Fox Outdoor Products Rio Grande Backpack

Two thumbs up to fix tactical!! The comfortabliity is outrageous when fully loaded. I used this pack to make sort of a 3 day go bag. Plenty of space for a wool blanket, tent, hammock, cooking set, canteen, food, and many other things all together. This pack is very well made and you would not regret buying it. If you're looking for a hiking backpack without a steel frame(it does include some sort of metal inserts) or sort of a milsurp type mission pack, this is exactly what you're looking for. It includes a fold out rain cover from underneath and plenty of space for everything you'll need. The possibilities are endless when it comes to ways of packing this. I love it and plan to hike the fiery gizzard soon. If it sustains comfortabliity throughout that hike I'll trust it to do almost anything in this type climate. Its most definitely worth the price and is a great addition to any prepper\hikers collection. See for yourself!!

Good quality pack. 45L has plenty of room for all of my college textbooks, binders, folders, laptop, chargers, iPad, etc, with room to spare. Quality wise it seems pretty durable so far. I'd definitely recommend it. It also has a rain cover in the bottom which is a nice touch as I live in Florida.

I'm quite pleased with the overall quality and design of this product. It does closely resemble the British Saber 45 military ruck, but with the side zipper compartments (rocket pockets) permanently attached. It appears to be constructed of heavy duty cordura nylon, and the sewing appears to be solid. It's advertised and depicted as British DPM camo. Mine is more of a combo of the DPM and 90s U.S. Woodland camo. Not at all an issue to me, but an observation. It also has an internal frame of sorts... two flat aluminum strips that slide in/out - can be removed. It came with a light weight solid dark OD green nylon rain cover that was stashed in the very bottom in a zipper compartment. It was removable by a tiny clip and I moved it to the top. The only two things that kept me from giving it 5 stars was the design of the shoulder straps, and the location of the sternum strap - almost at my neck... For under $50 those are small issues. I purchased this as a more secure rucksack suitable for ALL uses, minus the numerous zippers... a failure of one could be serious in the field/under emergency situations... But all in all, a very good pack that I could recommend for someone else to buy. It also came with a 2x3" Fox colored patch on velcro where one could attach a flag or velcro flight suit ID placard. There's also a 5" or so velcro strip for a military type name tape.

Really enjoying the backpack…can be used daily or for travel…spacious center storage with side and top zipper pockets good for holding personal belonging, drink bottles, or virtually anything else one could imagine…so far, it’s proven to be durable and a good value overall

This is my second Rio Grande backpack. It is simple but my last one survived for more than 10 years traveling around the world. This new one has some product upgrades: internal aluminum frame that can be removed and a rain cover. The waterproof internal material also seems to be better than my old one. The 45L size is perfect when traveling by plane. Even when full it still fits in the above compartment of small planes like E90 aircrafts.

For context I plan to use this for short backpacking trips and long hitchhiking trips. I'm 5'4" and have pretty short torso, so most backpacking bags are too long for me. This one is just right and I have full head movement and can roll up extra gear and attach to the bottom without hindering my legs. The hip strap and other straps feel pretty good, but not sure how they will hold up after breaking in yet.The zippers seperate when you run them back and forth even without any strain on them. One of the pulls came off when I was test packing my gear.Some places are reinforced, like where the straps meet the bag, but even the reinforced parts are kinda weak. Other areas, including where the zippers are sewn in have a single loose running stitch. After the zipper pull on the top pouch came off, I was able to free the end of the zipper from the stitching by pulling them apart with my hands. I'm pretty good with zipper repair, but even after putting it back together the teeth still separate. I decided all the zippers need to be replaced completely.I am a little worried about the plastic clips and D rings that hold everything else together. Plastic hardware is pretty good these days and on a more expensive/ well made pack I would trust it, but not in this context. I will replace the D rings with metal and carry extra quick release clips in case one or more of them break. I would not take this bag anywhere without a repair/sewing kit, but I do that for every backpack.I was looking for a cheap simple backpack that can take some abuse and this is much lighter and about the same price point as buying a MOLLE pack with no frame that is in poor condition and needs more repairs and work to adapt to a frameless setup.The material it's made out of seems high quality, so I think going over all the stitching with my sewing machine and replacing the zippers and hardware will get me what I want and I won't feel too bad if the pack gets trashed.I think this cheap, simple bag is a good "blank" to add webbing where I want it and customize to my liking without feeling like I am messing up something nicer. Honestly I might have been better off just modifying a $20 surplus pickle pack, but I liked the size of this bag.The olive color is nice. I would absolutely not recommend this to anyone who is looking for something ready to use for anything higher stakes than taking your clothes to the laundromat. Out of the box, it's more of a project than a backpack.I gave it 2 starts because I bought it knowing I was going to modify it and I think it's a good buy for that purpose. After putting in a few hours work I think it will be a nice custom pack that will hold up as well as a much higher priced bag that I wouldn't be able to justify spending money on. That said, if you make more than 25$/hr and aren't handy, it is probably worth it just to shell out more cash for a decent bag.

I got this by suggestion from a friend who served when I asked about hiking packs that were top notch quality without breaking the bank. I have taken this pack with me on campouts with my son's cub scout pack as well as high adventure trekking in the Rockies. It has outperformed and outlasted other packs that were supposedly "higher quality" and cost a ton more. I wish Fox had been around when I was younger, I would have bought one before trekking in Philmont.

This backpack was designed to ride high on the back. There’s no adjustment for the kidney straps and they wrap around the stomach rather than towards the hips. Very uncomfortable.