2018 Maxpedition News

[Grant Lamontagne]

It looks like Maxpedition is releasing some new bags: https://www.maxpedition.com/collections/spring-2018-launch?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=maxpedition-media&utm_content=MEDIA+Entity+announcement+video+%2F+SHOT+SHOW%09

Designed around our Non-Tactical/Tactical (NTT) Concept, the new Entity line focuses on discreet concealed carry for covert operators and prepared citizens who choose to be unnoticed.  A sleek, modern exterior devoid of characteristics typically associated with the "tactical look" masks an interior optimized for organization and situational readiness.

The marketing seems a bit over the top, but I suppose that's par for the course these days.

Def

[Don Pablo]

Finally.... It took enough time for being NOT tacticool to become an effective advertising technique to use. 

[dks]

Does it mean "tactical" is now dead ?

[Don Pablo]

Does it mean "tactical" is now dead ?

I hope so. 

[Lynn LeFey]

Does it mean "tactical" is now dead ?

I hope so. 

Seriously.

"I'm an urban gray man"
"You, sir, are LITERALLY covered from head to toe in molle attachment points. HARDLY 'gray'. Operators look at you and think 'That guy must be a REAL Operator'. You don't have a 'pocket for your pens'. You have an 'Admin section'. You don't have sunglasses, you have 'Covering, Eye, Polarized'. You think a tourniquet is mandatory EDC. You think the word 'slipjoint' is synonymous with 'failure to plan for the inevitable knife fight you will encounter while getting a pack of new socks at Target'."

I could do this all day. Really... add this to the 'Things Lynn hates in Bug Out Bags'.

I should also point out that I own 3 Maxpedition products, 2 of them being Tacticool Slingbags, so... pot calling kettle and all that. 

[Don Pablo]

Does it mean "tactical" is now dead ?

I hope so. 

Seriously.

"I'm an urban gray man"
"You, sir, are LITERALLY covered from head to toe in molle attachment points. HARDLY 'gray'. Operators look at you and think 'That guy must be a REAL Operator'. You don't have a 'pocket for your pens'. You have an 'Admin section'. You don't have sunglasses, you have 'Covering, Eye, Polarized'. You think a tourniquet is mandatory EDC. You think the word 'slipjoint' is synonymous with 'failure to plan for the inevitable knife fight you will encounter while getting a pack of new socks at Target'."

I could do this all day. Really... add this to the 'Things Lynn hates in Bug Out Bags'.

I should also point out that I own 3 Maxpedition products, 2 of them being Tacticool Slingbags, so... pot calling kettle and all that. 

[Breezy12]

Does it mean "tactical" is now dead ?

I hope so. 

Seriously.

"I'm an urban gray man"
"You, sir, are LITERALLY covered from head to toe in molle attachment points. HARDLY 'gray'. Operators look at you and think 'That guy must be a REAL Operator'. You don't have a 'pocket for your pens'. You have an 'Admin section'. You don't have sunglasses, you have 'Covering, Eye, Polarized'. You think a tourniquet is mandatory EDC. You think the word 'slipjoint' is synonymous with 'failure to plan for the inevitable knife fight you will encounter while getting a pack of new socks at Target'."

I could do this all day. Really... add this to the 'Things Lynn hates in Bug Out Bags'.

I should also point out that I own 3 Maxpedition products, 2 of them being Tacticool Slingbags, so... pot calling kettle and all that. 

+1 

You have a GREAT sense of humor, Lynn!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Does it mean "tactical" is now dead ?

I hope so. 

Seriously.

"I'm an urban gray man"
"You, sir, are LITERALLY covered from head to toe in molle attachment points. HARDLY 'gray'. Operators look at you and think 'That guy must be a REAL Operator'. You don't have a 'pocket for your pens'. You have an 'Admin section'. You don't have sunglasses, you have 'Covering, Eye, Polarized'. You think a tourniquet is mandatory EDC. You think the word 'slipjoint' is synonymous with 'failure to plan for the inevitable knife fight you will encounter while getting a pack of new socks at Target'."

I could do this all day. Really... add this to the 'Things Lynn hates in Bug Out Bags'.

I should also point out that I own 3 Maxpedition products, 2 of them being Tacticool Slingbags, so... pot calling kettle and all that. 

As I was reading this all I could think of was Lynn LeFey must be a deep cover persona for Tactical Tommy....   

For those not familiar with Tactical Tommy, I think you will find that these new "Non-Tactical/Tactical" bags seem like they would fit right in....

As I was leaving my house I stuffed my Glock 10mm "man gun" Mexican style in my pants. My backup is a fully customized 1911 with all the IPSC add on options in my $500.00 leather pancake holster custom made by Belgian Monks who have devoted their lives to silence and holster making. These are the ones used by SEAL Team 6, which I used to be a part of but all records of my activities were destroyed in a fire "accident".

I put on my Royal Robbins photographer vest to match my pants while wearing a T-Shirt underneath reading "from my cold dead hands", that away nobody can see what I'm packing.

I had my Centennial .38 Special in my ankle holster, just like the gun rag guys carry.

Lastly I had my "Covert Sniper" I.D. Card in my wallet with my "Concealed Weapons Permit Badge". I was ready for anything.

I drove my Bug Out Truck to the 7-11 for some beer, cause you never know. It is a performance styled Subaru BRAT with 4 cylinders of ground pounding fury.

As I pull up to the 7-11 store I notice a nefarious looking girl scout eyeballing me from the back of her mother's SUV, a likely cover.

The mother returned to the truck and went for the keys in her purse, but I knew from my years of combat honed instincts that she was actually making a furtive movement for an offensive weapon.

I attempted a tactical shoulder roll, but fell flat on my face, kind of flopping on the pavement to avoid any incoming rounds and to make look like I meant to do that. The store owner called 911 which is good because I then did a roll and attempted to draw my Glock.

Unfortunately, since I did not have a holster, the gun "went off" and the bullet creased my wiener.  But I was prepared for that and bit down on a 10mm casing to take my mind off the pain as I dove for the garbage barrel. That’s when I noticed the Girl Scout shouting something to her mother who began to take cover. I knew they were closing on me so I drew my custom trusty 1911 Wilson COMBAT....I knew that they would be impressed with that. I then duck walked to the front of her SUV but my gut kinda’ got in the way and I fell on my ass, which caused me to swallow my 10mm casing.

I then tried to roll to my right, but didn't want to scuff my holster so I attempted a mid air conversion and just threw myself into a telephone pole, but I landed on right side anyway. So I fired one shot towards the woman’s SUV to pin them down as I recovered my wind.

And before the mother knew what was happening, I charged her and I threw my groin into her knee. I knew that as I vomited on the ground in front of her that I had interrupted her OODA loop, I had the advantage of surprise now. As she ran screaming for the Girl Scout (I knew she was going for backup) I made for my Super Charged BRAT tactical truck. I jumped into the driver seat forgetting that I had left my rare Israeli contract AR 15 Bayonet on the seat honed to a razors edge. I could handle it though; half my ass is an implant from war wounds. As I attempted to start my truck police and paramedics arrived on the scene. My truck would not start and instead backfired once and caused the police to taser me, at which point I tactically soiled myself while in convulsions. My custom 1911 then fell out the window but I still had my Centennial .38.  I knew that I had to take out the woman with the purse.

So I aimed my revolver at her at which point the first police officer fired once striking me in the chest, fortunately I was wearing my level 3A body armor. I didn't want to hurt the cops, they had obviously been duped by the evil temptress who was now embracing her partner in crime and crying to the police in the background, I knew it was a ruse.

I pulled out my concealed weapons permit badge and showed it to the officer who shot me and yelled out "I'm one of you guys", he continued to cover me and ordered me to drop my .38 so I lay it down, I still had my bayonet embedded in my ass after all. The cop walked toward me and upon reading the badge maced me right in the eyes. Fortunately my Oakley shooting glasses stopped most of the spray and I was able to rip free of the taser cords easily, it only cost me one nipple, easily replaced. I dove for the passenger side of my truck and began to run zig zag for a ditch, unfortunately the bayonet sticking out of my ass slowed me down, I knew it would have to be hand to had now. I knew the cop couldn't take me when I saw he merely carried a 9mm Glock 17 and not a man’s gun. So I immediately threw my eye into his right hook, followed by a knee into his mag light. As I lay thrashing on the ground I took the heel of my Bates enforcer boot and kicked at the cops ankle, I knew that from my classified experiences in Tajikistan that once breaking the ankle, the cop would fall down and I could "stun kick" him in the head, knocking him out but without hurting him.

Apparently the cop had also been to Tajikistan because he side stepped me and struck me in the back with his ASP baton, but my trauma plate absorbed it. I then drew my Benchmade auto knife and was promptly tased again, but I was ready for it this time and only wet myself a little bit.

Next thing those cops knew I was unconscious. That'll teach 'em.

Def

[dks]

mall ninja leaves on.......

[Pacu]

Does it mean "tactical" is now dead ?

I hope so. 

Seriously.

"I'm an urban gray man"
"You, sir, are LITERALLY covered from head to toe in molle attachment points. HARDLY 'gray'. Operators look at you and think 'That guy must be a REAL Operator'. You don't have a 'pocket for your pens'. You have an 'Admin section'. You don't have sunglasses, you have 'Covering, Eye, Polarized'. You think a tourniquet is mandatory EDC. You think the word 'slipjoint' is synonymous with 'failure to plan for the inevitable knife fight you will encounter while getting a pack of new socks at Target'."

I could do this all day. Really... add this to the 'Things Lynn hates in Bug Out Bags'.

I should also point out that I own 3 Maxpedition products, 2 of them being Tacticool Slingbags, so... pot calling kettle and all that. 

 

[powernoodle]

I'll be buying one.  I can't help it.

[Lynn LeFey]

As I was reading this all I could think of was Lynn LeFey must be a deep cover persona for Tactical Tommy....   

That wannabe? I taught him everything he knows.

He WISHES he was me. On his BEST DAY, he...

Nah. Who am I kidding? I WISH I had a Bug Out Brat. 

[Higgins617]

What's worse, this type of advertising, or the fact that this type of advertising sells.... I honestly do like the look of the bags though, and I like the shot it shows of which ever one with the front that can fully zip down and open. That has been my biggest gripe with backpacks in general for lugging my crap, I like the ability to lay it flat and zip the whole pack open

[Old Boy]

One thing I miss. Before the tacticool and mall ninja was a thing I would sometimes wear camo pants , military boots, etc. Not as a complete outfit but maybe just 1 article of clothing when I go hiking or something. We didn’t have specialized, sciency, or dedicated outdoor clothes back then where I grew up.

Not because I was trying to be cool (I’m a civilian) or a wannabe. But because they were comfortable, had great pockets, and great to wear when you know you are going to tear or stain something.

Nowadays I would just feel uncomfortable or unworthy. Maybe one of these days I’ll turn into an old fart who doesn’t care any more. By then showering would be optional. 😀

[dks]

What may have been missed by many here that do not follow trends is that currently, at least in Europe, it is very fashionable for teenagers to wear camouflage themed clothes.

[ThePeacent]

I like military gear for its sturdiness and generally durability/comfort/versatility for them money, and I also like the color patterns.
Tacticoolness apart, I find them aesthetically pleasing and that's enough for most people. Durable as well, will last a lifetime if properly taken care of.

I only own two maxpedition products and although I don't use them a lot they seem very well built and feel quality in hand. 

[Dutch_Tooler]

Tacticool... there seems to be more to this than just camouflage colours. I think what Lynn referred to above was the trend for everything to need Molle webbing - and yes, I confess to owning a Molle-festooned backpack or two.

While I normally avoid (or have my perverse pleasure in actively countering) fashion trends, this a couple of years ago was one that (in decent black, mind you) seemed practical, more than anything else. The backpack for photo equipment that I wanted for its size (I forget the make) was so equipped - turned out that whilst a good photo bag, the internal design was less than perfectly practical for just about anything else - like carrying an umbrella, poncho, drink bottle and such, so I was happy to oblige by using the Molle webbing to attach some external pouches. This must be the engineer in me, always thinking modular and how I can tinker with equipment - this doesn't stop at SAKs and multitools 

After a while though, the interest in carrying extensive photo equipment waned, so I bought a general purpose backpack in case I should go hiking. Pure habit (to say nothing about the ready availability of extra pouches) made this a black, Molle-webbing backpack again. I also still use this, mainly as hand luggage carrier on long flights - very solidly built, and it never attracted any noticeable undue attention from anyone, including TSA and the like - but, interestingly, the backpack was slightly bigger than the old photo bag so I ended up stowing everything inside and did away with almost all the external pouches, thus negating the usefulness of the Molle webbing. Once this one wears out (in several more decades, at the rate I am not using it for hiking at the moment) I'll buy an even more stealthy one. Probably against the trend again by that time, but hopefully at bargain prices as a consequence

About the camouflage trend... one must distinguish between those in military colours (still often worn by teens, but funnily enough more in southern European countries; certainly not a trend in southern Germany or in the low/nordic countries at the moment) and camo-pattern garish colours like yellow, green, pink or orange (preferably fluorescent and/or in combination mutually and/or with purple, baby blue, pale pink and venom green) as often seen on teens' skiing/snowboarding attire these last years in the Alpine region. Ugh. Conspicuous, there's that...

[pfrsantos]

"at which point I tactically soiled myself while in convulsions"

Must try this move...

 

[pfrsantos]

Tacticool... there seems to be more to this than just camouflage colours. I think what Lynn referred to above was the trend for everything to need Molle webbing - and yes, I confess to owning a Molle-festooned backpack or two.

While I normally avoid (or have my perverse pleasure in actively countering) fashion trends, this a couple of years ago was one that (in decent black, mind you) seemed practical, more than anything else. The backpack for photo equipment that I wanted for its size (I forget the make) was so equipped - turned out that whilst a good photo bag, the internal design was less than perfectly practical for just about anything else - like carrying an umbrella, poncho, drink bottle and such, so I was happy to oblige by using the Molle webbing to attach some external pouches. This must be the engineer in me, always thinking modular and how I can tinker with equipment - this doesn't stop at SAKs and multitools 

After a while though, the interest in carrying extensive photo equipment waned, so I bought a general purpose backpack in case I should go hiking. Pure habit (to say nothing about the ready availability of extra pouches) made this a black, Molle-webbing backpack again. I also still use this, mainly as hand luggage carrier on long flights - very solidly built, and it never attracted any noticeable undue attention from anyone, including TSA and the like - but, interestingly, the backpack was slightly bigger than the old photo bag so I ended up stowing everything inside and did away with almost all the external pouches, thus negating the usefulness of the Molle webbing. Once this one wears out (in several more decades, at the rate I am not using it for hiking at the moment) I'll buy an even more stealthy one. Probably against the trend again by that time, but hopefully at bargain prices as a consequence

About the camouflage trend... one must distinguish between those in military colours (still often worn by teens, but funnily enough more in southern European countries; certainly not a trend in southern Germany or in the low/nordic countries at the moment) and camo-pattern garish colours like yellow, green, pink or orange (preferably fluorescent and/or in combination mutually and/or with purple, baby blue, pale pink and venom green) as often seen on teens' skiing/snowboarding attire these last years in the Alpine region. Ugh. Conspicuous, there's that...

General Purpose!

 

[ThundahBeagle]

I think he is mistaken. Just having clothes and gear of various shades of grey does not constitute being an urban grey man.

Everyone wants to be tactical. I don't get it. Everyone thinks they are police, army, special forces, sniper, FBI, CIA, ninjas, or from some other department of alphabet soup. Or some member of the resistance. Or some spy.

It really seem to have started taking off in the late 90's, where every pocket knife suddenly had to be one hand opening and have an integrated pocket clip. It ballooned out from there, I believe.

I've got news...historically, the best actual spies, operators, or even private detectives rarely carried much specialized equipment, and even when they did, it wasn't daily. They put themselves in a position to observe and recorded those observations, for the most part, with everyday normal devices (regular camera pen, paper, memory). No special equipment on them to identify them as any sort of speSmurfpillst. Yes, sometimes use of hidden or mini cameras , or one-time pads,  sophisticated radio equipment or even an assassination umbrella was used, but this was few and far between, and the user avoided being caught with that equipment at all costs.

Specialized equipment gives you away. Looking like a tactical douche bag doesn't win you any friendship from the real authorities when the smurf hits the fan.

There is so much that can be done with some version of the regular school backpack, or day hiking pack, stuffed full of a bunch of stuff that is typically on hand.

Not saying this equipment is bad or useless. More commenting on the advertising and the fact that everyone wants tactical to be a style.

Remember Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon? He arrives at the island with a black turtleneck and a bag of rope. Done

[Dutch_Tooler]

Yup. On one point though I hate to disappoint you Thundah - the tacticool or military-look style is far older than end of the 90s. I'm old enough to remember that look being en vogue in Europe at the end of the 70s, as expressed in such consumer items as camo rainwear and portable FM radios and similar equipment in olive green 'militarised' rugged look. My dad, who was into electronics, always had a hearty laugh at those

[ThundahBeagle]

Hi Dutch,

Good point and perspective. Even as a kid in the 70's it was primarily Viet Nam veterans who might still be wearing their boots or fatigue jackets. Ok. Then in the 80's, there was a time where some kids my age would wear camo pants or German army jackets and patches. That was pervasive. But it seems to me, at least in the US, it seems that the 90's was when tactical one hand folders really took off. Then MagLite wasn't good enough - it had to be streamlight or Surefire - and everyone who bought a pistol wanted laser sights or a surefire cradle, and things expanded more and more until everyone thinks they are James Bond or Officer John McClane.

Very tiring

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'm not one for worrying too much about my looks.  One look at me will tell you that.

For me the tactical type bags aren't about pretending I'm a mall ninja, I just like the function of it all.

I was raised in a military family and I tend to value function over form as a general rule, which is often the same as the military's requirement and so I often default to military type stuff because it works.  All of the fancy stuff is stripped away, just leaving what works and what can be made to do more.

That's my interest in Maxpedition (and similar) bags.  I know they aren't military issue.  I don't care.  They are rugged, modular, customizable and most importantly they do the job I need/want them to.

If people think I look like a wanna be ninja, that's fine, I'll just be doing my thing and getting stuff done.

Def

[ThePeacent]

well this one is not new for 2018 but I just got a Maxpedition shoulder strap from Nix, and man this is a few steps above what I'm used to have on my shoulder bags and man purses



typical Maxpedition stitching and durability, this thing feels like it'd lift an Elephant without breaking
Talk about being excited for a piece of textile!   

[Don Pablo]

well this one is not new for 2018 but I just got a Maxpedition shoulder strap from Nix, and man this is a few steps above what I'm used to have on my shoulder bags and man purses

(Image removed from quote.)

typical Maxpedition stitching and durability, this thing feels like it'd lift an Elephant without breaking
Talk about being excited for a piece of textile!   

And it sounds like my reaction to skinth products.