Bushcraft Equipment: Maxpedition Condor II Pack

Description

A detailed look at the Maxpedtion Condor II + Modifications.

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Video Transcription

hi there guys I thought I'd do a video today just reviewing the backpack that I use and there it is right here you've probably seen it in a number of videos and if you haven't it's a Maxpedition kondal to and foliage green and they're fantastic packs on the vein this one for around about three years now I think and it's been a very reliable companion to take out in all kinds of weather conditions and yeah it's really served me well but I've made a number of modifications to it like this flap here and various other buckles and bits that I've put on it and I thought today I'll just do a video covering just this pack not not the content maybe talk a bit about what I put in each pouch and how much it can hold and the capacity and the materials that it's made of how waterproof it is you know all these different things that you you kind of want to know when you buy a pack and obviously the stitching as well which is very important so one of the major changes I made to the pack was this front flap I think it's something that I get asked quite a few questions about how it's attached and where did it come from and I'll explain how its fitted and everything in a moment but where it came from as I owned like a one of those Maxpedition sort of man bag type things I think it's called a Fat Boy or versa pack and I was at work and it was sitting on top of another bag and we had a fire gang and it just rolled off it mustn't have been on the pack and it must have been gradually kind of deforming because of the weight it rolled off and part of it rolled on to the fire at the bottom of the Versa pack and I remember kind of hearing something you know because I was about 20 yards away and just took no notice of it and after a while obviously going able to the fire because it's stank of burning plastic you know it was in the fire and it was burned it was ruined and the bottom of it had completely been destroyed so I stamped on it and decided when I got home I'd salvage pieces from it to make other things with and this is this is where this front flap came from and I'll show you how its fitted so this clip down here this this was already on the Maxpedition condor too and it connected to the yoke and the yoke this v-type yoke came from just here beneath this sort of grab handle I decided to to cut that because I didn't really want it anymore and what I found was like I'm out in the rain a lot and I have things in this compartment and I found the rain was just hitting this zip and just soaking in and I have lots of water in this front compartment yeah well you know I'm gonna put this flap down because I quite like somewhere to keep my notebook as well and you know I find it quite useful just putting things in there and it's just quite quite a nice addition really not all this is about functional you know this is an element of aesthetics there as well as there is with anything but you can see how this is connected we open the bag here you'll see the zip is is just here and it's just stitched just underneath you can see there and it's not particularly great but you can pick the whole pack up with it it's just stitched kind of two or three times to make it you know really strong and I've done the same thing with this notebook holder I think this is the four by six notebook holder you can see I've just literally stitched about three or four times in four different places one two three four through the UM the top flap and then through the pack again and I've done the same just here just stitch literally a continuous loop through just to hold it on and you know and it's pretty strong it doesn't need to withstand too much but I often keep my notebook in here and various other notes and things sometimes a wild edibles guide if I'm going out and you know I can't remember some things and there's something on there that I want to want to investigate a bit further another item that I go off the Versa Park was strap here or this cushion I should say a strap cushion and on the versa pack you have a large strap that goes all the way over your shoulder and this goes on it to stop it cutting into your shoulder and I wanted a little bit of cushioning on the the waistband on the condor to I thought well this should be perfect so I cut it in half and then stitched it to stop it fraying anymore and just sort of burnt it off where the nylon was to stop it fraying and it fits quite nicely you do have to cut it in half quite carefully but again it's something I managed to salvage off of a versa pack and it does add an element of comfort when it's around your waist what I've got here is a expedition tactile this is effectively max petitions answer for attaching pouches to male I think there are better ones around but these do serve a purpose if you do end up possessing something you don't know what to do with them and you're not using them to connect pouches to your kit which I certainly don't use them for they're not bad that's just there's better ones around that a much cheaper but I've weaved it in between the male there as you can see and it's just provided with me with sort of like a temporary vertical bit of male to connect my dump pouch to and I don't have my dump pouch here on this sort of belt simply because it gets in the way of the movement of my arms and it's really annoying so being able to temporarily click a clip at that means I can wear my pack and actually put things in it comfortably and have it fully expanded and it doesn't get in the way of my arm movement but also means I can take this off and put this on my belt kick or clip it on my belt and go and do a bit of foraging and put my pack down as well as put wildgame in it this part here this Grimlock it's not as standard with the dump pouch the dump pouch has come with these clips here that we talked about earlier but they have a tendency to break so the grimlock really does make it a bit more versatile and a lot stronger the dump pouch is mirrored on the other side as well as the tack tie as well as the strap as you can see and these are the medium-sized dump pouches should I think a perfect ray that the huge ones are a bit too big and the small ones are a little bit too small unless you want to put canteen kit in a standard on the Condor too you have four compression straps although I suppose you could say that's five if you keep the original Y type thing on well this flap does function as a compression strap but not quite as effective this is your original you've got these compression straps here and the top ones I use I don't use the bottom ones is the packs usually quite well padded out at the base and you can see it's just tucked in behind these pouches here and I've kept the buckle as you can see there but I've just tied it off because I may want to use it again in the future because all this comes off and it's all kind of quite modular at the top of the pack here I've got a Grimlock as I have on the other side mirrored again and that just is quite useful ready for clipping all manner of things bits of kit equipment keys to car whatever you like really you know up to you in your imagination but I have put a drawstring just then that is really useful I ended up coming across lots of these little Maxpedition toggles and various other toggles off the Versa pack and other bits of kit I don't use and its really good for example the other day I when I pick lots of wild mint and they've got quite a long thick stem and you can kink them over and just tie them on and just carry lots of mint on you like wild edibles or bits of equipment like a sort of towel that might be wet or a bit of gear that might be damp and you don't want it in the pack so you can draw string string it on if we look at this front compartment here you can see there are some changes that have been made and these sort of buckles and this strapping and this equipment here they came off this Maxpedition giannis patch I've got two Janus patches here and you can see I just use them as side pouches compartments for my pack the occasion they come off and go on my belt or at least the medical wonders there anyway you don't really need these kind of buckle type things on though and they're on the side of your pack so I took them off because I never use them and just put them on the front and it's just quite useful for gripping extra kit there at the base of the pack again I've just added a couple of grimlocks on the standard pack you have some straps that come along here and they sort of fasten on and you can fit things on there but they're not very big and you probably can only fit a really small sleeping mat like a foam roll mat or sleeping bag on there what I've actually got in the pack is two very long webbing straps so one on ebay and bought lots of this webbing here this foliage green webbing which you can get from the states put some buckles on that I bought and I've got a huge strap that I can just thread through here and through the grimlock if I want to secure even more and fit an enormous sleeping bag on there which is something I do quite a lot and it just gives me a lot more leeway but I don't want them to be there when I'm not using it because they absorb water and they just stand up getting covered in mud when I put it on the ground so I take them off and keep them in the pack until I need them you can see the pack is pretty mirrored I've got four pouches on the side and really pouches I think are quite important simply because of the limitations of capacity it's not a very big pack at 23 liters so when going through the winter last year I had sort of a bit of trouble with it and I thought you know this pack is just not big enough for me but adding these pouches on to the side and thinking about it a bit more strategically and what I'm taking with me for example I used to carry an enormous amount of tinder on me and I thought well why have I got all this tinder now there's so much birch bark out there this crumpled fungus there's tons of material I know how to use it I just need a Ferro rod say I just started carrying a Ferro rod and I've never really had any issues making a fire so immediately the tinder pouch is now gone and I've got plenty more space in other pouches so just thinking about what you need and planning food correctly in clothing correctly you know under layers fold up really thin and really the outer shell would remain the same like a woollen jumper or fleece jumper and then a sort of shell over the top of that to keep you dry and allow you to breathe a bit and all that can go on for prolonged periods of time and you can wash your clothing in the river and strap it on the outside if you're on the go and it really does work quite well and this pack has served me really well you can see the Maxpedition kondal - comes with these two front pouches which are as standard and they're very useful and you can fit an awful lot in them provided you pack them right now saving the internal capacity of the pack really does help in the winter especially when you're sort of putting a lot of clothes in there and sleeping equipment things that you know going to insulate you and keep you warm and you want all the other tools and other bits and bobs and you know to kind of exist on the outside this bottom / actually contains all my cooking gear and various food as well if I can fit it in and other bits and bobs that I might want to take with me you can see I've got a lid there I've got something to drain the SAP of trees and also act as a candle and you can drop a wick in it if you have it at the right angle this was given to me by a friend of mine II saw me make a hash of tacking a tree I've got a spork there as well which is um just pretty useful and that just fits in there and I've got the plate which I recently did a video on slash frying pan which fits in the back so really nice to have all your cooking gear in there and a titanium cup and also a guy designed stainless steel bottle the internal capacity of the bag is very very useful and my sleeping-bag resides on the basis we discussed earlier in a dry bag and in here goes lots and lots of other things say you've got like a zipper pocket that comes as standard as well a mesh pocket I generally keep like a slingshot in there which I really enjoy using and and hunting with when I get the opportunity but you can put whatever you like in there obviously you could put seasonings and all kinds of things my brand first Brooks wildlife hatchet lives on the side inside the pack you know II don't I don't generally have it on the outside of the pack but again you've got some good capacity there for an axe even got the sleep mat in there and that just sits at the back and it's nice and comfortable packed at the back because it goes against my back and stops things in the pack kind of pushing into me and I've got a tough at the base as well top just here and this is a 3 by 3 DD top but I wasn't going to go into what I've got in there cuz I will at a later later day but you can see that you have got some good capacity and you've also got a slip there maybe you want to put some books or something in there while you're out like a field guide or your field guide or a journal or food or whatever and you can pack quite a bit in there you do have a zipper compartment at the back and in there I've actually got this hard piece of foam which stops things interfering with my back if you do want to put a hydration system in there you can just put on in there there's also some corresponding velcro like material where I think you know you see on the adverts you've got handguns and stuff put in there obviously that's not an option for me but I don't have a hydration system and I opted for a canteen but if you do want one you can feed the pipe through comes out of this velcro kind of hatch at the top and can go through one of these eyelets and you can drink Worcester on the go but just bear in mind it will take up internal capacity with this kind of baffle that's in there as you can see at the back I went to Norway recently and I will do a video on on the travels there as I've got a bit of footage and stuff and it was a really great trip going up in so the mountains and stuff and you know wild camping for so many days and hiking and it was a brilliant trip and France and fantastic fungus as well always wanted to find horse's hoof fungus and chaga fungi

that was a first for me I've read about them I've handled them never found them in the wild on the tree and use them as tinder and also use them to carry fire as well from one place to another so it was really fantastic to be able to do that but I didn't take this pack with me and I took a much bigger pack I couldn't tell you the name of it although I will put it in the description when I get hold of it again I borrow it off my brother and I do kind of wish I'd taken this pack because when I got there I planned for very cold weather and I didn't really know what to expect in terms of the environment so I over packed and I didn't pack very well I took some good good equipment with me but I was carrying about 40 pounds of kit which to be honest with you was far too much gear really was too much gear there were lots of resources that could have been utilized in the Arian that we used and to make life very comfortable and really all that was necessary was a tarp and basic sleeping gear I could have just taken this with me and done very well with the clothes I had because we ended up washing in streams a lot of the time and drying our clothes around the fire by thermal walls which reflected the heating kept a little eddy of heat going that dried your clothes within a day so it was pretty good the only thing he needs to take was it was food really because of the nature of the trip so this videos just been about that Maxpedition kondal - and you know as it is a standard and the changes I've made kind of psychology that goes behind it and why I chose it and here it may apply - and you know it's its pros and it's cons obviously it's a very small pack so you know the downsides are it's not going to appeal to everyone it's got a military kind of look which may not appeal to everyone zips aren't waterproof so in very heavy rain zips will take on water in your kit will get wet inside so either internal dry bag or a shell is required for heavy rain like rain it's okay and it's very strong it's abrasive resistant they looking you forever my exhibition products I find machine washable on 50 degrees I've tracked it in the wash with all sorts of stuff and washed it when it's been covered in mud so it's a great pack it's reliable none of the stitching has come loose yet and I've had it for three years and used it you know West's all over the place tastic pack and you know worth 120 quid if you're going to keep it for a very long time and get a lot of use out of it but obviously it's a you know it's got some downsides as well so I hope this videos helped and I have been tagged by a friend of mine in Alaska so to do a kit review of all the gear that I have in there and how it all goes together so we'll be doing that pretty soon but thanks for watching and I hope this videos helped and I hope feel see you in the next vid cheers guys