REASONS TO BUY
Inexpensive
Lots of bandages
REASONS TO AVOID
Poorly organized
Overall low-quality
First Aid Only 299 Piece Review
A small, inexpensive kit that is best for minor use
Credit: First Aid Only
RELATED: Best First Aid Kits of 2024
Our Verdict
The First Aid Only 299 Piece kit is an inexpensive resource for light use in the home or auto but has limited functionality on outdoor trips. This kit is comprised of reasonable quality components that work effectively in treating minor wounds and injuries, as well as a small supply of medications. It is a basic kit and includes some useful items, but overall it is poorly organized and cluttered, is bulkier than it needs to be with many of the same item types, and lacks some key tools.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Performance Comparison
The First Aid Only 299-Piece opens up to reveal its contents.
Credit: Ryan Huetter
Quality
The First Aid Only kit sure has a lot of medical equipment stuffed into its nylon carrying case, but immediately upon opening the kit, we were underwhelmed. The kit's clear plastic “organizer” is anything but, and similar contents such as medications or wound care treatments are scattered about. Certain items that will see frequent use are in good condition, as kits at this price range often have bandages that don't stick or dried out alcohol pads. Medications have expiry dates that range from one to two years from testing date, which means you will have to be vigilant about monitoring for out of date supplies.
We are least impressed with the medical tape, which is about as frustrating to use as masking tape. The plastic trauma shears, plastic tweezers, and instant cold pack were poor quality and should be replaced.
Some of the items that we were least impressed with include the flimsy scissors and forceps, the poor quality tape and the cold compress that would not activate.
Credit: Ryan Huetter
Usefulness
This is a useful kit for the common injuries sustained in a home or office setting and has some utility in some more dramatic emergencies, but it is a light-duty kit and needs to be supplemented to have a greater range of usefulness. Almost two-thirds of the advertised 299 pieces are bandages (196 small bandages total!), which seems like a bit much considering there are only 29 pads to clean wounds with, and only six antibiotic ointment packs. We would like to see a CPR mask, better quality medical or athletic tape, and a bigger range of commonly used over the counter medications.
Paper cuts, anyone? This is perhaps the best kit for those working in environments with a high potential for small, minor cuts due to the number of bandages.
Credit: Ryan Huetter
Durability
First aid kits are inherently less durable products as their contents get used up and need to be replenished, but the carrying kit and organizational ability of a kit can have a lot to do with how long it lasts. We have to rifle through the entire kit, essentially spilling its contents to find the specific item we are looking for, and then stuff it all back into the open compartments, and in doing this the packaging and quality suffers. At the minimum, some of this kit's contents will need replacing within the year.
We had to rifle through this kit to find anything we wanted, making it frustrating to use.
Credit: Ryan Huetter
Versatility
This is a good kit to stuff into the back of the car, keep in an office drawer, or have on a car camping trip, but its limited utility in a backcountry emergency scenario leads us to recommend against it as a backpacking or outdoor kit. Lack of helpful items like ace bandages, CPR mask, single pair of gloves, and minimal tape makes it a kit that should stay in simple frontcountry settings.
About the size of a book and fairly thin, this could easily fit in a car seat pocket for emergency use.
Credit: Ryan Huetter
Weight
The First Aid Only kit weighs 18.5 ounces. It is compact, relatively thin, and can be stowed in a seatback pocket for easy access. The included single-use instant cold pack weighs 3 ounces itself, so you could lighten it up significantly just by leaving this item behind.
Weighing 18 oz, the FAO kit is in the middle of the road for weight, but its utility is less than other kits that weigh as much.
Credit: Ryan Huetter
Value
This first aid kit is a reasonable value, considering what it would cost you to purchase all the individual components, though the large number of contents is boosted by the extreme number of bandages. If you are seeking greater usefulness, then spending a few more dollars and getting better quality contents might be worthwhile.
Conclusion
We find the First Aid Only 299-Piece kit to be of average quality, with a surprising number of bandages and relatively sparse additional first aid supplies. Good for minor cuts, scrapes, and burns, this basic kit has limited utility but comes at an affordable price.
—
Ryan Huetter
You Might Also Like
