Event: ConFest

Over Easter, I took the family to ConFest, a big "hippie" lifestyle and camping festival. We've been a couple of times before, but this was the first time we had gone with the two littlest ... Triceratops Girl and Tactical Baby. This made it quite the adventure, with the two of us adults, a teenaged lady, a 4yo and an almost 2 yo. Camping for four days, a long way from home.

Its not as if ConFest is really roughing it, by any stretch of the imagination. Ive seen any number of campsites there which were not much more than a sleeping bag on a drop sheet, under a tarp, and yet the inhabitants had hot cooked food, from the large market area.

We took our new (but second hand) 9 person Great Outdoors - Silver Grande 9L  tent, as well as a pair of the Spinifex - Deluxe Padded Camp Stretcher beds (XL)   a folding port-a-cot for Tactical Baby and the very ingenuous Spinifex -  Double Bunk bed cots. We didn't want to spend our holiday with cranky, sleep deprived children.

Where am I going with all this? well, we packed all of our gear into my Toyota RAV4 5-door, including the two kid seats, and drove the 7 hours to ConFest, and I used the exercise as a "get the hell out of Dodge" system check. We could load up x-amount of stuff, and only that. We were cheating because we were planning to buy some food at the market, and stopped for lunch on the way. However, it was a good test of what we would need, and what we could do without.

Here's a shot of us crammed in, the backseat full of kids, the front seat full of road snacks and gear.

We took solar chargers for our electronics, lights and the like, the Australian Easter has no shortage of sunlight. The roof-rack was filled with bedding, the beds, a spare tent, camp-tables and chairs, all covered with a tarp. A cheep tarp. Lesson learned, get a better tarp.

We also packed more food than we ate, never a bad thing, and we chose our food carefully so it would not require excessive care or refrigeration. It would have lasted us a week, if we'd been careful. We had packed baby things, including formula, nappies and changes of clothes.

My big box of camping kit, which included cast iron pots and pan, tripods, spits, fire starters, hatchet, lengths of chain, wire and rope, candles as well as cutlery, plates, bowls and the like. A 30L water jug, ensured we had water at the site, without needing to continually trek to the fresh water hoses. Then there was the luggage, we each packed differently, I wore the same Urban Dax pants each day, changed shirts each day and wore my Paleo Barefoots everywhere. The rest of my kit went into my Platatac Light Field pack which also doubled as a Yoda-carry-rig for Tactical Baby as we wandered the festival.

You can see the Fiskars log splitter I chopped three days worth of redgum firewood and the Zombie Tools Deuce I took with me because ... hippies ... zombie hippies ...

What did I take from all of this?

We took too much stuff. The new camp beds, in combination with the huge tent were worth it for the comfort we gained. Even though we could have done without in an emergency, they were a great investment in comfort. We tool a lot of "snivel gear" and probably not enough food and water for a "get out of Dodge" situation.

A giant festival like this is a good indication of what a well meaning "lets bug out of the city" refugee camp might start out like, and harkens to the chapter in Max Brook's "World War Z" dealing with that.  I looked around at the haphazard sites, and the supplies we had all brought, and reaslised that we in the middle of a couple of thousand people who were a weeks hunger away from barbarism.

Sleep tight campers!

Review: Platatac Light Field Pack

Time to have a look at some of the big-bags!

When I started doing more camping, whilst in Calgary, I got my first "big" backpack, (which I may dig out and go over, some day soon). Whenever we traveled as a family as I was growing up, we had a policy "pack only what you can carry" so I got pretty good at packing well, and also lugging heavy bags. A better bag means better packing, as well as easier carrying.

Having learned these lessons, I have frequently loaded my EDC bags to such a point that they became unwieldy, leading me to downsize from my Crumpler Messenger bag, to my faithful and very versatile Platatac Bullock Echo but there are times when you really do need to haul a bunch of stuff, either bulky items, or in high quantity. When this is the case, a little day pack just wont cut it. You need a proper backpack.
This is the Light Field Pack from Platatac, and it does the job!

First up, like almost all of the Platatac bags, this one is made from the rugged 1000d Cordura I've come to expect. Slick and hardy, no rough finishing, just an all over, well put together package with quality materials. The pack comes in two main components; the main body, and the removable helmet cradle and internal organiser.

The front of the cradle has 6x8 PALS/MOLLE, including a 4x2 loop field for name-tape, patches and the like. It has Fastex style buckles to connect to the compression straps on the main pack in three different locations, top, middle and bottom.

The strap-side of the pack is a sculpted, heavily padded and well fixed set of straps, with built in D-rings, adjustable and movable sternum straps and well placed, Fastex-style clips at the base of the traps for both quick release, but also comfort when wearing.

Here's a side view, showing off the 35L  capacity of the main pack, as well as the extensive 5x8 PALLS/MOLLE channels. The compression strapping is maintained on the sides by sets of Web Dominator clip. The flap at the top right of this picture is an access port, for hydration tubes, cables or running line. 

You can also see the triangular "wing" that the shoulder straps connect to the pack via on the bottom right, as well as the helmet cradle. My OpsCore style bump helmet fits nicely in the cradle, but I've also used it extensively as an "extra cargo spot" to carry my bundled kendo keikogi which is both bulky and needs airing, after training, I can tell you.

I've found that I have been able to rapidly adjust the tension of the compression straps to fit my load with a quick pull and readjusting of the leftover webbing via the Web Dominators. The nylon eyelets the webbing runs though doesn't interfere with the PALS/MOLLE channels, which is great for those who like their pouches as much as I do.

The inside of the fully openable main compartment is also fully PALS/MOLLE lined, for all those pouch-addicts I just mentioned. As well as a 3/4 length zippered pocket on the inside, the outside of the  main compartment flap also features a deep zippered pocket, and another, very large loop-field, for more patches, ID and the like. 

You can see here that I have stored my kendo armour in the main compartment, with the big helmet, gauntlets, chest-plate and groin plates wrapping the lot up. It was a tight fit, but once the pack had loosened up, I have been able to cart my whole kendo setup (baring the shinai/bokken) in one bag, with a drink bottle attached by PALS/MOLLE to the outside. 


Inside that main compartment there are a vast array of options as well. On the right side, a very large zipperable pocket, good for documentation, maps, briefings and the like. The bottom of the pack features another of the zippered pockets, good for tools and other heavy items. The back face includes a third zipperable pocket at the mid-line. 

As well as the zippered pockets, there are two elasticised hydration pockets, one at the back, and another on the left side. loops throughout the internals give a variety of dummy-cord, or shock-cording options, as well as acting as hanging points for hydration bladders. I'll be fitting a bladder to mine, to take the place of that externally attached bottle holder. 1L just isnt enough water for me after training, and the added weight going in isn't an issue. It will get lighter before I get home, that's for sure.



There was one more zipper, hidden away at the bottom of the back of the inside of the pack. By turning the pack inside of itself, you gain access to the built-in, moldable lumbar support.

This stiff plastic body has a reinforcing aluminium bar, inside a nylon sheath. This can be molded to offer the best support to the pack, and it also gives the whole thing a considerable amount of rigidity, making for easy packing, unpacking, and sitting up, when being accessed.

Drainage holes throughout the pack ensure that unexpected (or deliberate) dunks don't leave you hauling 35L of bilge around with you either. Stitched or grommeted, I'm glad they're there.

 

Another great hidden feature is the hip-belt pad, which as well as featuring a 3x4 PALS/MOLLE surfacing, and deep padding. The hip belt will clip together to give a very stable belt, perfect for long hikes with a heavy load. For those times when you don't need this kind of extra support, and don't want all the extra real-estate hanging out in the breeze, they have their own little pockets, which are hook-and-loop closing. When tucked up they are hardly noticeable and certainly don't add to bulk, or take away from storage space in any appreciable way.

Here's the inside of the helmet cradle, showing off the webbed "hinge" between the PALS/MOLLE attachment and the front flap. This forms a very useful "bucket" that you can drop your helmet, or other cargo into, secure in the knowledge that it will stay put, and you wont loose any little items"out the sides" between straps as you might in a open-bottomed beaver-tail. 

You can see here the three sets of compression clips, as well as one of the multiple loops for running a retention cord, or shock-cord through. Loads of extra features!

Here's the inside of that helmet cradle front-panel. "The Office", as Sam from Platatac called it.

On the inside of the lid, are two mesh-lined, zipperable pockets, one running the whole length of the panel, the other, midway.

On the bac of the compartment, two more zipperable pockets, the lower of the two being bellowed for easy stuffing as well as three elastizised pockets at the bottom.

This is a serious admin pouch, and there is plenty of versatility to cover all your gadget storage. I have carried my iPad, chargers, pens, paperwork, and food in this section, but be aware, having a helmet in the cradle will press up against the contents... pack wisely!

As with the rest of the pack, all the zipper pulls are threaded with paracord, for ease of grip, and deadening the metal-on-metal clinking.

Here is the whole pack from below, you can see the grommets on the cradle, both inside and out, as well as the sewn-in drainage eyelets of the main compartment.

You can also see the PALS/MOLLE connectors of the cradle piece tot the main pack, with four tabs, in channels 1, 4, 5 and 8. Bear this in mind if you plan on trying to swap the cradle onto any other packs.

Lastly, check out the 3x8 PALS/MOLLE on the bottom. This pack is BUILT for accessories!


Lastly, I wanted to give you a few shots of the pack on me, whilst bearing a load.

DEPLOY TACTICAL BABY!

Sitting happily in the back of the pack, with two sets of compression straps securing her, Tactical Baby was comfortable enough to be walked around for a while, until asked to stand up and wave.

At no point was the pack unstable, or did I feel any way at risk of spilling my precious cargo, (although I made sure I was over the bed when she stood up)

She just held onto the built-in drag handle and I have my very own Pink-Yoda ,

This is a serious pack, good for times when you need more than just a day-pack, but not quite the kitchen sink.

If I had any gripe with it, it would be the way I was using the bottom compression straps when I wanted to open the main compartment, they held it shut beyond the zipper pulls a little, but not so much as that I couldn't easily unload, just not "flat".

It is thoroughly dependable, comfortable to wear and haul loads in, even in the muggy Melbourne summer, slings on and off easily, without snagging and is filled with features.

Review: Tactical Tailor - Hydration Joey Pouch

I was very fortunate to have one of my articles snapped up by David Reeder of KitUp! and he then put me in touch with Casey Ingels of Tactical Tailor to do some reviews for them. I of course was overjoyed to be part of the team, so here we go. 

First up, in quite the pique of humor, the guys thought it would be funny to have me look over the Joey Hydration Pouch. For those of you who don't know, a joey is a baby kangaroo  so, it's a perfect name for this little pouch. Here is what I can tell you.
Made from 1000D Cordura, and in coyote brown here, this pouch fits the Source 0.75L bladder that comes as optional extra through Tactical Tailor.

The double zipper closure gives not only very secure storage, but also gives considerable protection to the contents as well as giving easy access. Paracord zipper pulls eliminate metal-on-metal tells and drain holes at the bottom of the pouch ensure you don't scoop up too much of the wilderness as you are adventuring, without exposing the bladder to significant risk.

 The back of the pouch is a close stitched 5 row, two column PALS/MOLLE region, which arrived with two 5" MALICE clips giving you a variety of attachment options.

I fed mine through the 3" loops, to give it a belt-wearable test, but it would do just as well lashed to the side of a daypack, or chest-rig.
The entire body of the pouch is wrapped in three rows of PALS/MOLLE to make the pouch even more useful, as a platform

 
The lid of the pouch has a panel from under which the hydration tube can escape, left or right, but the brilliant thing about this pouch is that it not only fits the 0.75L Source pouch, but also a 1L (32oz) Nalgene bottle.


Here is me out testing the pouch. As I said, I wore it on my belt, here lashed to the d-ring of my Triple Aught Design Amphibious shorts via the hook-and-loop retention strap on the source drinking tube.

This setup has allowed me to go for my run, drink as needed and drop the tube, without it slipping and slapping all over the place, or letting Tactical Baby get too good a grip on it as she slipped through before taking me down in classic hapkido fashion (I presume).

For times when lugging a whole 3L bladder is just too much effort, when considering the need for a bag to carry one, like the Platatac Bravo and only a small volume is required (or for those weight conscious expeditions) this is a dream come true.

Between this and my ITS Skeletonized Bottle Holder I don't intend to go thirsty any time in the city, ever again. This is an extremely well put together pouch and certainly lives up to the expectations of something named after Australian wildlife.  Stay tuned for more from Tactical Tailor ....

Review: Platatac MAC Front opening panel

I made some additions to my collection of rigs recently, and wanted to give you a heads up. As you're probably aware, if you are a regular reader, I am all in favour of modular, adjustable and multi-function gear, because I'm of the mind set that when disaster strikes, you will need to adapt to the situation, rather than simply stick with a static plan and outlook. Things will NOT go according to plan, and having a means to quickly adjust is of vital importance. So when I look to add to my collection of things, I look to what I already have, and how I can make sensible additions, rather than just "another cool gadget, gizmo or piece of kit to lug around". Or at least, I try to. I think with this item, I was spot on the money, however.

This is the Platatac MAC Front Opening Panel which I picked up as a very attractive and highly recommended bundle with the MAC BackPack I strongly recommend if you are looking for a good deal, to check it out. I'll be looking at the MAC BackPack soon, but for now, lets look at this Front Opening Panel.



So, how does the Front Opening Panel attach? There are Fastex style shoulder buckles which mirror the shoulders of the MAC Front Panel and mate with the Back Panel buckles, feeding through the D-Loops, and elastic webbing, if that is the way you want to go. The side buckles also mate to the back panel, in the same way, although these buckles are not used with the MAC Front Panel, if the plate carrying Modular Cummerbund is worn, The "back" side buckles fold away into the Back Panel. You can see it above mated to the the MAC BackPack here.


The MAC Front Opening Panel is designed to work with the MAC back panel, which is the back piece of my previously reviewed and much loved Medium Armour Carrier. The idea being that in situations where a "low level carriage option" is required, the front armour carrying panel can be swapped out for the lighter and breathable front piece.

That "swap-out" component is of considerable interest to me, because whilst wearing my MAC front panel, with its inserted Ikea-cutting-board strike plate substitute is all good and well, (mock all you like, I don't have access to ballistic plates, and thankfully don't have a clear and present need for one, but that cutting board will stop or slow and cut or thrust I've put at it, and spreads out blunt force considerably) sometimes a rigid, closed front panel is cumbersome and not fit for purpose.

The Front Opening Panel features a top row of 5 PALS/MOLLE channels, and three rows of 6 channels below this, as well as a heavily stitched reinforcing webbing for the shoulder straps including two loop-fields for attaching the shoulder strap ends. The bottom of the Panel also features a couple of the adjustable hook-and loop and press-stud belt attachment loops which are a great addition and can really assist in securing the vest, both vertically and horizontally.

As well as integrating with the MAC Back (and MAC BackPack) modules the Front Opening Panel offers the option to one more accessory that I made use of recently. In the spirit of "time to get our of Dodge" disaster preparedness, I wanted to have a little experiment, and perhaps some fun whilst at it. I strapped Tactical Baby into her Baby Bjorn carrier, and then threw my Mac Front Opening Panel / Back Panel / Gunslinger Belt combination over the top.

Laden down with pouches filled with bottles, formula, nappies, wipes, snacks for Triceratops Girl (out of shot), I was able to effectively load up a days worth of family needs and other needful accessories, (yes, like my laser-tagger) and spend the day milling through the crowds at Manifest. Tactical Baby was rocking out her "Zombie Hunter" patch and I wore her, her needs, and carried Triceratops Girl on my off-arm, tagger at the ready (or slung) in the other.

To do this, I just strapped the Bjorn on, filled it with Tactical Baby goodness, threw the rig on and buckled it up> it needed a couple of placement adjustments, because both she and I needed to be comfortable, and I needed to be able to get at all my pouches, or they would have been redundant. All in all, it worked out really well. I now have a Tactical Baby compatible load-out. Need to get ear protection for her though, you know, to drown out the zombie moans and such...

So. The Platatac MAC Front Opening Panel: definitely a success. It offered me a lightweight, breathable low profile platform to both carry my accessories, but also to mate to my back pieces. That modularity will mean that I will be able to fit out this piece, and have it "ready to attach", to my other pieces, in moments, giving me more grab and go options, should disaster strike.

Home Front: My Precious!

Photo yoinked from my Aunts Facebook page of the view she had

I have family in Colorado Springs who were threatened by the recent fires there and being way over this side of the planet, there was bugger all I could physically do to help, except offer some advice based on my experiences in the Black Saturday Fires. They didn't really have a lot of preparation time, and the fires were fairly unusual, where as here we have a "Bushfire Season"  so all I could do was give them some strategy to escape and avoid, and what to pack when they did.  My Aunt and her husband are no fools, neither is my Uncle, and I had no intention of teaching any of them to suck eggs, but this is kind of my schtick.

 
I recommended my Aunt pack 72 hours of clothes, food and supplies for her pets (if she was taking them), water, as well as extra fuel, her important documents, maps and phone chargers. Being what they were, fires are something you can "go back home, after" even if there isn't much left of home. Once everything is burnt, it won't burn a second time, which sets these events apart from floods or other natural disasters, which leave an area wrecked AND dangerous for a while after the event. Once they were clear of the fire-danger, life would have gone on nicely, and society carries on. You can buy nappies, pet food, and more clothes. Hotels are still open, Credit Cards and online banking still works.

 It reminded me though, of the need to know where all my own precious things were, in the event of a "bug-out, your home is about to go away" emergency. I know I have some difficult to re-obtain documentation: my passports (yes, 2), my weapons collectors permits, divorce papers, financial settlement papers, birth certificates for myself and my daughters. Fortunately, these are in a file that can pretty easily be grabbed and stuffed. It then occurred to me, as it did when preparing to evacuate from the Black Saturday Fires (and to some extent, from my home in Dubai in the lead up to Desert Storm) "What precious things would I hate to loose if all of this was destroyed?". This was not a "society ending" or "head for the hills" evacuation and survival decision, more a "this house may be gone tomorrow, take what you love" one. The list was something like this: my family heirloom American Civil War sword from Gettysburg, our external HDD farm, which holds a lot of our combined music and many of my photos, and my crocheted Godzilla, who's been with me since I was a toddler. Everything else could burn, and be replaced, or is already part of my EDC and/or bug-out loadout.

What about you?

Review: EcoFuture - Organic Hand Cleanser

I've been in touch with a firm that produces a range of cleaning products, to both industrial and household, as well as food-grade standards, EcoFuture. I originally contacted them after hearing about a call for testers of products, as a part of my day-job. Hopefully I'll cover some of their other products at some stage, but here is one that I've had in my bag for a little while, and wanted to discuss, their Alcohol Free Organic Hand Cleanser

Being a molecular microbiologist by training, and a hospital microbiologist for a number of years for a living, before moving away from the messy and stinky labs, I have some pretty strong beliefs on cleaning and hygiene. I've been a very big supporter of the 70% ethanol and/or chlorohexadine to do my bug-blasting, (although regular old scrubbing with soap is tried and true). However, with the coming of first Triceratops Girl, then a year ago, Tactical Baby,  I realised that I could possibly go for something gentler on their delicate flesh than lab-standard skin and surface cleaners.

This is where EcoFuture's world-first, certified organic, alcohol free, vitamin based, hand cleanser comes in. Medically researched and laboratory proven* to be bactericidal (>99.999 reduction of organisms in between 15 seconds and 9 minutes) to a range of common pathogens, (such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria
monocytogenes, Enterocuccus faecium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptocuccus pyogenes and  Staphylococcus aureus) at a 0.5% concentration. The interesting thing about this is that it is assertion that the active ingredients are organically derived (I make the distinction between "organically farmed products" and "naturally produced organic compounds" in this if not all cases. The product notes indicate citrus-derived complex bioflavonoids, Vitamin K-12, Ubiquinol and it appears the principle antibacterial would be rosmarinic acid.

So, how well does it work? Well, I have been spraying my hands, and Tactical Baby's bum with it during nappy changes. She looks startled by the pump-spray, but does not mind the feeling, has suffered no rashes, soreness or discomfort from the spray, and we seem to have avoided any of the bacterial gastro woes that new-parents often fall victim to. Being alcohol free, it is gentle on the skin, a bonus for sore-baby-bums, hands, faces and the like. It's also not a fire-risk, for those of us that occasionally have a tendency to spray things  around open flames.

 The product is currently available in a 60ml pump spray (150 applications), which I have previously stashed in our Crumpler Hillman Hunter nappie bag, my Bullock Echo daypack or just left on Tactical Baby's staging area (read: nappy change table). Thus far, all looks good, and handy to have for the aftermath of those "aghhhh, no! baby-fistfull of poopy nappie!" moments, or other delicate unclean times you may encounter, where "stiff wire brush and Detol" isn't an option...


*they sent me both an MSDS and an analytical testing lab's reports

Review: S&W Tactical Pen

This is the first of my birthday-present posts, and I wanted to start them off with a bang: A Smith & Wesson bang. I'll even jump right in with the anticipated "pen is mightier than the sword" comment here, because you can indeed achieve more with a pen than you can with a sword, but it can be a lot more satisfying to do so with a sword.

Then again there are times in all of our lives when carrying around your favourite piece of live steel, say for tree-chopping or perhaps laying waste to anything in sight is not what the authorities, or your workmates, have in mind.


I understand their fears. I don't agree, but I understand.

For those times, however, you can always fall back on your pen. Especially if that pen is machined out of 6061 aircraft aluminium and designed by the likes of Smith & Wesson. This is the S&W Tactical Pen  and one of my lovely girlfriends imported it for me (with all the trouble you might imagine of Australian Customs) but it was so worth it!

The machining and finish are a delight. The groves along the body lend themselves to a very positive grip in a variety of holds, as well as affording a very comfortable writing grip.

As well as a series of grooves machined along its circumference, there is a broad, raised, cross-hatched region which reinforces the achievable grip. The bullet-headed tip is pointy enough to be an aggressive tool for control or compliance, as well as being sizable enough to present a realistic force multiplier in defensive situations. I would not like to be on the receiving end of one of these in even unskilled but motivated hands. That said, it is also rounded and subdued enough that I have no fear of Tactical baby hurting herself with it if I leave it laying around. It's fairly innocuous until wielded. Which is mostly the point.

The pen part is a regular ballpoint ink cartridge, housed in the reverse end, again, all well machined and anodized. The pen end is capped by pressing the cap on directly, the cap has a nylon liner which accepts both pen and pointy end equally securely and firmly. The butt-cap and the retaining clip both feature the
with the Smith & Wesson logo and name which are laser engraved. Two hex screws affix the spring retaining clip without jutting out overly.

There is even a lanyard hole in the butt-cap, so you don't loose your prized writing implement in some ravenous mutie's head, or if you share a workspace, pens seem to go walking.

This is my first piece by Smith & Wesson, and so far I am very impressed, both by the elegant functionality, the ruggedness and the simplicity of this delightful tool. So, when I'm writing up my next set of notes at work, taking a order list at a cafe or signing my next piece of licensing documentation, you'll have to ask yourself: "do you feel lucky, punk?"

Review: Omega Pacific Rappel Rings

Here is a quick one today, of another piece of climbing kit that I recently added to my collection. After reading a thorough review by ITS's Jeff More I was inspired to seek some out for myself. There are the Omega Pacific Rappel Rings. These solid forged aluminium rings are really elegant, and fit in the hand very nicely. Apart from having great aesthetics (and a Particular name emblazoned on their sides), the functionality of these is belied by their subtle design. The rings are rated as having a 20kN minimum breaking strength (around 2000kg or 4400lbs).

The manufacturer goes to lengths to state they are not intended for repeated lowering, not to be used as a rappel or belay device (e.g. ATC, SBGII, Figure-8 or any other friction device). They state that it is intended solely as a hardware alternative to bail-out slings, webbing and cord, and that advice should be headed. That said, I see the utility of the device as a means to reducing rope-on-rope friction, as an ad-hoc pulley or cinching point. I have yet to use mine as Jeff from ITS has, but I'll be keeping a set in my bug-out-bag as well as a set with my regular climbing kit. Having a set of rings to feed rope through for hoisting and binding, through to use as a rappelling station appeals greatly to me. Now to acquire some tubular webbing and fashion a set of slings!

I also have a set I have been keeping in my pocket, if for no other reason that they chime nicely, and have served as a chew-toy for Tactical-Baby up untill this week, when she cut her first tooth. Still, I hope to find a number more uses for these simple, expendable tools.

Review: Crumpler Hillman Hunter

 I wanted to return to review one of my other pieces of rugged, dependable kit. This is the Crumpler Hillman Hunter which I got in the commemorative "Year of the Rabbit" all-red version last year for one of my partners' birthday. Red being her thing. As I've mentioned a few times, I'm all for brand loyalty, especially when the products are what I'm looking for.  As usual, the bag is made of the rugged, hard wearing and water resistant 900D Cordura outer and 150D Cordura Rip-stop lining. Twin Fastex style clips and webbing straps act as a compression closure, much like in my previously reviewed beloved messenger bag but also features a wide strip of reflective SOLAS type tape.

A 38mm wide seat-belt type strap lets the bag ride over a shoulder, across the body, as it features Crumpler's nifty QuickFlick™ buckle system. Inside the bag are a main pocket area and three smaller pockets, the middle of which is hook-and-loop closing. A slightly larger pocket sits on the "outside" of the the main body, but is also covered by the main flap. It is also hook-and-loop fastened, for added security. As well as the Fastex style clips, there are two sets of hook-and-loop pads on the leading edge of the main flap, which affix low down on the body of the bag.

I much prefer the clips over hook-and-loop, but for fast and easy, its hard to go past. As with all Crumpler bags I've encountered, there are always some "hidden" features which never cease to impress. On this pack, it is two external loops in the sides, which can be used to stuff extra pieces of gear that don't quite fit, or are perhaps needed in an instant. a wide mouthed carabiner could be clipped through them for extra attachment points.

This was a much appreciated addition to our household, and I'm glad I found it. It found a happy place in our collection as a every-day nappy bag for Tactical Baby, for times when the MEOP Medical Pouch by Platatac might have been overkill ... Its bright red colouration and reflector strip makes it an ideal carry bag for first-aiding, fast-moving (be it foot, bike or blade) or any other time you want to be seen and give the impression you are prepared for anything.

Review: Platatac MEOP Medic Pouch

 A while back I purchased a Khaki Pouch Combo deal from Platatac and I recently had a good occasion to make use of one of its components, the MEOP Medic Pouch and I wanted to share the good times I had with it. This large pouch is just bursting with functionality. Firstly I'm really pleased with having it in khaki, matching my other gear nicely. As with all the Platatac gear, its made from the hardy 1000d Cordura and fitted with MilSpec buckles, zippers and webbing. The MOLLE loops, of which there are 7 rows of 5 columns on the front, and 7 rows of 2 columns along each side. This is a phenomenal amount of real estate for further attachment of pouches externally. Another addition is a loop-side hook-and-loop strip at the top front of the pouch (to which I have attached a "Problem Staying Solved" morale patch from Action Figure Therapy's Army Ranger). The top panel the pouch has two rubber gaskets for hydration tubes (or any other protuberance you may require, I'm thinking cables that audio / mic cables could feed through it).
The back of the pack has two separate rows of three of the PLMRS (Platypus Light Modular Recovery System) MOLLE/PALS attachment system straps, and a set of left and right zippers, for attaching to bigger packs, or to strap two of these pouches together. Another feature is two full sets of dual Fastex clips, top and bottom as well as two sets of buckles for feeding tape or webbing through. One interesting aspect is that the pouch can be folded up on itself, either for empty storage or when loaded, to minimize bulk. 

I had this pouch mounted on my Young Guns belt recently, for a New Years Eve party, which we took Tactical Baby to, and instead of taking her usual baby-bag, I wanted to pouch it all. This is where the MEOP comes in so handy! Not only is it -covered- in MOLLE, its insides are likewise covered in it too. Both the back and the "lip" of the pouch, which zippers all the way down, have a full 7x5 grid of attachment points. The top of the bag also has a double sided strip of hook-and-loop for perhaps holding that hydration system or iThingy cables. However, my New Years loadout for Tactical Baby was this. inside the MEOP, I slung several nappies, bound with some safety-orange paracord I mistakenly bought, below that I also lashed in a packet of baby-wipes, and along side this, changes of clothes, and a rolled up change mat. Along with a plastic bag fed through the MOLLE of the "lip" I had everything I would need in case of poo-nami. 

Everything fit into the pouch, and it even folded, enabling me to cut down on the bulk that would have otherwise dangled downwards off my hip. Access by popping the top two Fastex clips, and a quick unzip was speady, and the pack unfurled beautifully, and smoothly.


Now, baby wrangling may not -seem- like much of an adventure for a rugged and apocalypse ready loadout, but I assure you, if you have ever had a screaming baby who needs a fast nappy change, and you fumble, spilling your cleans and soileds, you can easily translate that to disaster mishaps.  This pouch is modular, versatile and rugged. I braved the uncertain looks of my baby's mother and staked Tactical Baby's wellbeing on it when I loaded it up, and it didn't fail me. I can easily recommend this as a means to secure and transport your needfuls in an orderly fashion, be that a trauma kit, nappy bag or whatever.

Happy New Years from Apocalpse Equipped!

Happy 2012 from us at Apocalypse Equipped. Tactical Baby and I had a good night out, and we blinked and flashed our way through a gig, with bottles stowed in FUP Pouches, and a full complement of changing materials slung on a comfy belt . She wore ear-pads, a Zombie Hunter morale patch by MilSpec Monkey and traveled in her BabyBjorn Active baby-carrier.

She ended up with more lipstick on her than I did, but that's the way it goes when you wear a baby to an Amanda Palmer gig!