Recon Medical Tourniquet

The Recon Medical Tourniquet is a copy of a higher-ranking tourniquet on our list of Best Tourniquets, the CAT tourniquet.

Typically, we would never recommend a tourniquet that is a cheaper copy of a name-brand tourniquet but this tourniquet is such a good value that we had to include it.

This is the simplest way we can put this: if you want a CAT tourniquet but can’t afford it, then you should get this tourniquet instead.

This is the ONLY off-brand CAT tourniquet copy we recommend (and we still prefer the CAT). Stay away from all of the other copies – most we’ve seen are cheap Chinese knock-offs that we wouldn’t trust our life to.

The Recon Medical tourniquet appears well made and has a 4.8 star rating on Amazon with hundreds of reviews.

This style tourniquet is best as the official CAT tourniquet (#2 on our list) and acceptable as the Recon Medical. No other make of this style tourniquet is suitable as an IFAK tourniquet.

Use

Because this tourniquet is so close to the CAT tourniquet, please see the instructions for use on the CAT tourniquet.

The Recon Medical Tourniquet has two notable unique features.

First, it has a finger hole in the strap that can be used for tightening the tourniquet. This could be a benefit in situations where it might be difficult to grasp the flat strap of the CAT Tourniquet. The tighter the strap can be adjusted prior to turning the windlass, the less turns of the windlass will be required and therefore it can stop bleeding faster.

Second, it has a “single-pass” buckle. Earlier models of the CAT Tourniquet had a “two-pass” buckle that was more difficult to use and could make the tourniquets difficult to tighten and loosen. It was such an issue that the US Army Special Operations Command created a report on how the “single-pass” method was preferred. The latest version (Gen 7) of the CAT Tourniquet now has a “single-pass” buckle also.

Recon Medical Tourniquet Pros and Cons

Colors

This tourniquet comes in four colors: black, orange, tan, and blue. If you decide to carry this tourniquet exposed on your gear, then you should probably get the black or tan version.

However, if this tourniquet will be inside of an IFAK, we strongly recommend the orange model. It will be easier to see while you’re working with it and it will likely stand-out easier to medical personnel.

The blue model of this tourniquet is the training model. It is the same quality as the other colors, however, blue helps it to be identified as the training tourniquet.