- Joined
- Jan 3, 2004
- Messages
- 106
Hello,
Here you'll find some pictures and my humble opinion about the Maxpedition Fatboy.
It's by no mean what you would call a "full review". It's just my 2 cents.
I'm not a photographer, as you'll notice by the quality of the pictures
You'll also notive that English is not my native language. My wish is that this short text will be understandable and that you'll forgive my errors.
But I think you'll get the idea. I hope it will help you to choose whatever you'll buy it or not.
I know I've hesitated a long time before ordering one a few weeks ago.
My main concerns at that time were :
- Will if be big enough ?
-------------------------
As you'll see from the pictures below, the Fatboy was able to swallow everything I carry with me on a day to day basis. That means a typical urban work day or one day family visit at the country. I don't use it as a BOB or "survival bag". Of course, I always have an "emergency" kit with me witch consist of straps, basic medicines, needles, etc. Scroll down to get the picture
The addition of the Mini-Rollypolly made it perfect for me. Before that, I would carry a 16oz (50cl) bottle inside the main compartment. It ate a lot of room. Now, I can carry a 32oz (1L) bottle with ease and style inside the poly. Don't need to carry water ? Roll it up.
I first bought a Proteus, but it was too small for my stuff. I couldn't carry water with it and it's a big concern. It's now used as a pack organizer for my Arcteryx RT25 for daylong hikes.
- Won't it be too big ?
-----------------------
By too big, I was thinking about "too big to always carry it everywhere". And you sure know what I mean. A full backpack is often too cumbersome for most social/urban adventure. So you'll leave it (with your precious EDC kit) in the car or worse, at home. Pretty useless. My fatboy is always with me and it's never a drag.
- Is it quality stuff ?
-----------------------
Maxpedition use really quality material. Cordura 1000D with Teflon coating, double/triple stitching, Duraflex buckles, etc. Will it live a life time ? I don't know, but I'm sure the Fatboy will last a long time. I've been carrying it everyday and everywhere for more than 2 months now. There's no wear on it. It still looks like day one.
The keyring holder is useless for me. It makes too much noise when the keys are bouncing. I started hanging my baseball cap there, but it's too stiff to handle. For a smooth action, I wish they could replace it with a tad bigger carabiner.
- Will it make me look gay/dork/geek/mall ninja/<insert your favorite here> ?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, you decide. I don't give a damn because it makes my life way more easy than before.
It will certainly depend on where you are living. Here, in Bruxelles, most people carry bags or pouches to stuff their cellphone/wallets/keys/cigarettes anyway. Men or woman. At work, I see hundreds of people a day and I can tell you there are weirder stuffs around than this Fatboy. I don't get funny looks in the streets, if it is revelent.
As a side note, I don't carry my most valuable items inside the Fatboy. Ok, my iPaq with it's GPS receiver or my Paramilie are worthy. But I would get more troubles by loosing my wallet (or if it gets stolen).
So, my keys, wallets, Arc LHSP, Victorinox Swisstool and a knife are on me, always.
I brought my Fatboy from the almighty www.toolshop.de and these 69 euros were really well spent.
Now, here are the pictures. They will show up at 640x480 and there's a link below to see them fullsize. Please, don't abuse too much the fullsize one, I might hit the BW limit.
Click here for a bigger picture
Click here for a bigger picture
Click here for a bigger picture
From left to right, from top to bottom :
- Harry Potter book
- 2 heavy dutty 120L garbage back + 2 disposable plastic bags
- Plastic container with basic medicine + eyedrops
- 2 packs of disposable paper tissues
- Evian water bottle, 24 oz
- 4 different pens
- cellphone
- agenda
- Knoppix 3.4 livecd
- wima bit sets
- old facom screwdriver
- camera tripod
- colsons (don't know the word in english, sorry). Those are plastic wires that locks closed. Very handy stuff! I know cops use that as replacement for cuffs, sometime.
UPDATE : Thanks to my fellow forumites, it's called Zip Ties in English !
- small rope (will be soon replaced by real paracord)
- disposable BIC lighter
- some clean coton cloth
- iPaq 3970 + Jacket with a second battery and a Toshiba 5Gb hardrive
- Royaltek bluetooth GPS receiver
- Spyderco Dyad JR
- Spyderco Paramilie PE
- 2 chocolat bars
- Emergency kit
- 2 platic spoons
- antistaminics
- batteries (CR 123, AA, AAA)
- sun shades for my spectacles
- three plastic bags sealed with straps/bandage/cash
- cleaning stuff for my spectacles
- electrical tape (soon to be replaced by real duct tape).
All of this was inside the Fatboy when I did the shots. There's still some small room in the main compartment. The side narrow velcro pouch only held my sun shade. Still room there. Aside from that, it was pretty full
Click here for a bigger picture
Click here for a bigger picture
Here it is, fully loaded, with my Arcteryx RT25, Proteus, Spyderco Delica CF, Spyderco Spur (new sprint run) and an audio CD.
Click here for a bigger picture
I'm 1.8m tall (5.9 feet ?) and I weight 67 Kg (148 pounds). I'm pretty slim.
Note : the water bottle was empty (I was thirsty. When it's loaded with water, the Rollypoly is vertical.
I hope you enjoyed it. If you need more pictures from other angles or anything else, just ask.
PS : Don't ask about the backgrounds for the pictures. I have a 5 months old son
PSS : I couldn't resist, here is a pic of my little collection of spydies
fabsah
Edited for spelling errors and to add the zip ties update.
Here you'll find some pictures and my humble opinion about the Maxpedition Fatboy.
It's by no mean what you would call a "full review". It's just my 2 cents.
I'm not a photographer, as you'll notice by the quality of the pictures
You'll also notive that English is not my native language. My wish is that this short text will be understandable and that you'll forgive my errors.
But I think you'll get the idea. I hope it will help you to choose whatever you'll buy it or not.
I know I've hesitated a long time before ordering one a few weeks ago.
My main concerns at that time were :
- Will if be big enough ?
-------------------------
As you'll see from the pictures below, the Fatboy was able to swallow everything I carry with me on a day to day basis. That means a typical urban work day or one day family visit at the country. I don't use it as a BOB or "survival bag". Of course, I always have an "emergency" kit with me witch consist of straps, basic medicines, needles, etc. Scroll down to get the picture
The addition of the Mini-Rollypolly made it perfect for me. Before that, I would carry a 16oz (50cl) bottle inside the main compartment. It ate a lot of room. Now, I can carry a 32oz (1L) bottle with ease and style inside the poly. Don't need to carry water ? Roll it up.
I first bought a Proteus, but it was too small for my stuff. I couldn't carry water with it and it's a big concern. It's now used as a pack organizer for my Arcteryx RT25 for daylong hikes.
- Won't it be too big ?
-----------------------
By too big, I was thinking about "too big to always carry it everywhere". And you sure know what I mean. A full backpack is often too cumbersome for most social/urban adventure. So you'll leave it (with your precious EDC kit) in the car or worse, at home. Pretty useless. My fatboy is always with me and it's never a drag.
- Is it quality stuff ?
-----------------------
Maxpedition use really quality material. Cordura 1000D with Teflon coating, double/triple stitching, Duraflex buckles, etc. Will it live a life time ? I don't know, but I'm sure the Fatboy will last a long time. I've been carrying it everyday and everywhere for more than 2 months now. There's no wear on it. It still looks like day one.
The keyring holder is useless for me. It makes too much noise when the keys are bouncing. I started hanging my baseball cap there, but it's too stiff to handle. For a smooth action, I wish they could replace it with a tad bigger carabiner.
- Will it make me look gay/dork/geek/mall ninja/<insert your favorite here> ?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, you decide. I don't give a damn because it makes my life way more easy than before.
It will certainly depend on where you are living. Here, in Bruxelles, most people carry bags or pouches to stuff their cellphone/wallets/keys/cigarettes anyway. Men or woman. At work, I see hundreds of people a day and I can tell you there are weirder stuffs around than this Fatboy. I don't get funny looks in the streets, if it is revelent.
As a side note, I don't carry my most valuable items inside the Fatboy. Ok, my iPaq with it's GPS receiver or my Paramilie are worthy. But I would get more troubles by loosing my wallet (or if it gets stolen).
So, my keys, wallets, Arc LHSP, Victorinox Swisstool and a knife are on me, always.
I brought my Fatboy from the almighty www.toolshop.de and these 69 euros were really well spent.
Now, here are the pictures. They will show up at 640x480 and there's a link below to see them fullsize. Please, don't abuse too much the fullsize one, I might hit the BW limit.
Click here for a bigger picture
Click here for a bigger picture
Click here for a bigger picture
From left to right, from top to bottom :
- Harry Potter book
- 2 heavy dutty 120L garbage back + 2 disposable plastic bags
- Plastic container with basic medicine + eyedrops
- 2 packs of disposable paper tissues
- Evian water bottle, 24 oz
- 4 different pens
- cellphone
- agenda
- Knoppix 3.4 livecd
- wima bit sets
- old facom screwdriver
- camera tripod
- colsons (don't know the word in english, sorry). Those are plastic wires that locks closed. Very handy stuff! I know cops use that as replacement for cuffs, sometime.
UPDATE : Thanks to my fellow forumites, it's called Zip Ties in English !
- small rope (will be soon replaced by real paracord
)- disposable BIC lighter
- some clean coton cloth
- iPaq 3970 + Jacket with a second battery and a Toshiba 5Gb hardrive
- Royaltek bluetooth GPS receiver
- Spyderco Dyad JR
- Spyderco Paramilie PE
- 2 chocolat bars
- Emergency kit
- 2 platic spoons
- antistaminics
- batteries (CR 123, AA, AAA)
- sun shades for my spectacles
- three plastic bags sealed with straps/bandage/cash
- cleaning stuff for my spectacles
- electrical tape (soon to be replaced by real duct tape).
All of this was inside the Fatboy when I did the shots. There's still some small room in the main compartment. The side narrow velcro pouch only held my sun shade. Still room there. Aside from that, it was pretty full
Click here for a bigger picture
Click here for a bigger picture
Here it is, fully loaded, with my Arcteryx RT25, Proteus, Spyderco Delica CF, Spyderco Spur (new sprint run) and an audio CD.
Click here for a bigger picture
I'm 1.8m tall (5.9 feet ?) and I weight 67 Kg (148 pounds). I'm pretty slim.
Note : the water bottle was empty (I was thirsty
. When it's loaded with water, the Rollypoly is vertical.I hope you enjoyed it. If you need more pictures from other angles or anything else, just ask.
PS : Don't ask about the backgrounds for the pictures. I have a 5 months old son
PSS : I couldn't resist, here is a pic of my little collection of spydies
fabsah
Edited for spelling errors and to add the zip ties update.
