JTech Gear Heracles | Tactical Backpack | Field Review

Description

Krik of Black Owl Outdoors reviews the Heracles Operation Backpack by JTech Gear. Constructed of 1000D Cordura, the JTech Heracles is a rugged piece of equipment. While it doesn't feel quite as stiff as Maxpedition, the Heracles' rigidity is closer to that of a 5.11 bag. Unlike current bags from both Maxpediton, 5.11 and a host of other tactical bag manufacturers, the JTech Heracles sports dedicated pockets for water bottles on both sides of the pack. The Heracles rides extremely well with weight and its shoulder straps allow for a wide range of unhindered movement. At 27 liters, the Heracles is more of a daypack than anything, but with some imaginative packing and wilderness skills, the Heracles could be stretched into an overnight pack. If you are looking for a rugged pack that is at home on the trail for a hike, or at camp for some bushcraft, look no further, the JTech Heracles is just about a perfect backpack.

JTech Gear Heracles - http://amzn.to/1MvaNu2

Connect with us:

website: http://www.BlackOwlOutdoors.com

photography: http://photography.BlackOwlOutdoors.com

twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/BlkOwlOutdoors

instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/BlackOwlOutdoors

facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BlackOwlOutdoors

Tags: black owl outdoors,nature,camping,hiking,backpacking,survival,bushcraft,wilderness,forest,backcountry,jtech gear,jtech,heracles,operation,backpack,review,cordoura,multicam,tactical,nylon,hard use

Video Transcription

hey wassup Turtles it's creek hair with black outdoors today I'm going to be doing a review on the pack i'm wearing which is the jtech gear heracles sort of this falls in the line of the tactical nylon hardest gear it's a 27 litre bag no internal frame and it sort of built as you know tactical everyday use carry type bag day hiking and in the city and once again in the bag I've show you some of the features and hours make a little bit more sense this is the black version there's also a multicam which I'll get on camera here in a little bit and actually it retails for 141 bucks stoney did some research was diggin on you know digging online trying to find new products new companies that you know really have good gear but don't have a lot of you know PR right now and this J tech gear is definitely I feel like a company that has the ability to offer a lot of quality products now I'll get into that little bit more but I'm sorry to keep talking about the bag so I got a hip belt here it's a two inch hip belt 2-inch buckle nice adjustable a little bit of padding here on the hip belt and it's adjustable back here off the body which is really nice a lot of the features on this bag make it everything adjustable which which is probably to accommodate if people are going to wear this into tactical setting Ellie OS or military you can combinate many layers you know body armor all that good stuff so I guess that two-inch hit build its 1 inch sternum strap up here one thing i don't like about this or not I don't like it's just too small I have this I have this

since the smaller that's going to go and is just it's just not enough for me for how small you know like I said it's probably to accommodate if I'm wearing a chest in a body armor thicker thicker clues maybe to accommodate larger larger sized men or women who want to wear this pack but nonetheless it's a small little thing with you know I get my own piece of nylon I can I can modify this myself and make it good to go that's my pretty much my only one complaint I do have another one but which I'll talk about in a second and before I really tart talking about the bag i'll get on the ground i just want to say i'm going to speak you know we're really going to praise this bag I'm really going to praise this bag and one of the main reasons why is that it fits my body really well and that's really the most important part when you're getting you're going to purchase a pack is I don't care what type of this quality material it is what the what the company is if it doesn't fit your body well and it doesn't carry the weight well on your body it's not good for you it can get all the glowing reviews at one but it doesn't fit you well it's really not worth it used to buy the packet and fight with a nun come to the pack is the worst thing the last thing you want to do is be carrying a pack for 10 miles and having it just all these hot spots and chafing and all that's all that bad stuff but with that being said I'm gonna start getting into the pack now it is hydration compatible I have my camelbak poking out right here have it sort of secured to the shoulder strap through these d-rings there's two d-rings just picking it up stoney good light 2d rings here which you can use while you're wearing it to click something over on you a potential camera anything like that nice feature it's adjustable up here

I can like on the shoulder strap how it's connected to it and now you really don't see a lot of packs like this for this size having this sort of attachment to the to the body with the shoulder strap from wandering rate this pack is so comfortable on me I have probably close to four liters of water in this pack right now and it is heavy and you can feel it's heavy but like I said this is a hard use type nylon gear thousand in New York hausen denier cordura nylon and it just carries the weight really well you know only time will tell if there's stress points you know time is in a couple years I've had this for a couple weeks now stony and i've been using on like i said study found it online you know contacted the company after he bought one and they were kind enough to send us this one to do a review on after stony had already purchased the multicam which i'll show you the really cool color in a little bit so it's gonna take me a while to get around this bag there's a lot of features i still haven't figured out the ins and outs of all the bag but another great thing i like about this pack is there's two water bottle holders on each side a little bit of bungee here court lock to help cinch that and here i just have looks like left over from our hike excursion

yesterday's 30 and I got a couple of bike tools and a repair kit just in one side some little cue cards for more video and a Ferro rod either side of my 40 ounce klean kanteen fits well one thing I don't you know I really like hideaway pockets which you may be seen before ones that zipper out and open outside of it because when you have a pocket like this it sort of pushes you put the bottle in you got the pack stuff inside is going to push the contents inside of the bag but a hideaway pocket opens the pocket off of the bag hope that makes sense but I'm not knocking these pockets out one of the reasons estonian i really wanted to try this pack out is the fact that it's a tactical type bag and it has water bottle holders on each side and here i just have a little figure 4 dead trap the pick up or deadfall trap I've made which I'm waiting to try out on some rocks alright where else the start I guess start on the outside tons of MOLLE webbing all over this and what we have here is this is after you separate sort of shoulder sling bag that you can be made into and it's connected to the bag via these two buckles and when I first saw this I wasn't sure that you know it was really going to secure the weight well having this extra piece of material sort of on the bag but after having using it and really cinching and securing the weight you know it works excellent for things just like this excuse me say I one out I really like having you know a place to stuff a layer on the outside of a pack so I'm not constantly getting in and out of my pack if it's hard to regulate my body temperature I want to put my fleece on take it off on and off all day instead of getting into my pack I can just put it here or if you have a wet wet article of clothing or shoes you can put on the outside of your pack like I've done by my raincoat here for now so they can keep the insides of inside of your pack dry potentially

you keep the contents dry and all that good stuff so it's a mention it's two buckles on each one I connect to the pack which maybe you want to be probably one inch and maybe less than one inch right here wit down below here it's all velcro in this pocket try to get an angle for you see and a little bit of practice it's really easy to get it back in and where you need it you know I like to be doing that all the time but essentially this is a small pack a little bit of velcro on this side put up when you're done one pocket here here's the strap for it it's a piece of paracord in there and then via these buckles that are here I cannot attach the Johnny right here and have a salt small over shoulder bag you know which potentially be nice and I probably won't use it that much out in the forest maybe you found that camp having a nice little you know thing to sling it's nice but on the outside of the bag it works because it offers a lot more pocket you can see you on here now there's no pockets and this part of it and this bungee you know to be used to secure helmets tactical setting anything else you want but when it's attached i have one pocket in the front here which just have the bandana for now another bigger pocket right here i have much much small camera large piece of paracord and you see all the organizational capabilities inside of it then which is really nice with these tactical tactical gear companies that they're doing for their bags every pocket inside of it you know has a bunch of other pockets and things to organize all your material really the way you want it really make it customizable for you and down here on the other outside of the pocket which is our excuse me outside the bag another small pocket which is really cool more classic one favorite type of pencil Ticonderoga my Wenger Sharpie gotta carry sharpie and just a little extra bit of nylon hear that on the bottom of the bag if I want to secure something to aldis webbing without using paracord or something a little more points of contact I could use this to thread around and arrangement if I wanted to carry something on here this is just extra doesn't comment the bag I just had it lying around

web thing like I said I went into this bungee here like we used to hold a helmet or anything else you really opens up big really big them for something potentially bulky out on out here wedding all over here sort of now moving up here where this place to attach patches or whatnot almost sort of call this the brain of the pack which is sort of similar of hiking packs that you see that these reserved pockets on the top they're called the brain and I'm going to call it that on this pack there 11 excuse me zipper pocket up here wheres in here right now I just have my compass which is nice and handy spot to get it open this up in here there's nothing cream in hitting small right in the rain got my heart and a little bit of resource here I'll show you in a second and this is not used to having this little bit of mesh here because as the zipper opens down potentially contents can fall out but it's nice you can keep everything in here so i won't open up when you open up the pack and here's a resource i've gathered which i'm waiting to do a video on it some pine pitch that I've collected I'm sure if it's picking it up or if it server exposed who are not just some pine pitch in here great all-around resource to some calm Ranger bands but i think these came all broccoli broccoli crowns which I've just kept in use i have in another spot my pack to one of these he'll the inside of the bag now it's not a clamshell bag which a lot of tactical tactical folks like and feature a lot of packs it's just the zipper that runs so we're like right on this seam if you will on the outside of the pack and I still don't know how I feel about it being exposed this main zipper maybe a flap over it you know a little bit of protection for debris water all that stuff but nonetheless it makes it really easy to get into the package of your contents out and like I said it is hydration compatible but there's no there's no little threaded you know hold that you've seen some packs that I've seen some packs for the pose that come out so it comes out of the top which isn't that big a deal so what I've done is just with a little bit of zipper pulls here to keep from wearing this or biking with it which I've worn this on my mountain bike and it's really comfortable to ride to it holds the weight well as I'll just do a little quick over hand and then just pass pass one of these not heads through it and then that's just and that's secure to go and like I said this is hydration compatible it's not completely made for hydration bladder and what I mean by that is that there's no you know little exit hole as if you will that a lot of packs feature to thread the hose through so i just have the hose coming out of the zipper like i said but it works okay and inside of it supplies are going crazy around me inside of it is this padded protected compartment to hold a 15-inch laptop which fits very snugly and securely within this and this is padded I hope it's be able to pick it up you can see it's not just some fabric there's actual padding in here as act as you know shock absorbent if you're gonna ride your bike or run you know or jog which probably won't do it the laptop but the fact is it has some shock absorbent to expensive electronics if you want to carry it in a bag and I really like to have a hook or something for my hydration bladder to keep it upright in the bag and this didn't have a little little spot to do that so I just use another those rubber bands i came on some broccoli tied around this little piece of not on and we're good to go

and like I said this is a 27 litre bag so it's not really going to be billed as an overnighter but you can definitely use it as an overnighter and I just have a boonie hat in here which is really nice when the bugs get bad have a briton going the whole way around your head to keep the bugs away from your face and your hair and and if you wear a bug net with this will keep the bug net off of you away from your face as well the whole way around a really nice piece of equipment to have if you're in the environment where bugs can get really bad also inside the pack guy this Tupperware I've been carrying for a lot a year now put my food scraps in and pick up garbage all that keep it neat and contained inside this so it's not going to mess up my bag at all get food or anything in it and what else the last thing I have in here is asleep asleep system which I'll show in a second hammock sleep system I want to show you some of the more features inside the bag I mean just so on this padded container or padded compartment here extra zipper pockets like I said really make it customizable inside the pack whatever you want to do put small gems in there you know that's basically the ins and outs of the pack let me just show you what's all in here like I said this is a you know sort of a daypack a 27 liter pack it's real quick I got this Eno modular sleep system in here double nest hammock ready to 400 pounds tarp

bug net and straps and all of this you know fit and size is all pretty legit sleep you know sleeping camping system to carry in a daypack how much this room this really doesn't take up and I think all this together might way lower than four pounds maybe under maybe around five so all in all not bad at all to be able to get this in this 27 litre pack and it carries the weight really well so I just want to reiterate that why i like it my stony and i like it is that it carries the weight very well and let me just get up real quick and grab the multicam and show you what that looks like to in case you're interested in that here's the multicam version thats Tony's been using same pack sitting features it's a little bit of different coloration on it I think it looks really cool and this adds a little bit to the price I'm not sure what may be actually twenty twenty bucks maybe something like that don't quote me on that put on multicam you know here it's a little bit more expensive than other color options but maybe something else if you're interested in a little bit of padding here pi won't show up well on the black one we can see little extra padding here just padding under the straps all that good stuff you know honestly this is one of the first piece of gear I've been so excited about to using and get from a manufacturer that I had no idea about and sunny they need like I said he's one who found these guys contacted them bought a pack they sent us one to review the black one and I'm really excited about this company what they've done it's something new you know people are going to probably try to compare this to Maxpedition bags which is fine doesn't have to you know be a Maxpedition doesn't have the Maxpedition feel with all the crazy coatings they put on their nylon which makes it heavier doesn't have that feel but like I said this is a thousand thousand denier nylon cord or you have no problems with you know how this is going to wear wearing the bush and the only time will tell if they're stress points a couple years of using this I made me check back if you're still doing videos and you can update on it

just Creek sounding out with black outdoors later turtles