Take the weight of a quiver full of arrows off your bow and put it on this pack with the removable, five-arrow Multiple Attachment Quiver (MAQ). Eight gear straps. 17 compartments. Molded-foam back and shoulder straps. Gear grippers. Treestand strap. E-Z grip zipper pulls. Hydration compatible. Quiet, microtech fabric. Made in USA. Capacity: 1,800 cu. in. Camo pattern:Realtree APG™.
First off, I ordered the pack then waited over a month before it finally shipped. At one point, I contacted the manufacturer afraid they may be backordered forever and I'd miss it for archery season... A very nice woman told me they were putting them together as fast as they could and Cabelas had priority on shipments - gotta love Cabelas!
Now on to the pack. It's a good value since the MAQ quiver comes with it and the quiver alone retails around $40. The pack seems to be built with the quiver in mind since it fits perfectly on the right side of the pack nice and secure. It is removable and comes with a waist belt and bungee to secure to anything you want: your waist, a tree, a hook in a blind....whatever. With the quiver on the pack, it takes a bit of flexibility to reach an arrow, but it's doable. You probably won't get a quick follow-on shot, but hopefully that won't matter. I don't like a quiver on my recurve, so this was perfect and a big reason I bought the pack in the first place.
The construction of the pack is solid. It does indeed have a ton of pockets, most of them seem quite functional. It also has a good deal of tie-down straps on the outside for additional gear. It also has a large clip on/off strap to hang it in a treestand. The material seems to be high-quality and the silent type. Stitching is solid. The padding is sufficient to carry a good load. The waist straps are well thought out as well. The lower portion of the pack is reinforced. It is clear these guys know what their customer needsin terms of a solid pack.
Overall, this seems to be a good solid pack for a day or two in the sticks. With the quiver it's a good value.
Here are my concerns: They went a bit pocket-crazy in building this. Oftentimes, excessive pockets just get in the way. The main detractor is the external straps. There are too many to count and no way to secure them. Hold the bag in your hand and it almost looks like a ghillie suit with all these straps hanging all over the place. I might lay the thing in my lap for turkey season to camouflage myself - i'll look like a pile of brush.... Compare that to Camelbak's high-end packs that have velcro securing loops for all the external straps and you can see a difference. I carry a Camelbak trizip at work and that is the standard by which all others are judged in my opinion. A pack needs to be clean on the outside to navigate through brush.
If there was a way to roll up and secure all the straps, this would be a 5 star. Not field tested yet, but I am very happy with this pack.
To top it off, there is a nice tag on the top that says MADE IN THE USA and that puts a smile on my face every time.
A final note on Cabela's customer service. I also called to ask if I should just cancel the order and the customer service rep took the time to explain their entire process for backordered goods. I had received an email saying it would be available by a certain time and that date came and went without a bag. The lady I spoke with was patient and laid out their process between the manufacturer and Cabelas. Gotta love it.