Fox Outdoors Advanced 3-Day Combat Pack - Coyote

For those wanting outdoor life on the cheap, sometimes the most ideal gear is not available to you. This is definitely me as well, so I decided to get a Fox Outdoor 3 Day Combat Pack. Going at about $75, it seemed to be the cheapest, good quality backpack I could get that was not an ALICE pack (which can go for about half that price).

It's certainly one of the bigger three day assault packs out there. At 22' x 17' x 11' it's more than capable of carrying supplies that will not only last you three days, but even a week.

QUALITY AND DESIGN

Unfortunately, you do get what you pay for, and being half the price of bags of its equivalent, sometimes this shows. For example, the stitching and construction quality itself is not top of the line and definitely not Mil-Spec. You have to take good care of it. If you yank on a strap while the bag is fully loaded, you'll damage the stitching that connects it to the bag. This is definitely a handle with care item. The weight distribution of the pack is also less than ideal, so loads feel heavier than they really should. That is probably the biggest weakness of this pack.

I've read a lot of reviews going on about the poor quality of the construction. I agree to an extent, but some have claimed that the zippers came right off and the fabric just started ripping to shreds. Either there is a huge quality consistency problem (where I just happened to luck out and get a half decent one) or they're just not taking care of a cheap piece of equipment well enough. Most of these reviewers emphasize that it's made in China, but I'm pretty sure many of their favorite brands and models are as well.

HIGH POINTS

The good news is that as long as you don't start to exceed 40 lbs this bag seems to do its job quite well. And the two advantages it does have over ALICE packs are the MOLLE loops (for canteens and IFAKs) and large pocket openings for ease of access.

VERDICT

Although it's not a case of "avoid at all costs" I am somewhat hesitant to recommend it to people because of the number of bad things I've heard about it and because of it's very poor weight distribution. However, I have been able to make it work for me with a little effort and care. Although this is not a pack I'd bring to war, it is something I would bring to a long weekend hike and camp out.

I would say that it is inferior to an ALICE pack in most ways except that access to items are much easier with this pack than on most ALICE packs.

Took this pack on a 3 day cold weather (spring) mountain backpacking trip with 48 lbs in it. Weight distribution is terrible! I adjusted the shoulder straps as short as they will go, and tightened the waist belt as tight as was reasonable, and still almost no weight was distributed to the small of my back/waist area. All weight on shoulders. I am 5'10" tall, and 175 lbs, hardly an out of the ordinary body type. An internal zipper broke, but I forced it so I'm not complaining about that. If you keep it under 30 or so lbs, it would be ok perhaps. If you're carrying 3 or 4 MREs and 500 rounds of 556 and some bdus, with basic survival and sanitary gear, maybe it might be ok, but I won't recommend it. I can't hate on it, because it was cheap and it did the job, but I only did a 12 mile trip, and my shoulders feel like hell. I'm experienced with hiking and tac gear, I can assure it wasn't operator error.

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