#bogear

Bags Beaten & Bruised: BOGear Spare Camel

Brisbane Outdoor Gear (BOGear) has been on aBAGHabit’s radar for a while now but there was never been an excuse to grab a pack… That is until a certain limited Multicam Black material surfaced and then I knew it was my time! I have had the pack for a couple of months now and I’ve carried it from the concrete jungle of Singapore to a hike in the forests of Malaysia to sand dunes in Vietnam... In BOGear’s terms... Dirtyfying It Worldwide. Here are some thoughts...

HOW IT LOOKS The Spare Camel definitely belongs outdoors. It’s sporty appearance would compliment the commuter, hiker, outdoorsman, etc. The best part about its appearance would be the fact that you could almost make it anything you want from murdered out understated to no holds barred psychedelic colours. Your imagination is the limit. I wasn’t really a camouflage kind of guy till I laid eyes on this Multicam Black material. The understated nature of the camouflage just appealed and I dropped Dave an email. Incidentally the Multicam material was from another BOGear customer who was kind enough to let me have enough for a pack! Thank YOU Soooo Much!! One day I hope to pay it forward too! The optional velcro gives me the option of further customising my pack with patches that I feel add to the character of the pack. Multicam Black allows for the pack to blend into a casual business environment and holds its own in a jeans and t-shirt environment. I love the look and believe the pack definitely fits aesthetically into my lifestyle.

HOW IT PACKS The front panel has 2 pockets which allow for quick access stuff like keys, notebooks, and other stuff. On the inside of the front flap, there are 3 mesh compartments. A smaller horizontal top compartment, a vertically-zipped middle compartment, and a horizontally-zipped lower compartment. Each of these compartments are great for cables, chargers, spare batteries and stationery depending on what you pack on a regular basis. On my trip to Vietnam and Malaysia, I had a pen and a swiss army knife in the smaller top compartment, my GoPro and accessories in the middle, and a dry bag with first aid kit in the bottom.   The pack opens flat which is great for packing allowing you to get a good overview of what is in the pack and how much space you have. I have grown to love packs that open flat as it makes packing and finding stuff much easier. On the inside of the back panel, there are 2 D-rings which allow you to attach BOGear’s CellBlock packs riding high on your back rather than at the bottom. A sleeve doubles as a storage for a hydration bladder or laptop sleeve depending on your use. The Spare Camel has a bunch of organization in terms of packing. The pocketing and organization is generous but not over the top coming into a good balance of big spaces and little pockets.

HOW IT CARRIES The pack sat comfortably on my back whether I was headed to the office, walking across sand dunes in Vietnam, or hiking the forests of Malaysia. The shoulder straps are generous and handle the load very well. The straps on my bag always seemed to loosen when I put it down and I had to tighten them whenever I picked it up again. Just a slight niggle but definitely made sure that my pack sat tight every time I put it on. I’m not much of a sternum strap kind of guy and had no problems without it but if you are, you might want to add one when you order! The Spare Camel is comfortable packed full and sits well but I definitely appreciated the compression straps on the side when I was carrying less. This allowed for the pack to sit closer to my back instead of flapping around with the extra space. It definitely looked better too! The molle on the outside allowed for a carabiner to be attached. This allowed for sandals, water bottles, and just random stuff to be just hooked on for easy transport. Molle also means that a whole bunch of different accessories can be attached to the front of the pack.

WHAT IT DOES WELL The Spare Camel suits the active lifestyle. Whether it is a hike in the mountains or the commute to and from work, it performs and looks the part. With the capacity to last a couple of days, it swallows your tech, your clothes, your books, and pretty much whatever you throw at it sans giant carton boxes. One thing that I must state is the huge size of the zippers on this pack. At first, they jiggle a lil and get your attention but they’ve grown on me so much that I missed yanking on them when I’m using another pack. Zippers that size are great and now I want some on most if not all my packs!

WHAT IT DOESN’T DO SO WELL It could probably be a lil more waterproof if you were spending lots of time outdoors but i personally back a dry bag or two when I suspect bad weather. There was also the occasional situation where the plastic hardware of the straps rubbed the undersides of my arms which caused slight discomfort. I say occasional because this didn’t seem to happen all the time and I found that it went away when I got the proper fit. I’m not that tall but I’m not sure if that has anything to do with it.

SIMILAR BAGS IN THE MARKET Hmmm.. The GR1 from Goruck comes to mind. The 3 Day Assault Pack from Mystery Ranch with a little more military flavour.. Recently, the Nightshift V.2 from Seagull Bags also piqued my interested and I’m wondering if I will scratch that itch...

Editor's note: Typically, my reviews span a couple of weeks. Two, maybe three. This one's almost two months. Mostly this is due to life getting in the way. But I'm glad I got a chance to expand the amount of time I spent with this bag before I reviewed it.

I've admired BOgear (that's B-O-gear) for quite sometime. Coming out of Brisbane, Queensland in Australia, they make a pretty wide variety of gear, focusing on the cyclist but not exclusively so. What really endears me to them, however, is the in-depth way the company loves to explain their features. 

Between the videos and blog posts, there is no question that BOgear is serious about their work and about making sure you can use it like a pro.And it's more than just that, of course. Dave (the founder of the company) is genuinely excited about making bags. His origin story is replete with talk of getting outdoors, his love of design, and his desire to help the environment. He discusses the way BOgear's design process is always evolving and full of testing and failure analysis. And even in the email we've exchanged, you can just hear it in the tone of his words. Dave enjoys the hell out of what he does. 

I asked Dave about his company, and he said that at the moment, BOgear is a team of five. Two workshop assistants do prep and some manufacture, two dedicated sewing machine operators, and himself. So a small group, by all accounts, but they're doing some great work.

Dave asked me to review one of his mainstay packs, the Spare Camel, I am not going to lie, I was pretty excited. I've wanted to try one out for quite some time, but didn't anticipate getting ahold of one any time soon. At any rate, you can read my experiences below. 

The summary

Company: BOgear

Model: Spare Camel

Materials: 1000D Cordura outer, 420 nylon inner, 1" polyester webbing, YKK zippers

Size: 30L

Price: $198 AUD

What it's for: Daily cyclists that prefer a backpack, don't need too many frills, and like the idea of adding MOLLE pouches to their bag. Flashier and less tactical than a GORUCK, great as a carry-on, and comfortable for the day to day.

What it's not for: Hauling huge amounts of stuff. 30 liters is perfectly respectable, but this is not a bag for messengers or people who routinely carry huge amounts of stuff.

The features

The first thing you notice when you look at this bag is how well it's put together. The bartacking is solid, the contours and geometry look nice - even the color combination looks great. 

On the front of the bag, there is a strip of reflective 3M material below four rows of PALS loops made of nylon webbing. Above the PALS loops are two zippers that grant access outer pockets. The lower pocket runs most of the height of the front of the bag, and the pocket above it is a much smaller one for phone, keys, etc. The zippers on these pockets are normal size, and while the lower one was easy to access, the upper one was a bit tougher because it has a very large zipper flap. Both pockets were completely waterproof in my experience with constant Seattle rain over the course of two months. 

On the flap of the upper pocket is a strip of loop velcro with a BOgear patch (a nice touch). So if you've got some fun patches to add, they've got a home on this bag. As usual, I didn't really use the PALS loops all that much, although I DID use them to hold a U lock and a carabiner (which feels like an affectation, to me, but it's a look I like).

The base of the bag has an extra patch of Cordura as reinforcement. It was definitely nice having that there, as I don't shy away from putting my bag down on concrete, dirt, and rocks. No visible damage to it, either. 

Both sides of the bag include compression straps (much better U-lock storage) for keep the bag down to size. On the top of the bag is a webbing grab handle that was surprisingly sturdy. It wasn't as comfortable as some handles I've used, but it wasn't bad and I used it often. 

The back of the bag has 10 mm of foam and a plastic frame sheet inside a velcroed pocket. The padding was very rigid and not uncomfortable, but I think I like my back foam to be a bit more plush. The rigidity WAS great for riding, though, because it helped a little with airflow, it kept the structure of the bag intact, and it allowed me to keep it tight on my shoulders. At the bottom of the padding pocket are two holes for slipping a hip belt in, which I didn't use. I love the idea of being able to add one, though. It increases the utility and versatility of the design.

The straps themselves are non-yoked (meaning the are two separate pieces, as opposed to the single piece you see some bags have (like a lot from OGIO and some from Chrome and Blaq) and padded with a similar thickness as the back. Each strap has loops for adding accessories - me, I had my GoPro and my Boombot Rex on them. The straps were definitely comfortable in heavy cargo situations, as well as riding - I really like having a sternum strap (and you could add a third party one, no problem), but the Spare Camel doesn't come with one. The straps also had plastic D rings for more accessories, plastic d-rings for tighening and loosening them, and strap-keeper velcro loops for rolling up your excess strap (which is a must).

The straps are anchored into the bag through little triangular flaps sewn into the bag at a seam. These had more accessory d-rings! Adjusting the strap wasn't the worst, but it was somehwat inconvenient. The strap-keeper velcro loops did a great job, which meant the excess strap turned into a tight little wad and it was often difficult to use them to tighten the straps. Also, for loosening the straps, the plastic d-rings didn't feel natural because you had to pull them upward. I would have loved to see a more ergonomic setup for tightening the straps especially.

The main zipper of the bag is a jumbo-sized YKK zipper, and it's actually the first thing I noticed when I really started fiddling with the bag once I got it. This zipper is HUGE and heavy duty. It is no joke. The tactile experience alone is excellent - it feels super solid and durable. The dirt flap around the zipper is really deep - like an inch - and sometimes made it a little tough to find and grab the zipper - but I also never got any gunk in there to mess my zipper up, so I am not unhappy with it. I'm considering adding zipper pulls, but seriously - the zipper was overall a joy to use and lent a great tactile experience to the bag.

One amazing feature is the fact that the zipper goes all the way to the very bottom of the bag, giving you the superhuman ability to open your bag flat. This was AMAZING, and so useful. Being able to arrange everything and then zip it all together was REALLY useful. I don't know if I can go back to bags without this feature. I traveled via plane twice while testing this bag, and it was such a great way to pack and access things when I needed it.

At 30 liters, I ended up carrying a lot of stuff. 

 Inside the bag is relatively simple. On the back side is a simple, thin, pleated pocket. You can stow a laptop in there, but I suggest putting it in a sleeve, as it's just a thin divider instead of a padded pocket. Above this pocket are two D-rings on webbing, designed to connect to various accessories like storage pouches. The bottom of the bag is flat and large, which makes it easy to carry boxes and box-like cargo.

On the front side of the inside is a series of mesh netting pockets, of which there are three. The top one is for sunglasses, or change, or keys - I mostly used it for earbuds and my keys. The middle and bottom ones are much bigger and pretty great for organizing larger small stuff - you know, spare phone battery, notebooks, pencil cases, etc. These were not the easiest to access when the bag was all loaded (unless you just used the magical zippers to open the bag up), but they held stuff well.

The Environment

I recently moved to Seattle. Which is known for rain. So this bag got quite a water workout. I ride everywhere, rain or shine, and I definitely got soaked on multiple occasions. But my stuff didn't. In fact, I was impressed considering the liner is 420d nylon.

Between cycling at least 10 miles a day in rain and shine, dropping the bag in offices, outdoors, in dirt and mud, and stuffing it to the gills, there were no mechanical failures or indicators of failures.

This bag is environment-ready.

The Conclusion

Pros: Its PALS loops, accessory d-rings, and hip belt compatibility mean it's versatile. The size is great for plane travel, it's waterproof, and 30L is enough for almost everyone's day-to-day. Secret pocket.

Cons: There were some thread ends that hadn't been trimmed, especially at the shoulder straps. No built-in laptop protection means you'll have to supply your own. Zipper flaps sometimes made accessing the zippers difficult, and strap adjustment could also be tough.

Based on what I'd seen and heard, I expected good things from BOgear. And I wasn't disappointed. This is a solid pack with a bunch of great features. While I'd love to see a little more research in the way of ergonomics, there is a lot to like about this bag.

You can grab one here.