Next up: The PAC Designs Ultimate - 2600ci

Pros: Insanely well made, with 4 layers of fabric, ballistic bottom. By far the best riding bag out of this set, bag just nestles in at the top of your back and stays put, not shifting around. Tons of pockets, including an expander on the outside "originally designed to expand so as not to crush your sandwich." Lots of additional straps, lock loop, expansion straps to tie down big loads, and a tool pouch. Comfortable from the moment I started wearing it.

Cons: Yeah, it's expensive.

Rating: THREE six packs, and 2 40s.







Last but not least: The R.E.Load Deluxe - 2850ci

(Bag pictured is a very early R.E.Load, from late 2000... design/build quality has changed a lot.)

Pros: It's f'in enormous. Would hold a side of beef and the grill to cook it on. Mine's 5 years old and has been all over, and is still in good shape (though the trim they used originally on the bag flap frays like hell -- the new trim is 1000x better.)

Cons: At least for mine, the cross strap is worthless -- only does waist crossing, not sternum. My assumption (from my newer Civilian) is there's now a sternum strap. Compression straps on the bottom help when it's not full, but it's really easy to lose stuff in the bag as there's only two very meh pockets, which get squished when the bag is full. Reflective material in the MD flag has crapped out

I strongly suspect a newer version of this bag would be vastly superior to mine, as the newer Citizen is a lot nicer. Most of my complaints about this bag have been addressed, except for the pockets. It confounds me how much their pocket designs (in all of their bags that I've seen) just suck.

Rating: FOUR six packs -- a case!