Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

“Whenever he gets into a fix
he reaches into his bag of tricks..” – Felix The Cat theme song

Asked what the hallmark of the prepared is, I’d say its a toss up between a firearm and the backpack. (In fact, my coat of arms should be a pair of crossed 870’s and AR’s over a backpack.) But I think the nod goes to the backpack.

For the last several years I usually travel my day-to-day with my Dana ‘Lewis’ daypack. I bought it many years ago when Dana was still a made in the US. Its a regular size daypack, like what you see every college kid packing around. It has a few nice features, like redundant closures – if a zipper breaks theres always a strap/buckle system to use as backup. A nice touch. Although a ‘civillian’ pack, its durability and versatility has made it an almost constant companion for me. During hunting season I change out the contents and it goes as my survival/hunting pack. Its deficient in some areas, not enough attachment points, for example, but Ive been satisified.

And then this shows up today in UPS. I am mightily impressed and when it comes to gear, Im a tough customer.

Material is heavy Cordura-type fabric. Should handle sliding around in truck beds, tumbling off cliffs, getting soaked, getting dirty, etc, with aplomb.

All stress points (and even some non-stress points) are double stitched…at least. Some are triple stitched. Some are quadruple stitched!!!! Yowza!

Padding in the straps is generous. Strap attachment points are reinforced quite nicely. Shoulder straps include a sternum strap and the usual D-ring and web attachment points.

There are three compartments, all accessed by zippers. The inside of the main compartment is lined on the bottom (which also has a drainage hole) with blaze orange material to make hunting objects easier. Nice touch. 2900 cubic inches is the advertised capacity of the bag.

Top of the bag sports a serious drag handle and covered drinking ports. (Could also run radio cords through as well.)Theres Molle-style webbing on three sides of the pack as well as attachment points on the bottom of the pack. Compression straps on the sides and top of the pack allow for rolled up gear like ponchos or field jackets.

This is a seriously nice high-speed, low-drag pack. I’d feel not the slightest bit of hesitation to load it up and toss it out the back of a truck at forty miles an hour, drag it behind me in a river crossing, As much as my Dana has been a good piece of gear, Im not one to let sentimentality stand in the way of an upgrade. Price is about the same as what I paid for my Dana about seven years ago – $110. This would be an extremely well spent $110. Im going to investigate the rest of their gear and if its as well made as this thing, Im going to have to do some serious ordering from them.

All their gear is made in the USA, by the by. While I’ll buy gear from anyone if it meets my needs for quality and funtion, I prefer to buy American.

A quick perusal of Tactical Tailor’s website shows some very nice modular pockets to add on. Im in love…truly!

I called the LMI’s to come by and check this thing out…thats how impressed I am with it. Expect some field reports about this thing over the summer.