Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => General Chat => Topic started by: Rich.H on July 17, 2013
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In an effort to both get rid of dpm pattern and plce style gear, along with cutting back the amount of rubbish I cart about with me. I have moved to a modular system where I have a basic belt kit then use as small a pack as possible for other things. The main aim of this being that I can go out for a full day with just the belt kit and a camelbak, then reserve the pack for over nighters or multi day.
Part of this reason I to travel light and quick, but also so I can think more about using kit instead of being a hoarder and taking lots of things that hardly get used.
My ideal aim is to get to a point where apart from extreme gales and blizzard snow I can do 1-2 days with a pack no bigger than 30l.
So today my maxp proteus bag arrived and now the long two day wait begins until I can get out for a couple of days in the Sperrins. I still need to get the map case they make so for now the back bag contains all my nav equipment in the front pouch. Water proofs, binos, and the tree & edible guides in the main section. Phone happily slots into one side pocket with spare space, and all my walking pole parts go in the other side pocket (again with space). Along with this bag there are two maxp fatty pouchs, one for my med kit and one a general possibles/survival/bushy kit.
Threw the belt on for a while today when doing various things and have to say the molle style webbing fits far better than the old plce style. Once it have been threaded onto the belt there is none of the plce rattle and bounce. Plus nice ykk zips mean no messing with clips etc.
Now the real dilemma after the map pouch I was intending on calling the belt kit finished and only swapping/upgrading some of the parts being carried inside (compass, torches etc). However I found I don't have the space to put a mid softshell layer in this bag, so do I risk going too bulky and heavy on a belt by getting one more pouch or commit to the idea that if I need to carry extra clothing then I need the pack? I'm really trying to stay away from the "just one more pouch" road as it's a slippery slope.
Any thoughts?
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5325/9307243167_47b38b7585_o.jpg)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5496/9307243105_39caea79a5_o.jpg)
Hopefully things will work out well this weekend as next weekend I'm going to throw myself a 25l challenge (I haven't the money for my ideal 30l pack yet). In this I aim to carry the sleeping gear, tarp, very few need clothes, cook system & food. Then see just how much of a comfort difference there is between the usual way of lugging a heft olf army bergen or 50l out.
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Rich i bought myself a 50L molle pack and i dont like it i payed £28 for it from amazon if your interested it was used once.
Ps. theres a molle water bottle pouch with it as well.
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I have a that belt pack from Heinne Haynes also ;-)
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If you search around you can get it for around a fiver cheaper elsewhere. However I had ordered one of the fatty packs the week before and even on their standard free delivery it arrived within two days of placing the order. That service alone got me booked as a customer willing to pay a little more.
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Agreed Rich, i order a folding shovel yesterday and it came today ;-)
Them Sungpaks are a great wee job whats the order wee bag beside it ??
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The one with the H patch? it's the maxp fatty organiser pouch. I got one for a general possibles/survival type pouch. Then saw just how much you can fit in the thing and how it still stays organised so got one in black too as a medical kit.
They advertise it as an edc type bag/pouch but to be honest if your not filling it then its wasting the thing. Then when it is full it really doesn't fit anywhere except a molle belt or pack, I really can't see how maxp think it can be used as an edc bag them slipped in your pockets.
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I have this one in black for flints, tinder ETC......
http://www.heinnie.com/Bags-and-Wallets/Snugpak/Response-Pak/p-281-429-2999/
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How well do the snugpac ones hold up? I read a few bad reviews on them hense doing the plunge for the maxp at 3x the price. It hurt the wallet but I knew it was money I wanted to only spend once.
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You get what you pay for Rich and im sure its a cracker, to be honest i have not put the sungpak throw a hard enough test yet. When i was on the bushcraft course with NI Bushcraft, the two leaders Andy and paul had one with flints tinder ETC.... in it and they liked the sungpak. So i got one and have still yet to beast it ;D
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I love the Molle system: it's like having Lego blocks to build your own custom awesome bag! Be careful with most of the miltec Molle stuff tho: I had a few of these and they fell apart faster than Jimmy Savilles alabi! .... Believe it or not some of the cheaper Molle stuff is only for show: the loops aren't load bearing and come apart when you strap bits into them. Can't go wrong with Snugpack and the like tho. Modular system is great for bullding a pack: with my old Molle I had it down to a fine art with add-on's for cooking, wet gear,navigation etc
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I'm already seeing with just these three pouch/bags how I can happily get all my stuff organised with a good quality bag hence loving the whole molle concept. Although I am keeping myself on a short reign too, as much as it is very handy the high quality stuff isn't what you would call featherweight by any means. I can easily see that get too carried away and you could quickly carry more weight in pouches etc than by just having a single backpack.
For me though I think the maxp map case, then a high end molle pack that is split into modules inside. I think any more than that and your straying into dangerous territory of hoarding gear then.