5.11 RUSH 72, thoughts/review

[Kiwi Bowhunter]

Hey guys,

Just got home, winding down after a weekend in the bush.
Thought it would be a great opportunity to test the new pack out. The mighty, 5.11 RUSH 72!!





First impressions, bag is very neat, tidy, feels sturdy, great internal organisation, and plenty of MOLLE capability if that's what you're after.
The back-board is pretty sturdy, couldn't feel anything pointy poking me in the back when I was loading it up with crap at home.

Decided to take it on a 3-day trek into the wilds, but I loaded it up with literally as much stuff as it could hold.
A test for me, and a test for the pack.
The pack passed, I didn't
I was absolutely ruined, and I've done similar load in more hiking-orientated packs, and they've been relatively comfy. This pack, I would recommend against loading it right out. I had my big sleeping bag, my axe, cans(yep, I said cans!) of food, a few kilos of dried food, fishing rod, 2 reels, my big bush shirt, heaps of extra clothes, 1L of vodka, drink mixes, extra cook gear, SS nalgene and glacier cup, 3L bladder, poncho, heaps of medical supplies, plant and mushroom ID books, iPhone, solar battery charger loaded with batteries, notepad, pens and markers, double barrel 12g, shells, etc etc. I really loaded her up.
The pack showed no signs of giving way, zips are all strong, is pretty waterproof(rode on the deck of the ute through the rain, and sat in a carpark for a while, still waterproof(rain wasn't too heavy, though).

I found that under that amount of weight, the center-of-gravity of the pack shifted very far back(pack seems to expand backwards), not sideways or upwards, basically so I was walking with a lean the whole way in to try keep it on my hips a bit, my shoulders were absolutely killing me!!
After that, I drank alllllllll the vodka , ate alllll the food, and lessened my water load from 4 down to 1 liter. This made the pack very manageable on the return trip, also moving the bushshirt from the outside cargo-bay-thingy(technical term ) onto the inside of the pack, I believe this also helped the center-of-gravity shift closer to my back.

(Some scenery for you)





Walked out in torrential rain(weather warning got issued a few hours after I left lol), poncho covered the pack admirable, as well as most of myself.
[Tried to put a 'potrait' shot of the pack here, but says it's too high? Will try crop it later]

All in all, a good weekend, a few well-earned blisters, and some new pictures and stories!

Any questions about the pack are more than welcome, I'll try answer them as best as I can.


Cheers,
Sean.

[Blacksmith]

You drank a liter of vodka and walked out the next morning? You do realize that drinking that even in two nights could give you a fatal BAC?

Otherwise nice pack and scenery. I have to go visit NZ...

[Boondock]

Nice review of a very cool pack--was that a wool blanket stuffed into the outside sleeve? If so, what a great feature.

Also digging the scenery. Post more shots of your trip, if you've got time. Thanks for sharing.

[Kiwi Bowhunter]

Yeah, really nice country we have here

@ Blacksmith, it was over two nights, it's not that much haha.

View from the door of the hut:


To the right of the hut:


The hut and the woodshed, with the outhouse in the background:


My hat, after walking back for a few hours through the heavy rain, just thought it looked cool!


Cheers,
Sean.

[Kiwi Bowhunter]

@ Boondock,

No, that's my large bush shirt, also seen here haha;


Cheers,
Sean.

[KentsOkay]

That is an awesome hat. Every time I see pictures of NZ, I realize how much I want to move there. Thanks for the review! I'm poking about for a better backpack, and this may be an option.

[congochris]

Just a silly question: How tall are you? I'm 6'2" and if I load my RUSH 72 that much (or less) it does similar, except the hipbelt ends up closer to my waist, like an old ALICE pack belt. Now I tend to just use mine with the shoulder straps and load it relatively lightly.

[TheFrog]

I recently bought the rush 24, I am amazed at how much it stores. I looked at the 72 and said no way. If you are man enough to carry that thing, I am not messin with you

[Boondock]

No, that's my large bush shirt,

Groovy, that's still a decent-sized pocket.

[congochris]

Yes it is, I can actually cram my carhartt work jacket into that space. Makes the pack look deformed, but there's tons of room in and on that thing.

[ppfd]

Beautiful country friend!

Love the hat, any info on it?

I had a Rush 12, I bought for a EDC pack. Ended up being too big for my general carry needs. I did use it for a 12 mile hike prior to selling it. Rode and carried like a dream. Anybody looking for a nice day pack really needs to look and the 12.

The Rush line in general is a great line of bags reasonably priced.

[Kiwi Bowhunter]

Beautiful country friend!

Love the hat, any info on it?

I had a Rush 12, I bought for a EDC pack. Ended up being too big for my general carry needs. I did use it for a 12 mile hike prior to selling it. Rode and carried like a dream. Anybody looking for a nice day pack really needs to look and the 12.

The Rush line in general is a great line of bags reasonably priced.

Yeah bud, the hat is from Kakadu Outfitters, an Australian company.
First link that camme up: http://www.lorsey.com/store-products-8H ... 53512.html

I've been looking at the 12 for EDC, but yeah, not too sure on the size, thanks for your input!

Yes it is, I can actually cram my carhartt work jacket into that space. Makes the pack look deformed, but there's tons of room in and on that thing.

Yeah, the pocket's freaking huge! Main reason I chose this pack over a Maxpedition counter-part!! So I could keep the Swanndri from clogging the main compartment.'

That is an awesome hat. Every time I see pictures of NZ, I realize how much I want to move there. Thanks for the review! I'm poking about for a better backpack, and this may be an option.

Yeah mate, plenty of lovely scenery around the place!
I'd recommend this pack as long as you weren't loading 30+ kgs into it, like I did. Although, the pack would do it if you need to!

Just a silly question: How tall are you? I'm 6'2" and if I load my RUSH 72 that much (or less) it does similar, except the hipbelt ends up closer to my waist, like an old ALICE pack belt. Now I tend to just use mine with the shoulder straps and load it relatively lightly.

I'm 5'10", and about 200-210lbs. I really have to tighten waist straps down to get it to hold on over my belly

I should also mention, every time I took the pack off, the male part of the sternum strap kept popping out of the MOLLE. Don't know how, I'm going to secure it with a zip-tie to make it more permanent, though!


Cheers,
Sean.

[Kiwi Bowhunter]

Bit more in-depth, 20mins of a vid review.

Pt1:


Pt2:


Enjoy!


Cheers,
Sean.

[ki4mus]

you know, i never had a use for those tiny pockets inside the two side compartments....

thanks to you the wife will wondeer where her aluminum foil went and my pack is gaing a little weight....

[derf26]

Thanks for the review, and I really, really like your hat. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have the same one, or one very similar, minus the feather.

As for maxpedition and 5.11 packs, after using both my opinion is that they look nice (from a tactical perspective), they're very rugged, they have great organization, but... that's where it stops. The suspension system is either non-existent or shoddy, which makes carrying heavy loads unnecessarily difficult (and they're gonna be heavy, cause the pack is heavy itself).

In my opinion, for the price of a Maxpedition Falcon II which was a 24 liter pack, I could have easily gotten myself my current BOB, which is a Deuter 65+10 with a fantastic suspension system. The falcon II doesn't even have a hip belt, just a strap.

Of course for EDC that doesn't really matter because you're not carrying much, and if you're accessing your pack all the time, I can understand all the organizational pockets. But for backpacking or bugging out with a heavier load? Not for me.