It's in the bag

Okay, my new Fstopgear Guru bag finally came on Friday. A few hours early, actually. The UPS website was promising delivery sometime between 1:pm and 5:00pm; it actually came at 9:30am. Good thing there was no signature required, as I was out then.

So what do I think about this much anticipated new toy? A few things. First, it's smaller than I expected. I ordered it with two padded "Internal Camera Units" or ICUs and expected that I could, if I wanted, load it up with both of them. But only one at a time fits. When I reread the Fstopgear website description, it's slightly unclear but actually doesn't say it will hold both at the same time. This isn't a real problem, as I don't intend to haul two ICUs worth of gear on my back during this trip. It does mean I can't use this bag as my only carry-on, however.




The two ICUs (one Medium and one Small) fit perfectly into my rolling 20" carry-on. This is actually one of the travel options I'm considering - put all the heavy and fragile camera gear in the rolling bag for the air segments. The downside to this is that we'll be hauling the rolling bag in the car through the whole trip, when we really won't need it.




The pack itself is very well made and setup for hiking. Lots of attachment points for gear on the outside. I can strap my tripod on it. It has a pocket for a water badder while hiking, or you can slip an iPad or small laptop in there at other times. It rides on my back like a pack made for hiking - good shoulder straps and waist belt, nicely padded against your back, reasonably adjustable. it's not at the level of my Osprey Stratos 26 daypack, but that thing would be terrible for this trip - getting stuff in and out of it is a project. This new bag makes it easy to get at the camera and other gear, as is it's purpose. On the other hand, the Guru is much more comfortable to wear for hiking than my big Lowepro camera bag.




Since you can use the Guru without the ICUs, it also makes a decent day bag for general walking around or touring. Without these inserts, it a soft backpack not unlike many book bags, but with bigger, more comfortable and bulkier straps and a waist belt. The waist belt can be tied out of the way when you're not using them, but you're still carrying them and they add to the bag's bulk.




The Medium ICU handles the big camera and all of it's lenses easily. It won't accommodate all of the accessories that a pack rat might bring, but it definitely holds enough. And with the Medium ICU in the bag, there's still a modest amount of space for other gear. Here's a summary of my in-scope bags:

A four bagger, April 2012

• Lowepro Pro Runner 350AW - great camera bag, mediocre hiking backpack, terrible touring bag
• Fstopgear Guru - good camera back, good hiking bag, good touring bag
• Osprey Stratos 26 - miserable camera bag (I've tried it), outstanding hiking backpack, miserable touring bag
• North Face Borealis - poor camera bag, mediocre hiking backpack, good touring bag.

I could go on and on here, but you get the point. I have a bit more testing to do, mostly around making sure I can actually fit everything I need for different scenarios into it, but it's looking good.