A modern Rucksack?! HERE!? "I have never been so.." Calm down, The TT(Tasmanian Tiger) may be a modern rucksack, but it is currently being used by several armies around the world.
History
Yeah, there isn't much history about this pack since it's current issue from a civilian manufacturer. BUT! I still have something to write, don't you worry one bit my little sweety pies. When the first modern armies started popping up around the world, the different armies would buy kit from a manufacturer and then issue the stuff to the soldiers who were going into active service. When those soldiers got home from their respective warzones, they would turn in their kit, and the army would then reissue the stuff to the new batch of soldiers taking their place.
But as time passed more and more time and money was put into educating the soldiers, they got more and more professional. The armies figured that it would be a better idea to give the soldiers uniforms that actually fit, and give them an opportunity to get personalized gear.
Each soldier now had the opportunity to buy what they needed.
The Tasmanian Tiger Pathfinder was originally developed by the German outdoor manufacturer Tatonka as a long distance patrol pack for the German Special Forces.
It has seen service in Afghanistan with the soldiers of the Danish army.
About the Pack:
This pack is a high-tech wonder, a powerhouse of modern technology, IT HAS SO MANY GOD-DAMN FUNCTIONS IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY! First of.
The main compartment is 85 liters, 85 LITERS, this pack is big enough for me to use as an emergency sleeping-bag(No kidding). On the sides are two 10 liter Pouches.
And the whole thing is covered in the wonder of the century, MOLLE(Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment). On a side note: I am under strict instruction from the US State-department to notify all foreign dogs that it is pronounced Molly, not Moll(e) as any sane human being would pronounce it. AND i am told that if you french it like this: Mollé, you'll be shot.
The Molle on the pack makes it extremely versatile as it is possible to remove, replace and add all sorts of weird things to the pack, so every time you go out on your fun little trips, and you don't need 20 extra liters on the sides of the pack, just remove them!
On the front of the pack is this:
This is not, as some of you might think, a portable toilet seat(Yes i made that mistake, but 3 washes later, and here we are) but in fact an ingenious contraption designed to hold your helmet, when you can't be bothered to but it on your head.
This is actually pretty cool, even though i have no practical use for a helmet holder. I use it to keep my mess kit, 1 pot, with a coffee pot inside of it and the lid on top, and there you have it, Holy crap, sometimes my own genius amazes me!
We now move on to the lid, "The lid? THE LID? What so special about that??" You yell at your screen. Well i'll tell you! For starters, it can be removed completely, so if you are looking to cut some weight that's pretty clever! The top can then be closed of like so:
The lid, in itself, has a multitude of functions.
The top part of the lid can open up into this:
Flip the lid around there is a pocket for med-kit, marked with a white cross on a green background.
This pocket was probably made for the comfort of civilians buying the pack for trekking purposes, because this is a terrible place to place med-kit and here is why. If you are out on a long range patrol, with this bad boy on your back, and you suddenly come under fire and your "bro gets tagged" I do not believe you would have the time or the room to remove the pack from your back, unbuckle all the buckles you need too and open the pocket to take out the med kit. I do believe most soldiers have the med-kit located on their person, either on their webbing or on their vests.
The Carrying system is the best thing about this pack.
Its called the V2, and is a system pioneered by Tatonka, and copied directly to their military pack. As one of my buddies likes to describe it: "It's like the rucksack is giving you a Hug".
Its very comfortable, and works in 3 steps:
Step 1. Put on the pack and tighten the Stomach belt.
Step 2. Tighten the top straps(This pulls the pack downwards, towards your shoulders)
Step 3. Tighten the shoulder straps.
You can carry a lot of weight in this pack, but with the carrying system adjusted and tightened correctly, it feels like you are carrying a fourth of the weight.
It has an internal frame system, meaning you have 2 steel rods running down the length of the pack:
And the whole thing is covered in the wonder of the century, MOLLE(Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment). On a side note: I am under strict instruction from the US State-department to notify all foreign dogs that it is pronounced Molly, not Moll(e) as any sane human being would pronounce it. AND i am told that if you french it like this: Mollé, you'll be shot.
The Molle on the pack makes it extremely versatile as it is possible to remove, replace and add all sorts of weird things to the pack, so every time you go out on your fun little trips, and you don't need 20 extra liters on the sides of the pack, just remove them!
On the front of the pack is this:
This is actually pretty cool, even though i have no practical use for a helmet holder. I use it to keep my mess kit, 1 pot, with a coffee pot inside of it and the lid on top, and there you have it, Holy crap, sometimes my own genius amazes me!
We now move on to the lid, "The lid? THE LID? What so special about that??" You yell at your screen. Well i'll tell you! For starters, it can be removed completely, so if you are looking to cut some weight that's pretty clever! The top can then be closed of like so:
The lid, in itself, has a multitude of functions.
The top part of the lid can open up into this:
Containing two pockets, one of which is zippered of.
Btw. notice the carbine, your supposed to keep your keys there! Now I don't know about you but if wanna go trekking for weeks, carrying about 110+ liters on my back, I DON'T BRING MY KEYS!!! This is stupid, i am sorry but this is going to far, no one, anywhere, is ever going to use this! And if you do, you shouldn't. Specs are good, and i love nice details as much as the next man, but i really do hate when people go overboard on the whole "Lets make everything as easy as possible"-thing. Oh and one more thing, if this pack is made for army use, why did the designers put this here? If you are a soldier, and you go to war, buying personal kit for hundreds of Euros, and with the possibility of loosing your life, you don't need to bring your frigging keys do you!?
This pocket was probably made for the comfort of civilians buying the pack for trekking purposes, because this is a terrible place to place med-kit and here is why. If you are out on a long range patrol, with this bad boy on your back, and you suddenly come under fire and your "bro gets tagged" I do not believe you would have the time or the room to remove the pack from your back, unbuckle all the buckles you need too and open the pocket to take out the med kit. I do believe most soldiers have the med-kit located on their person, either on their webbing or on their vests.
The Carrying system is the best thing about this pack.
Its called the V2, and is a system pioneered by Tatonka, and copied directly to their military pack. As one of my buddies likes to describe it: "It's like the rucksack is giving you a Hug".
Its very comfortable, and works in 3 steps:
Step 1. Put on the pack and tighten the Stomach belt.
Step 2. Tighten the top straps(This pulls the pack downwards, towards your shoulders)
Step 3. Tighten the shoulder straps.
You can carry a lot of weight in this pack, but with the carrying system adjusted and tightened correctly, it feels like you are carrying a fourth of the weight.
It has an internal frame system, meaning you have 2 steel rods running down the length of the pack:
Special things?
There are some, one of these being ridicules, the other being frigging awesome!
I'll start with the ridicules:
This is the sternum strap clip. It attaches on the other shoulder strap, designed to take some of the load of your shoulders. But what's that contraption that steals all the looks! Is that a Whistle? It sure is. Its a tiny, tiny whistle, right there on the sternum strap. Cool! Is the first thing that comes to mind: "If I am trapped in the woods, and someone is looking for me, I can blow the Whistle and they will come find me!" No they won't, mainly because if this is your best idea, you don't deserve to be found, but also because this tiny piece of plastic hardly even works.. You blow it, and the whistle just gives you attitude, like "Oh you wanna whistle know huh? Not gonna happen buddy.."
Onward! to the totally freaking awesomeness of the pack!
You can detach the pockets of the sides of the pack, Cool.. anything else? YES! You can then attach the two side pockets together! as so:
And on each side pocket there is a strap, turning them into a 20 liter daypack:
This is a great idea, since you can carry all you heavy stuff to one point, and then if you choose to stick around that particular spot, you can then make yourself a handy pack to use when you snoop around the area, looking for Charlie.
I give it 4 out of 6 of the Letter Ø.
Thanks for reading
Chris
I'll start with the ridicules:
This is the sternum strap clip. It attaches on the other shoulder strap, designed to take some of the load of your shoulders. But what's that contraption that steals all the looks! Is that a Whistle? It sure is. Its a tiny, tiny whistle, right there on the sternum strap. Cool! Is the first thing that comes to mind: "If I am trapped in the woods, and someone is looking for me, I can blow the Whistle and they will come find me!" No they won't, mainly because if this is your best idea, you don't deserve to be found, but also because this tiny piece of plastic hardly even works.. You blow it, and the whistle just gives you attitude, like "Oh you wanna whistle know huh? Not gonna happen buddy.."
Onward! to the totally freaking awesomeness of the pack!
You can detach the pockets of the sides of the pack, Cool.. anything else? YES! You can then attach the two side pockets together! as so:
And on each side pocket there is a strap, turning them into a 20 liter daypack:
This is a great idea, since you can carry all you heavy stuff to one point, and then if you choose to stick around that particular spot, you can then make yourself a handy pack to use when you snoop around the area, looking for Charlie.
Negatives?
First of, let me just say that this is a hard wearing pack, it's made of the toughest stuff: Cordura Den, and made to last, but sometimes it just kinda feels like the designers over-thought the pack. Understand me right, it has a lot of nice details, but there are just too many. I really like my packs simple, so it might just be my personal preferences blurring my vision.
The whistle and the key-holder they are just too much.
Another negative is the pricing. Not the price of the pack, because when you buy new, modern packs that aren't surplus you should be prepared to pay a great deal of green. It's the price of the things you need. I paid 26 Euros(22£ and 35$) for the rain cover. And every other pouch or pocket that you buy for this costs an insane amount of money, and you quickly become tired of this. I solved this problem, by buying old British and Dutch surplus Molle Pouches, they might not match the color, but at least it's cheap.
Price?
Way back, before i started collecting army packs, I bought this, mainly because I've always wanted a TT pack, for 270 Euros(228£ and 370$) which is a lot, compared to what i pay for the usual surplus pack.
I got mine with 20 % of, so it's usual price is around 360 Euros(305£ and 490$).
These are available from a lot of outdoor stores, so if you want one, its easy to find it.
These are available from a lot of outdoor stores, so if you want one, its easy to find it.
Would i recommend it?
Well, it is a good pack, but today i really don't care for it, because of my passion for old army kit. Should anyone ask me for advice on buying a pack bigger than 60liters, i would always suggest the swedish LK70 instead of this one. Its cheaper, has a sturdier feel to it and looks a hell of a lot more badass.I give it 4 out of 6 of the Letter Ø.
Thanks for reading
Chris
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