Author: Ben Brooks

My first pair of GORUCK’s MACV-1 boots never had a laces issue, as I wore them until I wore out the tread with the same laces the entire time. So I was a little surprised to see that my most recent pair (purchased January of 2021) was starting to have the laces fray in a spot. I decided this was a good opportunity to see what else was out there, because while I have never complained a ton about the stock GORUCK ‘speed laces’ I’ve never really loved them either.

The speed laces are pretty slick, this means they pull tight easily, but also that they are prone to becoming uneven while knots also don’t hold as well as you might like for shoe laces.

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Alone gained popularity over the pandemic as people started to ‘run out’ of the shows they normally watch and went in search of something else. Alone is on the 8th season currently, and I started watching around season 3 (and then quickly watched the first two seasons) — and it’s always been one of those shows I quietly watched and enjoyed. It’s fantastic television.

The premise (for all but two seasons) is: a person is dropped off in mid-fall somewhere in the middle of nowhere with some amount of other contestants. They all have a set amount of gear, but are dropped off with no food or water. At that point they are alone, filming themselves, and they simply have to survive longer than any other contestant to win.

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The Lumintop FWAA with SST-20 4000K might be the best value, and best small EDC flashlight on the market right now. It’s that good, and one of my favorite purchases this year. This could be the entire review.

It is offered in a few variants. Three body types: Aluminum, Copper, and Titanium (with multiple finishes to this). And many LED options.

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Back in 2017 I reviewed the first generation of the Mystery Ranch Urban Assault 21 — of course back then it was the only variant so no ‘21’ moniker was needed. At some point I sold that bag off to a friend, only to recently trade back for the very same bag. And then, in using the bag again, I went and bought a current generation Urban Assault 21 in Galaxy (dark blue).

And the reason I did this is because I might have underrated the Urban Assault 21 initially — this bag is stealthy good.

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This week: a quick rant about where our priorities lie; then a very deep dive into how I am going through the process of picking a new bag to take to the office.

Also, it is almost September of 2021 and that is really insane to me. We really are going to end up *losing* a couple years from this pandemic. And far too many have lost far too much already.

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In my review of the X-Pod I talked about how much I liked it, but I also mentioned how much the bag had going on and how overkill all the straps are. I got bored one day and started hacking away at the bag to try and make it into something I liked a little better.

This was a success for me, so here’s what I did.

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Note: Tom Bihn provided this bag at no cost for review.

This bag arrived to me during yet another COVID-19 spike, and thus a no-travel for me. I don’t expect to be able to use this bag for real travel any time soon, so I’ll give you the lay of the land the best that I can.

This is Tom Bihn’s new Techonaut 30 (there’s a 45 version too), which is a modified version of the classic Tom Bihn Aeronaut 30. The Techonaut is a travel backpack first and foremost, and gadget hauler secondary.

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I’ve seen this bag around a ton, but the size is something I have always questioned: would it be large enough? I had a chance to trade for this bag, so I took the chance. This is a really nicely made bag, especially this Special Edition Waxed Canvas.

The bag certainly has it’s quirks, and true to form it is indeed a small bag which doesn’t wear small, while still packing small.

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The plate pocket variant I bought and tested is the 45lb Padded Plate Pocket (but they make other sizes) — it sells for $45.00, but you need to add MALICE clips to the purchase so that you can attach it inside your bag — which only adds maybe $6. I ended up with Coyote Brown and my goal was to use this to test rucking in many other packs I test (if nothing else but to pad the weight).

It turns out that this is a decently versatile, piece of kit and a really solid value. It can be a plate pocket, or it can be a device sleeve and more.

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Update 12/13/21: HDS has COVID misinformation on their website/blog, this is very unfortunate to hear. Please keep that in mind when/if considering ordering from them.

This is one of those lights I have had my eye on for a long time. It’s expensive, has a weirdly low lumen output, yet an interface people rave about. Looking at it compared to most of the lights I’ve talked about on a spec sheet — it’s the one that seems to make very little sense, a ‘why buy this?’

After all: it’s big, heavy, no clip, and low output. The thing is, it’s the best light I have ever used. It’s the HDS EDC Rotary.

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I’ve been a long time user of the GR2 (my review), and as someone who carried it despite the flaws, who has sold and bought it a few times (regretting the sale each time) I thought I would share why I moved on from the GR2. I found the 3 Day Assault CL from Mystery Ranch (my review) is a better bag than the GR2 in every aspect and is severely underrated/undervalued bag in the market — it’s well worth your time and consideration.

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At the end of 2020 I started on a journey of testing sling bags, and going back further to May of 2020, I started with the idea of carrying a purse with me most/all places I head to. We are now more than half way through 2021, and I’ve tried quite a few different slings, so I wanted to stop and evaluate this statement I made:

Because you should carry one, regardless of what you call it.

Leading up to my return to the office, I was carrying a sling essentially everywhere I went. Including a weekend trip celebrating our fully vaccinated status, to San Antonio, where I wore it all around the river walk and other places. I really find these bags handy, but the trouble I have now that I am back in the office, is that I carry a bag to work — and that bag is not my purse. I don’t want to carry two bags to the office, that seems absurd even for me.

So, my usage has dropped a lot because of this, but I still do think you need a sling, and should carry one when you don’t have another bag, or might not have chosen another bag to carry at all.

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These two bags, the Mystery Ranch ASAP (my review) and GORUCK GR1 (my review), have been top of my list to put head to head for well over 5 years. Both are expensive, both are made to be used in actual combat (though you could argue that a little more in Mystery Ranch’s favor), both are USA made. I’ve now used the ASAP enough that I feel a head to head is warranted, as it’s pretty clear to me which is better for what.

With these two bags the question of which to pick simply comes down to whether or not you want/need to carry a laptop. If you need or want to carry a laptop, the GORUCK GR1 is hands down the better bag for you. For everything else, the ASAP is the better bag, and sometimes by a large margin.

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This bag took over my feeds when it came out, it was/is labeled a “new direction” for DSPTCH — and was released in Ballistic Nylon and Dyneema variants. Surprisingly, it was also launched at under $200 for the ballistic version which is a bargain.

I grabbed one to check out, and am impressed but not overwhelmed by this bag.

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