FieldlineTactical Alpha Ops Day Pack (Black) (Black)

March of 2015 I found myself needing a backpack for work; something in a solid, unobtrusive color, and smaller than the various packs I had around in the house at the time. Several evenings spent comparing various packs online narrowed my choice down to this one. Campmor (via Amazon) had it to my door in just a few days and I put it to immediate use. First impressions were mostly positive, the only negative was that one of the corded zipper pulls on the secondary organizer pocket fell off straight out of the bag. Annoying but it wasn't a deal breaker, and it was fixed in under 5 minutes with a piece of paracord looped through the metal zipper pull and braided into place. Due to the compactness of the pack I was skeptical of the storage capacity at first but over time that initial impression was happily proved wrong. Since I was going to be using the pack for work, and work had me constantly travelling between an office environment and isolated, industrial type facilities, I added two MOLLE water bottle holders to the left and right side of the pack so I could maximize the internal real estate for other items.The Good:Backpack is compact and light for it's size.PALS webbing gives you options for adding MOLLE pouches for additional storage space but it's limited (see below).Large capacity relative to the size of the pack; I was able to shoehorn a 17" Dell laptop into the main compartment on several occasions although I DO NOT recommend this as a daily activity because it placed a significant amount of stress on the zipper at the corners of the laptop. A 17" HP laptop would not fit. A large 3 ring binder, a 1 1/2" thick textbook, and several paper pads routinely cohabitated in the main compartment without difficult or stressing the zipper. The maximum amount of weight carried was in the 35-40 lb range, my usual day-to-day at this point in time is in the 15-20 lb range.Durability of the pack has been great. After 4 1/2 years of nearly daily use the water resistant lining is starting to peel away from the nylon shell of the pack and two 1" tears have developed in the bottom of the main compartment. Four days ago (9/5/19) the zipper on the secondary compartment finally gave out and the teeth separated far enough that the zipper pull jumped one side and it can't be repaired without replacing the whole zipper. Aside from that, no other damage to report. All of the seams are intact, straps and buckles are still factory new and functioning flawlessly.Velcro panels have held up great, no problems with unraveling even with repeated patch changes.The pack isn't overly "tacti-cool." It doesn't knock you to the ground and pummel your face into a bloody pulp while screaming "MILITARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY!!!!" It's nicely featured without drawing undue attention. Even with a high and tight haircut you won't look like you just got off base on a 3 day pass with this pack slung over your shoulder. (This is not a Stryker-X assault backpack after all...)The Mediocre:The backpack isn't particularly rigid. If the main compartment is not full and you place any amount of weight in the sunglass pouch or the small storage pouch above the secondary organizer pouch the entire pack will slouch off to one side. Too much weight near the top without some bulk in the main compartment makes the pack just fall over.The Bad:If you are looking for a backpack to use as a carry on for air travel I wouldn't recommend this particular pack unless you have a checked bag or you're just on an overnight trip, in which case this backpack would do nicely. I prefer to only fly with a carry on bag and no checked luggage, and this backpack can hold a maximum of two days worth of clothing without festooning it with additional pouches. Which brings us to...While the pack is equipped with a decent amount of PALS webbing, due to the materials used in the pack the webbing is of limited usefulness. The left and right sides of the pack are the only places you can add pouches that do not limit your ability to access and operate zippers or that do not immediately pull the whole pack wide open as soon as you unzip the main compartment. You can add a small admin type pouch on the front of the secondary compartment if you need to but adding anything larger tends to pull the bottom of the pack downwards and change how the pack rides.Opinion: I think the pack would actually be improved by eliminating the PALS webbing on the face of the pack and just going with a slick face with Velcro panels. Keep the PALS webbing on the sides, and add an additional three rows of webbing on the lower left side by eliminating the drawstring water bottle pouch.Bottom Line: Yes, I would by this again, in fact I'm purchasing a second one to replace my first one now that it has finally worn out. Yes, I would recommend this pack to anyone looking for a small, lightweight, compact backpack. If you need durability without breaking the bank I had great results from mine. I don't mean "Oh sure, it's held up well," great. I mean "Let's go work around half-million volt electrical gear this year and next year we'll spend our days inside old attack submarines!" great. I've hauled this thing through electrical substations, power plants, shipyards, old warships in the process of being scrapped, offices, classrooms, buildings in various stages of demolition and/or refurbishment, industrial workshops, mock up trainers, attics, basements, tunnels, through coastal forests and up a couple of small mountains to reach transmitter sites. It has been bounced around mercilessly in the back of work trucks, the trunk of the car, and stuffed full of parts and slung on a manlift basket. If it can deal with that for 4+ years and come away with a couple of holes in the bottom I'd say it was worth my $30. It may just be worth yours too.

Good quality for a low priced bag. Zippers work well, no loose stitching, overall well made. Ordered this for a "get home bag" and liked it so much I ordered another for my daily computer bag. Large pocket fits my laptop, organizer and files easily. My laptop is in a semi-hard case so takes up a fair amount of room and the organizer is a zip up 3 ring binder type so again fairly bulky. The front pockets offer a lot of organization and the little top pocket is "felt" lined and is perfect for my sunglasses. The water bottle pocket is good sized and fits a 32 ounce Nalgene but is elastic and will hold a smaller bottle firmly. As a "get home bag" it works perfectly, same space, organization, etc. Lots of Molle attachment points if you chose to lash items to the outside of the bag as well. It's a smaller manageable bag but holds a lot and organizes well. I find with bigger bags I just carry more stuff and they get very heavy and bulky. This is the perfect size for me. Great bag and highly recommend!

Got this bag after realizing that the SOG Barrage was just a bit too big for me. The Barrage is a good bag, just in a different way. I'm 5'10 and this bag fits me pretty well. I could maybe lose a couple of pounds and it would fit pretty close to perfect. I've got it to fit a full change of clothes, including 2 sets of socks, water bottle and canteen (one for the dog), some light medical stuff with room for more, a map, couple of basic guides, a small hatchet, a small pry bar, some small urban environment stuff, and a foldable solar panel to charge my phone and cheap baofeng. I even got it to fit some very non essentials, including a foldable chair and a set of night vision goggles I was gifted for christmas. All and all, a pretty good bag. Haven't personally experienced any issue with it yet. For reference, all the items in my pictures take up about 90% of the space. You could remove the NVGS and gain a bit of room as well, you could also replace the canteen with a pouch. I plan on putting a velcro pouch on the back for some basic medical supplies. I could also still fit a few cooking items, but likely nothing more. It has a chest strap that feels fine, nothing special. A couple of attachment points on the upper straps, I have a small clip flashlight and Leatherman, and the other side has a spot for my radio. I recommend if you plan on keeping it light and don't need to pack items for extended shelter, but you could attach a sleeping bag/tent onto the bottom. I've had no problems hiking with it so far, but I'll update my review if I encounter any problems.