TAG Chaos Pack Review
I had been rethinking my Get Home Bag, and was in the market for a traditional pack, when I came across the TAG Chaos Pack. The Chaos pack is the premier 3-Day Pack from Tactical Assault Gear and it is made for the long haul.
Tactical Assault Gear is a company dedicated to providing hard use gear to Military and Law Enforcement. It is gear designed by and for real world users because the company was founded by Marine turned Navy SEAL Chris Osman. TAG was founded in 2001 in the days before 9/11. After 9/11 Chris was immediately deployed for combat operations. When he returned Chris turned his attention to cranking out the finest gear for those going into harm’s way. TAG feels so strongly about the quality of the gear that they produce that they cover all of their products with a 100% Lifetime Guarantee.
The TAG Chaos Pack has some great features:
- Detachable sternum strap and padded waist belt.
- Comfortable padded and contoured shoulder straps.
- Internal sleeve for hydration bladder.
- Compression straps.
- Rugged carry handle.
- 3 separate storage compartments
- Dimensions are 19″ x 13″ x 8″
- 500 denier Invista Condura nylon
TAG Chaos Pack Ergonomics
The TAG Chaos is one of the most comfortable packs I have had the pleasure of humping around on my back and has quickly become the standard by which I judge other bags. The wide and well padded shoulder straps are the key to this comfort. I used this bag mainly as an EDC Bag ,so it was carried mostly without the sternum strap or waist belt, this puts a lot more emphasis on the shoulder straps and they proved to be excellent. When I did take the bag into the woods with me I used the additional support of the sternum strap and waist belt and I found them to be very helpful in carrying the heavy loads I took hunting with me over the rough terrain of the Catskills. The waist belt is particularly well done and I wish other companies would take note of how TAG does theirs.
The carry handle is pretty bomb proof too and made throwing the bag around in my Jeep Cherokee and work truck pretty easy. In fact I use the carry handle as an attachment to keep the TAG Chaos Pack from flying around the cab of my truck.
The compression straps are a nice feature. I used the Chaos as luggage on a family trip and I was able to jam it full of all my clothes and still squish it down into a manageable size with their help.
The TAG Chaos has 3 compartments. The one on the front I found to be useful for my EDC Kit and other stuff to access fairly quickly. The main compartment is pretty large and opens almost all the way up with the beefy side zippers. The hydration bladder sleeve is accessible through the main compartment and is big enough to hold a clipboard or a tablet when a bladder isn’t in use.
If you are a freak for nifty little compartments and a ton of velcro or storage loops you will be a bit disappointed with the TAG Chaos, as it is pretty spartan when it comes to that stuff. I’ll admit that since I was coming over from using a Maxpedition Mongo Versipack for daily use that it took a bit getting used to. I found that by purchasing a few pouches and small organizers I was able to tame the beast that my EDC / Get Home Bag had become. After getting used to the layout I found that it grew on me. It makes transitioning the bag to other uses a breeze and I liked the tidiness of each sub-kit having it’s own pouch.
TAG Chaos Pack Fit And Finish
I’m having a hard time coming up with new ways to describe how well made this bag actually is. All of the old cliches can easily be applied to it: bomb-proof, tough as nails, built like a brick s**t house. This bag is all of that and more.
The condura is the best that I have come across in my time doing this stuff. It has taken a beating from me being thrown around trucks, Jeeps, and mini-vans. My kids have climbed all over it, dragged it around the house, and generally done their grubby little worst to it. The TAG Chaos has cleaned up nicely and looks no worse for the wear.
The zippers and buckles are top notch and seem as strong as the day I first got the pack. All of the stitching is in great shape and shows no signs of fraying at all.
The Wrap-Up
You can probably tell if you made it this far that I really like the TAG Chaos Pack. It is the toughest and best made bag that I have come across so far. You can see that it was made to go into harm’s way and make it back in one piece. Sometimes with gear that is designed for military use it doesn’t transition well over into the civilian world, but that isn’t the case here. The pack’s heritage just lends a degree of toughness that is hard to find in more commercial offerings. Being that it is offered in colors other than camouflage helps a lot in this area. I never felt like I was looking out of place, as the TAG Chaos comes off as a well made daypack that blends in every where these days. I especially liked that the bag lent itself well to a variety of uses. I used it as my EDC Bag, threw it in the back of my Jeep Cherokee as my Get Home Bag, humped it over a few mountains hunting whitetails, carried it as luggage, toted it around an amusement park with the family, and even tossed some diapers and wipes in it when heading out with the little guy as a glorified diaper bag. I never found it lacking.
Now all of these features and toughness do come with a hefty price tag. The TAG Chaos runs north of $200 and is only available from TAG itself. This might be a deal breaker for some ,but with the quality materials and craftsmanship that went into this bag plus a lifetime guaranty this is a forever bag. So if you can get over the sticker shock this is bag you will hand down to your kids. I’m going to give it my coveted 5 out of 5 Stars. I love it so much that I bought another one to put the emergency kit in my family’s mini-van into. Even though the kit may never get used I feel better knowing that it rides in a bag that has been there, done that, and made it back.
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