I have a few of those LA police gear 3 day packs and I think they're great.  Well made for the price and I cannot recommend them enough for a prepper on a budget.  But I was recently loading some awkwardly big materials in my vehicle's trunk at the home improvement store and a nice guy stopped to help out.  He watched me move the backpack to the front seat, and asked about it using the words "tactical bug out bag".  I chuckled a bit and said it was my school backpack, but it got me thinking.  Maybe this guy is former military or possibly a prepper himself, I don't know.  But the molle webbing and Earthly colors scream military, tactical, and/or prepper.  Not exactly how I want to be identified while wearing the pack alone in a possibly bad situation.

I have 3, maybe 4 of these I'd like to replace and cannot afford $100+ for nice hiking backpacks.  Have any of you had any experience with low $$end discrete looking backpacks?  Obviously durability is the most important factor after price.  Those LA police gear packs are built like tanks and IIRC, $30ish dollars is a steal.  I'm hoping to find something similar.

Bought a walmart thing for a BOB for my niece for college (she ended up switching to a local vocational). Specifically got what would pass for a back pack, but tried to get something decent. Got it home, purposely "broke" it in with some throwing around with tennis shoes in it. Broke right away.






 

I am convinced that ANYTHING sold at WM is junk. I swear they make manufactures ruin good products for an  extra .5 cents profit!
That said I have some inexpensive internal frame packs from sierra trading post that I think of as duel purpose camping bug out. I already bugged out so camping is a bigger use for me.
But if I was in NYC bugging out blending in and not looking tactical might be important till getting passed guberment types.
But in my neck of the woods a  looking tactical "Don't F%$# WITH ME" look I think would be a big benefit.
YMMV

You've got the right idea. Sell your tactical stuff to recover some money for their replacements. Try Target if you have one, google  for discontinued name brands, look on the equipment exchange.

I have tried Walmart packs in the past.  The one I bought was junk, not surprisingly.  The stitching was horrible.  Having said that, my local Walmart now carries colt and other ar's as well as ammo and other goodies.  They also now carrying some new lines (I forget the brand) of packs that actually look decent.  Its not high end by any stretch but in my opinion most folks don't need a multi hundred dollar bag to be prepared.  

Hell no!  

And that is based on specific experience with Wal-Mart bags AS my BOB!

See years ago I used to use a wal-mart duffel as my BOB/GHB.  They are serious pieces of shit.  I thought it was normal to replace them annually.  Then I got tired of it and bought a Maxpedition Doppelduffel.  That was 5-6 years ago and I am still using it.  

The thing is amazing!

I have several cheap/wal-mart/target items in my BOB/GHB but the bag itself...wal-mart just doesn't make a decent one.

-Emt1581

WOOT? $59
Another thread has this and it has good reviews.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_17/676390_Woot_High_SIerra_Internal_Frame_pack_onsale_.html

Interestingly tonight I am listening to The Perseid Collapse: The Perseid Collapse, Book 1 Author: Steven Konkoly
The wife of the hero is pissed at his choice of a tactical 3 day pack that ends up being horribly uncomfortable on the first road march.
Probably a good idea to test your pack under load before relying on it. If your at wall mart take the pack to the food isle and load up 50lbs and walk around the store for an hour or two.
That should help you sort things out. Make sure to take lots of pictures and post about it.

Get an LAPG $30 pack and remove the molle...  you might consider leaving the 2 strips attached to the compression straps but you can easily remove the rest.  Get the black version if you don't like earthy tones...

How about camouflage?
Pack Cover

How do you remove the molle?

Maybe it's just Texas,

but it seems like there are so many veterans running around now with .mil packs or wearing .mil pants/boots,
that they are pretty common and draw very little attention.

Now, wearing that pack, wearing full camo and carrying an EBR,
you get some attention.

It is only stitched on.  Get a thin, sharp knife (x-acto or scalpel works great) and cut the threads holding the molle webbing to the pack...  it's like skinning your favorite piece of meat with a knife...  once you cut a thread or 2 you grab the webbing and lift up to make it easier to get to the next thread...  it's definitely detail oriented work - go slow and don't cut into the pack material.  Hold the blade so that it is parallel to the thing you don't want to cut and perpendicular to the thing you do want to cut...  the knife will pass between the webbing and the pack...

Another technique is to cut the threads on the top of the molle web and use the web as a "back stop" to prevent cutting the pack.

Once you have dealt with the threads, you then remove the web and then pick out the thread that remains using tweezers, hemostat, or needle nose pliers (or maybe just your fingers).  Also remember that threads can be removed from the outside or inside...  You may have to use some combination of these suggestions to get all the threads removed...

I looked at the SOG bag WM is now carrying.  $40-50 ish I think.  Looked decent but I've got enough Alice Packs that I don't need another bag.

The LAPG 3 Day bag has been my EDC bag for almost 5 years. One of the lower straps was starting to tear loose from the pack so I switched to one of the compression strap's mount. It's still going strong.

If you're concerned about appearing too "tactical, military, etc" just get a decent Jansport backpack.  My 10 year old still uses the one I had in college 15 years ago. The only thing tactical on it is the 550 cord zipper pulls I put on it when the zipper tabs finally tore.  

It holds almost as much as the main of the 3 Day bag.  And it's gray and black and looks like something a college student would carry.

I picked up a Coleman hiking pack, 6.5 liter for $45 on clearance last year at WallyWorld. Never know what you are going find when you go in there.

Another place to check in London Bridge. Their packs are insanely overpriced....$200+  but when they have their sales, you can find packs for around $60.... And they are obviously well made considering their list price...

And black is a good neutral color that doesn't stand out too bad. But if you other Walmart suggestions then look for JanSport. They have been making backpacks for a long time.

I use the same JanSport everyday for work....and I bought it in high school.

It amazes me how tough it is and it's not exactly over-engineered with burly zippers and molle.  Yet it's lasted 15-20yrs. and still looks new!

-Emt1581

load 30-45lbs or 3-4 days of gear into one..then walk for 5+ miles.

get back with us how it went.



the junk molle rucks and walmart backs are good lst ditch i need a ruck.. but honestly for  a few dollars more aka maybe 20-30$ you can get a good pack like the lower end keltys(redwing) or even north faces uggh. lol



if its going from the house to truck and back again with no real use sides that...well dunno what to tell you.



never understood how folks can drop 800 for an Ar.. and another 1K is rails,optics,,junk etc  and skimp on packs that will according to thier plans carry their ass home etc.

If you have the time, check your local goodwill and salvation army stores for some decent packs for cheap.

That being said, I have a Lowe Alpine Pack that I bought in Thailand (may have been counterfeit) and it only lasted 5 years of light, very part time use.

I repaired it many times but I loved that pack, perfect size and had a external suspension system that kept it off my back for air flow.

The last straw was when I was hiking with my wife and dogs in an urban setting on some urban trails and my wife almost stepped on a rattle snake. Coiled and striking at her as she screamed, I saw what it was and pulled her away from it. That would have been the end of it except my dogs now had to get in the act.

I went to crush the snake with my pack in a huge overhand haymaker of a swing with the pack, strap broke, pack went into low orbit and now I'm 2 feet from a rattle snake, trying to keep my dogs from getting bit and nothing to use as a weapon. ( I had a 9mm G26 on me, but urban setting, ricochet concerns, dogs just feet from snake, = no gun getting used)

Point of the story, I thought I had a quality pack, never truly let me down right up until I needed it, REALLY NEEDED IT to save me and my family, and it failed big time.

My advice, buy all gear like as if it were a parachute. Your life may one day depend on it.

* no one got bit, snake got flicked off the trail with a long stick, wife thoroughly freaked out about snakes now.

Buy a pack used for hiking. Something like a kelty redwing.
I swapped from a rush 72 to a coyote 80, zero comparison.
It's a night and day difference. There are plenty of affordable
packs out there. Just find one with a frame that has the cubic
Inches you need.

so you and the dogs failed around tripping over each other while your wife screamed and you used the pack for some thing its not designed for....unlike the stick you used anyway....vs just walking away from said snake and the pack which may or may not be a real lowe is the problem.....

blame the gear not the user got it



 

Hey now this is how we learn. I don't know anyone that  hasn't done something silly in a bad but not worse case scenario. But dude just leave a CCI snake load in the chamber and your regular loads in the magazine. I've shot so many snakes under my dogs that when they hear a rattle or I draw they run.

im just ribbing him...


coulda have been worse...he could threw his wife to the ground
wife unit was about to lite a cig in my 66' fj40. we were on a technical trail so lots of angles. well fj40's the passenger seat sit atop the gas tank.....it has a breather valve on top..but our angle was enough forit to leak(un known to me)..i get ut ..to help spot for another rig. buddy goes hey protus whats leaking on your fj. so we peek under "hmmm...gas...hmm" . i walk around theres wife unit flicking the bic with three other hens ....alll hovering around 15 gallons of gas..





so in my most "halt or ill shoot " tone i yell-
"GET THE FUCK OUTTA THE TRUCK..."


wife- flick,,flick..


gaggle of now angry looking hens-


wife- WHAT DID YOU JU............


me- YANK..TOSS....


GAGGLE-


me- look you tards...you were sitting in gas...(floor board was about 1/8th deep)


wife- why didnt you just say so.......(as she lit her cig)


me-
i love being married





 

30 minutes after posting this.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1661566_.html&page=1

I've had a lot of heartache and heartburn w/ WalMart backpacks.  My trust in them is simply gone.

I carry a Swiss Gear on a daily basis. They run about $50 and I have had great luck with mine. Very durable.

wife unit was about to lite a cig in my 66' fj40. we were on a technical trail so lots of angles. well fj40's the passenger seat sit atop the gas tank.....it has a breather valve on top..but our angle was enough forit to leak(un known to me)..i get ut ..to help spot for another rig. buddy goes hey protus whats leaking on your fj. so we peek under "hmmm...gas...hmm" . i walk around theres wife unit flicking the bic with three other hens ....alll hovering around 15 gallons of gas..

so in my most "halt or ill shoot " tone i yell-


"GET THE FUCK OUTTA THE TRUCK..."
wife- flick,,flick..
gaggle of now angry looking hens-
wife- WHAT DID YOU JU............
me- YANK..TOSS....
GAGGLE-
me- look you tards...you were sitting in gas...(floor board was about 1/8th deep)
wife- why didnt you just say so.......(as she lit her cig)
me-


i love being married

I just pictured a short bus leaving the chapel with "Just Married" written on the back window. With crayons. Sorry.

Thanks guys.  The Kelty Redwing 44 is very tempting.  Still a lot more than I was willing to spend, but I may just buy them one at a time or used.  I see why the low grade stuff is a bad idea.