As promised, review of the rucksack ordered via Ebay as listed above.
First impressions.
On opening the packaging and flattening out the backpack, he first thing you notice, is that the pack is so much a clone of the Maxpedition unit, that they should be paying them royalties. Its made by Mil-Tec, who are fairly well known for producing- kindest to say homages- of various bits of issue military and tactical kit. Sadly, their homages dont always come up to scratch compared to the real thing, and Ill try not to let past experience of their kit invade nor colour this review. Suffice to say (and Ill do another review with the item in mind compared to a genuine if people want it) that another Mil-Tec item I own is fit only for day/fashion/dig the garden use.
So how would it be with this pack? Have we found a gem here, or is it destined for the gift it on thread? Lets find out.
Once opened out from the packaging, the first place you notice a slight cost cutting is the material; compared to some packs out there, its markedly lighter of weave (600d not 1000d) and weight, and some people might see this as having an effect on durability. The good news is though, that the bare pack is quite light, coming in at on 1129g on my scales, and some recent research has shown that the lighter weaves really dont mean too much of a sacrifice in durability. Also, someone somewhere has signed off on putting a backing onto the inside of this pack; with instead of the common sight of simply the reverse of the nylon fabric, the inside of the pack has a uniformly applied and well stitched in PU waterproof backing. Will it keep your brew kit and mars bar dry on a Scottish summers day? Will the weave be penetrated by sharp objects? Only field time with this pack (if it makes it that far) will tell, but it is reassuring to see it.
With the stitching, this is the first pleasant surprise. A lot of these clone packs at this price point seem to be single stitched in 90% of the stress points, and remarkably, this one isnt. Its double stitched in even the places that shouldnt be subject to extreme stresses, and thats pretty reassuring indeed. The next surprise - and I enlisted outside assessment of this from the mother in law who was a seamstress before retiring - is that the stitching and thread are of good quality with no uneven spacing, out of area run lines or poorly finished thread ends. All good so far then.
Moving on to the buckles on the compression straps next. These are of no name manufacture, and thats something that worries me with any piece of kit if your proud of something, no matter what it is, you stick your name on it. From a Monet painting to an Armitage Shanks crapper, thats the way of it. Now, while they dont seem to bad, namely nothing is out of skew, nothing pulls apart and there are no rough stress marks left in the plastic, it is something Ill be keeping my eye on. In fairness, if they had to be replaced, itd not be a lot of grief in either time, skill or money to do so, hence Ill let it pass. Zips also are no name, but they actually seem okay with uniform spacing on the zipper entry slots and no binding nor high spots felt. The pulls are decent quality cordage as well. So, again, they get a pass mark.
The Velcro accessible part of the backpack is designed for a hydration pack, and this again is a pleasant surprise, as its actually been well thought out and well designed. Let me explain why. The last bag at this price break I examined (in a mil surplus shop) had the same feature, only theyd got the measurements wrong. There was a space alright, but it wasnt a pouch at all, just a slit, and to put a hydration bladder in the same would have meant a kink in the bag, as it wasnt cut properly to take the increase in volume. Here though, this isnt the case. Someone get there math right. Gold star indeed.
Onto the straps, and this is one disappointment. I would have preferred to see a chest strap on this unit, alright, 80% of the time, you dont need them on bags this size, but when you do i.e carrying weight or if youre bigger chested, well, you really do. Considering that would have cost very little money to add, thats disappointing not to see it. I have a 52 chest and the straps are kissing the sides of my pectoral muscles, but certainly not covering them. The other shock is that the waist strap is pretty small indeed. Yes, it fits me, but its on near enough max adjust to do so ( I have a 38 waist) with just a t shirt on. Itll go on with just a lightweight jacket on, but its a close run thing. Less sugar in the brews for me from now on then.
Obviously, as can be seen in the photographs, the outside is covered in MOLLE points, so if you want to hang the kitchen sink off the bag with additional pouches etc, its very flexible indeed.
So, a conclusion? Well, Ill say it again, I thought I wasnt going to like this pack at all. In fact, I thought the kid two doors down was going to get a tactical schoolbag as a present next time I saw him. However, I was wrong. While its not a Maxpedition bag, its a quarter of the price while certainly
NOT being a quarter of the quality. Mil-Tec, you actually got this right. As a day sack or EDC bag, its a great choice, and at this price break Im far from disappointed. For the price of a takeaway Chinese meal for four, you get a well put together sack and some good quality materials. Ill probably add to this thread as months go by and I use it in the field to give a longer term review, but am I happy? Yes, I am, and I really didn't expect to be.
So, with consideration to the price point, a well deserved
7/10. Sort those strap sizes out Mil-Tec and youd have got a 9.
Items placed around the bag to give an indication of scale on the pictures below, which are in the imgur link so as not to crucify the sites bandwidth.
Hope this helped lads.
Billy.
http://imgur.com/a/g8UtM
