My Game Plan 3 in 1 pack arrived today. First great thing was the price I paid. Found it on sale through Amazon for $40 when Game Plan has it for $159 on their web site. (Not sold by Amazon, but advertised on Amazon through Sportsman's Guide). So price is obviously 5 stars. Taking it out of the packaging it looked like an octopus. Straps and stuff everywhere but not too difficult to figure out. First thing I tried to do was unsnap this little pouch which was attached to the side of the pack. First major problem is the snaps suck. The snaps were really tight and after the first one broke, I knew the other one would too and it did. I would have been a little more upset had I paid a full $159 for it but since I didn't, I'm not overly stressed. I can sew some velcro in place of the snaps and it should be fine. I also haven't found a use yet for the pouch other than just hanging it somewhere on the pack as a small flappy pocket so I'm not overly disappointed. I will give the snap durability 2 stars. Luckily there are only 2 other snaps on the pack and they seem to work fine. Versatility is off the chart. I'll start with the bottom, fanny style pack. The pack has quite a few pockets and you can wear it separate from the top pack. It does have shoulder straps for the fanny pack only wearing and a waist strap. It also has a "cradle" style pouch thing at the bottom for attaching what ever you want. Probably a good spot to carry a tripod or camera arm with easy access by just undoing the clips. There are 2 pockets and inside are pretty roomy and have some separate storage areas for different gear. The straps on the bottom pocket are elastic and should be nice for anything small with a clip like knives, pens or whatever you have. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the shoulder straps are not able to be detached fully from the fanny pack. You have to tuck them into a pocket which ends up on the very lower part of your back when this is attached to the main pack together. Not sure how comfortable that would be for long hauls but there is a decent amount of padding and you can fold the straps pretty flat so it may not be too bad. The main pack I'll call it seems great as well. Plenty of storage room and it has a zipper for expansion to make the pack larger in volume. Quiver scabbard I'll call it seems cool if you don't want to carry your quiver on your bow. Although the only thing I don't like about this is the part that covers your fletching isn't completely removable. The bottom where the broadhead hood goes is just built into the pocket flap. But the top part covering the fletchings you either have to zip in with the pocket closed, which eliminates the ability to carry your quiver on the pack, or tuck it into a pocket inside there which then takes up a pocket for other gear. It would have been easy to attach a clip to remove the fletching cover instead of having it sewed to the pack and been better IMO. There is also no inside pocket for a H2O bladder which would have been really nice to have. There is a "sleeve" area on the back you could put a bladder in and fashion a spot to clip the bladder so it won't slide down, but I'm really surprised they didn't make a specific spot to put one. A pack like this is designed to be worn all day; kinda dumb really. They also include 2 heavy rubber cargo straps for attaching your quiver or anything else to the outside of the pack. One more down side is if you don't have the fanny part attached to the upper, or main pack, there are no waist straps. Another somewhat surprising feature they could have added considering how many straps are on it. All in all, I'd say the pack is really nice. Probably give it 3.5 to 4.0 stars out of 5. I was disappointed with the snaps breaking, no H2O bladder sleeve, not being able to detach part of the quiver holder and no waist straps on the main pack. I am very pleased with the versatile wearing as I said is off the chart. Being able to have 2 individual packs based on how your hunting or putting them together for one bigger pack seems great. There are tons of "Alice" style places to attach other stuff and other than the buttons, the pack seems very durable. It also has more cargo area than I was expecting. As I said at the beginning, had I paid the full $159 price, I'd have been a bit more upset but I can't complain only paying $40. IMO, value is all in the purchaser or owners eyes and what something is worth to you, not always the monetary price paid for something. My normal hunt days are just morning and evening sits so we'll see how it works. I'll give an update after the season as to how it's performed for me and I'll try and use all the features it has to offer.
Did it have a strong odor when you opened the package? My wife bought me a Game Plan Pass Thru case back in 2010 when I returned to compounds from many years of trad shooting and it was fine. So for my upcoming birthday last fall, I put on my list one of their Double Drop fanny packs, which my daughter got for me online very reasonably. The first thing I noticed was a very STRONG manufacturing odor that precluded it from going to the woods immediately. I washed in the washer with scentless detergent and hung it outside for days at at time, but that only dropped it from a 100 to about a 90. Back in the washer it went with baking soda and more time outside, only this time turned inside out so every nook got fresh air. That took it from a 90 to about a 65. Finally this summer, I left it out in a heavy rain and then air drying outside for several consecutive days which got it to about a 50. My recent effort was to fill all the compartments with freshing cut pine boughs that came from some yard tree pruning. At this point all I can smell is the pine, but they are still inside and will remain for a few more weeks. My concern is not just being smelled by a deer, but also having my other gear take on that same odor by being inside. NOT impressed with Game Plan at this juncture......8^(
