I am a person that either goes all in, or drops the whole deal. I was looking for the perfection of MOLLE backpacks online, and after a few days I found TacticShop's products through YouTube (actually, I am a bit disappointed how difficult it was to find you guys).
The backpack itself is outstanding. One problem I often encounter with backpacks are the lack of pockets. On this MOLLE backpack, you will feel the exact opposite - you have pockets everywhere, which I LOVE. Like who would ever be bothered by too many pockets!? I can finally truly organize my backpack, and it feels great.
What also feels great, is the backpack itself (on the back). I have had some really have stuff in it (filled with shoes and heavy clothes once a week, sometimes filled with laptops and books for school), and due to the outstanding design, it actually feels good! I have never experienced any back pain from heavy loads, as I have from many of my other back packs.
I could go on for hours how satisfied I am with this backpack, but to save time, I will just write a pros & cons list;
Pros
- Looks good
- Feels great
- Lots of straps to customize weight distribution
- More pockets than you can count, without them being in the way
- Eternal customizational possibilities on the outside (due to the MOLLE-system)
- Fits everything you need, and more
- Very durable, not a single hole or scratch through 10 months of everyday use
- Zippers are great as well, never had any problem with them (contrary to many other backpacks, where they sometimes last a few days)
Cons
- Not as waterproof as hoped (if waterproof at all)
- Had to buy some bungies and such, to keep unused straps in place (not a big problem)
- I wish the main "room" had some sort of seperation system. This is/was even pictured in some of TacticShop's pictures of the backpack, but they said they didn't offer it and I can't find it anywhere else
When I was buying this, I was impressed when I saw the bold letters stating that the backpack was made from "Waterproof coated 1000D Nylon", which made me believe this could take even heavy rain, while protecting electronics on the inside. But boy, was I wrong. Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge about things being waterproof, but I thought 1000D nylon stuff was proper. I took this backpack on one tent trip last autumn, where we had some light rain. After the first rain (light, almost the rain that looks like "gas" or fog), that lasted for 10-20 minutes, pretty much everything inside the backpack was slightly moist. This surprised me, as I thought it would hold out the water better than that... If such slight rain makes things inside moist, I almost don't want to imagine what happens when heavy rain comes along.
Even though I must say I was a bit shocked how easy water went through the backpack, I will still give it a 5/5 rating, as it simply is the best backpack I have ever had. I satisfies all my needs except for the waterproof part (and I have a lot of needs, especially the pockets for organizing, etc).
To put it simple and summarize it; an outstanding backpack that fullfills all the criterias to be a great backpack. Could have been slightly more waterproof, but not really anything else to complain about.