Exos Bravo Tactical Assault Hiking Camping Backpack Rucksack Bug Out Bag Daypack MOLLE Equipped Hydration Pack Compatible

Upon the first use, the plastic clamp on the top broke. I can live with this but I question the rigidity of all the other clamps under more stress. A real weak spot. Carry para cord.

If you came for the strap modifications, they are in the second to last paragraph. Sorry to do the all caps thing, but I think it will help out a lot of users.Ok, I'll start with the elephant in the room. This backpack is such a close copy of the Maxpedition Falcon III that I wouldn't be surprised if it was made by the same company. As luck would have it, I own a Maxpedition Falcon III, so I can do a comparison review of the two. In one of the pictures I have the Exos on the left (in grey) and the Maxpedition on the right (the khaki and OD green).Price: I hate it when people put price at the end, it is generally a much higher priority then that. The Exos and the Maxpedition aren't even in the same price category. I purchased the Exos for around $45, and the Maxpedition for $125. That is a huge discrepancy.Materials and construction: All of the materials used in each pack seems to be identical. Fabric weight, straps, buckles, zippers, all identical. The stitching is also identical, everything is double stitched.Features: Here is where we can see some differences between the two packs.The Exos has a bladder pouch on the back. It also has hook and loop field on the top of both sides for patches. The Maxpedition has a computer pocket in the main compartment, it has a hook and loop field inside the smaller of the two compartments (I use it with a Maxpedition universal hook and loop holster for my carry gun when I am going into one of those ridiculous gun free zones), and it has a hook and loop field all the way across where the logo is.If I could go back and do it over, I may have only purchased the Exos. The few things the Maxpedition has as an advantage over the Exos do not really justify a $75 premium. I do like the color options of the Maxpedition better, when I bought the Exos the choices were black or grey, neither of which I found wildly attractive (black screams "guy with a gun!" and grey is just not common enough to be subtle). I was also not that thrilled with the way the front cinch strap on the Exos was interfering with opening the two smaller front pockets, but I fixed that (see below).One of the great things about owning both of these packs is the Maxpedition had a few ways the straps were set up that I could copy on the Exos. I left two more pictures to help explain what I did. First, the front cinch strap/Y shaped strap. I pulled the bottom part of the Y all the way out of the buckle and pulled it out of the MOLLE. I reinserted it only through the MOLLE on the front of the lower front pocket, and extended the top part of the Y. Now it is much easier to open both of the front pockets. The second thing I did was minor, but I flipped all the short ends of the straps back through the buckles. You can see this in the last picture I uploaded, the top strap is the way it came, the bottom strap is my modification, This helps secure the straps just a little bit better.There it is, I would not blame anyone for buying the Maxpedition, but the few features it has over the Exos does not, in my mind, justify a $75 premium (mostly it seems like you are paying for the name). I hope in the future Exos adds some more color options, some earth tones would fit pretty well with the backpacking and tactical orientation of this bag.

I've only had this bag for about 24 hours, so I may update it later with details about durability, but so far I am thoroughly impressed with it. First, the quality appears to be pretty close to top notch (I have one bag that is higher quality, but cost six times as much). The zippers are large and heavy duty. There are a ton of straps for compressing the bag to keep it compact, most with elastic retainers to keep the excess webbing under control. The shoulder straps are large and well-cushioned. It looks like it will be quite comfortable as a hiking backpack, and all of the compartments open all the way for easy loading and unloading so you aren't digging blind for something that has found it's way to the bottom. I started looking for a "go bag" or "bug-out-bag" to pack with emergency supplies, but I think I am going to use this one more as a "keep it by the front door, stocked with supplies I am likely to need on a typical family outing" bag. It also looks like it will be an excellent carry-on to maximize capacity while fitting neatly under the seat in front of you on the airplane. We've been struggling for a long time to find the right bag for this once we had kids and it became necessary to pack along a plethora of snacks, games, and electronics to keep them (and ourselves) occupied for several hours. At $45, if I decide I want another for a different purpose, it's an easy choice. So far I've stocked it with a change of clothes for the whole family, basic first aid, diapers and wipes for the baby, typical snacks, and a bunch of other little stuff (sunscreen, phone chargers, bottle opener, etc...), and there is still room for more. My only "gripes" are: 1) I kind of wish there were more little pockets and such inside the compartments to organize and store all those little things, and 2) the vertical compression strap (clearly visible in the photos) came run under the MOLLE webbing for both the lower and upper outer compartments, which made accessing the lower compartment difficult. But this was easily solved by moving it to the outside of the webbing on the upper compartment, which allows it to flip down and out of the way when opening the lower compartment. But these are both VERY minor gripes and overall, this is WELL worth the $45 I paid for it.Update: almost a year later and this bag is still going strong. No rips, tears, or fraying despite almost daily use. Still gets five stars. Would give it six if I could.