As I’ve said elsewhere I’ve been very pleased so far with my two Hazard 4 packs (not so much with some accessories). Seems I’m about to acquire another.
I’ve had the Sidewinder and Tonto for some time, and used the Sidewinder for years in a three-stage commute to work, driving from home to the subway station, riding the subway downtown, then walking in to work from the downtown station, in all weather, sometimes with my notebook computer inside. I’ve had zero problems other than, as with every other bag or briefcase I’ve used, it tends to collect “stuff” and get very heavy periodically. You just can’t beat the versatility of a good sling pack for this sort of thing, you can sit without taking it off, access the contents while sitting, standing or even walking, and if you stand up and move suddenly it’s still attached.
The Tonto is minimalist, really quite small. That’s great for some things, like walking miles not far from home and not really in harm’s way when you don’t really expect to need anything, but carry a little rain and emergency gear “just in case”, but I haven’t had much success trying to stock it as a full get-home bag for ranging further from home. Even my smallest list of essentials is too much for it, and there’s no hydration pouch compartment, things like that.
The Sidewinder is big and easy to over-load. While it’s nice that it easily accommodates a lot of get-home stuff plus a notebook computer and work-related stuff, it’s way overkill for just kicking around town.
I’ve always lusted after what is probably their most classic and successful pack, the Plan B, or more properly the Evac Plan B (I don’t think “Evac” was always in the name, I’m not sure when it was added or why). It’s somewhere in-between the two extremes, large for a “day pack” and small-to-mininalist for an overnighter. I’ve had one in the “to buy later” section of my cart on Amazon off and on for a couple of years…. but I’ve got a LOT of packs, some of them never saw much use, it’s hard to justify the expense, so there it sat.
On this one I thought I’d go with black. That’s a big departure for me, all except one of my Molle-equipped packes are either some shade of khaki or Coyote brown. I like that look, it’s light enough so that you can easily see all the features and use them, but it does look very military. I figured on this one I’d go for more of a “gray man” civilian appearance and see how that works out.
I was so certain I was going to buy this that I actually bought a Molle water-bottle holder in black to use with it months ago (I bought some in Coyote as well).
After a long time in my cart at $115.99, suddenly today (not coincidentally just after it became too late to order for Christmas) the price (on the black version only) dropped down to $79.99, and I already had a 20% off coupon I was thinking about using, which brought it down to $67.83 shipped (I have Prime). As rarely as these things go on sale I finally found this deal irresistible, it’s almost half off. Sometimes waiting pays off.
So, I’m stoked. It will be a long time before I’m comfortable giving it a full review or a real recommendation, but I’m really looking forward to setting it up and putting it through its paces. I think it may become my favorite. Please ignore the drawer with about a hundred knives and the 15-or-so other packs that I’ve said the same thing about.
– Robert the Wombat