Brave the elements with the Bomber Barrel Duffel Bag - The most funded bag in Kickstarter history

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From [the Kickstarter comments] (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tmdesign/bomber-barrel-bag/comments):

And that’s just the first few. This goes on for pages and pages.

I wouldn’t recommend buying this.

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I’m sure the TSA won’t bother to grope anyone carrying a “bomber bag”.

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It’s a shitty little/big nylon shoulder bag ferkrissakes. How stupid do you think I am?

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I have used zipper duffels for years, going back to a cheap canvas one in the '70s, and have never had an actual failure of hardware or stitching, although after years of use they eventually wear out. There seems to be a real quality problem here. The duffels from Mountain Equipment Co-op in Canada are built to survive Armageddon. Their site seems to be down right now, but the last time I checked a medium size (bigger than the one shown) costs about $45.00.

edit: @nimelennar has just corrected the price - $42.00 for a 60L bag.

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If you’re on the go, the portability, durability and versatility of slinging a good ol’ duffel over your shoulder can’t be beaten.

Maybe that’s the take of the cool kids these days, but it’s not mine. I spent my youth hauling around duffel bags. It wasn’t fun. I don’t miss them and my old man back has no desire to see them re-enter my life. At least not the big ones. But even for small things, I find that a backpack or messenger bag work better. Rarely do I find that a girthy sausage casing is the ideal shape for my purposes. The gym and the beach (basically, when towels are involved), are the rare exceptions. Even then, I find myself reaching for my backpack. I look in my closet and think to myself, “Why do I keep buying duffel bags? I hate using duffel bags!”

But to each their own.

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MEC seems to be up for me.

The Bomber Barrel is 23.15L; the smallest MEC one I can find is 35L for $36; there’s also a 60L one for $42 and a 90L one for $49.

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Ok, ok. So you don’t want “the most funded bag on Kickstarter ever.” But what about that hoodie that disrupted the industry? I hear it’s finally available…

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I’ve had a few Kickstarter things like this- where there were serious and profound quality problems.
A shame, really. At this point it’s mostly put me off the platform for soft goods.
Example: I got in on a pair of pants promised to last 25 years. That’s a big promise, but they looked pretty good, so… Anyway. Pants finally come (months after promised), and the stitching just falls out after a dozen or so wears. Nothing too strenuous, either- just office work. So, after much back-and-forth I send them back. I say for replacement, they say for repair/replacement. I get the “new” (new?) pair back two months later- only to have those fail after two wears, in almost exactly the same way.
What a joke.

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Some folks around here popped into my backpack thread and recommended Tom Bihn. I bought one and haven’t looked back. Seriously worth the investment if you have the dough and don’t particularly need it to be a duffel. (I found it was better priced that spending money on new bags when the old ones failed after six months.)

Another option is army surplus if you really want a duffel. I hear they’re pretty good… but have no firsthand experience.

I don’t know. It sounds like you lucked into a pants subscription service to me. :smile:

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Plenty of top loading duffel bags HAVE twin shoulder straps…Although for heavy loads a backpack really needs hip belt and a means to transfer load to it. Usually that’s external or internal frame, but sometimes a means of tightening the load into a solid mass is enough. Of course a frame can be broken by baggage handlers and can’t be put through the dryer when you get home to ensure that any arthropod hitchhikers are DEAD DEAD DEAD.

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A subscription to shitty pants is no subscription at all.

Not that my pants are literally shitty. That would be gross.

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Like @Nylund, I rarely find that a duffel is good for heavy duty travel. A soft-sided travel bag with lots of structured pockets and zippable containers inside is much better than a formless sausage. That said, there’s one kind of duffel I love: foldable travel duffels. Lightweight, made of ripstop fabric, they fold down to tiny envelope-sized packages, hold your stuff when you need it, and cost about $10.

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That’s sad. Reminds me of when I bought my digital SLR camera. I got a camera bag to go with it. I can’t remember if it was free, or just really cheap a part of a package deal.

At any rate - I. Loved. It. It was a single strap kind, and just fit me perfectly. The pouches were perfectly sized and well thought out for what the average person would carry. It was amazing. I loved it.

That love lasted like exactly a week. I used it one time for a week long trip to Florida and it literally began to fall apart at the seams. It literally just fell apart after a week of being around my shoulder.

I was super sad. I didn’t call to replace it or anything because, like I said I got it either free or super cheap, and a replacement would likely have the same issues.

Though I have to wonder, how the hell does this happen? I mean how do you sew something and have the stitching fail after such short use? My sewing skills include moving a needle and thread in and out of buttons holes enough times that it won’t fall off and hand sewing a hat band. But, by god, both of those are still together. How would something sewn by a machine not hold together?

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So: there are a couple of reasons I can think of:

  1. A bad batch of thread. This happens more than you’d think.
  2. The pants were garment-dyed, so it’s possible that whatever they were using for dye and thread just didn’t get along.
    If I had to guess, I’d put my money on #2 for my pants. I’d have guessed #1 for your bag.
    Deeply sad. I mean, what’s the point of doing such an appallingly bad job?
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Parenthood.

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I picked up one when I had to chaperone the kid and his classmates for a school camping trip. It rocks. You have to use the round end to get stuff in and out as you fold up the end over a hookthingy the proper name of which escapes me this morning. Not gonna be waterproof because of how it closes but sturdy as hell and easy to tote around.

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Meh.

These days I only go for RFID-shielded, ultra-strong duffels for carrying cash through dangerous territory.

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Not sure I want a piece of luggage that I’d get arrested just for saying it’s name in an airport.
Hey! Whaddya got there?
It’s a bom…
Up against the wall!

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Baseball statistic.

Also, approximately as useful a metric as Patent Pending.

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