Camelbak Urban Assault Review
October 21st, 2009 | Cordon & Review | Posted by Phil Ewing
CamelBak’s “Urban Assault” backpack is a medium-sized bag designed for tactically minded city-dwellers who want to carry a lot of gear, a laptop, and water on their missions in the urban jungle.
If you don’t wear a tie to work every day — or you do, and you don’t mind looking like a college kid — this backpack can work as a great daily briefcase, especially if you’re commuting by train or bus. Pockets, sleeves and admin pouches secure loose papers, folders, pens and just about anything else, plus the dedicated laptop case is ideal for the expeditionary office drone. At 1850 cubic inches, it’s also large enough for a few gadgets or gym clothes.
If you’re getting ready to ship out to the sandbox, or looking for something to take on a hike across Death Valley, this may not be your first choice. The Urban Assault isn’t designed to accept CamelBak’s trademark suck-tube water pouches hydration bladder, instead setting aside two side pockets for its flip-up tube, Better Bottle water bottles.
Let’s take a closer look at the bag to see if it’s got what you’re looking for.
Mystery Ranch Big Horn
October 7th, 2009 | Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
The new Mystery Ranch Big Horn is the 3-Day-Assault pack’s big brother. Similar to their recreational Big Sky pack, the militarized bag is decked-out with a “stuffit” pocket (a.k.a. beaver tail), a beefed up suspension system and about 1000 more cubic inches inside for a total of 3000 cubes.
X-Frame is MR’s internal frame system. It consists of a couple of bars that cross and form a stressed frame, holding the pack and it’s contents up. There are a few pockets and a hydration bladder sleeve in the otherwise wide-open main compartment.
Outside, the removable waist pads slip over the waist strap and lock in place with a combination of Velcro and a tri-glide on the pack’s waist belt. The waist belt can be folded and stowed neatly up inside the pack when not needed, but you’ll have to pull the waist pads off to make this happen. As on the 3DA, there’s also PALS webbing on the sides for a couple of extra pouches, water bottle pockets and water resistant zippers.
Weighing in at 5 3/4 pounds, it’s a beefy pack. But, it’s bomber built up in Bozeman, Montana, and backed by a no BS lifetime warranty. The $390 pack just shipped and is available in Multicam, coyote and foliage.
More pics, including the guts, after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
GearScout Spring Preview Extra- Packs
August 18th, 2009 | Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
Mystery Ranch
Longbow and Kingcab
Longbow, Fall 09, $189
Kingcab, Fall 09, $285
Mystery Ranch showed us a couple of new packs. The first is a new take on their Crew Cab, open bay load carrier. The Kingcab combines the heavy duty NICE frame with the versatility of the Crew Cab and adds a large, rigid PALS field on the back that will carry another pack. MR suggests a medic might use this arrangement to carry a litter in the Kingcab while strapping an assault pack to the back for fast access to medical supplies.
The Longbow is a thin, tall 2200cu in 3-zip pack that attaches to a MR NICE frame. The outside of the Longbow is mostly clean with one lid pocket and 6 compression straps and a large amount of organization on the inside with 2 long reservoir pockets and 4 internal detail pockets. The longbow would be a good choice for attaching to the Kingcab, because then you could have a large ruck that you could break down into an assault pack by taking the Kingcab off and attaching the longbow directly to the NICE frame. The photo shows a Longbow attached to a Kingcab on a NICE frame.
The Longbow is $189 weighs 2lbs 4oz w/o frame and 6lb 8oz with a NICE frame
The Kingcab is $285 and weighs 3lbs 9oz w/o frame and 7lbs 13oz with a NICE frame
Eagle Creek Cicada 28L
Spring 2010, $150
The Cicada is a freshly designed bag that will keep your stuff dry thanks to the raincover-like top. It’s even got a lock to prevent casual theft during TDY travel.
- Split Wing cover that’s weather/theft resistant with a Ratchet Lock buckle
- Hold’s a 17″ laptop
- Zippered top/panel load main compartment access
Padded laptop compartment/hydration sleeve - Smart Travel Security organization
- Two pockets for electronic chargers/cords
- Dual access padded/fleece-lined pocket for sunglasses or electronics
- Exterior compression straps for managing the load
- Molded foam back panel with contoured shoulder straps and sternum strap
- Internal HPDE frame sheet with aluminum stay
- Tuck-away waist strap
- Water and abrasion resistant Bi-Tech™ material on bottom
Arc’teryx Aerios 7
Spring 2010, $89
The Aerios is a superlight trail running pack at 14 oz that offers 425 cubic inches of storage. Enough for a water bladder, snack, first-aid kit and some raingear bungeed to the outside.
- Rigid mesh backpanel and perforated straps for airflow
- Panel loading
- Waistband can be positioned on chest to control bouncing
- Side stretch-mesh pockets
- Made with 100d & 420d coated fabrics
Assault Pack – Cordon & Review – Part I -The Big Ones
April 29th, 2009 | Cordon & Review | Posted by Rob Curtis
- Camelbak BFM 500, $200, 5.2 lbs, 3142 Cubes
- Eberlestock Half-Track, $229, 6.6 lbs, 3080 Cubes
- Tactical Tailor 3-Day Assault Plus, $218, 3.75 lbs, 2850 Cubes
- TAD Gear FastPack PS, $320, 5.2 lbs, 2800 Cubes
- Granite Gear Special Mission Patrol, $250 (street), 5.6 lbs, 2800 Cubes
- Gerber Grasp 150, $350 MSPR, 6.7 lbs, 2760 Cubes
Assault Pack Cordon & Review – The Primer
April 27th, 2009 | Cordon & Review | Posted by Rob Curtis
Assault packs have come a long way from the ubiquitous A-III style 3-Day Assault Pack. Military lore would tell you the A-III style was first designed in the 1980’s for use by naval welders to carry their tools in and out of the bowels of half-built ships in southern Virginia. Operators of the day saw the bag, recognized its utility and adopted it.
Advances in material and design have lead to a crop of new packs that will more than take care of you for a day or two in the field. These new designs offer advances in integrated hydration systems, ergonomic design, and highly engineered fabrics and frame materials. We chose 17 packs that represent some of these advances, threw them in a pick-up truck and drove a few hours to an undisclosed military installation so we could get feedback straight from the line.
Hit the jump for the GearScout primer on assault packs.
Meet Skycrane – Neither Decepticon Nor Autobot
March 18th, 2009 | Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
Although it’s not a product of Cybertron, the Eberlestock Skycrane is a highly adaptable backpack designed with the long-gun shooter in mind. Made from 1000 denier fabric, the 5500 cubic inches of storage doesn’t even include the signature rifle scabbard for an A3SS sniper dragbag. It’s also got a removable shooting pad and a removable patrol pack. The heart of the scalable pack system is a 2400 cubic inch internal frame pack that grows to hold 7600 cubes. You can get the kit for $560, or order it without the drag bag and save $100.
Update: Added bigger pics after the jump.
Mystery Solved – Backpack Finally Hearts Armor
March 10th, 2009 | Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
The Mystery Cinch is a 1″ wide strap that secures your pack’s shoulder straps to your body armor, shown here on an Eagle Industries RAV, using existing PALS channels. With the cinch’s ends secured at the front edges of your vest’s armholes, it wraps around your pack straps, keeping them from sliding off your shoulders. It also obviates the need for a sternum strap.
As a bonus, on smaller packs that don’t need a waist belt it creates a ghetto one-point release that lets the wearer shrug his shoulders out of the pack straps once the cinch is split. MR used one of ITW Nexus’ newer buckles called the MQRB, which is a beefy metal buckle that will hold up better than a typical sternum strap.
The anchor points go under the PALS without weaving so you can mount something over it. The cinch will work with all backpacks whose straps are long enough to accommodate it and will cost about $30.
Kifaru Busts Out New Packs and New Site
February 24th, 2009 | Business News Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
Kifaru deployed a new line of packs featuring their Armor Grip system. The system, found on the brand new AG1, 4000 cubes, and AG2, 6500 cubes, is a set of pads that roll out to create a space that cradles your back armor plate. When not in use, the pads lay flat across the back and don’t interfere with the fit or function of the pack’s suspension in any way. Pretty cool.
Most of the other packs in the Kifaru line have gotten some upgrades, too. The EMR and MMR have both gotten a new frame attachment system, more attachment points for external loads, new lumbar pad with PackLock grip panels that hold the pack in place.
Lots to look at as they continue to update the site at www.kifaru.net.
Mystery Ranch Unveils the TactiPlane Pack
February 2nd, 2009 | Contracts Photo Recon Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
After winning the SOCOM BALCS competition for a large recce ruck back in December 2008, Mystery Ranch gave the winning pack a name and shared some details this week. The new pack is 9 lbs, 10 oz, and holds 6900 cubic inches in 3 compartments. The internal frame pack accommodates and stabilizes loads of more than 100 lbs.
The TactiPlane is full of Mystery Ranch features like the Bolster Ventilation and Stability (BVS) system that keeps the pack stable when wearing body armor and aids in ventilation when carried without body armor. It also uses a modified low profile lumbar pad to further integrate with body armor.
The main compartment is 5500 cubes, with the top and two back pockets holding 700 cubes each. No details on price or commercial availability yet.
Shot 09- OR Airpurge Dry Sacks Keep You From Cubing Out
January 19th, 2009 | Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
The Airpurge Dry Compression Sack from Outdoor Research is a valveless dry bag that will keep your clothes dry and organized inside your ruck. At the bottom of the bag is a strip of one-way air purging fabric. The strip lets you crush the bag down so tightly that it forms a near vacuum and squeezes every last cubic nanometer of efficiency out of your pack.
The sacks will come in 4 sizes and two versions. The Coyote version is made in the USA for military customers. The imported versions will come in black and dark grey. Both versions will come in 10L, 15L, 25L and 30L sizes. Look for them in fall 2009. No word on price, yet.