Amazing Survival Item – Glow In The Dark Rope
It is not often that I review single items. However, I was surfing the web a while back and saw an advertisement for glow in the dark rope. The advertisement I had been checking out suggested the use as tent lines to avoid tripping in the middle of the night.
While most people may have quit thinking about it there, my mind began flying over all the things you can do with 550 cord. After thinking about it for a few minutes I did a quick google search for brands. I recognized several online and placed an order through Amazon. Given that I use Paracord quite often I purchased four 50 foot packages.
My Planned Uses For Glow In the Dark Rope
I plan to add 1 roll to my backpacking kit, 1 roll to my bug-out-bag and 2 rolls to my regular camping equipment. I also plan to use a portion of the rope dedicated to camping to make a few small projects.
Glow In The Dark Rope for Backpacking
My Plans for backpacking are mainly as a survival option. I still plan to use my normal subdued colors for most uses. However, I think that having some glow in the dark material would increase my chances of survival in an emergency.
For instance I could use it to create an SOS sign that might be visible from the air. The bright colors plus the glow in the dark effect would increase the hours it could be seen.
If I was to make any shelters or markings around my camp these would also be visible for a much higher distance.
Another option would be to devise a pouch marking system with the cord. For instance I could put two loops on the pouch that holds my firekit and three loops on the food pouch. This would make finding the correct pouches in the dark much easier.
Camping Uses For Glow In The Dark Rope
When you go camping you generally are not trying to be stealthy. Therefore you could use this glow in the dark rope for all manners of things.
- Tent Guidelines
The guidelines to your tent being one of the most obvious. How many times have you got your tent set up only for it to get knocked partially loose during the night when yourself or one of the kids trip over the lines.
- A Route To The Bathroom
If you are like me then you hate having to find a light and use that when you leave the immediate area of your campsite. Many times there is enough moonlight to see by and you don’t need a light. However, sometimes that is not the case. By either laying a piece of this glow in the dark rope along the ground or tying it along several trees you can easily mark the safe route to the bathroom.
- Clothes Lines
We often use a clothesline to hang up towels and swimsuits when camping. Due to the size of our children these tend to be a bit lower than I would like. I cannot count the number of times that I have ran into these lines when trying to grab a drink or going to the bathroom. By using a glow in the dark rope I would easily be able to see it.
- Marking Specific Items
Due to the fact that we camp most often with all four of our kids and we tent camp I don’t feel comfortable using a gas lantern. We have two different battery power lanterns that we use.
These often get turned off and then moved by someone so when you need to find them it is difficult to do so without adding yet another light source to the mix.
Since these are battery powered and have handles, I could safely wrap the handles with some glow in the dark 550 cord. This would make them easy to spot and the cord would recharge each time the lantern was activated.
- Markers For The Kids
Many people enjoy the look of paracord bracelets and I know my kids think they are the coolest. If they had glow in the dark bracelets it would make it easier to locate them while camping.
- Night Time Games
One of my kids favorite games when camping is tag. Wearing some glow in the dark bracelets or loops on the ankles and arms would bring a new element to this game.
As you can see there are many different uses that a glow in the dark rope or paracord could fill. Your only limit is your imagination. One of the other advantages is since it is recharged by light instead of batteries you can reuse it time and time again for any given purpose.
Glow In The Dark Bug-Out-Bag
This is the one bag that gives me the most pause. If I assume that my bug-out-bag is incase everything goes crazy, the world has ended and the economy has collapsed then glow in the dark rope probably does not have a place here.
I tend to view my bug-out-bag more as an all purpose bag designed to get me either home or to another location. It contains items designed to benefit me only and to assist a group if needed.
By adding some glow in the dark rope here I gain a few more options. Since I am keeping both a roll of glow in the dark and standard black I can go with minimal visibility or high visibility.
Perhaps I am moving ahead as a scout for my family and I need to mark a safe route for them following me. In this case, I would want to use highly visible material.
When I was in the army we used glow sticks to mark a safe area. This could work in the same manner.
Another use I might want glow in the dark cord for is night time fishing. Even if you don’t have any bait fish will be attracted to the glow. By attaching treble hooks close to the glow you may snag a fish. You can also use it to drop several lines from bushes along the water and then quickly find them when you come back to check your lines.
The last one I am going to mention here is trail markers. These can be for yourself as well as someone else. You can mark off locations you have searched for supplies or roads that you have already taken. By cutting a small piece of the high visibility glow in the dark rope off it will be too small for someone to take. Additionally no one else will know what it means. You could either mark the way to take or the way not to take its all up to you.
Projects That You Can Complete With Glow In The Dark Paracord
- I have a hunting knife with a paracord wrapped handle. You could wrap the handle with glow in the dark material if you chose. While this may seem silly it could be useful depending on your needs.
- I have a small monkey fist attached to my keyring, I am definitely going to change that to glow in the dark rope as I frequently lose my keys in the clutter on the counter.
- As I already stated my kids love paracord bracelets. I plan to make them some glow in the dark ones.
- Zipper Pulls on Backpacks is probably the simplest option. My son has a black backpack that will look great with the neon color for the zipper pulls.
- Glow in the dark Paracord Coasters are also a cool idea.
Where Can I Get Some?
I did quite a few searches and obviously Amazon returned at the top of those. I did find some at a few locations that were slightly cheaper before you included shipping. However, once shipping was factored in Amazon was just as competitive. I have included three links below with the prices for your convenience. You can also find white glow in the dark paracord here at OpticsPlanet.Com
Act Now
When you realize you are purchasing some as well, comment below with what you plan to do with it. In the near future I will come back and add your use and name into the article if you do so.
