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Adotec is a cottage backpacking gear producer positioned in Canada that makes a speciality of Dyneema entrance packs which might be connected to backpack shoulder straps. The Ab Bag is certainly one of their smaller fashions and may serve double responsibility as a fanny pack, however in addition they make fairly giant ones known as GearGuts that mix bottle and equipment storage and may be worn as standalone day packs. Whereas the Ab Bag can be utilized as a fanny pack, it’s firstly a entrance pack with a suspension system that’s significantly better than all of the fanny packs on the market masquerading as entrance packs.
Specs at a Look
- Weight: 26 g (bag) + 16 g (attachment straps)
- Dimension: 12″ width
- Quantity: 3.6L (roughly the dimensions of two giant hip belt pockets)
- Materials: Dyneema DCF (1.4 oz)
- Straps: Contains 2 x pack attachment straps and an extended webbing strap to make use of as a fanny pack
Entrance packs have many makes use of: they’ll steadiness your load when climbing, they’re nice for storing regularly used gadgets like gloves, hats, snacks, and maps, and to maintain your valuables in straightforward attain when touring. With a quantity of three.6L, the Ab Bag is roughly the dimensions of two giant hip belt pockets however of far better utility as a result of the house is mixed and contiguous. For instance, I can retailer a wind shirt, a sunhat, gloves, suntan lotion, sun shades, a sandwich, snack bars, map, and headlamp in an Ab Bag simply. It’s nice holding this gear simply at hand, so I maintain transferring with out having to cease, take off my pack, and dig by way of it every time I want one thing.
The Ab Bag is made with Dyneema DCF which is seam taped and comes with a waterproof zipper. The zipper has two sliders which have wire pulls which makes it straightforward to open with both hand. This makes the Ab Bag successfully waterproof from falling precipitation, however not from submersion.
The Ab Bag comes with straps to connect to your backpack, which might be appropriate with ANY backpack that has two shoulder straps. The straps connect to the webbing straps that run from the underside of the shoulder strap to the backpack and never on the padded portion. It positions the Ab Bag over your tummy and works even when your backpack doesn’t have a hip belt or a sternum strap. I don’t know of another producer utilizing this similar attachment system for a entrance pack, but it surely has some distinct benefits. They’re video is instructive.
I just like the Ab Bag entrance suspension system significantly better than the fanny packs that slide over your hip belt or sternum strap just like the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Versa Fanny Pack or the Zpacks Entrance Utility Pocket Accent. They tend to fall off if you unbuckle your sternum or hip belt strap. Whereas you should utilize a fanny pack independently as a entrance pocket, it sits too low on the hipbelt for my style and makes it laborious to see my toes. I additionally favor the truth that the Ab Bag stays connected to my pack on one aspect, even after I take off my backpack, making it a lot more durable to misplace and lose.
The Ab Bag additionally comes with an extended webbing strap, so it may be used as a fanny pack. However the important thing distinction between it and all the opposite fanny packs out there’s that it’s intentionally designed to be a entrance pack. When you have a waist bigger than 36″-38″, you would possibly need to ask for an extended webbing strap although. It runs a little bit brief.
If there’s a common draw back to a entrance pack just like the Ab Bag, it’s that it makes taking off and placing in your backpack extra concerned as a result of it’s important to launch and interact an additional buckle. You don’t need to launch or interact either side although, only one. Nonetheless, it helps when you can color-code your entrance buckles (sternum strap, hip belt, entrance bag) to make it simpler to inform them aside.
The Ab Bag retails for $75-80 USD/$95-100 CAD which is fairly steep contemplating you may make one for about $10 with a little bit ingenuity when you’re keen to forgo the Dyneema DCF. Wanda Rice has a pleasant article known as DIY Moist Ribs: Three Pattern Initiatives with some helpful recommendations on proceed.
However when you’ve been making an attempt to make use of a fanny pack as a entrance pocket and are dissatisfied with the outcomes or if in case you have a backpack the place it’s troublesome to connect shoulder strap pockets, the Ab Bag from Adotec is the answer to your issues. I usually use a entrance pack like this simply in winter, however the Ab Bag is so handy and transportable between totally different backpacks, that I’d simply begin utilizing it year-round
Extremely Really helpful!
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