The Helikon-Tex Mini Med kit is a compact pouch with some great features.
First up, the stats, it is made from 100% nylon and weighs in at 101 grams. It is 1.5cm tall, 11cm wide and 4cm thick. However, with mine fully packed it is more like 9cm wide and 7cm thick as the material has some give.
It has twin external YKK zips with rubberised grips, a velcro front panel for your patches although the centre of the panel does have a stitched on reflective paramedic symbol.
The top of the pouch has a carry handle and the bottom has a lanyard loop which would be ideal for carabiner attachment.
The nylon is obviously red to denote it as a first aid pouch and the red in question really does pop. This might seem like an obvious feature but I see so many black/grey/green first aid pouches. If you are out with friends or on your own and get into an emergency situation where you need to shout to someone to “grab my first aid kit out of my bag, it’s the red one” then you know you are going to get what you need from someone who is unfamiliar with your kit.
On the back are a pair of MOLLE/PALS-compatible straps which can also be used in a configuration to wear the pouch on a standard trouser belt.
Personally I wanted the pouch to carry lose in the top of my bag or on my belt. The addition of the MOLLE system is a nice touch but due to it being such a good fitting system I don’t believe it lends itself to a pouch that needs to be quickly removable rather than stuck to the side of a potentially heavy rucksack.
Moving inside the pouch there is a zipped mesh pocket on either side again using YKK zips like all Helikon equipment.
The pockets can take a surprising amount of supplies. Considering it is designed as a daily personal carry as opposed to a full medical kit there is more than enough space inside to cover many eventualities.
With the pockets zipped closed there is also enough room to tuck in a survival blanket and some sterile gloves before folding the two halves of the pouch together and zipping it up. I personally like this as I can access the gloves immediately before handling any other items in the pouch.
Here you can see some of the items I have in my kit. These have been decanted from a much larger kit, I won’t list each item as these can of course be swapped out to fit your personal medical needs.
So my final thoughts. I’m really happy with this pouch. I really like the Helikon-Tex brand, the materials are all good quality, the stitching is all tight and straight and the overall build quality gives you the confidence that it is going to last.
Size-wise it’s ideal for belt carry or if you have enough on your belt already it hardly takes up any extra room at the top of your pack, or you can of course use the MOLLE system.
I purchased this from Military1st for £11.40 in early 2020 and is also available from Helikon direct via Amazon.
0 Comments