Sorry, aimless - didn't mean to hijack the thread.

To try to get it back on track:

No, I don't carry a dedicated PSK when backpacking, for a couple of reasons:

1. I don't plan my trips such that "survival" becomes a realistic possibility. I hike in the eastern US, and large, truly remote wilderness areas really don't exist. I also look at the weather, and plan for another time if the forecast is calling for 3 days of monsoon or blizzard. So, the worst that's likely to happen is that I get lost - in which case I simply pick a bearing and walk it 4 - 8 miles to a road. Then pick a direction (left or right) and hike to the nearest house.

2. I rarely hike alone any more (age 63), and when I do hike alone it's at one of 3 state parks with less than 30 miles of trail, well-marked, no spot on which is more than 3 miles from a road access point. Also, I rarely hike off-trail, even with a group. (Speaking of groups, companions trump a PSK any day of the week - and you don't have to carry them, at least not on your back. )

3. I don't basecamp and dayhike, and I've always been very reluctant to move far from my pack, which has everything I'd use in an emergency anyhow. I can see having a separate kit (10 essentials, not a vendor's idea of a PSK) if you dayhike from a basecamp. An emergency, where I hike, is usually a physical injury (broken arm or leg, getting really sick, etc.) In those cases, the most useful things would be first aid, food, water, and shelter - all of which live in my pack. Thus, I'm never far from it - maybe 20 yards, while filtering water, but usually no more than 10 feet or so.

4. While I don't know what the contents of the PSK you saw were, my guess is that it would contain a lot of stuff (including a firearm?) that simply isn't necessary in my part of the country. We don't face the kind of wildlife that poses those types of threats, and we're typically not that far from inhabited areas, where help would be quickly available. (At the risk of another unintentional thread hijack, I've always found it intriguing and comforting that the further you move from "civilization," the more willing total strangers are to offer help if you need it, or even make kind offers if you don't.)

5. Where I hike (again, eastern US), I'm far better served by leaving a detailed trip plan and a hard deadline with a person I trust (usually my wife.) That gets SAR started soon after the deadline passes, and the small "wilderness" sizes and detailed plan mean that I'll be found reasonably quickly. (There are a couple of other threads that discuss trip plans in great detail.)

So, no, where I hike and what I do, I wouldn't ever consider buying a PSK.

And now, I hope, we're back on topic.