La Sportiva Trango Review
Specifically, these are the Tango TRX GTX and they are the cheapest of the Trango series, but that doesn't mean they are in any way lacking as far as I'm concerned.
Well just as a starting point with these boots, they were some of the most comfortable I've ever put on out of the box. They are a combination of materials, including good ol' Gore-Tex, and are available in several colours, although the majority of stockists sell them only in yellow or red. They feature things such as 'TPU Thermo Tech Application' and 'Vibram Mulaz outsole with a technical edging platform' which I have no idea what mean but, all add up to make a really comfortable and all-round practical boot.I do have some expensive gear for when I'm out but I always spend the most on a good pair of boots. I've gone through Karrimor and Berghaus boots, along with others I can't remember, and usually I just wear them until even 3 washes in a row cant make my family stop complaining about the smell but, with what I to do while I'm out and about in the wilderness, these are probably the most ideal boots I've come across. I do a bit of climbing up rock faces and some trekking through forests and over mountains and these boots seem to be a really good jack of all trades.
As with the above mentioned technical features, they do have something I could at least figure out which is the '3D Flex' insert. This goes all the way around the bottom of the boot and effectively 'cups' your whole foot in a slightly stiffer material for support. When I first put my foot in I noticed a stiffer heel support and eventually realised it extended around the base of my whole foot. My first thought was I would always 'feel' it while walking, which if you were me would be the worst feeling ever. I am the type who feels a tiny thread come loose in the boot and obsesses over it until I either remove my foot or remove half of the stitching and ultimately compromising the overall integrity of my footwear. With these it was a reassuring feel on the few occasions that I did notice it, but generally I couldn't tell it was there.
As with the above mentioned technical features, they do have something I could at least figure out which is the '3D Flex' insert. This goes all the way around the bottom of the boot and effectively 'cups' your whole foot in a slightly stiffer material for support. When I first put my foot in I noticed a stiffer heel support and eventually realised it extended around the base of my whole foot. My first thought was I would always 'feel' it while walking, which if you were me would be the worst feeling ever. I am the type who feels a tiny thread come loose in the boot and obsesses over it until I either remove my foot or remove half of the stitching and ultimately compromising the overall integrity of my footwear. With these it was a reassuring feel on the few occasions that I did notice it, but generally I couldn't tell it was there.
For a start there is a small patch near the toes of tread that is designed around climbing. Its called the 'climbing zone' and it has no flex in it which gives you an excellent
surface to get your toes into crevices, while climbing, that is as solid as the rock you will be stood on. I don't do anything extreme these days, like free climbing, but for my general scaling of smaller cliffs I would be more than happy wearing these.There is one thing that I find the most useful out of all of its features for my ventures. These are Gore-Tex and waterproof. I didn't intentionally test this feature out however, while getting some photos for some waterproof backpacks on a river, I did slip and go in more than ankle deep. I have a pair of full leather Magnums (advertised as waterproof) that go much higher up my leg and they have soaked my feet in less so I was expecting there to be a very wet foot at the end of my leg, but it was completely dry. I know it sounds strange to say that I was shocked that a waterproof boot was waterproof, but with every pair I've ever owned what happened that day would never have resulted in a dry foot, and I am really pleased I have something I can rely on there.
Well I couldn't say I usually test items as extensively as I have with these boots but, with footwear, it has to deal with whatever you come across for every second you are out in the world. So it can be 
anything from a small puddle or a fallen tree, to a raging river or land slide. These have encountered pretty much all of that (the landslide wasn't happening at the time but I did make my way over a recent slide) and at no point was I aware that I was testing a pair of new boots. I've worn these over 80 miles of Welsh mountains with, at times, a very heavy pack and they just felt like some boots I'd had for years and knew inside out. This may be the first 'real' pair of hiking boots I've ever owned and I certainly wont be looking at any others for a long time. There are some things I would alter on this shoe if I was making it for myself, but really I would probably just make them worse. These were the TRK GTX version of the Trango although there are other versions (more expensive) that are available with slightly different styling or materials, but they are all basically the same boot. I couldn't recommend these boots more highly, they are absolutely superb and worth every penny you spend on them.
anything from a small puddle or a fallen tree, to a raging river or land slide. These have encountered pretty much all of that (the landslide wasn't happening at the time but I did make my way over a recent slide) and at no point was I aware that I was testing a pair of new boots. I've worn these over 80 miles of Welsh mountains with, at times, a very heavy pack and they just felt like some boots I'd had for years and knew inside out. This may be the first 'real' pair of hiking boots I've ever owned and I certainly wont be looking at any others for a long time. There are some things I would alter on this shoe if I was making it for myself, but really I would probably just make them worse. These were the TRK GTX version of the Trango although there are other versions (more expensive) that are available with slightly different styling or materials, but they are all basically the same boot. I couldn't recommend these boots more highly, they are absolutely superb and worth every penny you spend on them.[taq_review]
La Sportiva Trango Review
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eager to get some and find out if they were up to the task. I browsed their many departments and options to get an idea of what they had in stock and then I wrote a list of activities I usually undertake to give myself some idea of what might work out best. I do some hiking and climbing (when I have to), some bushcraft and chopping wood and generally I have two pairs at any one time, one pair are for warmth and one pair are just some general construction gloves for when I'm swinging an axe or carrying logs. I came across these ones and thought, as all rounders, they are probably best I've seen in a long time. I did like a few of their other gloves more for my tasks, but these had the least amount of parts on the pads of the hands and I figured the less seams there are, then the less points of failure there are. So these should be more durable and probably more comfortable for general use, but lets find out.
although, in these at least, they aren't uncomfortable and I don't notice them when I'm wearing them and swinging an axe. It is a shame though because, as far as I'm concerned, this is the only real flaw in these gloves. The only other minor thing I would change is the knuckle padding. I would like it to be a bit thinner as it's quite bulky and I don't think it's necessary for what I generally need.
already talked about chopping wood and handling knives and axes with these (which were all passes in my book), but I also done some climbing of rocks, ropes and trees, and also just general wear while walking.
Overall, these are pretty decent gloves. I would prefer it if the main knuckle padding wasn't as bulky, but I guess these weren't designed around bushcraft/survival but are very good for a pair of combat gloves. They do work well for most of the tasks you would be doing on a day-to-day basis out of combat, but really Mechanix probably has something a bit more suitable for us 'civvies'. That being said though, I can use these over the usual gloves I carry and they will perform the task of the usual 2 pairs I require. I will be looking at some other Mechanix gloves more closely when I get a chance, but for now I'm quite happy with these.
largest blades they make. It holds the blade using two small dimples inside the sheath and the belt clip can be mounted in a few different positions to suit your style. It does rattle a fair bit, and I'm sure after a decade of use it wont hold the blade anymore, but it does its job. I personally like this sheath although I do find the belt clip a little annoying and as it doesn't stand up to what I feel this blade really deserves, it will probably be getting a custom sheath at some point. It should also be noted that you can get a molle back for the sheath, and I would suggest you get this over the metal clip and there's also an optional pouch to go on the front if you wish. But get the molle back. Immediately.
really fit and feel great in the hand. The grey scales and black tang are separated by red liners and there is an exposed portion of the tang for a lanyard hole, and I guess a striking/pry point. There is a finger choil on the blade and jimping on the spine which really give you a great hold for fine wood work. The handle really is the most important difference between the ESEE 6 and RAT-7 that makes the price worth while. The different sheath and better powder coating are irrelevant in my opinion, but the feel of this handle is undeniably better and alone is worth the extra cost.
the very sharp and strong edge you get. I used this as my main blade for several weeks and it only had a couple of scrapes on my stone once during that time to keep it in top form. It would be a shame to ruin the coating, but you can remove a portion from the spine for using with flint and this is actually done quite a lot by owners of these blades. Beside this, after all of the use I have put it through, there is barely a noticeable difference in the coating. I have kept it stupidly clean as any time I see a mark I think 'NOOOOO, where's my cloth?', but really it makes no difference as its tougher than nails. I've put it through some heavy tasks like batoning for a couple of fires over a few different outings, and prepared more than a sack full of kindling with it. I haven't tried chopping through trees for any shelter as there's a sever lack of woodland in the UK and if I done this with every knife I review, I would quickly start ruining some of my favourite spots. It has gone through plenty of dead wood though which is much harder than living wood and the edge has held up perfectly (but you can't expect anything except a great blade from ESEE to be fair).
Overall I'm very happy with this knife and how it performs. I have wanted one of these for a really long time now. It's not quite the top of my list, but definitely top 10 and it's really nice to finally have one. I am disappointed with the plastic sheath, but it does function and there's not much else you can expect. As a comparison to its Rat-7 rival and as a solo blade it is well worth the money. This isn't my first ESEE but it is my favourite although, I dare say when the time finally comes that I get my hands on a JUNGLAS, it will be replaced in my heart.
It comes in a very nice bag which has one really great feature that I didn't notice until the second time I took it out for a day. I will mention that I had this next to my computer for a few weeks between uses and until I opened it for the second time I had no idea that it smelled. Obviously burning wood in it will impart a smokey odour and pretty much makes it smell like an old fire place but, I just didn't realise while it was inside its bag. I don't know if Petromax intentionally made this bag with odour prevention in mind, but I'm glad it does just that as I know when I keep my clothing in my pack with it, it will stop them from receiving a similar scent. It's not a thin piece of cloth like you might expect, but a padded fabric. I mean its not going to protect your kettle from a heavy fall, but it's nice knowing that they put some extra attention into the little things as you know it means this entire kit doesn't lack on quality. The handles have a leather wrapping on them as well which makes it comfortable to carry if you aren't going to pack it in your bag, and overall it feels quite tough and durable.
offer a pretty stable way of pouring your hot water. I think they need to be a bit larger as people with meat fists might struggle to get all four fingers around them, but never-the-less they offer a nice comfortable grip and I think it's probably the best handle on this sort of kettle that I've come across. There's also a whistle to go on the spout which is loud enough for the times when you don't need to be keeping an eye on it (although obviously if you are anywhere that the fire could spread you should not leave it unattended). You always know when it's ready even without the whistle though as it starts to shake quite noticeably when the water is boiling.
There is also a basic pot stand for cooking meals on top while boiling your water, although in my experience the water boils so fast you don't get much time to cook any food and you cant use the kettle without water or you could compromise its integrity.
RTAK above a RAT-7[/caption]
comes with a good sized accessory pouch on the front which I use to carry a smaller folding knife for the finer tasks I might want to do. It has a non removable plastic insert to secure the blade and protect the sheath and overall is what I would call functional. It's not pretty to look at but it will serve you well. It has molle compatible straps on the back which is the only way I will ever use it, despite the belt loop that's also available, as I can attach it to my pack and generally scare any other outdoor enthusiasts that cross my path. I've been out with this on display on my pack, and you see people casually walking with friends who suddenly go wide-eyed, stiffen up while also dropping their gaze and shuffling off at what they think is a normal, but quick pace, but actually ends up being slower and much more obvious that they spotted a huge knife on your backpack. It amuses greatly, especially if like me you turn to force them to hold their gaze with a blank expression on your face.
don't perfectly smooth out on the tang. The balance makes it slightly blade heavy but given the size of the blade this is no surprise but its much better than you might think, it feels good enough that I want to actually throw it, but I wont because that's just stupid (I so will). Thankfully they have shaped a sort of guard into the handle to prevent accidental slippage as this is one blade you know will cause some damage and there's also the lanyard hole so, if you know what you are doing, this knife will never get ahead of you. I don't know why they colour the scales so that they look old and dirty, but on this it really works and makes it look like the jungle knife it is made to be.
it helps to keep it under control. There is a finger choil, although it may be more for design rather than practical use as there's no way you will be choking up on this beast to whittle a spoon, unless that spoon was for feeding a python or one of them weird zombie-vampire things from I Am Legend. The coating on it is reasonably rough although it's less heavy-duty than I would like. I've seen a few people with this same knife and they have all told me how the coating wears out pretty quickly although I haven't used mine enough to see this. Really though with the work this was designed for, and the tasks for which you will use it, it's hardly a shock to know it's not going to last a lifetime. It would be like asking your skin to stay on after supergluing it to a frozen steel bar, totally unrealistic. It's also grey rather than black, like the rest of the RAT series but I think it looks better given the size of it.
I really, really like this knife. It wasn't one of those blades that I 'had to have', but every time I pull it out of the sheath I smile. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anybody wanting a general purpose blade as its far too large, but if you want a big, heavy-duty chopper, then this really fits the bill. It's one of those tools hat you cant use everyday, but you will try to find a reason to take it out with you every time. I love the size, weight and feel of this as a whole package and there's probably nothing I would change to the knife itself. Like the other RAT series knives it would be nice if there was a kydex sheath option, but that's really the only issue I have, and that's not to say that the nylon sheath isn't good. This is an epic, epic blade and one that will stay with me for a long, long time.
though as I've seen Puma knives that cost many thousands so it's still cheap by their standards. I certainly can't afford one of their higher end blades, though we can all dream. Most people are unaware of the Puma brand of knives despite them being one of the oldest knife manufacturers on the planet, but I think that's because people just look for combat style blades these days and Puma stick to more traditional styles. Most of their blades are hunting knives with wood and staghorn handles, and I dare say that if you said micarta or G10 to these guys you would be hung drawn and quartered and your bones would be used to carbonise their steel. It's nice to see a company stick to it's roots and craft a good ol' work knife.
Puma IP logo on the front. It holds the blade very well and, despite my erratic shaking, didn't budge at all. It also feels like a good quality piece of leather that's hard-wearing, so it should last many, many years. It's really easy to get at the blade too, providing your not my father, who upon removing the blade, proceeded to bleed extensively over my floor. It was quite funny given how he always mocks me when I injure myself.
almost feels like a laminate wood it's that well finished and it blends perfectly with the tang. It has two steel pins and in the centre of the one scale has a faux pin inlay with the Puma IP logo. The stainless steel bolster is a very nice addition to this blade. It looks great and holds your hand nicely when you use the jimping to choke up for finer work. The knife is handle heavy, but its not a heavy blade, so it just makes it feel more secure rather than cumbersome.
The blade is 3.5mm thick and 9.5cm in length so its not a small blade, but its not large either. Its a good knife for doing some fine wood work like whittling or feathering and the bolster just helps to keep it in your complete control . It is made of 440C stainless and has a full flat grind, which isn't my favourite for bushcraft, but it does allow for some paper thin wood shavings for getting your fire going. I've processed a reasonable amount of kindling with it and I think the overall shape with the flat grind actually performs very well. I think its probably not going to last doing much heavy work as the blade gets very thin, very fast. It's really close to having a Stanley knife profile, so it's great for processing game. I used it in the kitchen for a few weeks as well. Cutting steaks and vegetables with this was much easier than some of the high end chef knives I have. It would be great for gutting and cooking up some fish while you're out on the river, and can easily cut fishing line thanks to its razor like blade. It's probably the sharpest knife I've handled right out of the box.
emergency blanket, emergency sleeping bag, ferro rod and striker, tinder, wire saw, carabiner, water zip-lock bag, and whistle. Outside of the UK there is also a small knife in the kit, but Amazon rules prohibit the knife to be included in the UK kit.
unprepared for even one night in a cold environment. They think that just staying in the car or even wandering off is the best way to go, but that can often bring about some disastrous circumstances. An emergency kit like this could be all you need to survive until rescue comes to find you. With this in mind you have two options. Sleep in the car or sleep outside. Now depending on the weather, one of these will be better than the other, but this kit should help you in either situation.
car but outside with enough dry wood you can easily use the contents to make a very effective shelter. You can use the blanket and rip apart the sleeping bag to make a shelter. I would only use one of these for that though and use the other for personal insulation. You could build a fire with the ferro rod and striker and use the reflective properties of either of these items to increase the temperature in your shelter. If you can't get any materials then you would be better off using the sleeping bag as a shelter as you can make a roof and back wall then sleep on or under the blanket. If you can gather materials Ii would use the blanket as a back wall to reflect heat back on to you and sleep inside the sleeping bag. You can then strip the paracord bag (which comes already split into separate strands to build and secure your shelter. Either way this would keep you warmer than being in the car as you wont be relying on your own metabolic heat generation.
Over the front of this zipped pocket is an elastic cord with a quick release buckle which is perfect for a rolled up towel. The inside is pretty much your generic dry sack pocket. It's a 20 litre compartment with a small zip pouch on the back for a few valuables to be kept separately, but other than that its just a large cavity to stuff whatever you want in there. It easily would fit your general gear you would take to the beach or for a swim/ kayaking session while having plenty of space for your extra's. So for example I could easily get a camp stove, some food and cooking utensils inside and still have a towel, clothing and my boots with some room to spare. I do like having just a single pouch as it doesn't restrict the size of the items you can contain, even if it doesn't let you organise them, but if you saw my desk you would see that I only know the word organise, but have no real world association with it.
mistaken for thinking such things. It's actually very good quality, and once the pack is full looks rather normal and is much more comfortable than you might think. It has on this side all the usual refinements you would expect from a normal backpack. It has a padded back that's designed to be breathable along with padded straps (not hugely padded, but enough considering it's not a general daysack). On these straps are a couple of rings that I assume are for securing the pack to something like a raft and there is also waist and chest straps (the buckle for the chest strap is also a whistle)(nice touch). Now I have to be honest here, I hate the waist strap. It's not padded and it's not in a good place for my body size and given you are unlikely to ever carry a heavy load its pretty much pointless too. Happily it is completely removable though, and if you kept it on would be a useful bit of cordage.
There's not really a lot more that I can say about this as it's not rammed with all of the features you might get in a backpack, like hydration compatibility or additional pouches, so let me tell you about some of the testing I performed on it. I sent it down some rapids a few times just to see if it was watertight (it was) and then I threw it from the top of a 30 foot cliff into another pile of rapids. I done this several times with varying piles of gear inside (nothing valuable, just in case) and it held up perfectly fine. For a start there was no water inside, and none of the seams appeared in any way damaged. I also carried about 10-15kg of gear for a few hours while we were out and it was perfectly comfortable.
So this is the ESEE 4 HM aka 'THE MICARTA SAUSAGE'. Ok, so it's not known as the micarta sausage to anyone but myself, although I hope the name sticks because it's a really accurate description given the handle. The knife is a very strange amalgamation of two knives which ESEE themselves describe as 'the famous ESEE-4 blade design married to a traditional handle'. Now I don't know what compelled them to do this and I'm really not a fan, but I can see what they were going for and I like their reasoning behind it. It's a small combat/survival style blade that they have perfected and then combined with a simple, but good, handle to be used as a bushcraft or EDC knife. So with that in mind I treated it as a bushcraft blade and compared it to some of the others I've handled in the past.
The sheath is a very simple leather bushcraft sheath. It has ESEE embossed in large letters on the front to let admirers know you carry a tool of good quality, but besides this is very much like any other leather drop sheath you find on this style of knife. It holds the blade very well and gives you good access to the handle. It doesn't have contrasting stitching, which is a bit of a shame, but it's not like you buy this knife to look good. It's just function over fashion with this in every aspect.
I was slightly concerned by the round micarta handle on this knife, but really I shouldn't have been. If you would prefer a normal handle you can always choose a standard ESEE 4, but I must have spent a couple of hours making wood shavings while watching TV and didn't notice any discomfort or rolling in the hand. I don't think it suits the blade, in terms of style, but at the same time it doesn't present any problems while wielding it. I think designed as it is, it's probably better than I give it credit for. It tapers in behind the blade giving you a nice place to choke up, but you can really hold the handle in any position and find it comfortable.
just over 4 inches in length, made out of 1095 carbon steel and it has a flat grind blade with a black powder coating. I've used this one and the ESEE 6 for a while now and this coating is very durable. Combined with the sausage handle it makes for a very useful bushcraft knife. I think I would prefer the ESEE 3 over this as the smaller blade with this handle would be a nicer combination, but that's for me and other's may prefer the longer blade.
I've used this knife for anything from processing kindling to opening my watch to replace the battery. It's comfortable to hold, sharp out of the box and easy to maintain thanks to the powder coat. It really is a fantastic EDC blade, and I wish I could carry it permanently (the UK doesn't allow knives in public places). There are times when I carry up to 10 knives for testing, but when I reach for a general blade I almost always go for this one. It's another really good knife by ESEE and one that should last a very long time.
this category is always something that interests me. Now, it is hard to decide what you want out of a survival knife but this RAT-7, among some of the other RAT series, is a perfect fit for what I would consider a good survival blade, although a little modification might be in order for your individual preferences. So with that in mind let me give you some basic info.The blade length is 7.2"/18.3cm (more like 16.5 not including the finger choil), it's just under 5mm thick and overall it's 12.2"/31cm. So it's not a small blade but it's not too big for me to consider a belt knife and it comes with a full flat grind in plain and serrated versions. The handle is made out of micarta and it comes with a molle compatible nylon sheath that's also reversible.
option that would be lovely. It comes with 2 button fasteners which really hold the blade securely so your never going to drop it even in the most extreme conditions. There's a plastic insert in the sheath to hold the blade, but unfortunately this isn't removable for cleaning. There is also quite a large accessory pocket which would be plenty big enough for a sharpening stone and a flint steel or a mini survival kit which is just great given you could get a full array of emergency supplies in there for almost any survival situation. The front pouch also has an elasticated band near the top so you could probably add one or two extra items to the outside of the pouch as well (that's a nice feature). Besides this, it has the usual belt loop and lanyard at the base along with its molle compatible strap. So even though I say it feels cheap (but doesn't feel poor quality), it comes with plenty of options that more than make up for it. It's actually a very good sheath and you could do much worse.As a whole its a very well-balanced blade and very nimble in the hand with its low weight. I haven't done knife based combat training in many years (if I'm completely honest I would be more likely to throw it like a brick than rely on my blade skills to save me), but it would feel confident wielding this over a lot of other blades I've handled. It's very nimble in the hand and really feels like an old friend as you know exactly where the blade is at all times and that's very reassuring. I tend to do some 'shadow boxing' with any new blades I get hold of but this is, for my reviews at least, the first time I thought it worth mentioning due to its natural feel.
on it in the factory as it must have been made separate to the blade itself and attached later on with no further shaping and sizing. The result is a handle that isn't bad, but could be much better, as I mentioned though it isn't uncomfortable and this is something you could easily adjust with some sandpaper and half an hour of your time. The size is very nice and it fits securely in your hand. The finger choil and jimping on the spine made for some really easy feathering and I carved up a few primitive spears with less issues than some higher end blades I've had. Extended use, as is, is a little uncomfortable due to the less than curved edges in the palm of your hand. The handle feels robust and it's not bad enough that it should put you off even if you don't want to do any work on the scales yourself.
superior to the handle and sheath. The flat grind and very good size makes it ideal for batoning and hammering the spine for chopping some thicker branches for shelter. I have used it a fair bit over the last few weeks and, even after processing wood that would last a couple of weeks, it still remained sharp enough for some feathering afterwards. The edge really does hold up well, but I would definitely keep a small sharpener in the sheath pocket. This for me is what makes the RAT-7 a perfect fit for my type of survival knife. It's capable of doing every task you would require thanks to its large (but not excessive) blade size and grind. The finger choil and jimping really give you a solid hold on the knife so, if you needed to, you could confidently skin and gut some game. It has a gentle drop point, but it tapers into a very robust and effective point that will stand up to some heavy-duty tasks. The blade is very sharp out of the box and the black powder coating on this just extends its durability in the field (even if like me you feel it's a shame to destroy such a nice looking coating), the sort of weathered look of the scales just makes it look more appealing as you wear it down.
I will address the elephant in the room. Yes, I know it's green. Well not green. It's GREEN! The same sort of neon green that you get in a mint sauce from your local Indian take-away, which makes me hungry when I look at it, but I am a curry fiend. That however is avoidable as there are other colours available to suit your tastes (pun intended).
don't have to develop and make new moulds and spend months testing their designs. It just allows you to get some of the benefits of their higher priced blades in a much more affordable package. That's something I think Mora do very well and it's something I find most other knife makers avoid. Most companies seem like their cheaper blades were intentionally made worse, so as to encourage you to buy the better and subsequently more expensive models. Mora do not do this. They do make cheaper knives, and they obviously aren't as good as their better, more expensive knives, but they always feel good and perform well.
Survival First Aid Kit[/caption]
My BOB FAK contents: 
More knife reviews coming soon ![/caption]
Before we get on to the pack I would like to talk very briefly about the hydration system. I say briefly because this the entire system itself is so good that I would take up too much of this article talking about it and if you want more information on it you can find it in its own 
than being stitched on to the back so they will be a lot more durable than most other packs. There a 3 strips on each strap so you can attach a radio or phone pouch securely (I use them for clip on lights) and as mentioned previously the left strap houses a pocket for the hand pump for the hydration bladder. Now with the mention of the hand pump I will be honest, I don't like where it's positioned. Maybe its just my frame, but it's too high up and I feel it pressed against my chest, which isn't uncomfortable, but I could 'feel' it. This was the only issue I had when first using the pack, however I compressed the bulb down and taped it for a couple of days and it went really soft which made it almost unnoticeable, so if you get the same problem, do as I did and you should be fine. If you still don't like it you can always put the air pump somewhere-else and use the pocket for a utility item instead like a pocket tool, or you can always remove the air pump all together and use it as a regular hydration system. So the pump position is nothing to worry about, but I thought I should mention it as the tape trick really changed the whole thing for me, so I figured it might help some of you out if you ever have the same issue.
spare clothing, a small cooking system and food and medical supplies. There's not a whole lot you should be carrying for most day trips and I think this has enough space while also giving you the molle options on the front. I will be using it when hiking some of the larger mountains in Britain later this year when I wont be carrying a million knives, and I foresee it carrying everything I will require without needing to attach any molle pouches.