Unbranded 3 Day Assault Pack Review
Back in November I took a business trip to China and did some shopping in Shenzhen during some down time. I found and purchased a USMC 3 Day Assault Pack.
For the sake of full disclosure the pack is 100% mine paid for by me. I paid approx 100RMB for it which is approx 10 GBP
The purpose of this review is three fold.
Firstly take a general look at a generic 3 Day assault style of clam shell day sack
Secondly to Review this particular pack
Finally to understand a bit more about Far East manufactured look alike product and its suitability for everyday use.
The big question I had was would a 10 quid pack last and stand up to a bit of mild bushcraft type abuse as well as a more expensive branded pack?
Ok so what is a 3 Day Assault pack?
The concept comes from the need for a foot soldier to have enough kit with them for a patrol or operation away from immediate logistical support. Basically its a pack that holds enough: kit, food and water for up to 3 days in the field and is meant to augment the belt kit or vest kit that the soldier will be wearing. The 3 day duration I think is calculated on operating in a warm environment. As in a temperate environment youd possibly need more warm kit which would be bulkier and hence you would need a bigger pack. If youve seen images of troops on patrol in Iraq or Afghanistan chances are they were using some form of day sack to hold additional kit. What differentiates a lot of the 3 Day Style packs from a regular military day sack like the Sabre 45 or Berghaus Munro is the style of opening. A lot of the 3 day packs feature a zip fastened clam shell style opening over a more conventional lidded opening. This I think comes from the American origin of a lot of the pack designs. A lot of US made College Campus style daysacks feature zip openings. This clamshell style has advantages its easy to access kit just un zip and everything is easy to find no rummaging around at the bottom like you end up doing with a conventional lidded daysack on occasion and a large single item such as a radio or full water bladder is easy to drop in place. Typical 3 day packs are made by Tactical Tailor, Camelback, Blackhawk!, Bugout and a host of other manufacturers.
So whats an overtly military bit of kit got to do with bushcraft? Well the packs of course vary in capacity and are pretty useful in size often being around the 40 - 45 L mark. Which is generally enough capacity for an overnight in summer or a few days day hiking. Or here in NZ a weekend hiking from hut to hut.. They come in nice subdued colours which bushy folk seem to like and they have well thought out storage spaces for lots of bits of kit which bushy folk also like. Often they feature MOLLE / PALS webbing so you can slap additional kit and pouches on the outside if that sort of thing floats your boat.
Overview:
So this leads me to my no brand made in China USMC 3 Day Assault Pack The pack is not meant for frontline military use I suspect its mainly designed as a cheap option for Airsoft etc it borrows a lot of its features and appearance in a sort of homage to the Blackhawk Phoenix Patrol Pack.
Picture taken from www.blackhawk.com
http://www.blackhawk.com/product/Phoenix-Patrol-Pack,128,44.htm
Front of Pack
Back of Pack
Base of Pack
Materials and Construction:
The pack is constructed from some sort of texturised Olive Green Nylon Id say it was Cordura but its not of course but it feels as good as the Cordura on my Berghaus Vulcan. The stitching quality is apparently good with the PALS Webbing being well bar tacked however the finish quality on the bag was poor with lots of untrimmed thread ends which took me 10 minutes to go over and trim up. The nylon webbing used is strong and closely woven and the plastic fastex style buckles are good and not too brittle all the other plastic fittings seem to be of similar quality apart from the D rings on the shoulder straps which are pretty poor these are made from black painted steel rather than plastic they look a bit shonky but function well enough. I used them to clip a Motorola Handheld during my week long trip and they stood up well. The all important zips are a bit of a worry. The sliders and coil type zips actually look ok of course they are non branded however the zip pulls are very flimsy more on this later.
Features:
The pack has lots of features borrowed from other branded packs. First up we get a Velcro attachment point for a name tape or zap number and a larger velcro patch on the back of the pack for a unit marking or national flag.
Velcro Attachment
The pack features a removable waist belt which I ditched pretty much straight away as the back length on the pack makes the belt impractical for me. It is however well thought through and has elasticated loops to retain the adjusted belt and closes with a large fastex style buckle.
This Buckle allows the waist belt to be removed if required
The main pack has 3 compartments the larger opens via a double puller zip this opens about ¾ of the height of the pack and is approx 35 / 40 L in capacity. Inside is a large hydration bladder sleeve which swallows a complete filled 3L camel back and outer with room to spare.
Hydration Sleeve inside main compartment
There is a hydration port slit cut into the top centre of the pack and you can thread the hydration hose through. The slit is reinforced with Velcro and has an elasticated cover. I suppose this would also do for an aerial for a comms system of some sort. Not that man-packing a Bowman is a particularly bushcrafty thing to do .
Hydration Tube port
Its really easy to get to all the kit you put in this main section of the pack. There is a flap over the zip to keep dust sand and water ingress out but your kit will need to be in a drybag or drybags to keep it 100% weatherproof. 4 fastex buckles on the outside of the pack act as compression straps and also secure the main compartment if the zip is left open
Main compartment
A Second compartment of approx 5 L also opens with a double slider zip its necessary to pop the flap back to get access to the zip this area is useful for stuff like tools such as a Laplander saw or your knife or perhaps an OS map, hat gloves, snacks etc it takes my space blanket quite readily. Finally there is a single pocket with a diagonal zip which is great for a small FAK car keys etc etc
The pack comes with 2 ice tool holders and a raft of PALS webbing on the side rear and base. Also supplied were 4 adjustable straps you could use them for strapping stuff to the outside. The pack has no internal frame so is soft it I think relies on the likelihood of you using a water bladder to add to the basic padding on the back. Finally there is a grab handle / haul loop on top of the pack which is seemingly securely sewn on.
Ice tool Holders
There is no back system to speak of just a thinly padded back panel made from the same nylon fabric as the body of the pack this panel is flat and has some minor sewn channels for airflow. The shoulder straps are about 60mm in width and again have minimal padding each strap has 2 D rings on it the top 2 being a bit too high for practical use. The chest strap is well thought out and has an elasticated link to allow your chest to expand when breathing.
In Use.
Well the first thing I did was to make a couple of minor modifications I removed the waist belt and additional straps as I cannot stand stuff strapped to the outside of bergens it just gets in the way and gets caught on stuff. Then I added some nylon cord pullers to the Zips this was a preventative measure as the standard pullers would not stand up to even moderate use IMHO. By looping the pullers correctly the chances of breakage is reduced and the pullers are easier to use with gloves or wet hands. Finally I spent 10 minutes trimming all the unfinished threads.
Beefed up zip pullers
Some semmalume cats eyes and a Velcro backed UJ and black karabiner make things look Ally and have a modicum of practical use for hanging the pack up when hammocking and finding stuff at night and if truth be told there is a bit of the Tactical Tart in all of us
Well Ally.....
Loaded up with a days worth of kit and snacks and a full 3 ltr bladder the pack sat well and dipping in and out of it for stuff as the day progressed was ok and simple as the zips afforded easy access. I took the pack out on a very wet day to a walking track opening and the pack coped well with the rain with no problems. No water got inside and the textured nylon beaded the water up nicely. The hike in was only 3 or 4K and the pack was comfy to carry.
Loaded up side view
Loaded Front
Loaded Rear
Next trip was a week of use over Christmas / New Year lugging a full 3 ltr Camelback and a load mostly consisting of a bit of warm kit, fishing and snorkelling gear and snacks and food along with a FAK, Fixed blade and a Bahco Laplander saw and other assorted tut.
Typical kit carried
Firstly the ease of access to the various compartments was really good and I liked it over a regular top loading daysack like the Munro. It found it was really easy to organise my kit and get at stuff I wanted with minimal faff . On the beach the sack kept out the sand and inevitable water. After a week of lugging around and wearing the pack while jumping on and off of Quad bikes etc its pulled a few of the threads around the main sack to shoulder strap join no holes and everything still looks and feels solid... but the pulled threads are a testament to the low cost origins of the pack.
Pulled Treads
I wore the pack with relatively loose shoulder straps so the base sat in the small of my back and I found the removal of the waist belt was not a problem the load sat well while walking cross country. I didnt really find the back got overly sweaty no more so than a pack with a more advanced back system.
The quality of the zips was a constant worry and often they would not mesh correctly but a bit of fiddling got them sorted I fully expected a zip pull to break but so far they have held up well... With a full water bladder my load weight would be around 10-12 kg and the pack coped well with this. The compression straps worked well in snugging the load down and the ease of fitting a hydration bladder was well appreciated with the hot weather we get here over Xmas. I havent used the PALS webbing at all and probably never will.
The back panel is made from the same waterproof material as the rest of the sack. This basically means that the back does not breathe in anyway shape or form so in hot weather you end up with a wet back and shirt the same goes for the shoulder straps.
Sourcing:
So thats all great youre thinking but Im unlikely to be visiting Shenzhen in the near future so whats the point in this review . All is not lost Ebay of course is your friend in situations like this.
Ebay UK has a seller with the exact same pack.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SPECIAL-OP-RU...Collectables_Militaria_LE?hash=item2ea96e2a90
But 44 GBP seems a trifle excessive .
And Ebay US has the same pack
http://cgi.ebay.com/USMC-3-Day-Moll...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efbb3b2ea
Although the seller is based in HK which is not too far from Shenzhen and the price is better .
Finally it seems that Thatchreed ltd who own brands such as Web Tex and Viper sell a pack that is very similar if not identical to my Shenzhen market special
http://www.thatchreed.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1175
But this one is a special ops version so probably isnt the same at all...
Summation:
So in summation was it 10GBP down the toilet? I dont think so I think the pack has a bit of life in it and TBH its really made me appreciate this style of clamshell pack Ill just continue to use it and I expect a zip of the shoulder straps will give up the ghost at some point or perhaps not.... Is it as good as a branded product? I think with a branded product you get assurance that the construction is 100% if you buy a well regarded brand. For me the real eye opener was the ease of use of the pack compared to a regular lidded daysack.
Back in November I took a business trip to China and did some shopping in Shenzhen during some down time. I found and purchased a USMC 3 Day Assault Pack.
For the sake of full disclosure the pack is 100% mine paid for by me. I paid approx 100RMB for it which is approx 10 GBP
The purpose of this review is three fold.
Firstly take a general look at a generic 3 Day assault style of clam shell day sack
Secondly to Review this particular pack
Finally to understand a bit more about Far East manufactured look alike product and its suitability for everyday use.
The big question I had was would a 10 quid pack last and stand up to a bit of mild bushcraft type abuse as well as a more expensive branded pack?
Ok so what is a 3 Day Assault pack?
The concept comes from the need for a foot soldier to have enough kit with them for a patrol or operation away from immediate logistical support. Basically its a pack that holds enough: kit, food and water for up to 3 days in the field and is meant to augment the belt kit or vest kit that the soldier will be wearing. The 3 day duration I think is calculated on operating in a warm environment. As in a temperate environment youd possibly need more warm kit which would be bulkier and hence you would need a bigger pack. If youve seen images of troops on patrol in Iraq or Afghanistan chances are they were using some form of day sack to hold additional kit. What differentiates a lot of the 3 Day Style packs from a regular military day sack like the Sabre 45 or Berghaus Munro is the style of opening. A lot of the 3 day packs feature a zip fastened clam shell style opening over a more conventional lidded opening. This I think comes from the American origin of a lot of the pack designs. A lot of US made College Campus style daysacks feature zip openings. This clamshell style has advantages its easy to access kit just un zip and everything is easy to find no rummaging around at the bottom like you end up doing with a conventional lidded daysack on occasion and a large single item such as a radio or full water bladder is easy to drop in place. Typical 3 day packs are made by Tactical Tailor, Camelback, Blackhawk!, Bugout and a host of other manufacturers.
So whats an overtly military bit of kit got to do with bushcraft? Well the packs of course vary in capacity and are pretty useful in size often being around the 40 - 45 L mark. Which is generally enough capacity for an overnight in summer or a few days day hiking. Or here in NZ a weekend hiking from hut to hut.. They come in nice subdued colours which bushy folk seem to like and they have well thought out storage spaces for lots of bits of kit which bushy folk also like. Often they feature MOLLE / PALS webbing so you can slap additional kit and pouches on the outside if that sort of thing floats your boat.
Overview:
So this leads me to my no brand made in China USMC 3 Day Assault Pack The pack is not meant for frontline military use I suspect its mainly designed as a cheap option for Airsoft etc it borrows a lot of its features and appearance in a sort of homage to the Blackhawk Phoenix Patrol Pack.
Picture taken from www.blackhawk.com
http://www.blackhawk.com/product/Phoenix-Patrol-Pack,128,44.htm
Front of Pack
Back of Pack
Base of Pack
Materials and Construction:
The pack is constructed from some sort of texturised Olive Green Nylon Id say it was Cordura but its not of course but it feels as good as the Cordura on my Berghaus Vulcan. The stitching quality is apparently good with the PALS Webbing being well bar tacked however the finish quality on the bag was poor with lots of untrimmed thread ends which took me 10 minutes to go over and trim up. The nylon webbing used is strong and closely woven and the plastic fastex style buckles are good and not too brittle all the other plastic fittings seem to be of similar quality apart from the D rings on the shoulder straps which are pretty poor these are made from black painted steel rather than plastic they look a bit shonky but function well enough. I used them to clip a Motorola Handheld during my week long trip and they stood up well. The all important zips are a bit of a worry. The sliders and coil type zips actually look ok of course they are non branded however the zip pulls are very flimsy more on this later.
Features:
The pack has lots of features borrowed from other branded packs. First up we get a Velcro attachment point for a name tape or zap number and a larger velcro patch on the back of the pack for a unit marking or national flag.
Velcro Attachment
The pack features a removable waist belt which I ditched pretty much straight away as the back length on the pack makes the belt impractical for me. It is however well thought through and has elasticated loops to retain the adjusted belt and closes with a large fastex style buckle.
This Buckle allows the waist belt to be removed if required
The main pack has 3 compartments the larger opens via a double puller zip this opens about ¾ of the height of the pack and is approx 35 / 40 L in capacity. Inside is a large hydration bladder sleeve which swallows a complete filled 3L camel back and outer with room to spare.
Hydration Sleeve inside main compartment
There is a hydration port slit cut into the top centre of the pack and you can thread the hydration hose through. The slit is reinforced with Velcro and has an elasticated cover. I suppose this would also do for an aerial for a comms system of some sort. Not that man-packing a Bowman is a particularly bushcrafty thing to do .
Hydration Tube port
Its really easy to get to all the kit you put in this main section of the pack. There is a flap over the zip to keep dust sand and water ingress out but your kit will need to be in a drybag or drybags to keep it 100% weatherproof. 4 fastex buckles on the outside of the pack act as compression straps and also secure the main compartment if the zip is left open
Main compartment
A Second compartment of approx 5 L also opens with a double slider zip its necessary to pop the flap back to get access to the zip this area is useful for stuff like tools such as a Laplander saw or your knife or perhaps an OS map, hat gloves, snacks etc it takes my space blanket quite readily. Finally there is a single pocket with a diagonal zip which is great for a small FAK car keys etc etc
The pack comes with 2 ice tool holders and a raft of PALS webbing on the side rear and base. Also supplied were 4 adjustable straps you could use them for strapping stuff to the outside. The pack has no internal frame so is soft it I think relies on the likelihood of you using a water bladder to add to the basic padding on the back. Finally there is a grab handle / haul loop on top of the pack which is seemingly securely sewn on.
Ice tool Holders
There is no back system to speak of just a thinly padded back panel made from the same nylon fabric as the body of the pack this panel is flat and has some minor sewn channels for airflow. The shoulder straps are about 60mm in width and again have minimal padding each strap has 2 D rings on it the top 2 being a bit too high for practical use. The chest strap is well thought out and has an elasticated link to allow your chest to expand when breathing.
In Use.
Well the first thing I did was to make a couple of minor modifications I removed the waist belt and additional straps as I cannot stand stuff strapped to the outside of bergens it just gets in the way and gets caught on stuff. Then I added some nylon cord pullers to the Zips this was a preventative measure as the standard pullers would not stand up to even moderate use IMHO. By looping the pullers correctly the chances of breakage is reduced and the pullers are easier to use with gloves or wet hands. Finally I spent 10 minutes trimming all the unfinished threads.
Beefed up zip pullers
Some semmalume cats eyes and a Velcro backed UJ and black karabiner make things look Ally and have a modicum of practical use for hanging the pack up when hammocking and finding stuff at night and if truth be told there is a bit of the Tactical Tart in all of us
Well Ally.....
Loaded up with a days worth of kit and snacks and a full 3 ltr bladder the pack sat well and dipping in and out of it for stuff as the day progressed was ok and simple as the zips afforded easy access. I took the pack out on a very wet day to a walking track opening and the pack coped well with the rain with no problems. No water got inside and the textured nylon beaded the water up nicely. The hike in was only 3 or 4K and the pack was comfy to carry.
Loaded up side view
Loaded Front
Loaded Rear
Next trip was a week of use over Christmas / New Year lugging a full 3 ltr Camelback and a load mostly consisting of a bit of warm kit, fishing and snorkelling gear and snacks and food along with a FAK, Fixed blade and a Bahco Laplander saw and other assorted tut.
Typical kit carried
Firstly the ease of access to the various compartments was really good and I liked it over a regular top loading daysack like the Munro. It found it was really easy to organise my kit and get at stuff I wanted with minimal faff . On the beach the sack kept out the sand and inevitable water. After a week of lugging around and wearing the pack while jumping on and off of Quad bikes etc its pulled a few of the threads around the main sack to shoulder strap join no holes and everything still looks and feels solid... but the pulled threads are a testament to the low cost origins of the pack.
Pulled Treads
I wore the pack with relatively loose shoulder straps so the base sat in the small of my back and I found the removal of the waist belt was not a problem the load sat well while walking cross country. I didnt really find the back got overly sweaty no more so than a pack with a more advanced back system.
The quality of the zips was a constant worry and often they would not mesh correctly but a bit of fiddling got them sorted I fully expected a zip pull to break but so far they have held up well... With a full water bladder my load weight would be around 10-12 kg and the pack coped well with this. The compression straps worked well in snugging the load down and the ease of fitting a hydration bladder was well appreciated with the hot weather we get here over Xmas. I havent used the PALS webbing at all and probably never will.
The back panel is made from the same waterproof material as the rest of the sack. This basically means that the back does not breathe in anyway shape or form so in hot weather you end up with a wet back and shirt the same goes for the shoulder straps.
Sourcing:
So thats all great youre thinking but Im unlikely to be visiting Shenzhen in the near future so whats the point in this review . All is not lost Ebay of course is your friend in situations like this.
Ebay UK has a seller with the exact same pack.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SPECIAL-OP-RU...Collectables_Militaria_LE?hash=item2ea96e2a90
But 44 GBP seems a trifle excessive .
And Ebay US has the same pack
http://cgi.ebay.com/USMC-3-Day-Moll...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efbb3b2ea
Although the seller is based in HK which is not too far from Shenzhen and the price is better .
Finally it seems that Thatchreed ltd who own brands such as Web Tex and Viper sell a pack that is very similar if not identical to my Shenzhen market special
http://www.thatchreed.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1175
But this one is a special ops version so probably isnt the same at all...
Summation:
So in summation was it 10GBP down the toilet? I dont think so I think the pack has a bit of life in it and TBH its really made me appreciate this style of clamshell pack Ill just continue to use it and I expect a zip of the shoulder straps will give up the ghost at some point or perhaps not.... Is it as good as a branded product? I think with a branded product you get assurance that the construction is 100% if you buy a well regarded brand. For me the real eye opener was the ease of use of the pack compared to a regular lidded daysack.
Check out airsoft forums for similar deals/
It would have cost that to source all the bits if you'd tried to make if for yourself, before time and effort.
