Camelbak military MULE/MULE 500

[Sufler]

Any of you own the military version of the MULE Camelbak? I'd appreciate any feedback on this pack and what kind of gear you carry in yours.

Here are the specs for the MULE and the new MULE 500

MULE : 18.5 x 10 x 5 / 540 c.i. / 2.27 lbs
MULE 500: 18 in x 10 in x 6 in / 492 cu in / 2.10 lbs

So, for .17 lbs of weight saved, I'm losing 48 cu in. of space. And, the material is about 80% of 'robustness' of the original. Ohh... and the new ones cost about $40 more.

Still... any feedback appreciated.

Thanks!
:thumbup:

 

[crossada]

i have the original military mule. it has been my biking pack for years now with no issues. you really can't carry very much in it do to the two small pockets but for a day pack and the essentials it will work.

 

[Quirt]

Yep, have the Mil Spec MULE 500 bag I use in my classes/work. It is set up as a Foward Deployment Bag and accompanies me along with the specilaized tools I use for my job when working in the wild which can be bulky.

When teaching this class I'm usually only out for the day as we set up a remote base camp from which we operate from and I generally return to the base came for the night. So it is only used as a day pack to carry my emergency gear, my lunch, and packed with enough minimal gear to keep me out for 1-2 nights if needed and to carry my equipment for my work.

I use the Hydration bladder along with the Camelbak pump filter I got from MSR - which works really slick! It is like my other Mil Spec packs and gear, robust, hardcore, tough, practical, and useful. What is there to say? It is good gear. I don't own any non-Mil Spec Camelbak gear so I don't know how it compares to their standard commerical line of packs.