LAST POST: MILITARY.. REALLY?

MILITARY… REALLY?

WHEN IT COMES TO BUYING GEAR WE ALWAYS GO BY THE MANTRA OF “BUY RIGHT, BUY ONCE”, SOMETHING THAT IN THE LONG-RUN WILL SAVE YOU MONEY AND PUT SOME DECENT, HARD-WEARING KIT IN YOUR PERSONAL “CAGE”! ALL TOO OFTEN IT’S TEMPTING WHEN YOU SEE SOMETHING VAGUELY “TACTICOOL” AT A GREAT PRICE ONLINE, AND THINK “THAT’LL DO”, BUT THIS MONTH FRENCHIE GIVES AN EXAMPLE OF WHY THE BUYER REALLY SHOULD BEWARE!

Writing about airsoft (and more generally) is, unashamedly for me at least, a fun way to make money. It allows a flexibility in my working life that suits me and it is an ongoing and ever-changing intellectual challenge. Those are some of the upsides, what of the downsides? It doesn’t always pay brilliantly (not a dig at AA!) and subjects can be varied and sometimes quite boring.

I was casting around for a subject for this month, and by some odd skien of thought I came up with “what will Amazon give me if I preface a search with military”? Lots is the answer, it is after all a common and attractive description for a whole bunch of reasons.

You know that I’m a bit of a bag tart, so I narrowed the search to ‘military bags’ and ended up with “Tactical Shoulder Bag, Tactical Molle Sling Chest Pack, Laptop Daypack Daysack Military Mini Backpack for Hiking,Cycling, Traveling (Include 1*Keychain)”. Ok, for 13 quid that’s cheap, I can probably make use of it, it has some MOLLE on it. Let’s see how ‘military’ it actually is. Order placed, bag turns up a day later. As I unwrapped it I had a growing sense of deja vu; that and an odd, petrochemical smell. Interesting. Off to my work room to rake through the piles of kit buried in the corner - ah yes! I thought so. Someone has had their patented “Kit Copying”machine running, as what I received looked suspiciously like An older VIPER TACTICAL Shoulder Pack!

This is more like it, we can have a bit of fun doing a review, compare and contrast! The Viper Shoulder bag is not my favourite bit of kit, but it’s fairly competent and well-priced. How does something which costs a third of the original shape up? At the risk of offering a spoiler… not brilliantly.

MILITARY OR NOT?

Let’s deal with ‘military’ first. Speak to anyone who has served and they’ll tell you that military kit is anything produced by the lowest bidder. It’s really not the recommendation that too many people think it is. This is why a lot of serving personnel I’ve met have been buying gear to supplement or replace what they’re issued with. Secondly, it’s an image more than anything. It says ‘tough’, it suggests ‘no nonsense’ and a whole bunch of other stuff which I’m just not getting into. Think of overweight Americans with body armour and open-carry AR15s and you’ll understand what’s in my head here!

So our bag this month is really no more military than I am. It’s a smaller version of the Viper original, made from lighter material and lacking a number of the internal pockets. It’s not a bad bag per se

“I NARROWED THE SEARCH TO ‘MILITARY BAGS’ AND ENDED UP WITH “TACTICAL SHOULDER BAG, TACTICAL MOLLE SLING CHEST PACK, LAPTOP DAYPACK DAYSACK MILITARY MINI BACKPACK FOR HIKING,CYCLING, TRAVELING (INCLUDE 1*KEYCHAIN)”. OK, FOR 13 QUID THAT’S CHEAP, I CAN PROBABLY MAKE USE OF IT, IT HAS SOME MOLLE ON IT. LET’S SEE HOW ‘MILITARY’ IT ACTUALLY IS.”

but there is nothing about its design or construction which says to me that it would be ideal for airsoft let alone anything more critical and demanding. The bag itself has a main pocket with two internal dividers, a zipped front pocket, again with an internal divider and a couple of elasticated straps, and there is a zipped slash pocket on the outside of that. There is a large slip pocket on the back, closed with a pop stud. A velcro belt loop sits on the back to secure the bag - I photographed it and cut it off. I personally don’t much like them and this was poorly executed anyway.

There are metal drainage grommets on both of the main pockets. All the fixtures are plastic - nothing exceptional but I have encountered much worse. The shoulder strap has plenty of adjustment and can be secured on either the left or the right. An area of velcro allows you to decorate the bag should you choose and this has a corded retention feature over it, although I am at a loss as to what exactly you would secure there.

FIT FOR PURPOSE?

Everything works well enough, and those of you who know me will know that was damning with (very) faint praise. I thought to use it as my everyday carry bag, but that idea lasted all of about five minutes and I went back to my Maxpedition Versapak. Instead it found itself doing duty on the dog walk, with which it coped reasonably well but its lack of size tells against it. Granted I take far too much pooch-related stuff out with me but even so this was right on the cusp of what I regard as acceptable load carrying. It follows, as worse Tory PM follows bad Tory PM, that it would be next to useless in the field. As a shoulder pack it would get in your way. It lacks sufficient capacity to be a useful ammo or pyro carrier. Yes, there is MOLLE, but I cannot imagine that there is anything I could add to the outside of the bag which would improve its functionality. Compared to the VIPER original it comes off poorly, although it costs about a third of that bag. Everything about the VIPER is better; size, construction, versatility, capacity and even with all that going for it I still wouldn’t use the old VIPER bag when playing, it just doesn’t have a place with the rest of my gear.

When I used it on site it was as a marshal it was great for that! I could hang radio(s) off it, handsets, and carry all manner of useful bits and pieces. So it follows that it is also a bag that works well off-site. I do have one major problem with it, and because of its much cheaper construction this doesn’t affect the copy; the ratio of bag-bulk to usable space is all wrong. I have this problem with a couple of other bags. Basically there are too many pockets, or too much padding and the upshot is that the internal space feels cramped. It looks like you should be able to carry loads of stuff but honestly, you can’t because getting to it becomes a problem. I feel the same way about the 5.11 Rush MOAB 6. It’s so well made that if you fill all the internal pockets it becomes a real struggle to get to things. I’m a difficult bugger, I know.

Is there anything positive I can say about the fauxmilitary bag? Not a huge amount. It was cheap and it shows. There is exactly zero original thought in any of its design and materials and build are exactly what I would expect from a bag that retailed at £13 GBP. The stitching is adequate and the zippers all run pretty smoothly after only a short period of use. Access to anything inside is actually pretty good, better than the

original and that is due to the lack of padding and the lighter material. In terms of being a bag you can use, that is a decent plus. I forgot to mention that it has a top-mounted grab handle and that should be mandatory on all bags in my opinion, so some marks to the maker for remembering to add that.

FINAL MUSINGS

The rip-off is a cheap bag and it shows, however… It has sufficient of the features of the VIPER original to make it a functional, dare I suggest, useful daily carry. This one got wet and the contents survived unscathed, we’ll call that as showerproof I think. The available pockets are fine and it’ll happily hold things like a tablet, phone, wallet, and all your daily paraphernalia.

My biggest issue with it is that it doesn’t inspire confidence; it feels cheap because it was cheap. As far as it goes, that’s okay, reasonable expectations and all that. But the same, or slightly more cash will buy you a better bag for daily use and there is no point in pretending that this has any place on the airsoft field; it doesn’t.

It’s not military in any way, shape or form. As is so often the case, that appellation has been added to snare the unwary or fashion conscious. I cannot think of a single reason to recommend this, so I won’t. There are so many better options out there if you feel you need a dual-purpose bag and I have reviewed a load of them in previous issues. Granted they are all more expensive than this, but they at least do the job required and manage that without trying to sell you some utterly fictitious military association.

I think I’ll hide treats inside this and let the dog test the strength of that stitching! AA

“MY BIGGEST ISSUE WITH IT IS THAT IT DOESN’T INSPIRE CONFIDENCE; IT FEELS CHEAP BECAUSE IT WAS CHEAP. AS FAR AS IT GOES, THAT’S OKAY, REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS AND ALL THAT. BUT THE SAME, OR SLIGHTLY MORE CASH WILL BUY YOU A BETTER BAG FOR DAILY USE AND THERE IS NO POINT IN PRETENDING THAT THIS HAS ANY PLACE ON THE AIRSOFT FIELD; IT DOESN’T.”