Well it's arrived and sorry to say, not really sure if I like it or not
. It's a bit bigger than I thought it would be, but that's not a bad thing I suppose. It's reasonably heavy canvas and the stitching is not too bad.
The clips and fastening are all decent if a bit jangly, it is the toothed kind so they fasten quite well, but I still might change them to plastic clips for ease of use and being quieter.
It has a very large interior space, it's a lot wider than it's depth (think big rectangular pocket), to the back of this there is a internal Velcrod pocket(I've put my sit mat in , but a folded tarp or poncho would fit too, Ive tried all three), this helps with padding for your back. Nice draw string on top so nothing should fall out.
The lid is rather big and could probably do with a couple of darts sown into it to shape it a bit better and it has a cotton made pocket on the underside with another velcro'd opening straight across the middle of it. (Yet again a poncho or gloves and hat would fit in here; I wouldn't trust it with anything heavier or more valuable).
Next, the three pockets, these seem to be my biggest bug bear about this pack, the two side pockets suffer from being to narrow , can't get a water bottle in or any of my leather gear bags
, although it will take a pair of work gloves and my mora and folding saw in one. The lid's also lift at the side so there is a chance of small stuff falling out.
The long back pocket gapes whether it is empty or full, not sure if clips are in the wrong place or if needs a bit of velcro or poppers in the middle span, here again I think plastic clips would be better.
When it's loaded it's quite comfortable to wear it hangs low on your back, which for me is what I want. The straps are ok the padding is rather thin but surprisingly works
. I only wore it for about 10 min's and it really was ok, so there are some good points about it.
So not really sure if I should go to the trouble of modding it or keep looking for another pack, just don't like to waste the money I suppose. If I do mod it I'll take some before and after pictures for you.
All in all, not really happy with it, but it'll do just now, I stuck my BCUK badge on it, just to give it another plus point
.
Cheers
Andy