Polish Puma backpack

[Trawlerman]

Is anybody using this cheap (price, not cheap quality) backpack for their BOB/GHB etc?

I've just stocked up my 30L Molle backpack and it seems to be too small, even for the limited amount of kit i'm carrying. I have a Polish Puma on hand but it's not sectioned off at all and might be more hassle than it's worth?

[Smudge]

Never really looked at them myself, after reading OP I did a quick search and came up with this review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNObmSVL9zE

I was wondering what your intended use was if you have a 30ltr thats not big enough.

[Trawlerman]

To be honest i'm not 100% sure my current bag is 30L. There has been some discussion on the net about my bag being a bit smaller than advertised and perhaps as little as 20L.



It's been fine for storing things upto now but since I put my food in it's bulging and not able to carry much. 4 x Snickers, 2 x Flapjacks and 2 x packs of Trailmix. My cuppa soups, porridge sachets and mugshot pasta have been left out. I also have no water in this bag.

I'm beginning to think that 50L might be a more reasonable size for a couple or three days kit?

I guess if I drop the Hexi stove and the Yugoslav Mess Kit I will have more room for food but not then be able to have anything hot. Swings and roundabouts.

[Wulfshead]

I use a 60 Lt pack and it has proven capable of 72 hour camping with a small tent and sleeping bag externally suspended.
I keep a small cooker in the bag as well as mess tins, spare gas and food enough for 72 hours.
Having an injured back I tried the 60 Lt pack earlier this year at camp to see if it would suffice, it did happy to say.

Wulfshead

[ForgeCorvus]

Measure the main compartment in centimetres, multiply hight X depth X width and divide the result by 1000..... This will give you a very rough idea.

Manufacturers do have a tendency to err on the large side

Have you posted a full BoB kit list somewhere?
The more we know the easier it is to help, I'm going to assume this is a 72hour three season Bush-bag

[Trawlerman]

Have you posted a full BoB kit list somewhere?
The more we know the easier it is to help, I'm going to assume this is a 72hour three season Bush-bag

Not as yet. I am in the process of cataloguing the items in my bag and was thinking of posting the list with some pics very soon.

[Smudge]

To be honest i'm not 100% sure my current bag is 30L. There has been some discussion on the net about my bag being a bit smaller than advertised and perhaps as little as 20L.



It's been fine for storing things upto now but since I put my food in it's bulging and not able to carry much. 4 x Snickers, 2 x Flapjacks and 2 x packs of Trailmix. My cuppa soups, porridge sachets and mugshot pasta have been left out. I also have no water in this bag.

I'm beginning to think that 50L might be a more reasonable size for a couple or three days kit?

I guess if I drop the Hexi stove and the Yugoslav Mess Kit I will have more room for food but not then be able to have anything hot. Swings and roundabouts.

It's molle, why not buy some extra poouches?

You can downsize your messkit, water bottle and crusader or similar, those "Nato" metal water bottles (Poormans pathfinder) are cheap and really robust. If your kit is designed around 3days there's no need for anything fancy (unless you want it).

[grenfell]

Not used one of these Polish backpacks so I can't comment on the performance but I will say the camo pattern is less obviously military than the British army bag I have which may prove an advantage in some situations. I've looked at the Polish stuff on the net and also other Warsaw Pact stuff too , the East German strichtarnmuster or raindrop pattern comes up a lot and is nowadays seen as more "trendy" rather than overly military.

[ForgeCorvus]

You can downsize your messkit, water bottle and crusader or similar, those "Nato" metal water bottles (Poormans pathfinder) are cheap and really robust. If your kit is designed around 3days there's no need for anything fancy (unless you want it).

The Yugo set isn't much different in size to the Crusader (they're both based on 1 litre water bottles after all) and you get a pot, a bowl and a "cup" as well as the bottle.



A DDR esbit stove is almost the same size as the Yugo footprint and the pot sits quite well on it.

I like old Sov-Bloc gear because its cheap and bomb-proof

Trawlerman: The more I look at that picture the less I believe that pack is as big as they say

[IfInDoubt]

Personally i've NEVER understood the litre method of measurement (other than as an arbitary comparison method)

I mean a 20 litre daysack could then theorhetically hold TEN 2 litre water bottles )or TWENTY 58 patt bottles, try fitting 15 2 litre bottles of pop in your little molle bag and see how far you get

Slightly back on topic those polish bags do not look very comfy foro heavy loads or long distance but i may be wrong as i've never had first experience of one. Have you had a look at the issue NI patrol packs, dirt cheap, fairly common, reasonably comfy and hold a lot of litres probably (they also come in plain black and plain green)