Do you own this pack & what are your thoughts on it

D

dirtypaulie

Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
352
I'm looking at getting a nice pack among other things. I've been looking at the Maxpedition Vulture II & was curious what my fellow forumites have to say about this pack good or bad. I did a quick search & see some of the community has this pack
 
I have a Vulture II and love it.
It makes a good 3 day pack. It is quite comfortable with a moderate to heavy load for a frameless pack.

I own quite a bit of Maxped gear. It is very well made.
 
Thanks for the input, do you use a bladder with it or did you opt to get the universal ccw holster?
 
No I do not use a water bladder with it. I have a Maxped Nalgene bottle holder I attached to the side of the pack.

I live in The People's Republic of Illinois so CCW is not a legal option in this God forsaken land of Liberals. :barf:
 
I do not own that particular item. But i do have two a small packs the - Multi Purpose Bag - about 6'' wide 14" long 12" deep. I keep it in my van for general traveling needs. Also have another small one for knives tools and important papers.

At first i thought they were too high priced but i read a lot about them and bought one when it came in the mail and I saw and felt how well made it is i decided to get the other.

I thought maybe they might be a little bit silly because of all the pockets - but all the pockets and sections are well thought out and useful. One of the front pockets holds my ESEE 4 perfectly and in easy access.

I am saving up the cash to get either the Vulture or the Condor - i am sure i won’t be disappointed.
 
sucks alot of places really bar there citizens from being armed. I really like that maxped has so many different accessories, the Vulture II has a nice capacity too if you want to fill er' up.

Hey Eric, how are ya. Yea these packs could be expensive but we do pay for quality. I just ordered a Hest & am going to order the survival kit that comes with an Esee-6

I was also looking at getting the thermite versipack
 
Well don't look like your in a much better place being in NY. LOL
Does NY have a CCW permit available?
 
dirtypaulie said:
sucks alot of places really bar there citizens from being armed. I really like that maxped has so many different accessories, the Vulture II has a nice capacity too if you want to fill er' up.

Hey Eric, how are ya. Yea these packs could be expensive but we do pay for quality. I just ordered a Hest & am going to order the survival kit that comes with an Esee-6

I was also looking at getting the thermite versipack
Click to expand...

I have a Jumbo for myself, my wife, and my daughter for a woods bumming day pack. I have a Proteous for a comprehensive first aid kit. My wife uses the Falcon II, stepson uses a Sitka, and I use a Malaga for EDC. Oh yea and my 6 year old son has the Pigmy Falcon. And I have tons of pouches and stuff for them. So yea I guess you could say I am a fan of Maxped stuff. ;)
 
dirtypaulie said:
I'm looking at getting a nice pack among other things. I've been looking at the Maxpedition Vulture II & was curious what my fellow forumites have to say about this pack good or bad. I did a quick search & see some of the community has this pack
Click to expand...

I have it and use it everyday to carry my 17" laptop and gym clothes in. I got the Monkey Admin pouch to put extra mags and other stuff in. I also use the Universal CCW holster so I can put my .45 in it while in the office. I love it and it is worth every penny I paid for it. Very well made. I will eventually be getting a second one or a Condor to use as a go bag.

I got mine from combattactical.com. Very good prices and they ship fast as long as it is in stock.

You can't go wrong with that pack.
 
I actually returned my Vulture II for the Camelbak BFM. For me the Vulture was too hard to organize and I love the BFM pouches. I like Maxpedition and own the wallet and Fatboy, I'm just too picky with organization. I want to know exactly where everything is, not just a general idea...
 
dirtypaulie said:
I'm looking at getting a nice pack among other things. I've been looking at the Maxpedition Vulture II & was curious what my fellow forumites have to say about this pack good or bad. I did a quick search & see some of the community has this pack
Click to expand...

I have the Vulture II and the Falcon II. Both are well made and tough. Lots of attachment points for external pouches/gear. I have pouches attached for my most used items/important items such as knife, first aid, fire, flashlights/headlamps, compass, water bottle holder, etc. Rest of the stuff goes inside. Vulture II gets camping duty and the Falcon II is currently used as my hunting pack and EDC. Lots of room in both for my purposes.

I guess you need to decide what your use will be (you never stated) and what you will carry. That will determine the size that is needed. I think I remember that Jeff uses a Pygmy Falcon as EDC but might be mistaken.

Better to buy a little bigger than you think you need. The compression straps tighten it up when room is not needed.
 
I have the Condor II and love the construction. I am a bit of a minimalist and the Condor is easily a 3 to 5 day pack for me even at 2/3 the capacity of the Vulture. I opted for the Condor due to it having more attatchment locations and multiple pouches. It serves very well as my EDC pack also especially with the additional pouches I have attached.

It really depends on what your intended uses are for the pack.
 
I just picked up a Falcon II after using a falcon II clone for a while. I really like the clone and am interested to see how this holds up.

I also got the colossus as an ambidextrious hip pack to complement my Jumbo Fatboy clone (that I also like a lot). The colossus' main compartment entry system is a little goofy and I don't think it would work well for a CCW as I had thought. I think the Jumbo Fatboy or even the larger (mongo?) fatboy would work better for that.

The material is super thick and stitched well, but I had an elastic strap w/ velcro on one side get sewn on backwards :( It's nothing I can't fix, but that's what you get when your items are made in Taiwan I guess. I can't believe they charge as much as they do for Taiwan-made items. I always smirk when I see 'american design - made in taiwan' on their labeling...it seems they want the best of both worlds.....being able to say Made in USA but at the cheaper labor rate of Taiwan.

So they make good stuff but unless you find a good deal on it it is over-priced considering their labor costs are WAY low. I'd have no problem paying if it was actually made in the USA, which they seem to want to give off that impression.
 
I own the Pygmy Falcon II and love it. In fact I love everything I own by Maxpedition!
 
I'll let you all know what I think when I get this vulture II & once again thank you all for the input & Mr. Randall I ordered my 1st Esee very early this morning
 
I'll probably be the odd man out but I just sent one back.

I'm getting ready for a trip overseas and have been looking for a pack to replace my current carry-on/edc bag. The one I had is just worn out after more then ten years of getting beat on and hauled all over the place.

I bought three packs to see which I'd like the most.
1. Maxpedition Vulture II
2. Kelty Redwing 2650
3. Camelbak Trizip

The VultureII was a very well made pack and I really wanted to like it and keep it but unfortunately for me it just didn't fit right. I like my other Maxped packs but this one just wouldn't work. I have a long torso and large shoulders and have a hard time finding packs that ride where they should. It simply sat to high on my back. The waistbelt was up above my navel which made it pretty useless. I also didn't like that it had no frame support of any kind and I felt like the shoulder straps were poorly padded. I was able to fit in the framsheet off my ATS RAID pack but it still just didn't fit me well. Obviously this wasn't an issue with the pack itself just how the pack worked for me.

Ultimately I have decided to keep the Trizip and add some external pouches to it. The Mystery Ranch frame and support system are simply awesome. This is the first small/midsize pack that I have ever found that fits me. The adjustable harness system is brilliant.

Just some thoughts, YMMV.
 
TLR said:
I'll probably be the odd man out but I just sent one back.

I'm getting ready for a trip overseas and have been looking for a pack to replace my current carry-on/edc bag. The one I had is just worn out after more then ten years of getting beat on and hauled all over the place.

I bought three packs to see which I'd like the most.
1. Maxpedition Vulture II
2. Kelty Redwing 2650
3. Camelbak Trizip

The VultureII was a very well made pack and I really wanted to like it and keep it but unfortunately for me it just didn't fit right. I like my other Maxped packs but this one just wouldn't work. I have a long torso and large shoulders and have a hard time finding packs that ride where they should. It simply sat to high on my back. The waistbelt was up above my navel which made it pretty useless. I also didn't like that it had no frame support of any kind and I felt like the shoulder straps were poorly padded. I was able to fit in the framsheet off my ATS RAID pack but it still just didn't fit me well. Obviously this wasn't an issue with the pack itself just how the pack worked for me.

Ultimately I have decided to keep the Trizip and add some external pouches to it. The Mystery Ranch frame and support system are simply awesome. This is the first small/midsize pack that I have ever found that fits me. The adjustable harness system is brilliant.

Just some thoughts, YMMV.
Click to expand...

You make a few good points I forgot about. I have a 52" chest and big shoulders and I would be nice if the Vulture II had longer straps so it would ride better. For my everyday use, I just throw it over one shoulder so it isn't a big deal, but if I ever did try to use the waistbelt, it would ride a bit high.
 
I have various Maxpedition gear and love all of it. I use the Mongo Versipack as a day bag for in the city. Especially handy when I am travelling in African cities.. keeping your bag on the side below your arm helps to minimise pickpockets and also better to get through crowds than a backpack IMO.

I was also looking at the Vulture II and it would be the perfect size for me for hiking. But I am not so sure about that compression band that comes over the top. It might be very useful for compression, but I think there is not one pocket that you can access without opening a compression strap.. So I thought that would annoy me too much on my hiking trips.. What do people who have the Vulture II think about this? Aren't you annoyed about not accessing a pocket just via a zipper?
Maybe I am just too used to conventional hiking backpacks with a top compartment with zipper..

On another note, I think I read somewhere that the Vulture II was designed to sit high on the back so one can still wear a gear belt. So more a military use than real hiking. If you hike in a mountain area you don't want too much weight that high as it doesn't really improve your balance..
In the military (Swiss) we also had our backpacks rather high on our backs, but that wasn't a problem as most of the real heavy stuff is in your gear belt (ammo, grenades, water). Your backpack is mainly for your ABC suit, rain gear, spare underwear, sleeping bag, and some emergency food. So the overall weight including your gear belt is distributed quite well. Just something to consider if you go for a military type backpack that was designed for a specific use..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top