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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2015
This will be a long review, but I was impressed and wanted to be thorough.
I first wanted to give a shout out to Jarod and Shannon at Titan. I did have some questions and concerns that they addressed extremely quickly and very professionally. The first email I sent to them with a question, before I even had my cord, and they responded to my email within a couple hours. I have worked with other sellers on Amazon before but none have been as fast, fair and friendly as Jarod and Shannon. They have earned my future business anytime I need paracord.
Now on to the review... Sorry I had pictures to accompany this but could not get my old camera to download the pics to my pc, grrrrrr...
I just got back from a multi-day camping trip. A portion of this trip was intended to be used to test several pieces of new gear for me. One of those new items was, Titan SurvivorCord. This is their mil-spec paracord with the 3 additional survival cords added, brass wire, waxed jute and 25lb monofilament fishing line. So that you know, I was in the Army (Airborne Infantry) and had the chance to use the real mil-spec 550, so I do have a base line for comparison with the mil-spec cord. I have also been an outdoorsman, hunter, fisherman, camper and (the fairly new term) prepper, for over 25 years so I have some knowledge of how the 3 additional strands might be used as well.
1st the cord itself -
There are many many different makers of paracord available on Amazon and elsewhere and I currently have at least 6 different brands, all claiming to be mil-spec. FYI, if it says "commercial" paracord or 550, it does not come close to being as good as mil-spec. Additionally even those claiming to be mil-spec are not always, buyer beware and pay attention to the reviews. I am not here to, nor is it not my intention to, bad mouth other companies or tell anyone not to buy someone else product. I will say however, that the Titan brand cord (with the added survival strands removed) feels stronger than what I had access to in the Army. It is very tightly woven, both the outer sheath and inner strands and just feels better. Though I did not test the breaking strength of the "550", which Titan actually rates higher at 620lbs (I think), I did hang my, somewhat larger than I would like, 230lb self from a tree branch on a single strand with no problem. I had no issues with the 550 and plan to purchase a lot more of the regular Titan cord without the added strands. I would trust my life and survival to this cord.
2nd, the fishing line -
I did not actually fish with the monofilament line in the Titan cord, but it appeared to be good quality. I compared the breaking strength of it to regular fishing line from my reel, also 25lb, and they had the same or very close to the same breaking point. One drawback to the use of this as a survival cord for fishing is that it is a challenge to withdraw the individual lines from the SurvivorCord without cutting it down to about 5' lengths. This would make it difficult to use the fishing line unless you pulled all the inner strands out together then separated the fishing line. I think this is only relevant to the fishing line and not the jute or wire because you would not need the jute or wire in any more than a 5' section. If, in a survival situation you needed to fish, I am sure you could pull all 100' but would have to pull all the internal strands out together making it so that you would no longer have the full 550lb cord. But individually all the inner cords and outer sheath are still extremely useful.
3rd; the fire starter/ waxed jute -
It is a little more challenging, compared to regular store bought jute twine, to separate the jute into its fibrous state to use as tinder or make a 'birds nest' due to the thinness need to add this into the 550, but it is manageable and still very usable. It took a spark from a ferro rod very easily once separated. Without separating into fibers it will still work well as a tinder but not easy to start with a ferro rod. I did a direct comparison to another paracord being sold as a survival item, only adding a fire starter, with mil-spec 550 and having an additional inner cord that is red and is a proprietary chemical fire starting "tinder" similar to the waxed jute in the Titan cord. While the red fire starter worked about as well as the jute in the Titan cord, the cord itself was not even close to as strong as Titans and the individual strands inside were about 1/2 as thick and it cost more than double what the SurvivorCord costs. I did have pictures showing the comparison and it was obviously inferior to the Titan cord in those photos. (sorry again for not being able to attach those)
4th was the wire -
It was actually stronger than expected since it has to be thin enough to fit into the 550 with the other inner strands. I made several snares and traps and trip lines using the wire and regular inner strands of the 550. I tested the snares with a stick, no live animals were harmed in the testing of this product, lol. It is not a braided wire like aircraft cable, it is more like picture hanging wire but useful for many things. I also made a Swedish torch and used the wire at the base of the log to prevent it from splitting during the burn and it worked well for that.
There are only 2 negatives I can say about this cord, but these do not detract from, IMO, the awesomness of this cord. As already mentioned, withdrawing only 1 strand (the fishing line) can be difficult if you need more than a 5' continuous length. The other negative is that the SurvivorCord is much stiffer than regular paracord and is more difficult to tie complex knots or make small loops. But again as a survival item, I do not think those 2 negatives matter as much and if you are only interested in using it as a cord, get the regular Titan cord not the SurvivorCord.
This was a very long review and I thank you if you read the whole thing. I just was very impressed with this cord and wanted to get a lot of my findings out there for others that may be considering this cord. I plan to use the Titan cord (regular not the survivalcord) for all my 550 needs moving forward. When my other brands are used up they will be replaced with Titan. One of my questions to Jarod and Shannon was the availability of longer than 100' lengths and that is in the works but they have been very busy keeping up with demand for the SurvivorCord that they haven't been able to make the longer lengths available yet. The SurvivalCord has already replaced all my lanyards on knives and sheaths, pull cords on zippers and am planning on making a belt out of it after I buy some more. For what it is, it is the best 550 and survival cord I have seen.
I first wanted to give a shout out to Jarod and Shannon at Titan. I did have some questions and concerns that they addressed extremely quickly and very professionally. The first email I sent to them with a question, before I even had my cord, and they responded to my email within a couple hours. I have worked with other sellers on Amazon before but none have been as fast, fair and friendly as Jarod and Shannon. They have earned my future business anytime I need paracord.
Now on to the review... Sorry I had pictures to accompany this but could not get my old camera to download the pics to my pc, grrrrrr...
I just got back from a multi-day camping trip. A portion of this trip was intended to be used to test several pieces of new gear for me. One of those new items was, Titan SurvivorCord. This is their mil-spec paracord with the 3 additional survival cords added, brass wire, waxed jute and 25lb monofilament fishing line. So that you know, I was in the Army (Airborne Infantry) and had the chance to use the real mil-spec 550, so I do have a base line for comparison with the mil-spec cord. I have also been an outdoorsman, hunter, fisherman, camper and (the fairly new term) prepper, for over 25 years so I have some knowledge of how the 3 additional strands might be used as well.
1st the cord itself -
There are many many different makers of paracord available on Amazon and elsewhere and I currently have at least 6 different brands, all claiming to be mil-spec. FYI, if it says "commercial" paracord or 550, it does not come close to being as good as mil-spec. Additionally even those claiming to be mil-spec are not always, buyer beware and pay attention to the reviews. I am not here to, nor is it not my intention to, bad mouth other companies or tell anyone not to buy someone else product. I will say however, that the Titan brand cord (with the added survival strands removed) feels stronger than what I had access to in the Army. It is very tightly woven, both the outer sheath and inner strands and just feels better. Though I did not test the breaking strength of the "550", which Titan actually rates higher at 620lbs (I think), I did hang my, somewhat larger than I would like, 230lb self from a tree branch on a single strand with no problem. I had no issues with the 550 and plan to purchase a lot more of the regular Titan cord without the added strands. I would trust my life and survival to this cord.
2nd, the fishing line -
I did not actually fish with the monofilament line in the Titan cord, but it appeared to be good quality. I compared the breaking strength of it to regular fishing line from my reel, also 25lb, and they had the same or very close to the same breaking point. One drawback to the use of this as a survival cord for fishing is that it is a challenge to withdraw the individual lines from the SurvivorCord without cutting it down to about 5' lengths. This would make it difficult to use the fishing line unless you pulled all the inner strands out together then separated the fishing line. I think this is only relevant to the fishing line and not the jute or wire because you would not need the jute or wire in any more than a 5' section. If, in a survival situation you needed to fish, I am sure you could pull all 100' but would have to pull all the internal strands out together making it so that you would no longer have the full 550lb cord. But individually all the inner cords and outer sheath are still extremely useful.
3rd; the fire starter/ waxed jute -
It is a little more challenging, compared to regular store bought jute twine, to separate the jute into its fibrous state to use as tinder or make a 'birds nest' due to the thinness need to add this into the 550, but it is manageable and still very usable. It took a spark from a ferro rod very easily once separated. Without separating into fibers it will still work well as a tinder but not easy to start with a ferro rod. I did a direct comparison to another paracord being sold as a survival item, only adding a fire starter, with mil-spec 550 and having an additional inner cord that is red and is a proprietary chemical fire starting "tinder" similar to the waxed jute in the Titan cord. While the red fire starter worked about as well as the jute in the Titan cord, the cord itself was not even close to as strong as Titans and the individual strands inside were about 1/2 as thick and it cost more than double what the SurvivorCord costs. I did have pictures showing the comparison and it was obviously inferior to the Titan cord in those photos. (sorry again for not being able to attach those)
4th was the wire -
It was actually stronger than expected since it has to be thin enough to fit into the 550 with the other inner strands. I made several snares and traps and trip lines using the wire and regular inner strands of the 550. I tested the snares with a stick, no live animals were harmed in the testing of this product, lol. It is not a braided wire like aircraft cable, it is more like picture hanging wire but useful for many things. I also made a Swedish torch and used the wire at the base of the log to prevent it from splitting during the burn and it worked well for that.
There are only 2 negatives I can say about this cord, but these do not detract from, IMO, the awesomness of this cord. As already mentioned, withdrawing only 1 strand (the fishing line) can be difficult if you need more than a 5' continuous length. The other negative is that the SurvivorCord is much stiffer than regular paracord and is more difficult to tie complex knots or make small loops. But again as a survival item, I do not think those 2 negatives matter as much and if you are only interested in using it as a cord, get the regular Titan cord not the SurvivorCord.
This was a very long review and I thank you if you read the whole thing. I just was very impressed with this cord and wanted to get a lot of my findings out there for others that may be considering this cord. I plan to use the Titan cord (regular not the survivalcord) for all my 550 needs moving forward. When my other brands are used up they will be replaced with Titan. One of my questions to Jarod and Shannon was the availability of longer than 100' lengths and that is in the works but they have been very busy keeping up with demand for the SurvivorCord that they haven't been able to make the longer lengths available yet. The SurvivalCord has already replaced all my lanyards on knives and sheaths, pull cords on zippers and am planning on making a belt out of it after I buy some more. For what it is, it is the best 550 and survival cord I have seen.
