Badlands Recon Pack Review

                            Badlands Recon Pack 

                                 Review

       Hunting Gear is necessary. The ability to carry all your gear is essential. Badlands has set the performance bar high on their Recon pack.  Two Thumbs Up to Badlands for not only making a comfortable pack but also finding a way to defy gravity! Well, lets just say they done their homework on this one. The Recon is light weight and seems a perfect fit without being bulky.  It seems to sit with you, rather than hang on you.  Badlands KXO material is tough and proved itself in the Ozarks Blackberry thorn bushes while shed hunting last week. The Recon pulled through without a rip.  

Three Reasons Why I Purchased the Recon.

     Size was not bulky, but not too small!                                            
      Equipped with Rain Cover Built In

  Badlands Fix It For Free Forever Warranty 

  

Rain Cover Test

 Size was the most important to me. Filming most of my hunts with a Canon Xa10, GoPRO, DSLR, and a tripod means I need something with lots of room. Hunting from a tree stand mostly, I wanted something that wasn't bulky.  The Recon works perfect for all my gear and the weight doesn't even seem to put the pack to the test.  This pack is loaded with pockets. Every time I open it I find a new one! I carry the tripod, or tree arm, in the bow holder. Cameras go in the main compartment, and the batteries, lights, and other gear go in the secondary. You have two side pockets. One holds my .380 and the other holds a pair of fold up microphones. I can carry all this without the bulk. Thanks Badlands!

   Having camera equipment and Rain mix as much as a weatherman and Missouri.  I want to be prepared if comes a downpour and the Recon`s built-in rain cover gives me the peace of mind. I know it works because I personally tested the cover while it was raining.

Freeze test

 I even took it another step to see how the Recon preforms. I literally froze this pack in my freezer to see how it would work during winter weather. Six hours at a brisk Zero degrees. Things I tested were zipper noise, zipper function, buckle function/noise, and overall pack noise. Surprisingly, the zippers made no extra noise and functioned the same. The Buckles had no effect from the coldness as well. The outside of the pack was a little bit louder but the inside of the pack was night and day difference. The material inside was much louder. While I never plan to reach in my pack while an animal is in earshot, you never know when your camera battery will tire out from the cold weather and you need to swap out. A little pre-organization on my part would help in this situation. 

 The Recon is a great pack that I`m sure will be handed down to my son. It fits all my needs when I`m hunting and when I'm running the camera! I love using this pack and was a great investment for me.

*Badlands wants to know what we like in a pack and heres what I would like to see.

 A Run and Gun Camera Pack.(the camera bag is just too bulky for me) Keep the same specs as the Recon except an inch or two wider. Needs Pockets inside designed for camera batteries, a built in sd card holder (inside top of pack), a GoPro pouch on the side. Remove the ability to put a bladder in the pack(too close to cameras) and just leave that space open. Leave the bow holder on there because us cameramen use it as a tree arm or tripod holder. Make them waterproof, without the use of a cover. I want a side pock with a lithium ion battery affixed with a USB port to charge my camera while Im using my camera.!!  Call it the Revelation pack!  Ok I got a little carried away.

                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                        Justin Sapp