sotyakr
Enlightened
I had been looking for a small to medium sized belt pouch to carry various items such as binoculars, cell phone, camera, PDA, knife, light etc. (not necessarily all at the same time). The search was narrowed down to products from Maxpedition and NewSun. I ended up with the Maxpedition M4 "Waistpack" which was purchased from CountyComm in December '03 (during their "free" Arc AAA promo, woo hoo!).
The M4 is one of Maxpedition's largest (non-shoulder) belt packs with a main compartment of about 7" H x 4 ½" W x 2 ½" D. The main compartment is covered by a flap which is held down by a Fastex type buckle. It would have been nice if Maxpedition had included a Velcro patch to hold the main flap when not locked down with the buckle. Inside there is a divider on the back of the compartment which can hold relatively flat objects like a PDA. There is also a smaller pouch on the front measuring 5 ½" H x 3" W x 1 ¼" D with zipper closure, plus two Velcro flap covered side pockets. These pockets appear to be identical in size and construction to Maxpedition's single magazine pouches. Depending on the catalog photos used, the cover flap of these pouches are either secured by either a Fastex buckle or, Velcro. Mine has Velcro which I assume is found on the current version. The flaps are also attached to the main body of the pouch with Velcro which permits height adjustment. The M4 has a pair of beefy vertical straps which, with the various other straps found there, also allow it to be secured to a Maxpedition backpack. Since I doubt that I'll find myself storming any foreign embassies any time soon, the two straps should have no trouble holding the loaded M4 to my belt.
Before I had the M4 in my hands (or on my belt), I was a little concerned that it would be too large for comfortable belt carry. Fortunately, it's not really that large or cumbersome. This seems to be a Maxpedition trait - looks big in the photos, smaller in real life. The M4 is constructed of water repellent Cordura nylon with first rate stitching and quality assembly. The main compartment can accommodate items like my Celestron 8x42 roof prism binoculars, or a Panasonic FZ10 digicam. The FZ10 is one of the largest of the current crop of "superzoom" (12x), EVF digicams, and is almost the size of a small 35mm SLR. The front pocket can easily hold a pair of compact binoculars like my Bausch & Lomb 7x26 Custom Compacts. Small roof prism binocs would be even more comfortable in there. The side pockets can carry a light the size of a Pelican M6 (or slightly larger), a multitool or large folding knife. There are also a pair of pen sized sleeves between the side and front pockets.
As mentioned earlier, the M4 can carry a camera, and I had used it with my digicam for a while. The reason it was relieved of this duty is the absence of shock absorbent padding. This is contrary to TAD's online description which was probably taken from Maxpedition's catalog. Also, there is also no lining of any sort inside the compartment which might be a bit hazardous to your digicam's LCD screen.
In comparison, I suppose the NewSun pouches offer more bells and whistles, perhaps at the expense of some "bombproofness" or "t******l (you know the word...) cachet". All in all, the M4 looks to be a no nonsense, rugged, quality made belt pouch to carry your goodies, worth it's MSRP of $34.
The M4 is one of Maxpedition's largest (non-shoulder) belt packs with a main compartment of about 7" H x 4 ½" W x 2 ½" D. The main compartment is covered by a flap which is held down by a Fastex type buckle. It would have been nice if Maxpedition had included a Velcro patch to hold the main flap when not locked down with the buckle. Inside there is a divider on the back of the compartment which can hold relatively flat objects like a PDA. There is also a smaller pouch on the front measuring 5 ½" H x 3" W x 1 ¼" D with zipper closure, plus two Velcro flap covered side pockets. These pockets appear to be identical in size and construction to Maxpedition's single magazine pouches. Depending on the catalog photos used, the cover flap of these pouches are either secured by either a Fastex buckle or, Velcro. Mine has Velcro which I assume is found on the current version. The flaps are also attached to the main body of the pouch with Velcro which permits height adjustment. The M4 has a pair of beefy vertical straps which, with the various other straps found there, also allow it to be secured to a Maxpedition backpack. Since I doubt that I'll find myself storming any foreign embassies any time soon, the two straps should have no trouble holding the loaded M4 to my belt.
Before I had the M4 in my hands (or on my belt), I was a little concerned that it would be too large for comfortable belt carry. Fortunately, it's not really that large or cumbersome. This seems to be a Maxpedition trait - looks big in the photos, smaller in real life. The M4 is constructed of water repellent Cordura nylon with first rate stitching and quality assembly. The main compartment can accommodate items like my Celestron 8x42 roof prism binoculars, or a Panasonic FZ10 digicam. The FZ10 is one of the largest of the current crop of "superzoom" (12x), EVF digicams, and is almost the size of a small 35mm SLR. The front pocket can easily hold a pair of compact binoculars like my Bausch & Lomb 7x26 Custom Compacts. Small roof prism binocs would be even more comfortable in there. The side pockets can carry a light the size of a Pelican M6 (or slightly larger), a multitool or large folding knife. There are also a pair of pen sized sleeves between the side and front pockets.
As mentioned earlier, the M4 can carry a camera, and I had used it with my digicam for a while. The reason it was relieved of this duty is the absence of shock absorbent padding. This is contrary to TAD's online description which was probably taken from Maxpedition's catalog. Also, there is also no lining of any sort inside the compartment which might be a bit hazardous to your digicam's LCD screen.
In comparison, I suppose the NewSun pouches offer more bells and whistles, perhaps at the expense of some "bombproofness" or "t******l (you know the word...) cachet". All in all, the M4 looks to be a no nonsense, rugged, quality made belt pouch to carry your goodies, worth it's MSRP of $34.
