RATS GEN 2 Rapid Application Tourniquet System | Life Saving | Hemorrhage Kit | Emergency | First-Aid | Survival (Orange, 1 Pack)

This is a great tool in very specific circumstances. This should not be a primary tourniquet and definitely doesn't replace a more standard tourniquet like a CAT. Also get training so that if you ever have to use it you can do it properly.

I’m not an medic, but I have tested these out and confident it will work. Small footprint and ease of use.

Amazon catalog - an education in what's available!

*I’m copying and pasting to review two tourniquets here together, pay attention to which one I’m talking about*In the search for less expensive alternatives to the CAT and SOF-T, I found a bunch of different ones. The two I really liked on Amazon were the RATS and the SWAT-T. They work in a different fashion from the traditional windlass variety, but are very simple and very fast. Like anything, you need to practice and get familiar. I haven’t used either in a real scenario as of yet, but have practiced on several adults of all sizes and my 5 and 8 years olds, all on upper and lower extremities, and most verifying absence of pulses by palpation and SpO2 with waveform. No failures with either tourniquet. The SWAT-T I would NOT recommend for SELF aid to the UPPER extremity, it’s doable with practice but slow and not the one I’d want to stake my life on due to the difficulty involved, that’s my only negative finding there. Self aid to lower extremity or buddy aid, no problems at all. Other wise it’s an easy to use, very fast, very effective tourniquet.The RATS takes some getting used to for self application of an upper extremity as well, but a little practice and it’s not bad. The biggest thing there is keeping all the slack out and keeping the bands as close together as possible. Overall, I think I’ll stick with these. Most of the people at work (EMT’s and paramedics) also seemed impressed with them and found them easy to use after a demonstration.

I’ve lots of experience with all sorts of combat application tourniquets. Of course my primary go to option is a CATS. However it takes up valuable space on my outer carrier body armor. That’s why I went with a RATS for the vest carry. Now mind you I still carry a CAT in my thigh pocket. It’s always good to have 2 options because when you need one your likely to need two. This is a great second option or something to get you to a better option or till the ambulance arrives. Also it may not work as efficiently on large people because of how many times you have to wrap it to get the extremities blood supply mitigated. NOW MIND YOU IT TAKES PRACTICE. Like anything else, even the CAT, you have to practice with it and until it becomes second nature. Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong. Just some advice from 21 yrs of experience.