PhilB
Sr. Member
- Reaction score
- 36
- Points
- 330
Hi guys,
I was recently given the opportunity to T&E the new CPgear "Lobster Trap" dump pouch. I was very intrigued when presented with this opportunity. I have expressed clearly in the past that I am not a huge fan of CPgear. I have always thought that the quality of their gear was top notch, their customer service and warranty can't be beat, but the design and overall utility of their products was lacking in my opinion. A lot of the stuff they made was just not for me, it did not have an operational focus IMHO. Recently they hired some new staff, incl a forum member here, to help redesign some of their products. This is the first piece released from the new up coming line. I used a Maxpedition Rolly Polly when I was in Afghanistan and really liked the pouch, so, all that being said I went into the T&E looking for problems, and I have to say I did not find any.
This pouch, on the surface, is a pretty standard design, normal roll up dump pouch, the same as the Maxpedition Rolly Polly. Once I started using the pouch, however, I found that the design addressed many of the issues I have with the aforementioned pouch.
This pouch feels absolutely bomb proof. Extremely heavy duty cordura and stitching are used throughout. When you pick it up it just feels strong. The cordura used is much heavier duty compared to the maxpedition pouch.The pouch I received was in Cadpat TW but I believe that they are also releasing them in Cadpat AR, as well as standard colours like OD. This is a very nice touch because it allows you to match your gear to the issued vests, thus alleviating a lot of the issues with some CoC's over non issue kit.
The pouch folds up quite small like the maxpedition pouch and is secured by velcro when folded:
The pouch can be attached to load bearing equipment in several ways. There is PALS on the back of the pouch to facilitate attaching to a MOLLE system and there is a large opening behind the PALS panel to allow a belt mount. The design now differs from the normal rolly polly, CP gear has added heavy duty d rings to the pouch to allow it to be connected to the TV with zap straps or para cord. The d rings were in exactly the right place and I had no issues attaching it easily to my TV.
The pouch is slightly larger than the maxpedition pouch both in height, width and depth.
Now onto the major differences, and what makes this pouch stand out, in my mind, over other dump pouches I have used. The three major issues I have with the rolly polly pouch are the shock cord closure, the opening collapsing, and the velcro lid.
First off, the lid. On the maxpedition pouch there is a velcro flap that secures the pouch when folded. When the pouch is deployed the flap is secured with a strip of velcro inside the pouch itself. I have found that when deploying the pouch quickly the flap gets stuck overtop of the opening. It is easily pushed down into the pouch but it makes the first reload somewhat counter intuitive as the pouch opening is blocked. On the CP gear pouch the flap attached at the top of the deployed pouch. I found that when deploying the pouch quickly the flap naturally fell onto the velcro meant to secure it, with no issues. I think that this is a major improvement because it ensures that the opening of the pouch does not become obstructed.
You can see in this picture where the flap is attached at the top of the deployed pouch.
Next the pouch closure. Obviously a dump pouch is a toss up between the ability to easily get an empty mag into the pouch and retention of the mag once inside. The maxpedition pouch is secured basically by shock cord. The cord runs around the circumference of the opening and is tightened to aid retention. An individual basically finds the middle ground for themselves between retention and ease of insertion. For me this means that I need to have the pouch tightened to the point where I cannot easily fit my hand into the pouch. The CP gear pouch, on the other hand, is secured by a nylon cuff and shock cord. The cuff goes around the opening and is secured with shock cord around it. I found that I could have the opening where a mag is inserted looser but because the cuff was covering the rest of the pouch, there was more retention. This, again, is an improvement in my opinion because it allows reloads to be faster, and for more retention of magazines in the pouch.
Pouch completely open:
Shock cord tightened:
Finally opening collapse. I have found the the opening of the maxpedition pouch tends to collapse and be folded in over time, in particular when it is empty or with only a few magazines inserted. This is a major issue for me because, at times, I am unable to insert the mag into the pouch intuitively. I have to look down and dick around with the pouch to get the mag in. The Cp gear pouch has a strip of rigid 1 inch webbing around the opening of the pouch. I think that this is the best improvement to this pouch. The rigid webbing keeps the pouch from collapsing and allows constant intuitive reloads (not having to look down, or mess with the pouch to get a mag in).
Pouch inside out:
Close up on 1 inch webbing strip:
All in all I am very impressed with this pouch. It has some simple, yet ingenious design improvements. I would not hesitate to buy this pouch over the maxpedition pouch. If CP can make these, clearly end user driven, improvements to a simple thing like a dump pouch I am really looking forward to the improvements on the rest of their gear. My opinion on the company has definitely been shifted more for the positive after having used this pouch. Hope this helps or is informative to some of you. Merry Christmas
I was recently given the opportunity to T&E the new CPgear "Lobster Trap" dump pouch. I was very intrigued when presented with this opportunity. I have expressed clearly in the past that I am not a huge fan of CPgear. I have always thought that the quality of their gear was top notch, their customer service and warranty can't be beat, but the design and overall utility of their products was lacking in my opinion. A lot of the stuff they made was just not for me, it did not have an operational focus IMHO. Recently they hired some new staff, incl a forum member here, to help redesign some of their products. This is the first piece released from the new up coming line. I used a Maxpedition Rolly Polly when I was in Afghanistan and really liked the pouch, so, all that being said I went into the T&E looking for problems, and I have to say I did not find any.
This pouch, on the surface, is a pretty standard design, normal roll up dump pouch, the same as the Maxpedition Rolly Polly. Once I started using the pouch, however, I found that the design addressed many of the issues I have with the aforementioned pouch.
This pouch feels absolutely bomb proof. Extremely heavy duty cordura and stitching are used throughout. When you pick it up it just feels strong. The cordura used is much heavier duty compared to the maxpedition pouch.The pouch I received was in Cadpat TW but I believe that they are also releasing them in Cadpat AR, as well as standard colours like OD. This is a very nice touch because it allows you to match your gear to the issued vests, thus alleviating a lot of the issues with some CoC's over non issue kit.
The pouch folds up quite small like the maxpedition pouch and is secured by velcro when folded:
The pouch can be attached to load bearing equipment in several ways. There is PALS on the back of the pouch to facilitate attaching to a MOLLE system and there is a large opening behind the PALS panel to allow a belt mount. The design now differs from the normal rolly polly, CP gear has added heavy duty d rings to the pouch to allow it to be connected to the TV with zap straps or para cord. The d rings were in exactly the right place and I had no issues attaching it easily to my TV.
The pouch is slightly larger than the maxpedition pouch both in height, width and depth.
Now onto the major differences, and what makes this pouch stand out, in my mind, over other dump pouches I have used. The three major issues I have with the rolly polly pouch are the shock cord closure, the opening collapsing, and the velcro lid.
First off, the lid. On the maxpedition pouch there is a velcro flap that secures the pouch when folded. When the pouch is deployed the flap is secured with a strip of velcro inside the pouch itself. I have found that when deploying the pouch quickly the flap gets stuck overtop of the opening. It is easily pushed down into the pouch but it makes the first reload somewhat counter intuitive as the pouch opening is blocked. On the CP gear pouch the flap attached at the top of the deployed pouch. I found that when deploying the pouch quickly the flap naturally fell onto the velcro meant to secure it, with no issues. I think that this is a major improvement because it ensures that the opening of the pouch does not become obstructed.
You can see in this picture where the flap is attached at the top of the deployed pouch.
Next the pouch closure. Obviously a dump pouch is a toss up between the ability to easily get an empty mag into the pouch and retention of the mag once inside. The maxpedition pouch is secured basically by shock cord. The cord runs around the circumference of the opening and is tightened to aid retention. An individual basically finds the middle ground for themselves between retention and ease of insertion. For me this means that I need to have the pouch tightened to the point where I cannot easily fit my hand into the pouch. The CP gear pouch, on the other hand, is secured by a nylon cuff and shock cord. The cuff goes around the opening and is secured with shock cord around it. I found that I could have the opening where a mag is inserted looser but because the cuff was covering the rest of the pouch, there was more retention. This, again, is an improvement in my opinion because it allows reloads to be faster, and for more retention of magazines in the pouch.
Pouch completely open:
Shock cord tightened:
Finally opening collapse. I have found the the opening of the maxpedition pouch tends to collapse and be folded in over time, in particular when it is empty or with only a few magazines inserted. This is a major issue for me because, at times, I am unable to insert the mag into the pouch intuitively. I have to look down and dick around with the pouch to get the mag in. The Cp gear pouch has a strip of rigid 1 inch webbing around the opening of the pouch. I think that this is the best improvement to this pouch. The rigid webbing keeps the pouch from collapsing and allows constant intuitive reloads (not having to look down, or mess with the pouch to get a mag in).
Pouch inside out:
Close up on 1 inch webbing strip:
All in all I am very impressed with this pouch. It has some simple, yet ingenious design improvements. I would not hesitate to buy this pouch over the maxpedition pouch. If CP can make these, clearly end user driven, improvements to a simple thing like a dump pouch I am really looking forward to the improvements on the rest of their gear. My opinion on the company has definitely been shifted more for the positive after having used this pouch. Hope this helps or is informative to some of you. Merry Christmas