Snakestaff ETQ Gen 2: A Tourniquet You’ll Actually Carry

Carrying a tourniquet is easy to recommend. Actually carrying one every day, concealed, without eventually getting annoyed by the thing is another matter.

I carried a CAT Gen 7 for years. It worked, I trusted it, and I simply accepted the bulk as part of carrying medical equipment. Most of the time, I shoved it into my back pocket and went about my day.

That worked, but it wasn’t ideal.

The CAT is a proven tourniquet, but it was never designed around disappearing under everyday clothing. In my back pocket, it would shift throughout the day, change position and sometimes alter the way I had it staged. None of that made it unusable. It was simply the price I paid for having a tourniquet on me.

After carrying the Snakestaff Systems ETQ Gen 2 for the past few weeks, I’m not sure I need to keep paying that price.

For concealed everyday carry, the ETQ Gen 2 is where it’s at.

The ETQ Was Built Around Carryability

The entire premise behind the Snakestaff Systems ETQ Gen 2 is pretty straightforward: make a windlass tourniquet compact enough that people will actually carry it.

Snakestaff offers the Gen 2 in two widths: a 1-inch Regular and a 1.5-inch Wide. I went with the Wide.

For me, that’s the sweet spot. It closes some of the gap between the extremely compact footprint that makes the ETQ attractive in the first place and the larger tourniquet I’ve been accustomed to carrying for years.

The Gen 2 isn’t simply a smaller tourniquet, either. Snakestaff revised several elements of the original ETQ based on feedback from military, special operations, EMS, law enforcement, and civilian users.

Among the changes are its Power Curve strap slot, Tri-Grip windlass, steel Power Ring beneath the windlass, a longer body, reinforced band material and an enlarged windlass-locking area. The reinforced band is particularly relevant to deployment because it adds rigidity and helps prevent the band from folding over on itself during application.

The basic operating principle, however, remains familiar if you’ve used a windlass tourniquet: tighten the band, twist the windlass until the bleeding stops, and secure it.

Coming From a CAT7, I Had One Immediate Gripe

I’ll admit that I didn’t immediately love everything about the ETQ.

After carrying and training with a CAT Gen 7 for years, I was accustomed to the way I staged it. Pull it out, and the loop can drop open freely.

The ETQ Gen 2 doesn’t behave exactly the same way.

When staged, portions of the hook-and-loop material adhere to itself. That means it doesn’t necessarily fall open the way my CAT7 does when I pull it out.

At first, that frustrated me.

It’s not a dealbreaker, and I wouldn’t characterize it as a failure of the design. It’s simply different, and different becomes noticeable when you’ve spent years building familiarity with another piece of lifesaving equipment.

More importantly, it’s something I was able to work through by actually practicing with the ETQ rather than expecting it to behave exactly like a CAT.

That’s an important distinction with any medical equipment. Don’t buy it, stage it, and assume you’re good. Know how your tourniquet comes out of your carrier and how you’re going to get it onto a limb when your fine motor skills aren’t exactly operating at 100 percent.

The Snakeskin Pro Makes the System

The ETQ itself solves the size problem, but the carrier is what really made the system click for me.

I’m carrying the Wide ETQ in Snakestaff’s Snakeskin Pro with its DCC Clip Hardware Kit.

The Snakeskin Pro is a minimalist elastic carrier compatible with the Gen 1 and Gen 2 ETQs. It can be configured for IWB or OWB carry, attached to MOLLE or mounted in other locations. Snakestaff also builds an integral Tegris OWB loop into the carrier for belts up to 1.5 inches.

I’m using the Discreet Carry Concepts clip and carrying mine appendix, opposite my pistol.

That’s where the ETQ Gen 2 has really won me over.

It disappears.

Instead of having a full-size CAT7 floating around in my back pocket, the ETQ stays exactly where I put it. It doesn’t noticeably interfere with my normal concealed-carry setup, and I know exactly where it is when I reach for it.

Everyday-carry equipment has to be judged partly by whether you’re actually willing to carry it every day. A piece of gear sitting in your truck, range bag, or bedroom isn’t doing much for you when you’re standing 50 yards away from it.

The ETQ and Snakeskin Pro combination makes carrying a tourniquet remarkably easy.

Staging the ETQ Gen 2

Staging the ETQ is pretty straightforward, and once it’s properly set up in the Snakeskin Pro, it stays put.

Snakestaff has several instructional resources that show how to fold and stage the ETQ. If you’re switching from another tourniquet design, it’s worth spending some time with those resources rather than assuming your existing staging method translates directly.

More importantly, practice deploying it.

Snakestaff offers dedicated blue trainer versions of both the 1-inch and 1.5-inch Gen 2 ETQs. That’s the smarter option for repetitive training, rather than constantly cranking down on the tourniquet you rely on in emergencies.

Snakestaff itself recommends adequate training and specifically directs users toward a Stop the Bleed course. That’s advice worth following up on.

Simply owning a tourniquet doesn’t mean you know how to recognize life-threatening extremity bleeding, properly position the tourniquet, generate enough initial strap tension, or tighten the windlass sufficiently to stop arterial blood flow.

Gear and training go together.

If You Carry a Gun, Carry Medical

This is really the bigger point.

If you carry concealed and don’t carry any medical equipment, especially a tourniquet, you should reconsider how you’ve prioritized your EDC.

A firearm addresses a very narrow category of emergencies. Medical equipment applies to a much broader range of situations.

Car crashes happen. Machinery and tools cause injuries. Broken glass cuts people. Hunting and range accidents happen. Serious bleeding doesn’t particularly care whether it came from a violent encounter or a completely mundane accident.

You may very well encounter a medical emergency long before you ever need to draw your concealed handgun.

That doesn’t mean you need an entire trauma bag hanging from your belt. It does mean that the ability to address life-threatening bleeding immediately makes sense, particularly as manufacturers now produce equipment compact enough to integrate into normal concealed carry.

Yes, quality tourniquets cost money.

Buy one anyway.

The ETQ Gen 2 currently runs $31.99. That’s not nothing, but we’re talking about a piece of emergency equipment intended to control a life-threatening hemorrhage. This isn’t the place to save a few bucks buying some questionable knockoff from Amazon.

Buy reputable medical equipment. Learn how to use it. Practice with it. Then actually carry it.

The Bottom Line

After years of carrying a CAT Gen 7, I didn’t switch to the ETQ Gen 2 because I suddenly stopped trusting the CAT. I switched because the Snakestaff is simply easier for me to incorporate into concealed everyday carry.

There was an adjustment period. I had to get used to the way the ETQ deploys when staged, and I still prefer the way a CAT7 freely drops open. That’s a legitimate advantage of the CAT for me.

But once I worked through that difference, the benefits of the ETQ became difficult to ignore.

The Wide ETQ Gen 2 in a Snakeskin Pro gives me the windlass-style tourniquet I want in a package that stays put appendix, disappears under normal clothing and doesn’t become an annoyance halfway through the day.

And that last part matters more than it sounds.

The best emergency equipment in the world can’t help you if you left it at home because it was too damn uncomfortable to carry.

The Snakestaff ETQ Gen 2 makes that excuse a lot harder to use.