I posted this on my blog last night and thought I'd share it here. As before I can't figure out how to embed clean URL links into the forum so instead there only on my blog (bradclarkston.com/blog) if you want to follow the {} links.
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I recently posted a review on the { Czech Army bread bag } and while I liked it I was really searching for a Finnish Gas Mask bag. I finally broke down and ordered one for my son to take to the upcoming { Pathfinder Gathering } and of course as soon as we got it in the mail a few popped up at a local military surplus store so I snatched two of them for myself.
Here is a glamor shot of the Finbag loaded with my gear:
I noticed right away that the Finbag is made of thicker canvas and the stitching is of better quality. It also has D-ring connectors so that you can remove one side of the straps which should help with taking it off and on. It also has a waist strap to keep it from bouncing on your hip which while looks dorky as hell actually works.
The Finnish bag dimensions are:
- Length: 12.5 inches
- Width: 4 inches
- Depth: 10 inches
The Czech bag dimensions are:
- Length: 12 inches
- Width: 3 inches
- Depth: 9 inches
The Finnish bag is just a bit bigger and can hold a little more but not enough to really differ. I loaded both up with the nearly the same gear list as before:
- Pouch holding my { Energizer headlamp } and spare batteries.
- $1.00 hand warmer from Target (left over from the winter).
- Ancient repelling carabiner, compass/temp carabiner, and two Nite-Ize biners.
- Silva Ranger compass in USGI compass bag.
- 3?3 green bandanna and red automotive cleaning cloth.
- 1″ roll of gorilla tape with the spool removed and flattened for size.
- 250′ (ish) of { #18 bank line } + 20-25′ hank of green paracord.
- { 32oz SS Guyot } water bottle with water tablets, spork, and spare bandanna inside.
- { Flecktarn camo poncho } with ranger bands and paracord bracelet on shoulder strap
- Mechanics gloves.
- Container of pj-cotten balls.
- Container of micro inferno?s
- Backup { Mora 511 knife } for small camp tasks or game cleaning.
- { Cree Trustfire S-A2 } flash light.
- Zippo butane lighter insert.
- Fire kit ? flint&steel+full container of char cloth with a ferro rod ranger banded to it.
- { StrikeForce ferro rod } with three micro inferno?s inside.
- Write in the rain notebook.
- Ultra Thin fly fishing box with twenty lures.
- Three Colman light sticks.
- A pouch of spam and tuna fish plus two cliff bars.
Both bags held everything without problems but the Czech bag has its three inner pockets on the side nearest your body while the Finnish bag has it on the outside away from the body with a covering flap.
That makes it easier to get to things like my fire kit, flashlight, notebook or anything else I carry in the pockets without stopping to dig while I tended to remove the Czech bag to rummage around looking for things.
The Czech bag is actually more secure in that it has a buckle strap on the inside to hold the main pocket closed tight and the sides are more rounded so they do not flop outwards under heavy load like the Finnish bag does (hint ? one you snap the Finbag closed pull the flap out so that it covers the sides of the bag so it won't flop open on you).
The best feature to me is the two snaps that hold the Finnish bag closed versus the buckles on the Czech bag it's so much easier to snap/unsnap them verses pulling the bag over in front of me to up buckle it.
I think both bags would make a fantastic shoulder bag to replace a small to medium backpack on hikes but I am going to pick the Finnish Gas Mask bag as the overall winner as it's just a bit more polished and easier to use.
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Up next is a small mod to the ?Finbag? to add a tarp carrier to the bottom for use as an overnight or possibly two night backpack replacement.
The one shinning problem any of these military surplus gas mask bags have is that there is no external attachment points on them. My fix for this issue is to sew two sets of 1.25 inch webbing loops with sling buckles to the bottom of the bag to see if it will hold my { tarp } which is just slightly longer than the bag.
