When GORUCK released the first round of Heritage bags, I was skeptical — what and why do these exist? There’s no denying that they were popular, even at the very high price they were/are. More recently, GORUCK seems to have added the “Heritage” line of bags (GR1, Kit Bag) as a staple products of theirs with easy availability to buy most of the colors. They updated the bags with different looks/attributes since that original run, all of which culminates in a compelling EDC backpack.

I wasn’t interested in buying one at all, though. They looked good, but I was happy with the bags I had. And then I tried that Filson Journeyman — I loved the look and feel, but it wasn’t quite there for use. So when a friend on Discord offered to send me his 21L GR1 Heritage to try out, saying that he knew I would like it, I jumped at that chance.
About 15 seconds after unboxing my loaner Heritage GR1, I knew I was buying one of my own. The look in person, and the excellent tactile aspects, make this an amazing bag to handle and use. And, if what you lament is that the ‘OG’ GR1 Cordura was better, and the new ones aren’t quite that — you’ll like this bag.
Let’s take a look at the excellent GORUCK GR1 Heritage.
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