One-Stop Safety Shop

Things go wrong. You underpack. You leave your awning down and tear if off on a tree. Or you encounter an emergency, perhaps a life-threatening one. We’ve probably all faced such grisly situations in our lifetime. The true horror of such moments lies in our desperation to remedy the issue but our inability to do so. Because where are the tools we need? Scattered all over the place, in obscure locations, or perhaps not present at all.

The solution to such powerlessness might finally be here. dFENCE have developed an emergency kit, called the ePOD, with the aim of saving lives. The idea is to collect an assortment of emergency essentials such that in a crisis, you simply crack open the ePOD, pull out what you need and resolve the situation. Seedlings of this idea have been around for a while — the first-aid kit embodies it — but a more comprehensive kit has been somewhat lacking. Thus we applaud this concept.

The ePOD is designed for around the house, cars and boats, but there is no reason why you couldn’t chuck one in your camper trailer.

It weighs in at around 3.3kg. Contained within we find a 500g fire extinguisher suitable for wood, paper, petrol, oil, diesel and electrical fires; a 1x1m Fire Blanket; an LED torch; a detachable mesh bag allowing you to add your own personal medicines or items; and a 57 piece first-aid kit (containing band-aids, gauze swabs, gloves, eye wash, bandages, wound dressings, tape, scissors and forceps).

The combined assortment will cover you for small fires of many types and certain medical issues or emergencies, though through no fault of its own it can’t provide the likes of anti-venom or an Epipen. The ePOD has an accompanying app which includes visual instructions about the setup and use of items.

There are arguably a few small imperfections. It is not immediately clear how to open the ePOD nor how to remove and open the smaller pod containing first-aid within; opening both requires some effort and two hands, and may be rough on the fingers; the torch, when in its fixture, stops the first-aid kit from being fully open if still attached.

The app’s instructions do not include how to use the contents of the first-aid kit (though the ePOD is clear about first-aid training being a huge help).

As for the app’s other functions: its ability to send reminders about when equipment needs replacing is handy, its group text messaging feature less necessary. The best approach would be to use and learn from the app prior to an emergency, rather than during one.

With a few minor adjustments the dFENCE ePOD could be truly great. As it stands the ePOD is a handy go-to that contains the gear to deal with an array of situations.

RRP: $149.95