P&D K-19 Landmine

  I saw this thing online and I couldn't resist. I had seen a couple pictures of it and for $5.99 it was mine. Here's the picture if it in the package and the amusing warning that comes with it.

So I get it out of the package and here's what's in there... or I should say.. thats ALL that's in there. If you look on their site the mine is supposed to come with *instructions* and metal stakes. I got neither. I even emailed their support simply asking for the instructions (and I asked nicely) and they never replied. So excuse me P&D for the review I'm about to write on your product, but if you have a support email address and a valid question about your product, you should have the decency to respond!

Here is a top view. There was about 40 feet of fishing line tangled in a rats nest. In the pic below it's not all out. There was a twist tie stuck inside which held it in and with that big arse warning I wasn't going to pull hard!

This thing is HUGE. That's a 3" tube and it stands about 11" high. The sad thing is that it weighs the same as a single big boy grenade which is about 1/3 the size.

Yes, of course I proceeded to take it apart. I'll be decent and not post all of the internals publicly (available in the forum in private) but let's say it's not my favorite design.

It works (as you might have guessed) by pulling the line. This pulls on a pin which sits about 2" down in the mine and releases a clip. This causes the filled tubing inside to spray the watery yellow paint out of that black nozzle on the side.

Here are my issues with this mine:
- There is about 4-5oz of paint in this. There is 1-2" of hollow space in the bottom. It could easily hold another 2-3oz of paint.

- It's not actually all that easy to trigger. Yes, when it is triggered it will go off, but the mechanism used inside isn't as sensitive as they claim.

- If it's supposed to stand straight up. I guess you use all those included cable ties to tie it to a tree or something. Even if it came with the stakes as they advertise... how the hell are you supposed to stake it down? Maybe it lays on it's side and you bury it? Then the trip line is buried as well. I tell you what... I'm no idiot but there really isn't a good, obvious way to set this up.

- There is no safety on it. If it doesn't get set off, you can recover it, but there's no telling when it's going to go off once it's out of it's bag. One little pull of the line and paint is everywhere.

- Ok, my biggest complaint. I understand how this mine is supposed to work guys. MINE WAS MADE WRONG. The cotter pin is not supposed to pull out of your trigger. The tabs on my cotter pin were not bent over allowing it to pull right out. This was included in my email as well but you never responded... so... get some quality control!

- It can easily be refilled and re-used. Don't advertise that it can't.

Overall it's not a total waste of $5.99. It's definently oversized for the amount of paint in it. If you had to buy all the parts and make this yourself you'd probably be out $4. Honestly though.... If this was my product it would be back to the drawing board... it needs some quality control, some revisions and.. yes.. SOME INSTRUCTIONS.. lol