Swiss Safe 120-Piece Review
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
This Product
Swiss Safe 120-Piece | |||||
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Awards | Best for the Car | Best Value for Home Use | Best Value for the Outdoors | ||
Price | $28 List $24.99 at Amazon | $35 List $36.98 at Amazon | $25 List $18.00 at Amazon | $22.39 at REI Compare at 2 sellers | $25 List $28.95 at REI |
Overall Score | |||||
Star Rating | |||||
Bottom Line | Includes many key emergency supplies, making it great for short camping trips as well as home, office or car | A first aid kit with plenty of practical supplies for a road trip or in the backcountry | An easy to store kit with plenty of bandages to keep the whole family covered | This small kit is easily packable and has enough materials to treat many common backcountry injuries | Light, packable, and affordable, this kit fits in a daypack and ensures you are ready for the unforeseen |
Rating Categories | Swiss Safe 120-Piece | Homestock+ Professi... | Johnson & Johnson A... | Adventure Medical K... | HART Health Weekend |
Quality (25%) | |||||
Assortment (25%) | |||||
Versatility (25%) | |||||
Durability (15%) | |||||
Weight (10%) | |||||
Specs | Swiss Safe 120-Piece | Homestock+ Professi... | Johnson & Johnson A... | Adventure Medical K... | HART Health Weekend |
Measured Weight | 16 oz | 21 oz | 22 oz | 10 oz | 10 oz |
Dimensions | 9" x 3" x 6" | 7.9'' x 5.9'' x 3.6'' | 10" x 7" x 3.5" | 6.5" x 5.5" x 3" | 6.5" x 5.5" x 2" |
First Aid Book | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CPR Mask/ Face Shield | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Medications | No | No | Yes - acetaminophen | Yes - acetaminophen, ibuprofen, asprin, antihistamine | Yes - acetaminophen, ibuprofen, asprin, antihistamine |
Type of Gloves | 1 pair PVC | 1 pair nitrile | 2 pair nitrile | 1 pair nitrile | None |
Splint | No | No | No | No | No |
Our Analysis and Test Results
Performance Comparison
Quality
The Swiss Safe is a medium quality, general-purpose first aid kit. It comes in a heavy nylon carrying case and opens fully to reveal its contents. The supplies are mostly of reasonable quality, though we were unimpressed with the flimsy fabric triangular bandage. The included extra items, such as the glow stick, cold compress, compass, and emergency blanket were all of lesser quality than we would hope for, and we found removing these items was a good choice unless you are just going to leave the kit in the back of your car.
Assortment
The Swiss Safe kit has a good variety of supplies and comes with good quantities, making it a good option for a home first aid kit or one you keep in the car for roadside emergencies. There are a lot of bandages, so this kit anticipates a lot of minor wounds and actually has two CPR masks (one is included in the mini pocket-sized kit), adding extra protection to the rescuer when performing rescue breathing during CPR on a victim. Some of the novelty items would be unnecessary if camping, and we would recommend taking them out. But for the general home or car kit leaving them in presents no major problem, and having a compass or a sewing kit handy might prove useful at some point.
Versatility
While many of the kits we reviewed tend to be better off for short trips into the mountains over a weekend, and are generally carried in a backpack, this kit is better off staying put. It is rather heavy and has way more equipment than a group might need, and so serves better as a car camping, home or car kit. You could bring this on a backpacking trip, but with so many unnecessary items you would want to go through it first and see where you could eliminate some weight and bulk.
Durability
Supplies in the Swiss Safe kit are packaged fairly tightly, which should keep them from getting accidentally torn open or damaged, but in rifling through to find what you are looking for it is easy to keep things organized. Some items showed defects right off the bat, a problem systemic to these kinds of first aid kits, but overall it is a decent kit that should last as long as you keep it well-stocked and inventoried.
Weight
The Swiss Safe kit weighs 16 ounces, making it one of the heavier medium sized kits. This is totally fine, seeing that we are recommending it as a base kit, not intended for multi-day backpacking outings. Its weight means that it is well-stocked and should last through several minor injuries before needing to be fully restocked (except the tape).
Value
The Swiss Safe is a reasonable value. You get a prebuilt first aid kit with a lot of supplies, and while some of the items are not what we would consider vital to a first aid kit, do make it more useful in certain applications.
Conclusion
This first aid kit is a good choice for a small family or a group that is looking for a well-stocked resource for basic supplies to treat minor injuries. There are no medications, so you will need to stock those separately on your own if you'd like to carry over the counter meds in your kit.