UKC

What is the point of the little whistle on the chest strap of lots of new rucksacks? I thought it was if you had an emergency you could signal the people trying to find you. That was until we had an emergency, noticed to movement up top so tried to blow the whistle. It was rubbish! A little peep at best, wouldn't it be safer all around if they didn't bother putting on one? That way you are more likely to carry a whistle an not rely on that stupid thing.

A loud whistle will get the attention of people reasonably far away. A quiet whistle will get the attention of people not so far away. No whistle gets the attention of nobody.

In reply to JoshOvki:

What kind of bag was it? i seem to remember the one on a mates Osprey bag was surprisingly loud for the size of it! Although probably still not as loud as a proper emergency whistle. But like the guy above says its better than nothing!

In reply to Stuzz:

ya i got an Osprey Talon. have never blown the whistle full force. dont particularly want to. very loud as it was

In reply to JoshOvki:

There's one on the chest strap of my Deuter Guide 45+ - absent mindedly made the mistake of blowing into it in the shop. Assistant was not best pleased at the temporary loss of hearing which ensued

In reply to JoshOvki:
What is the point?
It came from adventure racing, where the rules stated that competitors must have an emergency whistle. To save a few grammes, some specialist pack manufacturers started to integrate the whistle with one of the buckles.

As with so many things, this feature trickled into the mainstream as a way of saying "this pack is technical" even though the rucksack would spend most of its life carrying a laptop and packed lunch on the tube between home and some office cubicle.
However, unlike many other style markers, I think this is a fine idea.
It is often impossible to shout when you are exhausted or stressed, but you can still blow a whistle. Most untrained voices can also blow a whistle longer than they can shout, important for getting help

The whistle I have on my Go-Lite pack is loud.

As for the serious mountaineer - hopefully they would check their kit (including whistle) before having to rely upon it.

I have a plastic whislte that came with a lifejacket 20 years ago. Should probably buy a couple more so I don't forget to switch it between packs.

Anyway, what I was going to say was if buying a whisle don't bother with the aluminium ones such as the lifeventure one. It is really loud and looks cool but you don't want to blow on it when it's freezing!

In reply to JoshOvki:

got one on a millet pack i use for rescue and canyon trips. not as loud as the surf rescue ones (nothing is) but after forgetting my regular whistle found it to be loud enough.

just a bit small so easy to get your fingers over the splitter hole.

in winter i never forget a whistle as it hangs round my neck with my watch on it.

In reply to JoshOvki:
The gear-checker on an event (I forget which) a couple of years ago expressed doubt as to the quality of the whistle on the chest strap of my sack. So I blew it. Hopefully their hearing has recovered by now...

In reply to JoshOvki:
I have an ACME Thunderer from work and it lives on the keykeeper tag inside my sacks top pocket. I can whistle with fingers too but if I'm able to use me fingers, I'll probably use em to dial 999