Geek Paracord Electronic Survival Bracelets

At this year’s World Maker Faire, the always clever and industrious Dave and Cheryl Hrynkiw of Solarbotics gifted me one of the prototypes to their Repairacord Bracelets. I was so thrilled with this forthcoming product and have been chomping at the bit to announce it here on Make:. The Solarbotics Repairacord Bracelets are now available! Here, Solarbotics explains the inspiration behind the bracelets:

Everyone is familiar with paracord bracelets – the cleverly woven wearable survival device that instantly unravels into many meters of useful and super strong nylon cord in case of necessity. These are useful for outdoorsy types, but what if you are an indoorsy type with a lot of electronic emergencies? Or a geek in need of a bright wrist decoration that shows off your geekness?

The Solarbotics Repairacord™ Electronics Survival Bracelet is what you need (complimentary pun included). Woven using traditional quick-release paracord weaves, it unravels in seconds, but instead of a regular electronically-inept nylon cord, it packs about 1.2m (4′) of a high-quality 24-gauge 40-strand silicon wire. It’s wonderfully flexible and surprisingly wearable against the skin.

But should we say (infomercial style) wait – there’s more! What good is wire if you can’t utilize it properly? For ultimate electronics confidence, you’ll find inside of each bracelet’s core a payload sleeve containing a 15cm (6″) length each of 3mm heat shrink and solder.

Now the only thing that you need is something to solder with. Out in the urban (or not so urban) jungle it could be a coin or a bare nail, which we have successfully tried. There’s other hacks showing how to solder with a regular butane lighter.

Each bracelet features (Hybrid Model):

1.2M (~4’) of 24AWG, 40-strand tinned wire in a superflexible silicone insulator
Up to 1.4M (~4.5’) of 550 LB Type III paracord (depending on the style/weave)
16cm (~6”) of 1/8″ heat shrink and lead-free solder in hollow paracord payload sheathe.

There are actually three different versions to choose from, an armored model (woven in a traditional paracord style), an all-wire model (more wire to work with), and a hybrid model (paracord and wire). The bracelets also come in three lengths (7″, 8″, 9″) and there are two different cord weaves, sinnet and snake. Prices range from US$15-19. Check them out at Solarbotics.