Camelbak BFM 500

$200, 5.2 lbs, 3142 Cubes

Making the BFM a little bigger and a little badder, our friends at Camelbak have shaved 1.1 lbs and added 591 more cubic inches of storage. The redesign of the 3-day behemoth includes a shift to 500D Cordura everywhere but the bottom of the pack, new pocket layouts, fleece-lined pockets for optics, and sensitive items (read iPod) wider straps for comfort, and camo printed webbing so your PALS straps don't give you away. The pack opens up flat for easy access and has a large admin pocket up front. The removable frame sheet is up to the task and the waist belt can be removed for streamlined ops.

Camelbak 86ed one useful feature in the upgrade, though. The old pack had triple zippers for the main compartment so you could get in from either side of the bag. Chalk the loss of this little touch to the price of progress.

Lead Tester: Sgt. "James"

Testers Comments:  Comes with a large hydration reservoir, which is one less thing to buy. Everyone noticed how light the bag felt for its size. Big as it is, no one thought it was the largest bag in the group. The plethora of pockets was a hit.The size is awesome. The straps could use more attention to work with body armor; the pack sank a little in the lower back under load.

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Eberlestock Half-Track

$229, 6.6 lbs, 3080 Cubes

Made from 1000d Cordura, it's a front-loader loaded with features and a polished appearance. The main pocket can be divided in half using a padded shelf that Velcros in place if you find all the little interior packets aren't enough to satisfy your organizing OCD.  You can carry hydration bladders in the large side pockets or you can slide them in the ski slots freeing up the pockets for other gear.

Eberlestock didn't skimp on comfort features. The framesheet and internal aluminum stays, work with the adjustable yoke and harness to keep things comfy. The Half-Track feels big and boxy. It's not sized for urban work and will get you hung up on door frames and windowsills. This one is probably best on the trail, carrying your gear and a long gun with an optional sleeve. You'll get a mature design, and lots of features, like an integral rain cover, for a price that no US manufacturer could touch for this price.

Lead Tester: SPC "Ryan"

Testers Notes:  On the table, the testers liked the size and looks of the Half-Track. Lots of tricks -like room for 4 water bladders and the built-in rain cover made this one a favorite. Good for long range assault/overwatch; pack was stable with body armor and comfortable without. All the internal sleeve pouches are small, would have liked one non-divided, internal pocket

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Tactical Tailor 3-Day Assault Plus

$218, 3.75 lbs, 2850 Cubes

Tactical Tailor's improved 3 day bag ditches the PALS webbing and just gives you a punch of pockets where you'd just stick pouches anyway. What you lose in versatility, you make up for in weight savings. PALS webbing and all the stitching it takes to tack it in place can add substantial weight to a pack.

The 3DAP can carry plenty of gear for a multi-day field problem. In addition to the standard AIII style two compartment setup, there are four more external pockets and compression straps to keep things civilized.

This is a pack that can be easily overloaded since it's soft back didn't include framestays or a frame sheet. Still, the waistbelt was wide and comfortable without armor, so you can still haul upwards of 30 pounds without killing your shoulders.

The pockets are simple, no pen slots or admin shingles. There is a radio pouch in the main compartment that is the color of a VS-17 panel. Maybe you could turn the bag inside out in an emergency or maybe it just brightens up the interior of the bag to help find smaller items.

Lead Tester: Officer "K"

Testers Notes: Great size for an assault pack. Could pack gear in here for more than 3 days. Easily accessible. Could use a little more padding to accommodate radio or laptop. Bag is stable when walking but mobility is limited when in the prone.

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$320, 5.2 lbs, 2800 Cubes

Triple Aught Design's dumpster topped FAST Pack Patrol Size is a feature laden wonder. Features that include PALS webbing over ALICE webbing, a slick beavertail, hidden gear caves with built in retractable lanyard that stash and retain small gear you need to get to quickly.

This is a deceptively large bag. Its suite of compression straps keeps the bag from ballooning out and also work together with the beavertail to hold a long gun or a snowboard. There are four flat pockets on the outside of the bag with a mesh pocket inside the main compartment. In front of the main compartment is sleeve pocket for a hydration bladder and the HDPE frame sheet. The sheet is less a frame and more of a way to give the bag some shape. Its doesn't do much to get the load off the wearers shoulders. The thick padding against the wearer back does a good job keeping the load stable.

1000 denier construction means the fabric will last and the careful stitching will keep it all together for a long time. It's good to see TAD backing the bag up with a lifetime warranty, but we don't think many people will need it.

$320 wil get you the bag and a heavily padded waistbelt. Hydration isn't part of the deal, though. By making a larger version of their popular FAST Pack EDC TAD has made an all purpose bag that hits a lot of feature buttons. The bag is big enough to push the carry-on baggage limit but can compress down to the size of a big bookbag.

Lead Tester: PFC "Patrick"

Testers Notes: The bag is a lot bigger than it looks at first. Lots of little spaces to stash gear. Admin pocket is tough to use since it's flat. Straps slid off IBA too easily. Wasitbelt is wide, secure and easy to use. When loaded up with 40+ pounds, the bag sagged into my back and rode low.

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$250 (street), 5.6 lbs, 2800 Cubes

Granite Gear Tactical almost made the pack mullet. A high-tech, wickedly strong, fully adjustable suspension system up front and a simple and efficient cargo area out back.

The Topoflex frame sheet is some impressive tech. It's the most expensive component of the pack. We creased the frame over on itself trying to break it. Nothing happened. That wasn't remarkable until we loaded the pack up up with 65 pounds and that framesheet transferred the load directly to our testers hips over miles of movement. The framesheet has a dozen holes to mount the pivoting shoulder straps in for a perfect fit for any torso height or shoulder width.

The SM Patrol has a fairly simple payload area. Two large pockets, and a flat slash pocket. The main pocket is subdivided with an open-topped, PALS covered radio pouch and a series of  small, flat, mesh pockets for odds and ends. The smaller cargo area is fully padded and has a large flat pocket suitable for a large document or even a thin laptop. Granite Gear was the first to run hydration ports out the bottom of the bag. It's a novel change that keeps water flowing in a little straighter line from the base of the reservoir. In the real world, we don't know what difference it makes. But some guys like it. There are ports up top, if you want to go that way, though.

For use with body armor, the thick shoulder pads tear away with Velcro leaving a flat and wide shoulder strap that rides easily over body armor. A PALS lattice on the straps and waistbelt give plenty of places to hang gear. The bag doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, no compression straps or buckles. Just a set of high quality zippers that run without issue in the dirt and sand.

Granite Gear Tactical's packs are made in the US by a company known for super light commercial packs so it's hard to miss their penchant for weight savings that's apparent features such as in the pared down 3/4" PALS webbing. For such a big bag, our tester found that it felt smaller than it really is thanks to the suspension system. The SM Patrol stands alone as a pack with a fully adjustable suspension. If you need to carry a lot of gear, this is a super bag that makes light work of your gear at a great price for an American made pack.

Lead Tester: Officer "B."

Testers Notes: The multiple point of adjustment make the bag feel smaller than it is. The bag has a hand crafted feel about it that is evident in a cursory glance at the heavy duty stitching. The hidden gem of the bag are the numerous inner pockets which help to make this the ideal bag for travel as all loads are internal and cause no change to the configuration. Excellent waistsbelt. Could have a wider base to enable use of the inner computer/radio pouch and retain easy access to the bottom of larger compartment.

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Gerber Grasp 150

$350 MSPR, 6.7 lbs, 2760 Cubes

The Grasp offers 7 carry configurations all based around its rigid, external-fill, 150 oz. bladder. Ingeniously, the rigid bladder forms the frame of the pack while preventing the sausage roll effect. It's made from low I.R.1000d Cordura nylon and uses .75 inch PALS webbing to save a little weight, which is welcomed on this somewhat portly pack. The pack is based around the reservoir carrier that features an expandable load carry platform that can be used alone, or with one or both of the included large and small pack modules and the removable waist belt. The large module is about 2000 cubic inches and offers internally bellowed side pockets that each holds an MRE. The small module holds about a handful of mags and a set of NODs. It's missing an admin section.

The bag offers a lot of carry options, but at the price serious complexity. Straps, buckles and Velcro abound on this testament to pack (over) engineering. After taking the pack apart, you may be left looking at it like map that you may not be able to refold properly. Gerber has helpfully silk-screened a diagram on the pack to help get it back together. At a street price between $200-$250, it's not a bad deal for so much versatility, though.

Lead Tester: PFC "Matthew"

Testers Notes: The group found the Grasp intriguing. Everyone like the multiple configurations, but were ultimately taken aback by the pack's complexity. Our shorter testers said the frame was too tall for comfort. The shoulder straps were very comfortable. The whole thing was confusing.

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