Chuyen Tactical made waves when the brand first came out, at least on Reddit in the sub-reddits for bag nerds like me. Their offerings are very similar to GORUCK’s offerings, at a lower price point, but with several changes that are more inline with many complaints I see.
What surprised me the most was how much people liked the bags when they received them. I finally bit the bullet, and picked one up. I am underwhelemed, and am not going to bother keeping it long enough to even review the bag, by the time you’ve head this, I likely have sold it, but who knows.
Materials & Specs
No comments, other than to say the build quality seems nice, here’s the copy-paste on relevant materials and specs:
- Fabric: Dimension Polyant X-Pac X50.
- Lining: Nylon 210D White: Multicam Alpine.
- External water bottle holder: X-Pac X50 + UltraStretch™
- Back panel & straps: Nylon 420D.
- Overall dimensions: 18.9 x 13.4 x 7in
- Fits up to a 16″ laptop.
- Total Capacity: 21L.
- Weight: 2.8 lbs.
Thoughts
Let’s start with good things:
- Sew up on this is really nicely done.
- The X50 used is fantastic, super soft and really nice feeling.
- Zippers are really nice
- Plastic hardware is nice
- Sizing is well done
- Front pocket, and internal pockets are an upgrade from GR’s methods.
- Straps are fine, as is handle.
The questionable/not good:
- I don’t know why you would copy the webbing connection at the top of the straps that GORUCK uses, it’s just aesthetic and really gives off “copycat” vibes.
- The laptop compartment has two zippers for no reason, and both have metal pull tabs. You can feel these on your back, and it really is how you know that this isn’t an original design.
- The laptop compartment opening is shaped weird, and looks awful visually, but works fine-ish.
- The quick access pocket is huge, but dangles into the inside of the bag in a very ugly way. I know people love these pockets, but I am not one of those people.
- The webbing being used is “seatbelt” style nylon, which looks great, and is shit. This is going to get fuzzy looking over time, and not lock securely on ladder locks as well. This is an all around bad choice for longevity and utility.
- I hate the water bottle pockets, they are ugly.
So yeah.
Wrap Up
Here’s the thing: this bag isn’t that much cheaper than an on sale GORUCK bag with shipping and all that, while not being better in the ways where it really counts. Which results in a bag that feels like a cheaper clone of the good bag.
While you are saving around $100+ or so, you lose the clearly better durability of GORUCK, and the substantially better weight carrying of a GORUCK bag. It’s just not close. Over time, the GORUCK bag presents a fantastically better value than this.
Link, but I suggest not buying, $189 + shipping.