I’ve not heard of Exos-Gear before, and I don’t personally know the owner or designer or anyone at the company… So this review is completely without any built in bias. I’ve been looking for a good Tactical Pack to ungrade from my little Drago Pack that I used as an EDC laptop and work bag. Mainly it packs my laptop, various tech accessories I need, and a notepad and pens. And it’s a carrier for some spare handgun magazines and a couple blades. But really that’s about all it can carry. If I was going to go Adventure I needed something more capable. From what I’ve seen online, the EXOS-GEAR’s BRAVO packs seemed like a perfect solution, so I had to try it out. And I’m glad I did. This is a solid pack.
One thing I like about this pack is that it’s light weight for it’s size. It’s also simple and everything is straight forward and easy to understand. You don’t need a Manual for this pack.
One important aspect of a good pack, is it’s ability to actually be a Pack and not a glorified Shoulder Bag. The straps are sturdy and well padded. In testing and some actual use as a pack… it’s comfortable, even when carrying a good amount of weight.The Hydration compartment carries a Camelback bladder perfectly, and away from main compartment contents.The Hydration system’s tube can feed through the inner port, and out this covered port that can is otherwise velcro’ed closed. Just one of the details that I appreciate. They actually thought things through. That’s impressive.This pack expands as needed, going from a regular Day-Pack to a full on RUCK Mode. It also has enough Molle Webbing to easily attach other bags and such to fit most any mission requirement.The Main Compartment is cavernous. Several pairs of jeans, battle-kilts, and socks… whatever you need for a proper adventure… be it a weekend from home, business trip, camping, a week at SHOT SHOW, or hunting Orc. You can fit it in here.The Secondary Compartment is also large enough for a good laptop. School books. Your sniper Dope-Book. The built in pouches work great for holding spare magazines.The Tertiary compartment is good for knives, compass, GPS, pens… it’s big enough for all sorts of gear. A Pocket Holster fits in there, allowing for a great secondary handgun carrier.
It’s really easy to say that this is a great pack for the money… Because this is NOT an expensive pack. In fact… It’s cheap. It’s less than $40 bucks. But saying that it’s a great pack for the money really doesn’t do it justice. It’s a great pack. Period. The fact that it’s Un-Expensive is just a total bonus.
If I had any complaint about the pack, it would be that I’d have liked more area for moto-patches. Just because I like patches. There’s a spot for patches on each side, but not on the face of the pack as I’d have liked to have seen. But that’s a small complaint and really a Non-Issue because I’ve never seen a mission critical patch before.
Having got one just to try out – I’m going to be ordering a few more for my Sons, because they need some good packs too. The other option I was looking at was literally double the money for a pack that is no better. So I’m pleased with this one.
The Bravos Series packs – and Exos-Gear makes a more Urban one – comes in some other colors. Black, OD-Green, and Grey, as well as the Coyote Tan as pictured. Order one Here.
Specifications:
Liters: 34L, 2073 CU in. Capacity when measured in accordance with Standard ASTM F2153