For background, our group of friends consolidate our climbing or skiing gear together to save on airport luggage fees. Sometimes it's also necessary to take the bags on approach trails. So, we need the biggest bags to carry our heaviest gear, and can be carry where wheels is not an option.
The default choice for durable duffel bags tend to be The North Face Base Camp or the Patagonia Black Hole. Both are very nice indeed and highly recommended, here are the reasons why the big black British Army Deployment bag is also worth considering.
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Proper padded backpack straps. By far the most important advantage. With 100L+ capacity the gear bags are basically impossible to carry by hand, the other models have soft decorative straps, this one has padded straps like you see in backpacking packs, it even has a chest clip. The straps can also be cleverly hidden to avoid getting snagged.
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Crush proof buckles. The plastic of the clip buckles are way stronger than regular buckles, feels like it has fibre glass re-enforcement.
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Cheap as chips. Unbelievably, new ones on ebay.co.uk are around 50GBP, slightly used ones go for around 30GBP. North Face, Patagonia, etc are $100-$200.
For these reasons, they kick ass. Buying used gear is also better for the environment by re-using and consuming less. For completeness sake, here are some more pros and cons.
Pros
- 1000D Cordura Ballistic Nylon
- Grab handles on all sides
- Compression straps across the zip
- Big burly zip
Cons
- Zip opens straight instead of D shaped lid. Theoretically more difficult to get items in and out, in reality hasn't been a problem.
- Only comes in black, harder to spot on the luggage conveyor, just need to strap something bright to it.
Submitted September 25, 2017 at 01:09PM by robo555 http://ift.tt/2jXyd6z
