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You are here: Home / Archives for 2012

Archives for 2012

Hazard 4 Kato Mini-Messenger Bag Experience

2012/09/10 By staze

I have had my Kato Mini-Messenger Bag now for over a month, and I think I can now write a review on how I actually like the bag.

The short version is, I love it. It’s a great bag. Well made (save one sloppy stitch that I already fixed), comfortable, and it holds a ton. And that, really, is the only problem. I’ll explain.

The bag has two main pockets on the outside surface. The front pocket on the flap, and a back padded pocket for an iPad-sized tablet. I store my Nook in the front pocket, and nothing in the back. Open the flap, and you have a pocket on the back of the flap (closed by a small velcro patch), then you have some MOLLE loops, and the map pocket area. In there, there’s pocket for a map, then some small pen-sized pockets, and another area closed by velcro that’s about the same size as the front pocket. Then the main area for CCW, or a Macbook Air, etc. I don’t currently use that space either. But that’s the thing, I don’t NEED to, yet. The bag has SO much storage and SO many pockets, I keep adding things, and forgetting they’re in there until I realize the bag has gotten overly heavy, and remove them to save weight. Is this a problem? No… most people (myself included), want storage space. It’s just a bit weird to have so many pockets that you forget what you’ve put in them.

So right now, I’ve got a Nook, Prius Fob, Leatherman XTi, CRKT Eat’n Tool, CRKT Van-hoy On Fire, 25′ of Paracord, 100′ of 25lb Mono-filament, Fenix RD20, Maglite XL200, Couple Pens, Lockpick set, 5×7″ Grit-it with an iPhone sync cable, MicroUSB cable, iPhone Charger, Nintendo DSlite USB charge cable, and two small bottles of Excedrin and Naproxen Sodium. The whole bag probably weighs about 7lbs. It’s not very heavy at all. At some point I’ll get a Macbook Air and add that to the bag, which will obviously add a couple pounds, but still a VERY good EDC bag.

The other minor annoyance is the use of Velcro/Hook-and-loop for closure. I hate the stuff. Noisy, wears out, etc. So, I took a couple pieces of hook field I had, and covered the loop side. So, they don’t “close”, but to me, that’s fine.

All and all, very happy. And extremely pleased with the service provided by the supplier Tactical Distributors. If you’re looking for a good EDC bag, and like the vertical style bags rather than a more traditional messenger style, I’d highly recommend it. Heck, judging by their designs, anything from Hazard4/Civilian Labs look great!

[xrr rating=4.75/5]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: EDC, Hazard 4, Kato Mini-Messenger, Tactical Distributors

Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X PRO 1:1 Macro

2012/08/13 By staze

My wife is a photographer. She’s been doing product photography for a local jewelry shop for a couple years now, and in the last year has gotten into “normal” photography as well. She’s attempting to start a business doing it, so to help with that, we purchased the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens (Nikon Mount) for her to do product photography outside work, as well as a pretty good portrait lens (though admittedly, with a DX (APS-C) camera, it becomes 150mm and you have to stand pretty far from the person being photographed.

We purchased the lens from the local Shutterbug (an Oregon based, often found in the mall, camera shop). They price matched to B&H, Adorama, and Amazon (though they initially tried to add in the price of next day shipping). We did this largely because they were able to order the lens, and were willing to let us play with it before purchase. Buying online doesn’t have this advantage. It took almost exactly the quoted 3 weeks to arrive, but it did make it in time for a planned trip to Portland (which ironically has a camera store that stocks this lens (Pro Photo Supply).

Initial impression is quite good. The lens feels quite solid, has the classic Tokina AF/MF switch (pull the focus ring toward the camera for MF, push away to AF), which I find very intuitive and useful. While the lens does extend with focusing, it’s not obnoxious. With the hood on, however, the lens does become pretty darn long at full extension. One of the biggest advantages to the lens is the price. At $489, it’s a bit over half the cost of the Nikon 105mm Macro/Micro Lens. And while, yes, the Nikon focuses completely internally and has VR, as well a focus motor, none of these things really make it worth the price difference. Especially given macro photography rarely uses auto focus, and since it’s generally on a tripod, VR is nearly worthless. Oh, and weight. The Tokina weighs in at 19 oz, while the Nikon is over a half pound more at nearly 28 oz (27.9 oz). Focusing is pretty darn fast, and pretty quiet. Not sure what some others online have complained about.

There are more extensive reviews here, here, and here.

All and all, I’d highly recommend. While I can’t speak for whether a filter should be used or not (using a relatively inexpensive one currently, will probably switch to a 55mm Hoya HD in the coming months), I still prefer to use them since filters are “cheap” relative to replacing a lens.

[xrr rating=5/5]

Filed Under: Reviews

Hazard 4 Kato Mini-Messenger Bag Intro

2012/08/13 By staze

When I first saw this bag on ThinkGeek I was intrigued. It was a vertically oriented messenger style bag that said it could fit both a 11″ Macbook Air, and an iPad. And most importantly, it didn’t use hook and loop (Velcro) for closures ((I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I HATE Velcro. It’s loud, and it wears out.)).

I contacted ThinkGeek hoping to get one for review, but alas, they couldn’t help me out. After looking around online, I found extensive commentary on the bag at EDC Forums and it seemed to get pretty darn good reviews. But in the process, people mentioned several other bags that they used ((Maxpendition Lanada, Condor EDC, 5.11 PUSH, etc)). This list of bags pushed me into a bit of buyers paralysis. This lasted about 2 months, it seems.

After weeks of going over reviews, watching videos, etc, I kept coming back to the Hazard 4 Kato bag. The orientation of the bag, the size, look, and the lack of velcro just kept calling to me. So then it was a question of ordering, which largely came down 3 options ((4 if you include Amazon, but they wanted $7 more than MSRP)). Thinkgeek, LA Police Gear, and Tactical Distributors. Thinkgeek charged MSRP, but has free ground shipping. LA Police Gear was $10 less, and also had free ground shipping (and a 10% off coupon), but from reading online, had a bad habit of selling items that were “in stock” according to their site, but were in fact back ordered. Tactical Distributors was the same price as LA Police Gear, but had a %15 off coupon, and while charged for shipping, they often upgraded their ground shipping to next day, for free! So, I hashed this around a bit, and when I finally went to order the bag, it was out of stock!

LA Police Gear said 4-6 weeks on their site, with no good way to ask. Calling Tactical Distributors gave me a wonderfully quick answer: that day! So I sat back, and waited until they were posted on the site, and ordered. I added a Hazard 4 Koala to the order as well (which ended up basically free with the 15% off coupon) that I’ll use to keep my Leatherman Charge XTi in each reach on my bag.

Special Thanks to Tactical Distributors for their excellent customer service, great prices, and very fast shipping. $7 for next day shipping from Virginia is nothing to shake a stick at. While I didn’t get the bag discounted for review, I’m more than happy to pay for products to review if they’re cheaper than MSRP (which this was). Not only that, but I was able to call them after hours and get a tracking number (since UPS hadn’t sent me a Quantum View notice yet), and Rob happily looked up my order, and got me the number! I will definitely be dealing with Tactical Distributors in the future, as I’m guessing the work needed to outfit a bag for EDC is an evolving process. Right now, the Kato with a Koala works, but I may add a second Koala for a flashlight, or any number of other MOLLE pouches that add further customization/organization for my gear.

Actual product review coming after a couple weeks with the bag.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: EDC, Everyday Carry, Hazard 4, Kato Mini-Messenger, Murse, Tactical Distributors

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