HAZARD 4 Evac Photo-Recon(TM) Photo Sling Pack w/MOLLE (R)

This review has lots of info;As I daily carried this bag for 2 months before writing this...If your like me you're always searching for the perfect backpack, tool box, storage container, etc. to hold and organize your stuff. This sling is the closest thing to perfect for my everyday needs. I wanted a pack that is sturdy, dependable, roomy, Molle compatible with padded compartment for my camera and can be carried on one shoulder for quick transport or be securred to my body for longer periods of travel.It's the second product I have purchased from Hazard 4 so I knew the quality was good going in. So it just came down to camera safety and comfort. Both of which are 5 star. In fact the camera protection is better than my big camera gear backpack.A quick background on me for reference;I'm a stocky 6' guy in his 40's, Background is construction and now 70% of my time is at a desk, I'm an EMS volunteer for the local FD, I do Martial arts, photography and live a mobile moderately rough and tumble life style. Main thing is I must be response ready 24/7 so this bag, my go-bag and truck contain everything I need to go 72 hrs without replenishment.Now to the nuts and bolts of my review;The Goods:1. Strong high quality material with excellent stitching and good zippers.2. Lots of room3. Safe thick padded storage for camera.4. Lots of space for Molle pouches and equipment.5. Comfortable.6. Versatile.7. Easily adjustable.8. Easily configurable. The main inner compartment is separated and/or organized with Velcro panels.9. Easily personalized.10. Easily expandable.11. Tough.12. Attractive.13. Good size for everyday bag.Bads;1. The front bottom outside pocket has a nylon pocket inside that does not retain items well. However it's manageable and still provides for organizable space.2 In my opion, the top compartment (very top) is inflexible in terms quantity and size limitations of items you can store. Its best for small and thin items like lens filters, memory cards, lens rags and single stacked cords. Ironically it's the padding in this compartment that limits it's use. Still very minor issue and because it's so padded if you dropped it on it's top nothing would break.Contents IN bag*: you can see from the photos everything layed out that fits IN the pack. So here is a brief run down. DSLR Nikon w/18-250mm lens, batteries & lots of em', camera Battery charger, lens cleaner, connectivity and charging cords, small note pad and pens, compact hand sanitizer x2 (in different pockets), gum and protein bars, 100' of paracord, toiletries, wipes, all my medications & vitamins (in an independent locking bag), large saline spray, 360 essential phone camera, earbuds, mini-mini trauma kit (tourniquet, 4@ 6x6 dressing, 1 @ 6x6 occlusive and tape) and some other small incidentals.Items on the OUTSIDE of bag*;Gerber StrongArm, Gerber multitool, Revo sunglasses & eye glasses in case, pouch for gloves (3 pairs of nitrile and 1 leather insulated), Surefire flashlight, Orca water pouch w/ 32oz Nalgene bottle and hand towel with protein bars in front pouch, Anytone HAM mobile transceiver, 2 shackles, on front sling strap it has a Gerber cord/strap/belt cutter.Transportation; Why a sling?Putting a backpack on over a big winter coat is a hassle just to walk to and from a parking lot. So I prefer to one shoulder my bag and unfortunately most comfortable backpacks slide off too easily when you one shoulder them and want to have your hands free. This one is much easier. I can one shoulder it and walk my dog while holding my coffee or whatever in other hand during the jurney to and from parking. Something I couldn't do with my Pacsafe bag (another great product btw). Which is important because just like my camera my dog comes with me to work everyday. Plus, It's not only easy it's comfortable in either a one shoulder or cross body position.Security;The bag is very well made and tough. Making it very difficult to slash and grab items from inside, unfortunately the zipper pulls have no method of security and a good pickpocket could easy gain access. So I have some D clips on the Molle mounts to secure my zipper pulls making it more of a challenge to access and as a deterrent.Zippers and pulls;Zippers are hands down high quality. However, Some of the pulls came untied and they are small. I re-tied them at first and they stayed but since they are small and I have lots of add-ons I decided to make my own using paracord for easier access and to lock into my D clips easier.Camera storage;Yes, I carry a big-ol' DSLR everyday. Phone cameras just don't hold a candle to the real thing. This bag could be a 100% dedicated camera bag if you wanted. In fact I like it better than my massive camera gear backpack.Hand gun storage;For those of you wondering about hand gun storage. Yes you could do this in a number of pockets but there is no real dedicated concealment pocket just a pocket that has a Velcro pad. Nor does it come with a holster as seen in the description. I personally wouldn't store one like they show it anyway. The possibility of getting pick pocketted, bag stolen, slashed or riffled through when unattended is too risky. Be responsible, If you must carry an unlocked and loaded gun and have a CPP/CCP keep your pistol on your person at all times. Otherwise you probably don't need to carry. Also If you don't have a CPP/CCP you have no business carrying a loaded gun. Grow up.Overall;This is absolutely a 5 star bag. If I break it down to a scale of 1-100 it's a 98. I minused 2 only because of that single nylon inner pocket.I hope this review and photos helped.-T*Disclosure; The pack does not include any of the additional pouches connected to or inside the bag as shown in the photos. Nor does it include any tools, equipment, water bottle, connectors or paracord webbing.

This is easily configured, has volumes of space for a camera. And you can spend hours just trying to make it your way. But it is comfortable as long as you don't over weight it. Take a camera and no more than 3-4 lenses (small) and or, a telephoto on a camera because it can be almost a complete TUBE for just a camera and lens. Others that overweight it complain of heaviness and that is from non experience. Take what you need for the photo mission at hand and don't take the kitchen sink. That is common for some. Your back will not like you and you won't make it. Once weighted correctly the single strap is fine, comfortable and the secondary Z strap pulls it away from your neck which is great. You can snug it to your back and then balancing on rocks and curbs is not dangerous. And then swing it around to get your camera from the middle safely and quickly. It has tons of molle straps and you can add pockets to your desire. Don't add a water bottle to this along with your camera gear, put the bottle on your waist where it should be, weight on the hips remember? But for a camera in the woods, city streets, buses, subways, this thing is GREAT. You just have to get used to not using a back pack which THIS DOES NOT REPLACE IF YOU NEED ONE. Seriously this is made for hiking or short day missions. It is named well. Once you understand that this thing amazes you.

Ive used a ton of camera bags and this is MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE I am really impressed. The bag is sleek, portable and just all-around well designed/built. I was using an ApeCase backpack to carry my camera gear but its so big and I really needed something that was easier to manuever with. You can tell Hazard 4 stayed true to the target market and kept the DSLR shooter in mind the whole way, no cut corners or trying to appease non-shooters. I can really get down with that because a lot of companies will say "camera bag" and what they really mean is "a camera will possibly fit in here" ... but you can realllly tell when thought/pride has been integrated into a design and this product delivers 110% . Zippers, stitching, material, all extremely tough with classic hazard 4 quality. There's webbing and some other modular features as well, which is always great for customizing and expanding, and I personally think the tactical look of these bags are the coolest, so major kudos for that. The double-compartment access and the customizable dividers are seriously indispensable, the best feature on this bag. I cant tell you how much easier this makes it to access gear you need on the go, without having to completely stop and remove the bag/flip it around/ect. It is a little pricey but honestly when you realize the product you are getting you will know it is well worth it. I was hesitant at first only because I have had other bad experiences with so-called 'camera-bags' but this blew away all expectations. Really cant recomend it highly enough. I was not paid or given any discount to rate this product, i really just like it this much! ( I'd happily do future reviews for any hazard 4 products if they ever want to send me some though! )

I shopped around quite a bit to find a bag I could use as a daily carry and for also for taking out into the wild to carry my camera gear etc. It's definitely worth spending a bit of time familiarizing yourself with all the pockets, zips and compartments on the bag and there are some really nice touches like the extra plastic tags on the zippers for the main compartment but not on the ones for the filter holders, that way you can tell by feel which zips you are opening in the dark/low light. I found that it was quite easy to overload this bag if you fill it full to the brim with heavy gear. Because it's a single shoulder pack all the weight is over one shoulder which can soon become tiring. You can change the harness connection to the other side at the bottom but it's not quick and also means that when you 'sling' the pack around to the front you don't have access to the camera compartment as it's now on the underside of the pack (normal carry is over the left shoulder). I found that spending a bit of time getting the shoulder strap to the correct (comfortable) length made it a lot more comfortable over long periods. My camera fitted fine (Canon 700D with battery pack) but was just about the right size, anything larger than that would have been a tight fit. Overall I would say I'm very pleased with the pack and it does what I need it to.Pro's :Slim pack - easy to carry in confined spaces (train/bus/tube etc).Multitude of pockets to hold items.4 adjustable padded dividers to split up the main compartment to suit your needs.Very well made and rugged.Multiple Molle connections for additional holders (but will add more weight).Con'sCan be heavy when loaded with a lot of gear.Can only really be worm over the left shoulder and retain access to the camera compartment when slung around to the front.Check your camera size before purchasing to make sure it fits.

Ok where to start.*****Construction***** - This bag is bulletproof ( not literally) but the stitching the zips the material are all of the highest quality. I suspect this will last a long time of abuse.-The material is also water resistant which means to an extent your year is fairly safe from the rain. Please not that it is water resistant NOT waterproof so there may be a time you need a water proof cover dependant on conditions.****Design ****- The compartments and premise of this bag are spot on. The quick access pouch is ideal for grabbing your camera quickly, and the front pouches are easily accessible when the bag is pulled round. This means your camera, lens cloths, memory cards or any other essentials are always to hand. The bag is easy to move from your back to your front thanks to the grab handles on the bottom and on the main strap.-A downside I have noticed with the design, it takes a bit of playing around to configure the straps to your body type. At times the bag can feel it is slipping off your shoulder until you find a strap length that works for you.-Another downside, when this bag is full and a tripod strapped into it you will suffer. I suspect this is not a problem with this bag but more the shoulder style of bag. Thanks to the number of compartments and mollee attachments it is possible to configure this bag so that the weight is spread evenly and it is not so bad on the shoulders.-The design of the pouches are solid with netting and velcro to allow organisation. However the smallest pouch (the pouch where you can attach a morale patch) does lack this organisation. For me this is not a problem however some people may miss this feature.-The overall design of this bag is great I feel, it's tall construction ( opposed to the wider style of bags which are more common) allows it to easily fit into tight spaces and makes it very easy to travel with.The mollee system also allows for a huge amount of customisation, which for me is a great design plus.****Real world experience****So I have had this bag a few months, and with it I have been up munros, on flights, In busy crowded areas, crammed in the back of land rovers just to name a few situations. I have over packed this bag and suffered for it. I have walked miles with the straps the wrong length and felt it is going to fall off. But there have been times I have got a shot I would have struggled to get with any other bag I feel. The speed you can go from being packed up to unpacked with camera in hand is the reason I picked this bag and it does not dissapoint. Now I have the straps set up for me, I know the weight I can get away with, and often I still over pack, despite it being not as comfortable as a rucksack style bag I would rather suffer the extra weight and get the shot than be a bit more comfortable and miss the shot. After all my time with this bag I would more than recommend it to anyone doing a lot of field photography such as wild life or landscape. Even for wedding or event photographers who need access to their gear fast I would recommend this to, as easy access and speed are the focus of this bag.I have given this 4 stars instead of 5 as it took me a long time to get this bag set up the way I want, there were a few occasions I was close to sending it back. My advice would be to play around with this bag a lot and try the straps at a number of different lengths. Try it with different weights and mollee set ups. This bag has loads to offer and the quality from hazard4 is superb.

Extremely high quality product, perfect for any photography enthusiast. Would highly recommend this over any other camera backpack.

To small, cumbersome, compartments that don't fit camera equipment in to.

I brought this as a nappy bag and carn't be more happy with it. The bag can fit all you need for feeding, changing and clothes for a day out but unlike other bags it can be all be spaced out in different compartments, so you can grab what you need without having to rummage though stuff.