Monday, October 23, 2017

Review of Mystery Ranch Urban Assault Backpack

It has been a heck of a long time, readers. So much has happened in-between this post and the last. I underwent another ICT, I've been working my ass off (as usual) and best of all I went to Japan for one hell of a vacation. Indeed, much has happened since I last posted, its been five months after all. Not much has happened in the way of watches unfortunately, I'm still with my collection of three at the moment (G-Shock, Seiko SBDN025 and Mini Fiddy homage) but headway was instead made in another area, namely, backpacks.

It was in Japan where I got frustrated with my current backpack (Direct Action Dust) as it did not allow for easy access to the main compartment. After having experienced the clamshell design on the 5.11 Rush 12, there was no going back to a traditionally designed backpack for me. A clamshell makes your life infinitely easier. It was a pain in the ass having to load items from the top into the Direct Action, especially bulky items where you had to fight with the size of the opening. It was then I knew that the Direct Action Dust's days were numbered; I had to find a replacement that allowed for easy access to the main compartment like the 5.11 did.

Enter the Mystery Ranch Urban Assault.
The Urban Assault, customised with paracord running through the bottom pull tab
  •     500D CORDURA fabric and YKK zippers
  •     3-ZIP design for quick access
  •     Two internal zippered accessory pockets
  •     Fixed harnessing
  •     Volume: 1282 cu-in (21 L)
  •     Weight: 0.9 kg
  •     Dimensions: 58 x 34 x 25cm

While I've only reviewed two other backpacks on this blog, having a good backpack has been increasingly important to me over the past year and a half. I like to think that this is due in part due to my increasing wanderlust, but it's probably mostly because I'm a gear junkie. The 5.11 Rush 12 was a great backpack, but the thing that really got to me was the lack of ventilation on it. I perspired like a pig carrying that thing due to the lack of mesh backing, so it was away with the 5.11 Rush 12. In came the Helikon-Tex Raccoon, which was a decent backpack especially for the price, but that got stolen while I was vacationing in Italy.

Without much thought, I chose the Direct Action Dust as a successor to the Raccoon, thinking that I could get used to traditional opening backpacks again. As mentioned above, this was not to be so; the opening on the Dust made life pretty difficult for me while in Japan, which is sad because it is an otherwise excellent backpack.

So, I've learned my lesson. As much as possible, I require all my future bags to have some form of easy access to the main compartment. It just so happens that Mystery Ranch has a very novel approach to this problem; their signature 3-ZIP design, aka Tri-Zip or Y-Zip, so named because of the shape the zippers form. With the Y-Zip design, I pretty much have access to the entire storage compartment, though not as easily as compared to a clamshell backpack. This is good enough for me though.

The Y-Zip does provides some benefits over a clamshell, however. You can simply unzip just the top two zippers and the bag now behaves like a top loading backpack. Sometimes, you may only need to access the top of the backpack, perhaps to throw something in or take out something that is sitting on top. You can also unzip the vertical zip that runs along the length of the backpack without undoing the other two, and this zipper alone allows you access to something like 60% of the backpack. These are things which aren't possible with a clamshell; there is only one way to open it and sometimes you risk spilling out the contents if hastily done. All in all, the Y-Zip is a unique approach in allowing easy access to the main compartment and most importantly, it is an effective one.

These are all things that come at a price of course. Mystery Ranch packs do not come cheap at all. Where I'm from, the Urban Assault will set you back some SGD 280 (USD 206 at time of writing). Thankfully, I got mine for considerably less as I got it used. Even still, this is merely an introductory price when compared to the rest of their catalogue. Of course, it wouldn't be fair to pass judgement solely by virtue of their pricing strategy which is why we'll conduct an in depth analysis on what really counts; the product.

The Urban Assault is a long and thin pack that can easily pass off as a streetwear brand such as Supreme or Gregory. The Y-Zip design gives the pack a distinctive look, and if you get the pack in the Multicam colorway, you'd fit right in with the hypebeast crowd. I think it's a stylish pack overall and you wouldn't be out of place carrying this to school or work, nor would it look flimsy if you took it out to the woods for a weekend.

The pack is constructed from 500D Cordura, which is plenty strong, though some purists may prefer 1000D Cordura. Do note however that the pack already weighs over 1.2kg as it is, so I'm glad they kept it to 500D. The zippers are all YKK with giant zipper pulls and a length of paracord woven with it, making everything very easy to pull, though the zippers do make quite some noise as they tend to clang together while you're walking. The length of the zippers are rubberised which makes it harder for water ingress to happen, though I really wouldn't count on the contents staying perfectly dry if you were walking through a storm.

The capacity as stated on the manufacturer's website is stated as 21 L, though some retailers list it as 24 L. In either case, I have been able to store far more in the Urban Assault than I have the Direct Action Dust (rated 20 L capacity). I struggled to get an A5 sized book, a denim jacket, a hard carry case for my GoPro (about A5 size as well) into the Direct Action Dust's main compartment. The Urban Assault can take all those and there's still about 50% of space left. The 20L of space on the Dust was of course, representative of the space in the admin pouch and other compartments as well, meaning the main compartment was perhaps 17 L or less (numbers by gut feel, no measurements done). On the other hand, the bulk of the capacity in the Urban Assault lies within the main compartment. Aided by the Y-Zip design, I've just been able to store so much more in the Urban Assault as compared to traditional open packs of around the same capacity.

If you're big into hydration bladders, I hate to break it to you but the Urban Assault is not bladder friendly. There's no opening for your pipe to pass through, unless you're willing to mutilate the pack yourself. While I don't frequently use a hydration bladder, it would be nice to have support for one as this pack has absolutely no provisions in terms of hydration (i.e. there are no external pouches that allows for quick access to water bottles, besides keeping it in the main compartment).

Glorious, glorious mesh
The flimsy pull handle covered in paracord, much better
Turning the pack around, we can see that the entire back is covered in mesh, allowing for some ventilation at least. I definitely found myself sweating carrying this, but then again where I live, I haven't found a pack which I didn't sweat while carrying. The underside of the straps are generously padded with said mesh too. These straps are beefy as hell, they are perhaps a half inch thick and they're comfortable as hell too.

Which brings us to the carrying experience that is the Urban Assault. I was pleasantly impressed at how comfortable it was while on my back. It followed the contours of my body very closely, making for a very good fit. Mystery Ranch, who has been crafting backpacks for mountaineers and military personnel, are especially known for their elaborate suspension setups, although you won't find any of it on the Urban Assault. Instead, the Urban Assault has a fixed harness system which is essentially a fancy name for what you will find on any normal backpack.

Frankly though, the straps on the Urban Assault will more than serve their purpose and I didn't find myself wishing that it came with a more elaborate setup. A suspension system would likely be overkill on a pack like this, not to mention the price increase that would come with it. Overall, the comfort of this pack is a considerable step up from any previous packs I've owned.

There was something that didn't quite match up with the rest of the pack though. Namely, the carry handle. Being rather long, but yet constructed out of a single piece of 500D Cordura, this thing is soft and floppy as hell. It is unable to hold any shape on its own and seemed as if it was added onto the pack like an afterthought. I pretty much took an instant dislike to it after first handling it and proceeded to wrap the hell out of it in paracord. Now, there is finally some rigidity to the carry handle and I can grab it much more easily in most situations. Thankfully, this is a flaw with the pack that can be rather easily fixed with some paracord, a lighter, and some free time.

The next issue isn't nearly as easy to fix, if it is even possible. It's that the Urban Assault lacks any sort of compression straps, at all. Not even the kinds such as those on the 5.11 Rush 12, which themselves can hardly be considered compression straps. This of course, presents a problem, especially when you've got many big, bulky items or soft ''airy'' items in your pack.

Now, while it may be possible to customise some form of compression straps, I don't see any graceful solution whereby you can maintain easy access while compressing it effectively. You could possibly use luggage straps but there would be a big hit to ease of access. For some people, the lack of compression straps may be a big turn off while for others, such as myself, I've been able to live with having no compression straps. In short, caveat emptor; depending on what you intend to carry and if compression straps rank high in importance to you, the Urban Assault is not your pack.

Another point with the Urban Assault is that it is pretty spartan in terms of organization. You will not find anything akin to the admin pouch that most tactical packs have. The storage compartments do not have slots for pencils, pens and neither will you find velcro pockets for putting gear such as a radio. Again, if you have a requirement that all your gear must have assigned locations within your pack, the Urban Assault will not be suitable for you.

There is an easy access pouch on the lid which when opened, will reveal a dangling hook that allows you to hang items for easy access (I have a lighter attached). That is about as much organization as you will get on the Urban Assault. Most everywhere else in the Urban Assault (save for two pouches on the sides and two laptop sleeves), the storage is just one big compartment where your gear will mix together in a free-for-all.

In closing, the Urban Assault can potentially be a great pack. It looks good, wears great and is just so convenient to access. Whether you'll love this pack hinges on a couple of things; do you absolutely require a pack which allows for specific organization? Will the lack of compression straps and easy access to hydration be a deal-breaker for you? Perhaps most importantly, are you willing to accept these shortcomings while paying a considerable sum of money for it? If you've gone through these considerations and are willing to accept the flaws, I think you will find that the Urban Assault to be one sweet pack.

No comments:

Post a Comment