Monsoon Arrived

After months of torturous waiting, I finally received my Maxpedition Monsoon today. My initial impression is one of deep, heart-rending disappointment.

In fairness, the bag has a lot going for it. It's very nicely made and seems quite sturdy. In my eyes, it's the most stylish goodly-sized bag that Maxpedition makes. It has more compartments for organization than they tell you about, which is a nice surprise.

The bag is larger than I expected, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The bottom of the bag almost appears to be molded plastic in the pictures on the Maxpedition website. I was surprised to find that in fact it is some sort of textured, flexible plastic. Vinyl, I guess. It's also padded. That seems nice.

The triangular shape makes the internal space hard to optimize; at the moment, there is dead space near the top that I'm not really sure how to make use of. This is inherent to the style of the bag and I anticipated it. Possibly I'll work it out in the long run.

There are several detriments to the design, however, which I really wish I'd known about before I ordered it. Here's the most important:

If you just want to sling it over one shoulder, like you might a regular backpack, IT'S A LEFT-HANDED BAG.

Check out this image:

http://www.maxpedition.com/product/gearslinger/0410_monsoon/0410g_08.jpg

Looks like it's slung over the right shoulder, doesn't it? I now realize that guy is wearing the bag across his body, bandolier-style. The bit under his right arm - which I took to be the bottom connection point of the main strap - is where the integral belt connects. The main strap joins the bag body on the left side, and the ergonomic design ensures that you can only wear it over your left shoulder unless you opt for cross-body carry. On the left bottom side, where the strap connects, are several nice little pockets for storing stuff you want readily accessible. This is swell - if you're left-handed.

Other, more minor, detriments:

The main carry strap is long, much longer than I would have guessed, and cannot be adjusted to be shorter - only longer. If you were very tall, this would be comfy and reasonable. On me (and I'm only 5'6"), the bag seems to hang very low. I assume this is because I'm trying to sling the bag over one shoulder like a purse, while the bag seems to be optimized for cross-body wear.

The waist strap is described as "concealable" - in actuality there is a little elastic-snugged web pocket into which the belt mostly fits. This is neither concealed nor particularly secure. I'd be very surprised if the strap stayed in that little mesh bag during "hard use." Possibly this is unfair; we'll see.

The shoulder pad on the main strap seems outrageously wide to me.

There are a number of compression straps on the bag for adapting it to your particular load. They are, of course, adjustable, but they don't seem to stay where you put them. I tightened several of them up and they went right back to their factory positions as soon as I put the bag on.

The cinch cord on the water bottle carrier on my bag is assembled wrong. There is a little plastic compression thingy that's supposed to hold the cinch cord secure. The cinch cord goes through the wrong part of the compression thingy such that it doesn't work at all. I see no way to correct this without destroying the assembly.

Tonight I'll obsessively re-examine the bag and load my stuff in it as well as I can. I'm hoping that I can get used to the left-handedness of it and grow to like it. I'm going to experiment with cross-body carry and try to like it. For now, though, I'm feeling really let down.

Sorry to hear about the dissappointment. Thats' a bummer. I was looking at the Typhoon myself but opted for the tradition backpack design of the Baby Condor. More space (2100 c.i. vs the paltry 900 c.i. of the Typhoon ) and less money. Hopefully you can get the thing to work for you.

Thanks for the feedback - the Monsoon is a very unique bag, and I haven't even ordered any in for stock yet, mostly because it's not a bag that I'd personally use - the triangular shape just isn't a good match for my EDC needs.

Sorry to hear about your dissapointment - the Monsoon is even more built for cross-body use than the Typhoon, and far more than the Fatboy/Jumbos - if you were thinking of it as a shoulder bag, I'd imagine you're pretty unhappy.

My current EDC Typhoon suffers from the same left-handed phenomenon, as previously discussed here. I don't mind at all when it's on, or just hanging around town anymore, as I've gotten used to and now prefer to have it on my Left side. It's still a giant pain getting in and out of the car, where it's got to ride on the right-hand seat. It rides quite nicely on my left shoulder, and I'm getting used to using my left hand for most bag-oriented activities - it's actually kind of nice having my right hand available for other stuff.

My understanding is that the left-handedness is a specific attempt to leave the user's strong side clear for CCW, but as I don't carry daily, I'd rather it were a right-hand bag, all things equal.

The adjustment straps do have a tendency to work back to the factory position either until you're really using them to compress something, or until you've used the bag enough to soften up the straps a bit...

I'm interested in how you find the rest of the Monsoon - pockets, internal arrangment, what fits and what doesnt fit inside? It looks like a great bag for something - I'm just not sure what yet... let us know more about your gear and how it fits - pics would be great! Thanks much!

I wondered for a bit if the Monsoon was a sling bag or cross-body, and figured eventually that it was cross-body, so it doesn't come as a surprise to me--wish I'd posted that observation!

I'm in the same situation with my Typhoon that Deanster is, although I haven't gotten used to using my left hand. Basically, I love the bag, dislike the carry arrangement. I've tried cross-body carry, but on my frame it's oddly uncomfortable for even a minor distance (maybe I need to adjust it more, but I keep having the inner edge of the strap cut into my throat). I like the wide strap, but this may be contributing to troubles. Also, for much of the carry I do (carry between home/car/office), cross-body is just a time waster (although I expect it would be prefered for carry through an airport!).

Part of me wishes for a sling-bag design, or even a small backback (although the Falcon-II is pretty durn close!), or maybe a strap design that can switch between cross-body and sling/over-the-shoulder. I've even pondered finding a shoulder strap and somehow attaching it via the loops at the base of the grab-handle (and leaving the cross-body strap to flop about, I guess).

But man, do I enjoy the bag itself!

Last night I played with the bag some more (of course). After spending more time with it, my feelings are more mixed than ever.

It is a cross-carry bag, no way around it. It can be slung over one shoulder, but the ergonomics are greatly lacking... you're constantly aware that you're almost working against the bag. Over my left shoulder, it feels precarious... slipping and feeling insecure. Over my right shoulder, it works better. The carry is borderline acceptable, but all the pockets are in the wrong places to be useful. I'll probably carry it that way some anyway.

I tried wearing it cross-carry and was surprised how comfortable it felt. Weight is distributed nicely. I put my Glock 30 in the concealed carry spot and was impressed both that the gun was pretty accessible and that the padding made it unnoticable but for the extra weight. I still have two problems with cross-carry, though: first, the strap wants to run right up against my neck. It's almost impossible for me to get the bag situated such that the strap is centered on my shoulder. I'm not sure if there's something there I'm not figuring out or if that's just how it is. It's can be uncomfy, though and... Second, I really feel that cross-carry makes one look like a dork. Or maybe it's just me, I dunno. It bunches up my clothes in weird ways and, with the wide strap right up against my neck, looks much less comfortable and deliberate than it is. I put my Monsoon on and asked my wife what she thought... bottom line, lame. She said it was over the right shoulder or bust. So that sucks.

I really felt like Maxpedition had said that the Monsoon was for cross-carry *or* over-the-shoulder, but going back and reading their materials, I guess I made that up. I'm more frustrated with myself than with Maxpedition about the cross-carry stuff.

I know what you're saying about leaving the strong side available for CCW... I figured that was the case. Like you, I'm not really intending to carry, though, so it doesn't benefit me much. If Maxpedition developed their velcro system more, it might work out anyway. For example, they could make various flatish holsters that could go in the CCW compartment allowing similar constant availability and fast-draw for geekly things like flashlights, screwdrivers, cellphones, etc, and I could make much better use of the system. That would be swell. It strikes me as a mistake that the CCW compartment has only two velcro strips running through it, though; there's not nearly as much flexibility in positioning of holsters or as much secure anchoring going on as there could be. I guess velcro isn't cheap, but hey, neither was this bag.

I don't really get what you're saying about the compression straps, though. I was trying to use them to compress the bag and make it conform better to its contents; isn't that how they're supposed to be used? The problem didn't seem to be that the straps weren't broken in so much as the plastic adjusty things don't provide any much friction.

There are more pockets in the Monsoon than I expected from the photos I've seen and the text I've read. Unfortunately, only three of them are accessible without opening the bag, and they don't seem very useful to me yet.

One of the three outside pockets I'm referring to the "concealed" flat compartment underneath the side attachment points, on the side without the water bottle. The pocket is about 4 1/2" wide and about 6 1/2" deep. It's concealed only in the sense that it has no flap or closure, so it blends in... unless you put something in it, I would guess. Since it's a flat pocket, putting anything much in it would tend to deform the bag. I can't think of what I'd put in that pocket.

The other two outside pockets are on the main strap attachment point on the bottom left of the bag. The outside, semi-visible pocket is closed by a zipper and is nicely padded. The inside, semi-concealed pocket is unpadded. There is a little snap-secured strap that goes from the back to the front, sort of closing the concealed pocket and closing the front zippered pocket more.

When you unbuckle the "padded front cover," two more pockets and a key-keeper are exposed. The smaller front pocket is made of mesh. Behind it is a second, larger pocket. Both pockets are secured by a single velcro strap. This seems the logical place to put smaller, more frequently used items. The pockets are disappointing both because you must unfasten the "two criss-crossed compression straps" to get into them (that's three buckles and a velcro strap between you and your most-needed loot) and because they have no compartmentalization. The pockets aren't huge, but to me that's where you want to put pens, multitools, flashlights, etc... you don't want that stuff banging around in the mesh compartment.

Inside the main compartment, there are three more pockets. On the left side wall, near the cable pass-through, is a little elastic pouch in which one is intended to carry one's MP3 player. I haven't tried that yet and don't really expect to. There is also a zippered mesh pocket on the back wall at the top and a spot-velcro closed flat pocket on the back wall at the top. Last night I went through all of my kit intending to populate the Monsoon's pockets... but they're still all empty. The oddness of the pocket shapes, their locations, and their lack of compartmentalization vex me. None of them yet strike me as convenient or particularly usable.

Finally, there is the CCW compartment with the velcro. It's pretty large, height- and width-wise, though it can't accomodate much depth. I put a 8 1/2" x 11" 200+ page softcover book in there without much trouble; it fits, but barely.

There are attachment points on the back, one side, the main strap, and the main strap attachment flap thingy. I can't imagine using them.

As to my gear and what fits - I have my gear organized in four zippered pouches - one for tools, one for cables and adaptors, one for small devices, and one for my Zaurus and its accessories. In the Monsoon, they occupy ~70% of the internal capacity. I've not yet found any of the stuff in the pouches that it seems to make sense to move into the Monsoon's pockets. So, though I have more pockets than my last backpack, I've not yet found a use for them.

I think these sling bags are a novelty or trendy item. Monsoon & Typhoon look cool but they are uncomfortable with a lot of weight in them. The small fatboy is tolerable because it is small though not really that comfortable compared to a backpack. Backpacks just distribute the weight better.


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http://nbox00.tripod.com

Thanks for the info guys. While I was interested in the Monsoon you guys have convinced me to wait until I can play with one in person.

I had a Fat Boy briefly and sold it. It was too small and the 007 ninja styling wore off quick. Would it kill Maxpedition to use blue nylon? Or any non GI Joe colors?

My Timbuk2 messenger/laptop bag still rules for a man bag. Maxpedition should take note. If it aint broke...

m209 said:

I think these sling bags are a novelty or trendy item. Monsoon & Typhoon look cool but they are uncomfortable with a lot of weight in them. The small fatboy is tolerable because it is small though not really that comfortable compared to a backpack. Backpacks just distribute the weight better.

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I'd strongly disagree that sling bags are a novelty. They are a fantastic solution in general, IMO. Backpacks distribute the weight better, no question, but backpacks also cannot be shifted in front of you to get items out without taking the pack off. Backpacks are great for heavier loads. For most people's "EDC" type loads, sling bags are a way better solution, IMO. Anytime you want convenient access to your load but don't need a perfectly even suspension, sling bags work better.

I do, however, think that the tactical-gear companies have been shooting blanks when it comes to sling bags. They are often missing important features. For example, the Fatboy tends to swing around annoyingly from the "sweet spot" at the small of your back whenever you move. My REI Mini, by contrast, sticks tight to my back unless I specifically pull it around. Little mistakes like the strap being too long or not sitting right, don't surprise me at all at this point. I'd like to see the tactical gear companies paying more attention to the fundamentals of what makes a sling bag work -- that means the suspension, etc -- before they start worrying about packing on the features. As it is now, it seems like they figure out their features, then slap a sling on it. I'm sticking with sporting- or messenger-type sling bags until I see a tactical company get it right.

Joe

> ...backpacks also cannot be shifted in front of you to get items out without taking the pack off. Backpacks are great for heavier loads. For most people's "EDC" type loads, sling bags are a way better solution, IMO. Anytime you want convenient access to your load but don't need a perfectly even suspension, sling bags work better.

FYI, the Monsoon is much more like a backpack than a sling bag in that respect. Once you've got it on, you cannot easily access anything not in one of the three odd outside pockets detailed above. You cannot shift the pack in front of you.

I've taken to wearing the Monsoon (what seems like) backwards, over my right shoulder. This is pretty comfortable, is quick to put on and take off, and allows me to swing the bag to the front, side, or back without difficulty. The big downside is that this places the only readily accessible storage on the outside of the Monsoon at the small of my back - ie, not at all convenient to get to. To solve the problem, I attached a Maxpedition M-5 waistpack to the side of the Monsoon. When I wear the bag over my right shoulder, the M-5 is right where my right hand is. I put my most used stuff - VIP, Leatherman Wave, pen, lighter, USB flash stick - in there. This is working very nicely for me.

While there is much about the design of this bag that mystifies me, and I still don't feel like I'm using it at all "right," it's definitely growing on me.