3V Gear Outlaw Gear Slinger

Single arm sling pack with support strap. This is a great bag for short hikes.

First off, I love this bag! I originally bought it as a messenger-style bag for when I'm biking around town, but it has also become my bag for day hiking adventures.

One of my favorite features of this bag is that it is a single arm sling pack. I find this design more comfortable to wear for short stints than a traditional two-arm backpack. I love that when I need to grab something I can just swing it around to my front and access all the pockets without having to take the pack off.

This bag also fits more gear than I was planning. I usually carry around a rain jacket, beanie, gloves, Leatherman, tinder and firestarter, compact camera, phone, usb battery pack (for charging my phone of camera), small first aid kit, Advil, paracord, and a headlamp. Even with all this gear I still have quite a bit of room available. This bag is big enough that I've actually used it as my only bag for a couple of three-day trips to California. Fits in overhead compartments like a champ!

One of the other things I like about it is that it has molle looping on the outside of the bag. This allows me to to clip things like my keys to my pack easily so they don't end up buried in the bottom of my pack. 3V Gear also sells additional molle pouches like a tech pouch for your phone or GPS unit and a large medic pouch so you can put together an organized first aid kit that can easily be moved from bag to bag as needed.

Another thing I like about this bag is that it has a support strap. The sling goes over your left shoulder then down to your right hip. The support strap comes up from your left hip and connects to the main sling strap around the sternum area. This provides extra stability so the bag doesn't slide and bounce if you're moving at a higher rate of speed. The best part about this strap (along with the Y-strap on the back) is that it's completely removable. When I know I won't need it, I just take it off and put it one of the zippered compartments.

The last couple of features that I'll mention that are real positives for this bag are as follows... This bag has a front hydration pocket that will fit a 2 liter bladder (3V Gear offered inexpensive bladders on their website 3vgear.com). There is also a water bottle holder / pocket on the left side of the bag that has an elastic draw cord closure. Lastly, it has a removable Y-strap on the back that is great for securing a helmet, hoodie, blanket, etc.

This bag does, however, have two drawbacks in my opinion. The first is the weight. If you are used to carrying around a polyester ripstop fabric bag, the increased weight of the 600 D fabric on the Outlaw is noticeable. This is only a half drawback though because the 600 D fabric is very rugged and durable.

The other drawback is that the 600 D fabric is water resistant, not waterproof. That means that if you're out in the rain, eventually water will leak into your bag and get all your stuff wet. I solved this by making it its own rain cover out of a couple of heavy duty shower caps.

Overall I would definitely recommend this bag to anyone looking for a durable sling pack for day hiking, short vacations, biking around town, etc.