#t7g

The path I followed went in and out of wooded areas and fields, went up and down quite a lot, and all told took me about 9 hours, although I don't know how much distance I covered in that time. To put it simply, at this time of year, that's a proper dawn ‘til dusk hike.

I'm trying a new system for kit along the lines of 'dress light, pack heavy.' I understand why a lot of people may be critical of this but I'm a serial overpacker and, try as I might, find it very difficult to pack as light as people I see on the trail every time I go out. With this in mind, I went out with just a synthetic base and a layer of nylon not dissimilar to what I probably could have worn on a cloudy day in May or August. I changed hats regularly depending on my level of activity and exposure and my rainjacket came in and out of my pack a few times, I felt a fair bit warmer whilst wearing it but it wasn't needed, and the real reason for the hike (besides just enjoying it) was to test out my new pack.

I've had my Mystery Ranch Sweet Pea for less than a month, but I love it already. I'd spent a little while looking for a pack for just this purpose, somewhere in size between my 5.11 MOAB 10 and Rush 72, reading a lot of reviews and weighing up my options; at the start of November Mystery Ranch announced their first ever online sale and the decision became obvious. All together, with two rounds of shipping (long story), I paid a little less than £200 for this pack. I'm very happy with it.

I love the design a lot: it's quite basic even compared with similar MR packs, just the main pack, a small lid pocket, and two side pouches for bottles or what have you. No MOLLE, mesh pockets, or sleeves for a bladder. I'm used to 5.11's extensive admin pockets, which have tons of small (and not so small) spaces for just about everything, but I think this leads me to bad habits as I tend to find things to pack just to fill up the slots, which then sit there adding weight without function. This purchase was, in many ways, a deliberate move away from 'tactical' styling, towards something very effective that's designed to do what I want it for. I packed the bag so it was 'full,' with judicious use of the compression straps, weighing in just a smidgen shy of 10kg. Straight away I found just about every strap on the bag to be much too long, so I picked up a few ITW web-dominators and these seem to be doing the trick.

I'm enjoying the tri-zip opening. I've never been a big fan of top-loaders because they limit access to all my kit; Clamshell packs, on the other hand, can lose their shape when open. The Sweet Pea does neither! My rain jacket was near the top of the pack which meant grabbing it was super quick and painless, whereas when I stopped for lunch I could grab the drybag at the bottom (for a seat) first. There is a belt, which isn’t the most padded you’ll ever see but does a great job of holding the load steady around the waist. When it was fitted I found that I could run, jump, and clamber without the pack moving around and throwing me off balance.

The real star of the show, however, has to be that Futura frame: when set up properly it's very comfortable indeed. The best way I can explain this is that I walked almost the same route back in early November, dressed about the same and carrying the exact same load in my Rush 72, a much larger pack. Back in November walked for about 4 hours, ate my lunch, and got the bus home, feeling like I deserved it. Today I walked much further, and then back again! My feet know they've been on a walk, but my back, shoulders, hips all feel fresh! This pack isn't perfect (I do wish I had a loop field for patches), but it is very good.

On the outside of the pack are a couple of daisy chains, one has a red Adventure Light Tag-it. I like Adventure Lights, they're tougher and brighter than any Nite Ize equivalent I've ever used. Nite Ize S-biners, on the other hand, are great, and one is stuck onto the opposite daisychain. I also found the daisy chain to be a great place for my Fortius Arms Keybiner, since I could reach back and grab it without taking my pack off. The lid pocket and the main body of the pack both provide quick access, but if I ever needed instant or on-the-go access to something, clipping it to these strips of webbing would be the way to go.

In the side pockets (which I can confirm are also easy to grab when wearing the pack) went my Dutch Army water bottle (in steel cup) and whatever hat I wasn't wearing at the time.

On top of everything in the main pack I placed my Triple 7 Gear pouch that I actually won through the Pack Config giveaway some months ago. I didn't use this for a while as I already had a great maxpedition organiser, but a few things have changed in my carry and I realised what a great drop-in EDC option this is when using multiple packs. It contains just a few edc and 'what-if' items, including my Gerber Dime, Petzl Tikka, and a few metres of Gorilla-tape wrapped around an unused card.

Editor: Unfortunately the only place to the Sweet Pea now is on either eBay (link below). You may also be able to pick up one second hand on The Perfect Pack Facebook group.

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Eric is smashing it with his latest Kickstarter, having over doubled his funding goal with a fair amount of time left. We’ve been really excited to be able to get our hands on some and we’ll be showing them off over the next day or so. Not because we’re paid to, but because these are effective, unique and top quality products that we don’t want you to miss out on.

Click the link below to get behind this amazing product…

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David’s family of Triple 7 Gear kits.

Having successfully launched his MiniKit MK-7 product (reviewed here) on Kickstarter in February last year, Eric has brought us ever smaller and more refined products. The quality of everything Triple 7 Gear item I own is outstanding and I can really recommend getting behind his latest project.

The CORE Nano wallet is gear up as not only a wallet, but something able to accomodate small items that you carry with you on a daily basis. Headphones, knives, flashlights, micro multitools, flash drives, lighters etc. The Kickstarter has already been funded completely after only a handful of days, but I highly recommend getting involved now. Not only do you stand a better chance of getting them at a discounted price, but you'll be some of the first to get your hands on them. Triple 7 Gear have up-ed their game since last time and got a manufacturing partner in place to help with the orders. Click the link below to find out all the details and get your backing in!

Our giveaway has closed and our winner is Jed Edwards. Thank you to everyone who took part.

If you didn’t win we’ve got a juicy 15% off discount code that can be applied to your whole basket at check out. Just enter: "PACK CONFIG" in the coupon code section of your basket. The code will work until Friday 13th March so get your orders in now while it still lasts. Send us an image of your Kit once they’ve arrived and we might even publish it.

The closure system consists of a tough elastic retention strap that is solidly stitched to either end of the top flap. By pulling the strap down and behind the bottom flap the two sides stay tightly clinched together. This method doesn't require any fine motor skills to operate like a zip. At first I was worried that this wouldn't be enough to keep items from falling out, but the elastic dividers inside haven't ever let me down, even when the kit is only partly full.

The elastic is spot on. Not too tight that it is difficult to get things in or out and not too loose that things slip out.

I've found internal organisers can often be hit or miss. Sometimes the size of the stitched in sections are not big enough for the amount of larger items I have. Sometimes there's aren't enough of the 'perfect' sized sections and I'm left trying to make things work in a section that is really too big or too small.

I don't know what kind of R&D went into these kits, but there's something about these sections that just work. I'd decided I wanted to slim down what I carried and used these new kits as an opportunity to do that. The items I knew I'd want accessible went into one kit to live in my everyday pack; the rest went into another that would live in the car as a third level EDC.

The top flap of these have a clear pocket that extends the full width and length of the flap. This section has limited capcity, but is great for thinner items that you'd want to be able to see clearly. I keep dressings/blister plasters/antiseptic wipes in a selection of grip seal bags and this clear pocket means I can get to the ones I need quickly. They also offer a wide selection of First Aid and Survival Kits that fit perfectly in this section or the similar depth pocket on the bottom flap. This clear section on the MicroKit fits my iPhone 5 perfect and the screen can still be used through it.

While I used these kits to slim down my carry, there is a surprising amount of capacity to them. I loaded one of these up to the brim once and that's when the elastic closure can really shine. When pushed to their limits, velcro can come loose and zips can simply not close. As the elastic is designed to stretch beyond the size of the entire kit in order to close, when overloaded it just keeps stretching.

If I'm honest I wasn't sure what the quality of these kits would be like. I'd just finished making a few smaller pouches of my own and they were riddled with untidy stitching and frayed ends. I had them in mind when I heard of Triple 7 Gear (formerly 20$bandit) but this immediately changed when I held these in my hands. I looked these over with my newly trained critical eye and found not a stitch out of place, nor a loose thread in sight.

Receiving T7G's latest MicroKit has shown me that even high standards can be improved. The logo label has been smartened up and the fit and feel of the internal elastic seems even slicker.

It's smart having loop panels on the outside of these kits as they aid retrieval on two levels. Firstly when I'm locating the kit I want myself. Secondly, if I ask someone to get some snacks out of my pack while I'm still wearing it I can simply say "the pouch that says Hunter Gatherer". If the situation is more dire and time is off the essence, seconds can be saved by saying "the pouch labelled First Aid Kit" rather than something more ambiguous like "the black pouch at the bottom of the other black pouches". rutitleyknives products help with identification too.

These kits don't offer any kind of typical external attachments, but by not having the extra webbing bulk they become a great lightweight internal packing solution. They sit well together and can be clipped in using the ITW NEXUS D-Ring attached to the internal webbing, or together using Grimloc D-Rings if you really want.

I've had at least one of these kits in my pack since the day they arrived. If you're looking for a internal packing solution or EDC carrier, these should be top of your list to check out. There is a selection of colours and materials for each pouch and they are really easy to deal with on a customer service level. If you want something specific, drop them a line.