This item was provided by Mystery Ranch for review.
The Mystery Ranch Rip Ruck series have been all over stores for ages, but the latest revision of the line brings the Rip Ruck 24 — which has a unique design and style for an EDC bag and a sweet spot for capacity. I was sent the ’ponderosa’ color, and it’s been a fantastic, if quirky to use.
Materials & Specs
This bag is stated at 24L, and measures in at 18.5″ x 11″ x 10″ and 2.3lbs. In my testing this bag feels smaller on both claims. It packs out closer to 20L than the stated 24L, and feels much smaller on your back than the stated dimensions would make it seem. The height feels correct, but the width and depth certainly feel much smaller in practice.
The bag is made from 330D Robic Kodra nylon with a single strip of 840D ballistic carbonate coated nylon which has a singular laser-cut MOLLE column. The bag gets the name from how the three main pockets open — designed with angled zippers up the sides, and an opening at the bottom edges, such that an upwards pull on the bottom edge ‘rips’ the pocket open. The smaller pockets have both of the zippers connected with cord, so they can quickly be pulled shut in a reversing motion. The main compartment requires each zipper to be pulled on their own.
There’s a dedicated laptop compartment at the back, with aquaguard zippers. Inside the main compartment is zipper mesh pockets, and a slot for something like a magazine, journal or other flat media.
The backpanel has no framesheet, but is molded and contured closed cell foam with a nice bolster for the lower back. The straps are different than most Mystery Ranch bags, as they they are well padded and feel ‘edge less’ in nature. They have hidden micro daisy chain, for attaching the included sternum strap.
The materials in every spot of this bag are well executed and nice. The ladder locks are even metal, which is a nice touch for a bag like this.
In Use
I’ve been using this bag around town, as both a daily dad bag, and as an office bag. It’s been fantastic at everything I’ve thrown at it.
The design is less tactical in nature, and is more a modern take on a vintage military bag style. Mixing nylon and MOLLE with a classic rucksack silhouette. The Ponderosa color (shown here) is my favorite of the offerings, and the coyote accents on the bag give a nice visual color break up. It’s not going to be a bag you can wear with a suit, but it will easily go from plane, to cafe, to hike, and to a coworking space.
This bag is great to carry. The straps are well padded, grippy without being sticky, and generally very comfortable to wear. The bag is soft against your clothes with no rough materials to worry about creating abrasive marks on your finer shirts. The back panel follows suit in that, with a nice bolster and easy articulation to wrap around your shoulder blades if needed.
The big feature of this bag is the rip-open design of the flaps. The bag itself uses two implementations. One for the large opening on the main compartment, and the other for the two smaller pockets on either side of the face of the bag.
The large main pocket rips open quietly and cleanly with an easy upwards motion on the flap. The panel behind the velcro field has some foam placed in it which offers enough rigidity to accomplish the ripping motion without the flap buckling instead — it’s fantastically fast and fun to open the bag like this. You feel like a child tearing into presents on Christmas morning. The only flaw I have found with this flap is the closing of the flap. The bottom edge of the flap has two magnets to help position the flap, and two zipper pulls you need to close on each side. Because of the design of the flap, I often have the zippers get hung up on the flap fabric when trying to zip them closed, unless I am holding the top edge of the zipper with my other hand.
This doesn’t happen each time, but securing these two zippers closed take a bit more focus than normal. It’s not nearly a bad thing, but it’s the antithesis of smooth — especially compared to opening the bag. I’m hoping with time and use I get better at this, or the material eases.
The front two rip pockets offer a different experience. They quickly rip open, and a single pull quickly closes them both. The downside is that they are both slightly louder than opening the larger compartment, and they have a narrower mouth when opened. Otherwise, these are about as fast to open and close as any zippered compartment I’ve ever used.
The rip design is a fun addition to the bag, and likely to be a great feature for those who find needing quick access into their bags a priority. For everyone else, they are merely a fun addition which you’ll find yourself playing with a bit more than you want to admit, but offer no other real downside. There’s enough overlap from the flaps, where I’ve yet to have anything even get close to sneaking its way out of my bag.
The biggest surprise for me with this bag is how much smaller it carries than the stated capacity. As I mentioned above, it is marketed at 24L but carries closer to the 20L mark. There’s three reasons I think this is the feeling I get with the bag:
- The laptop compartment has more capacity than I use.
- The two front pockets have a lot of volume, but are awkward to fully utilize the volume.
- Because of the opening mechanism, I tend not to want to fill the bag up too much, to the top of the main compartment, which leaves a lot of extra room unused.
Despite that, the size is a plus. Bags which are 24L are on the edge of what most people start to consider large, but you mostly have that space here, while the bag almost never feels that large to carry. Which is a pleasant surprise when it comes to bag like this. It feels nimble and well suited to the city, while still working well for more adventurous pursuits when you might be carrying some bulkier items.
Most of the time, the bag won’t sit upright on its own. If you pack it just right, then it will (which is what you see in the images in this post), but it won’t do this as a natural part of the design. When you do get it to sit upright, the handle is a gem and a very comfortable to carry the bag with, and easy to grab when you need to go.
I would love for this bag to have a water bottle pocket on the outside, but I am also not sure it would look right on this bag. There’s plenty of room for one inside the bag, and with the rip open nature, it’s easy to get to.
The front two pockets have small organization in them, but are rather tight for a lot of gear. Easy access, and are best suited for things you want to get to fast and often. I’ve been keeping sunglasses, a pen, and my monocular in these pockets. Inside the main compartment is a large cavity, which holds bulky items well and doesn’t easily translate into lumps on the back panel. The two mesh pockets inside this area are a nice addition for putting smaller items in, and keeping them zipped in the bag.
The laptop section has a divider and a couple of pockets for smaller notebooks or accessories. The neat trick is that the back panel is molded in such a way that when the laptop section is unzipped, the straps easily fold down and out of the way. Making it quite nice to get your device in and out.
I’ve had a lot of fun using this bag. It’s unique looking, and has some really cool features, all of which are well executed.
Overall
The Rip Ruck 24 feels like it is going to be a stealth hit — those who try it are going to find that it’s a fantastic bag all around. It’s simple and effective, with really easy access to your gear overall.
This is one of the best EDC bags from Mystery Ranch I have tested, a great alternative to the Urban Assault for those who want more pockets, and it’s priced well on top of that. I’m a big fan, and this might be a contender for trips which need a lot of coverage from one backpack, while keeping things rather compact.