My regular 5.5-mile (pretty much 6-mile, these days) walk/run continues to be an increasing technical challenge as the weather gets less consistent. On Friday when I was out there it was in the low 20’s F and windy, biting, brutal cold. today it was in the low 50’s and rainy. I did it today instead of tomorrow, my usual day, because tomorrow it’s going to be in the 20’s again. I paid for my choice by getting well and truly rained on… no big deal. I carried a Gore-tex rain shell and a synthetic Tilley hat. No protection below my thighs, but I was wearing LA Police Supply Operator pants, some thin quick-drying cotton/synthetic blend that doesn’t absorb much.
I’ve taken to doing the run portion in a little park along the way with a paved circular path, that lets me stash any extra gear and be back around to pick it up again on the way out when I’m through running. Running and having to carry anything you might realistically need, or wearing a jacket/insulation layer and running are contradictory goals, it’s very difficult to strike a “happy medium” that holds up for miles, so I cheat a little to preserve the run in the weather.
For just about a year now, whenever I’ve carried more than will fit in my pockets on the regular walk/run I’ve done it in a Red Rock Outdoor Gear Sidekick Sling Bag that I picked up on sale as an impulse buy.
I pretty much hate to recommend anything Chinese these days. It’s jingoism or nationalism, I do give preference to Made in America in order to help preserve American jobs, but it’s a bias not an absolute, and a whole lot just isn’t made here right now, and those who are reading get to make that call, it’s not up to me to make it for them. It’s not racism, despite the knee-jerk reaction of many to any statement like this, it’s just that so far the Chinese products that reach us here in the US are far more often good than they are consistently good. You can buy a product in many, many fields and find it to be a great bargain, then buy another and find that one to be completely different. Sometimes I’m pretty certain that subsequent production runs of the same brand come form entirely different factories.
So long as that’s the case, recommending anything Chinese based on just one or a few items is very risky.
Still, for whatever it’s worth, this thing, the one I have, has been quite good.
I have a lot of packs of a lot of various types, Hazard 4 and Maxpedition, Gregory and Lowe and North Face and Camelback. For this use, my prolonged walks around the neighborhood in any weather, I find this inexpensive pack does quite well.
It’s not of the quality of Hazard 4, or the Maxpedition sling packs that it seems to be a copy of, but, let’s face it, Maxpedition is to packs sort of like Surefire is to flashlights- it’s exactly what you want if you know you’re going into a combat zone, but it’s just expensive overkill for most normal uses. You don’t always need a pack that’s far more likely to survive the nearby detonation of a tactical nuke than you are.
On the plus side it’s lighter than the Maxpedition versions and more flexible, and today it got drenched and there were very little moisture inside. This is indisputably a copy, but they do seem to want to turn out a decent product. I’ve been pleased enough with it to favorably consider other Red Rock Outdoor products, though I haven’t seen any sales on them for some time.
This is, I think, the smallest pack I own other than belt pouches. When I’m walking for distance and especially running I don’t want to carry more than the minimum, often there’s not much more than a poncho or rain jacket and maybe a water bottle in there. That inherent limitation means that there are also limits to how well it needs to perform- it doesn’t need to stand up to 50-lb loads or weeks of being carried ten or twelve hours a day.
It does ride at the side better than it rides slung around the back, but that’s just the design. I have a Maxpedition Fat Boy Type S (“sinister”, left handed) that I used to use all the time for motorcycling, it rides the same way (on the other side).
In short, it seems fine for pretty much any reasonable expectation. I’m pleased with the purchase, no complaints, and I’m picky. I’d love to hear from anyone else that has tried the brand.
– Robert the Wombat
Later: I’ve since run across this Youtube video:
Red Rock Rover Sling Bag Review (youtube.com)
Different model of pack, of course, but I consider that really unacceptable. Too bad. That puts me in the strange position of being reasonably pleased with my own purchase, but NOT able to recommend it, despite many other favorable reviews. Sorry.