Product review - Ka-bar fanny pack
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:24 am
I realize that there isn't generally a favorable opinion of fanny packs on this forum. When I originally ordered this:
http://www.amazon.com/Ka-Bar-TDI-Enforc ... B001H53QB2
I had just read about hangdog's experience and wanted something that keep me from repeating it. I later got a Comp-Tac Minotaur and use that most of the time. I've discovered, however, that there is a time for a fanny pack and thought I'd relate my experience.
We just completed a 3,200 mile, 17 day RV trip. Before we left, I tried sitting in the RV driver's seat with the Minotaur and realized that it wasn't going to work. The lumbar support on the seat hit right where I wear the holster (about 4:30) and that was it was going to be mighty uncomfortable on some of our 300-400 mile driving days. I set up the Ka-bar. Here are my results:
Advantages:
1. My Sig P250 fits nicely in the space provided. A larger gun may not
2. I can get my spare mag, my cell phone, my ID cards, a credit card and a little cash without bulging the fanny pack. This made it a self-contained setup for much of the time.
3. It was easy to use. When I stepped down out of the driver's door, I just grabbed the fanny pack clipped it on. By placing it just above my belt line and shifting the gun position to 2oclock, everything worked fine. I have always worn my shirts out anyway and with the longer shirts that I've gotten for concealment, the fanny pack was almost completely covered. Since we were obviously tourists anyway, a tourist with a fanny pack is not out of character. This allowed me to get out at rest stops and stretch my legs with no fuss. For those who don't travel much in other States, rest stops are not the safest places (some now have 24hour armed security but they cannot be everywhere on the property). Rest stops and truck stops are about the only places we can use while traveling because of our size and length.
4. It was fairly easy to draw. I timed myself with the Minotaur versus the fannypack and found that the Ka-bar was only slightly slower. I discovered that positioning the zippers correctly was the key to that. I practiced both one and two handed draws. I tried opening the zipper (as I eventunally did in a situation where I had went to condition orange at a truck stop) and moving around and had no problem with the gun staying in place. Having the zipper open makes my draw actually faster than with the Minoataur.
Disadvantages:
1. Access to the Ka-bar while actually driving is not good. Obviously, I'm not concerned about highway situations but in towns and while stopped at traffic signals, it would take many seconds to reach the weapon verus an IWB. Of all the places that I worried about, this was the least among them but I did want to mention it.
2. Space in the Ka-bar is limited. This didn't bother me either since if I were carrying IWB, the stuff would all be in my pockets anyway.
3. Someone who was really paying attention could recognize that there was a lot more weight to the Ka-bar than a normal fanny pack if they watched me putting it on. Since 99.9% of the public is oblivious to such things, this didn't concern me.
From a security and safety perspective, our whole trip was an non-event. We had a great time, enjoyed ourselves and had no problems. I might post the one minor incident at a truck stop separately, just because it had some unusual circumstances that might be worthy of discussioin.
Chas
http://www.amazon.com/Ka-Bar-TDI-Enforc ... B001H53QB2
I had just read about hangdog's experience and wanted something that keep me from repeating it. I later got a Comp-Tac Minotaur and use that most of the time. I've discovered, however, that there is a time for a fanny pack and thought I'd relate my experience.
We just completed a 3,200 mile, 17 day RV trip. Before we left, I tried sitting in the RV driver's seat with the Minotaur and realized that it wasn't going to work. The lumbar support on the seat hit right where I wear the holster (about 4:30) and that was it was going to be mighty uncomfortable on some of our 300-400 mile driving days. I set up the Ka-bar. Here are my results:
Advantages:
1. My Sig P250 fits nicely in the space provided. A larger gun may not
2. I can get my spare mag, my cell phone, my ID cards, a credit card and a little cash without bulging the fanny pack. This made it a self-contained setup for much of the time.
3. It was easy to use. When I stepped down out of the driver's door, I just grabbed the fanny pack clipped it on. By placing it just above my belt line and shifting the gun position to 2oclock, everything worked fine. I have always worn my shirts out anyway and with the longer shirts that I've gotten for concealment, the fanny pack was almost completely covered. Since we were obviously tourists anyway, a tourist with a fanny pack is not out of character. This allowed me to get out at rest stops and stretch my legs with no fuss. For those who don't travel much in other States, rest stops are not the safest places (some now have 24hour armed security but they cannot be everywhere on the property). Rest stops and truck stops are about the only places we can use while traveling because of our size and length.
4. It was fairly easy to draw. I timed myself with the Minotaur versus the fannypack and found that the Ka-bar was only slightly slower. I discovered that positioning the zippers correctly was the key to that. I practiced both one and two handed draws. I tried opening the zipper (as I eventunally did in a situation where I had went to condition orange at a truck stop) and moving around and had no problem with the gun staying in place. Having the zipper open makes my draw actually faster than with the Minoataur.
Disadvantages:
1. Access to the Ka-bar while actually driving is not good. Obviously, I'm not concerned about highway situations but in towns and while stopped at traffic signals, it would take many seconds to reach the weapon verus an IWB. Of all the places that I worried about, this was the least among them but I did want to mention it.
2. Space in the Ka-bar is limited. This didn't bother me either since if I were carrying IWB, the stuff would all be in my pockets anyway.
3. Someone who was really paying attention could recognize that there was a lot more weight to the Ka-bar than a normal fanny pack if they watched me putting it on. Since 99.9% of the public is oblivious to such things, this didn't concern me.
From a security and safety perspective, our whole trip was an non-event. We had a great time, enjoyed ourselves and had no problems. I might post the one minor incident at a truck stop separately, just because it had some unusual circumstances that might be worthy of discussioin.
Chas
