Men's Emergency Thermal Blankets (10 Pack)

This product is probably what you think it is. One of those loud, crinkly, reflective "space" type blankets. They're fairly cheap, and you get a lot of them. They're very useful for keeping a person warm if you know how to use them.Some people complain that it doesn't keep them warm at all. This is most likely because they aren't using it properly. There are better articles for this information than this review, but essentially.. This blanket prevents heat-loss from radiation (which is how the majority of our body heat is lost). Radiation is when heat radiates away from its source. This is where the product shines: it allows hot pockets of air to form between you and the blanket. It doesn't do much to protect against conduction since it's so thin. Conduction occurs when heat transfers from one place to another by touching. When you grab an ice-cube, you are losing heat because of conduction. Similarly, if you are in a very windy area, while the blanket itself is wind-proof, the cold air can get under and inside the blanket, stealing away your warmth.As such, when using this blanket, you should squat down and wrap it around you. By laying on the bare ground, there is no "dead air space" for the hot air to collect so, by the process of conduction, your body looses heat through the ground. This product works really well as a sort of "base layer" type of blanket. If you have a sleeping pad and sleeping bag, line the insides of your sleeping bag with one of these and you'll be toasty in no time. Just be sure not to start sweating too much, because of hypothermia and stuff. Even without those fancy sleeping bags, one of these covered by a wool blanket will keep you very warm. Just remember not to wrap the blanket to tightly around you. It is instinctive when you want to get warm, but it'll decrease the effectiveness and may rip it since it's so frail.Five stars because it does what it is intended to do. And while it's quality isn't super, and it isn't made out of top-notch ballistic nylon, it isn't being marketed as if it were. It is intended to be a cheap, disposable cover to be used in emergencies, and it does that job wonderfully.

We recently had a major late-season hurricane here (Sandy). We were without power for a week and it got down into the 30s a few of those nights. I had bought a 10-pack of these a couple of years ago to keep in our cars and with camping gear as a "just in case" thing for if the car broke down in cold weather or we got an unexpected cold front on a camping trip. They are quite small when in the package. Easily fit into a glove compartment or even the storage compartment inside the car door.During the recent power outage, these things saved our butts. They were each big enough to wrap around a normal sized adult. We put them around us, over our clothes or pajamas, and then put blankets on top of us. They kept us warm enough to be able to sleep in a 35 degree house. The down side is that they make loud crinkly noises whenever you move. Like sleeping in a giant chip bag. But I'll take noise over freezing. I wouldn't leave a baby or small child unattended with this because it is mylar (plastic) and could pose a suffocation threat. I ordered more right after the power outage because I don't ever want to be without these. For the price, they are well-worth it. One of those things you hope you never have to use but are glad when you need it and it's there.*edit* It's now 5/2013, and I felt the need to edit this to rave some more about this product. I went camping this weekend. Last night, the temperature got down to 40 degrees F. Not wanting to be kept awake by the constant crinkling noise when I moved, if I had stuck this in my sleeping bag, I decided to take two of them and cover the tent between the fly and tent roof. I made sure the screen vents were covered and it pretty much covered the whole area that the fly did.My theory proved correct and these things reflected the body heat that would have dissipated through the roof of the tent. It worked so well, in fact, that I had to remove one of the layers of covers I had on me during the night.So, they are more than worth the money for both emergencies and just camping issues.

So, these are fantastic little blankets that are easy to store/carry and when you get a 10 pack at a great price that makes it all the better. Before you order however, it's important to understand how they work in order to get the maximum benefit should you need to use them. These are ridiculously thin, which makes them great to carry as they don't weigh anything nor do they take up much space at all. This also means that they don't provide much, if any, protection from direct contact with the cold. If you're sitting on frozen surfaces, this isn't going to protect you from that.The mylar works, when wrapped around the subject, by trapping the radiant body heat that we give off, warming the air that is trapped around the body, under the mylar blanket. If you were to find yourself lost in the woods on a hike and could huddle up under some brush for cover I think it would be a real godsend. If you're out in a storm with high winds, this isn't going to help too much as the lightweight material is going to be blown about, each time releasing all the warm air that may have been trapped up to that point.While these are certainly not practical for every day use, the tiny price tag combined with the minuscule amount of weight to carry and space taken up to stash a few of these in a glove box, bug out bag, or general emergency preparedness kit makes them a no brainer to buy and have on hand. My wife got me a 10 pack as a part of a emergency prep themed gift and I will probably buy another set or two for the cars and such just in case someone gets stranded somewhere and has to sleep in the car overnight etc. Better safe than sorry!