Mountainsmith Bags

After more than 10 years of hard use, hiking, biking, kayaking, and trekking, my Mountainsmith Day TLS Bag finally bit the dust.  I have at least 3 products from these guys and they are all more than 10 years old.  The fact of the matter is, even my Tour bag was still useable, but the corroded zippers were just becoming too much of a liability with camera gear in the bags.  So, off to the store, and wala, a brand new Day Tour bag with the very cool strapette option.  ​

The Day Tour is a big bag, and for me, without using the shoulder strap, fully loaded it is uncomfortable.  However, by using the shoulder strap as a sling, this allows you to tension the bag across one of your shoulders and take some of the weight off of your hips.  This has always been a great way to carry the bag, but now, with the addition of the strapettes, the bag is even nicer.  These straps basically convert the bag into a hip backpack.

I guess you could argue why not just get a backpack, which is a perfectly reasonable question.  However, I don't like to carry my camera gear in a backpack for accessibility reasons unless I am really hiking into a remote region carrying big gear.  I love to just un-clip the belt strap and have my gear right on my hip.  I also don't like backpacks when riding my bike.  I find that I just get way to hot, so I avoid them at all costs.  ​I also find that the Mountainsmith bags don't look at all like camera bags, which makes you much less obvious when in populated locations.

With the addition of these strapettes I find a very reasonable compromise to my gear carrying needs.  I can now load a bit more gear in the bag because of the straps.  I don't get the unclip and swing feature, but it is simple to just remove one arm from the double straps and have the bag hanging at my side.  ​

A typical outing in this setup has me comfortably carrying:​

• ​Crumpler camera insert (love these things) to organize and protect
  
• Camera Body​ w/lens
  
• ​Two spare lenses
  
• Batteries​
• Memory Cards​
• Light​
• Manfrotto mini tripod​
• Cable Release​
• ​Rain Shell and Patagonia Puff
  
• Snacks​
• Water Bottle​

​These bags are just bomber, and I am optimistic that this new one will last me another 10 years of good hard use.