properties.

On the way to Sturgis in '98 my bike (the one in my avatar) quit charging. Upon disassembling the Chicom made generator I found that the commutator had snapped off of the shaft. This is an example of their QC.

A lot of stuff is made in China by US corps - e.g., a LOT of computers, phones, TVs. I am typing this on a computer made in China. Not sure, but I think almost all of my electronics were made in China.

Does China ripoff IP/etc.? Assuredly - I've seen that first hand - they have been doing this for decades. But the cheap clones they make on the side are usually crap and noticeably so.

"Their" QC/QA, especially when they cut corners using poor materials and processes - yes, crap.

That is why I put in the disclaimer that the QA/QC/etc. must be controlled by a non-Chinese entity, and that usually results in decent products made with cheap labor. It isn't that China orgs don't know how, it is that they are generally corrupt and try to cut corners with materials and processes. This is slowly changing - somewhat.

 

[nwslopoke]

"I don't have a problem with items manufactured in China, IF someone from a first world country corporation designed the item and supervised QC/QA processes, including raw materials."
And if Mama had a dong she'd be daddy. Most of the stuff they make was designed by 1st World engineers, and acquired by the Chicoms through theft of intellectual properties.

On the way to Sturgis in '98 my bike (the one in my avatar) quit charging. Upon disassembling the Chicom made generator I found that the commutator had snapped off of the shaft. This is an example of their QC.

From my experience in manufacturing, one only gets better with time. I think the Chinese are excellent manufacturers but they build to the specifications and price of the clients.

Walmart has cheap Chinese built merch because that's what Walmart wants. I think there's a price the West won't pay if it's stamped, made in China. It's hard for me to believe for the last 30 - 40 years, someone can make so much and not figure out how to make it better. My own target stands are at Gen 5. Costs me about $15 in materials, I'll sell you a set for $40. 'Merica.

 

[FourTeeFive]

I don't have a problem with items manufactured in China, IF someone from a first world country corporation designed the item and supervised QC/QA processes, including raw materials.

Having worked on and off with Chinese manufacturing, I know they have the capability of making quality products. But you're right, the "customer" for the product (the company with the brand on the product) has to be demanding and monitoring the production. They will constantly drift from QC standards and change manufacturing procedures without supervision.

I do wonder about the quality of critical products for their own country, such as Chinese military items. Hopefully we won't find out personally, but I think we'll get to witness their war machine, at least from a distance, sooner than later.

 

[The Heretic]

I do wonder about the quality of critical products for their own country, such as Chinese military items. Hopefully we won't find out personally, but I think we'll get to witness their war machine, at least from a distance, sooner than later.

They are making moves in the south Pacific - hence the US sub deal with Oz. I have to wonder if China has ambitions towards Oz & NZ? I know the US is concerned about SE Asia & China, not heard anything specific about OZ/NZ except that they are very important to the US strategically, so the USA probably would not stand still for anything aggressive towards them.

 

[Patriot1775]

"Should be a fraction of what we (America) initially paid for them."

And a fraction of American build quality.

It's hard to have attention to detail skills when your belly is empty.

 

[revjen45]

"I have to wonder if China has ambitions towards Oz & NZ?"
I saw an article about how easily China could take NZ. It involved a fleet of RORO (Roll on Roll Off) landing ships/crafts pulling into NZ's ports and disgorging their cargoes of armor and air support and presenting a fait accompli within a couple of days. The peons are pretty much unarmed/disarmed, so it sounds feasible.
Now, imagine that at the same time they attack Taiwan and whoever else they care to, and North Korea attacks the South. Maybe throw in Russia going for Ukraine.
The Woke West is hosed.

 

[The Heretic]

Yeah, been reading up on China's ambitions in the south Pacific and SE Asia.

Not good.