Tactical Backpack 45L with MOLLE Panels for Hiking and Everyday Carry

A 45 liter pack with an attachment grid across the whole front, so the kit you reach for most never sits at the bottom of the bag.

No frame. No wheels. No pockets sewn where a factory guessed you wanted them. Clip your own pouches where your hands go, and take them off again when the day is a short one.

The front of this bag is a mounting board

MOLLE is the grid that lets a pouch, a sheath or a first aid kit thread onto a pack and stay there all day. The webbing version does it the traditional way, with six rows of webbing stitched across the front pocket and more around both sides. The laser cut version swaps the stitching for a double layer of fabric punched with seven rows of six slots, forty two in all. Same standard, less thread, nothing for grit to sit behind.

Either way you build the outside of the bag yourself, and you rebuild it in ten minutes when the next trip wants something different.

Four zipped compartments, not one deep hole

The main compartment takes the bulk, and in front of it sits a second full height compartment with a zipped mesh pocket in its lid for the small flat things. Then two more on the front face itself.

On the webbing version the lower front pocket folds down flat onto a proper organiser panel. A slip pocket swallows a phone, three pen loops sit beside it, and a row of elastic retainers runs along the inside of the lid. The upper front pocket is flat and deep, and a laptop slides straight into it. Load it once and you stop hunting for the head torch.

Where the cheap one gives itself away

A forty dollar tactical pack is a camouflage print on a slab of foam. The back is one flat pad that sits against your shirt and stays there. The straps are webbing with a little sponge in them. Nothing pulls the load in, so a half empty bag swings behind you on every step down.

This one has a padded mesh back panel, with the padding raised into channels so air can move behind it, and shoulder straps padded and faced in the same open mesh. A webbing waist belt takes the weight off your shoulders, and two compression straps on each side squash a light load flat before you set off.

Which of the two versions to pick

Webbing MOLLE is the rounder, more traditional shape, with its compartments stepped forward and a Spanish flag patch on a hook and loop strip. Laser Cut MOLLE is squarer and flat fronted, with a large hook and loop panel across the top pocket and a black and white American flag on it. It also adds what decides it for most people: a deep mesh pocket on each side, cinched with a drawcord, holding a shaker or a wide bottle upright while you walk. Take the laser cut one if you carry a bottle, at the gym or on a trail. Take the webbing one for the traditional look and the lower price, because everything else is the same bag.

Load it in the hallway the night before, and where everything lives stops being a question at six in the morning.

Specifications

Capacity: 45 L

Material: Polyester, water-resistant

Attachment system: MOLLE. Six rows of stitched webbing across the front and around both sides on Webbing MOLLE; seven rows of six laser-cut slots, 42 in all, on Laser Cut MOLLE

Compartments: Main compartment, middle compartment with a zipped mesh lid pocket, front upper pocket, front lower pocket

Organiser: Phone slip pocket, three pen loops, a flat pocket and elastic retainer loops inside the front lower pocket. Photographed on Webbing MOLLE

Laptop: The front upper pocket takes a laptop. Photographed on Webbing MOLLE

Bottle pockets: Two deep mesh side pockets with drawcords, on Laser Cut MOLLE only

Back panel: Padded, mesh faced, with the padding raised into channels

Shoulder straps: Padded and mesh faced, adjustable, with a D-ring

Chest strap: Webbing with a side-release buckle, on Webbing MOLLE

Waist belt: Flat webbing with a side-release buckle. Not padded

Compression straps: Two on each side, four in all, each with a side-release buckle

Carry: Two shoulder straps and a padded grab handle on top

Closure: Zips, with knotted paracord pulls

Patch panel: Hook and loop. A narrow strip on Webbing MOLLE, a full-width panel on Laser Cut MOLLE

Colors, Webbing MOLLE: Black, Green, Khaki, CP Camo, ACU Camo

Colors, Laser Cut MOLLE: Black, Green, Coyote Brown, White, Red, Black Camo

Hardware: Color matched to the body, except on White and Red, where the buckles, drawcords and zip pulls are black

Dimensions: 19.7 x 11.8 x 11.8 in (50 x 30 x 30 cm), height x width x depth

Package Includes

1x Tactical Backpack

1x Flag Patch, hook and loop backed. Spanish flag on Webbing MOLLE, American flag on Laser Cut MOLLE