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Posted: 9/22/2026 10:02:21 AM EDT
| Now I'm not a fanny pack guy, in fact I am pretty sure I'm an anti-fanny pack guy. However, the utility of a small bag to carry some essentials is appealing. I don't think I would carry "off body", but even without this functionality, THIS VERTX bag looks like a good solution for some. Is a fanny pack a go/no go for you? |
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EDC? No. Doing athletic stuff outside? Yes. I have a backpack for work. I have a variety of packs and bags i use when i want to carry a water bottle or rain coat. I don't have enough shit i need to carry outside of work to need more than a belt and pockets. I wouldn't buy the pack you have shown if you don't plan on carrying the gun too. |
Fanny pack will always be gay just based on the name. Calling it a waist bag makes it 1% less gay, because they still look pretty ridiculous. Heck, if The Rock can't pull it off, what chance do I have?  A cross body bag is a bit less gay, at the risk of looking like a metrosexual. I have this urban armor gear cross body bag, and it's pretty decent.   Unfortunately, they discontinued it. One of its nice features is that it has a second front main pocket whose zipper is largely concealed behind the black strap sewn across the front, and a small pistol fits in there pretty nicely, which comes in handy if you're forced to go off body for some reason. A wider strap is also nice for better weight distribution. |
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I'm not grossly overweight (maybe 15 pounds too heavy), but I can't comfortably carry AIWB, and my body shape makes it difficult to conceal between 2 and 5. I never tuck in my shirts, so I use a Blue Alpha fanny pack which sits under my gut and conceals rather well. It doesn't matter what people think of me. Should I stop carrying because I don't look cool? |
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Originally Posted By scuba_steve: A cross body bag is a bit less gay, at the risk of looking like a metrosexual. I have this urban armor gear cross body bag, and it's pretty decent. I've seen some manufacturers call them both at the same time. 5.11 calls this a sling bag even though you could clearly wear it around the waist. I have fanny packs that I wear crossbody just because it's easier. |
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Can we vote for 'it's gay!' and 'it's a useful tool!' at the same time? lol. I live pretty rural in the mountains, so it's a bit worse AND better up here when it comes to stuff like this.... You see people who hike alot have them, but for 'edc' purposes, it's less popular. So you see them around. Personally I think a SMALL fanny pack is really useful. Sometimes you want to carry more than the basic stuff that you can stuff in your pockets. I think for this it is really useful. Helikon makes a decent well made one that isn't expensive. Their Possum bag is a little smaller but isn't set up for a gun. If you wanted the ability to carry a gun, their Bandicot or something like that bag has a velcro field in the back of the main pocket that will hold a Glock 19 in a velcro holster. And honestly, if you aren't carrying a gun, a full on civilian on will work fine. Jansport has a simply black one on Amazon that isn't bad for $25. However, if for some reason I'm going to carry a bag with a gun, a SMALL sling bag is better. I rarely carry offbody, but on the occasional time that I'm wearing gym shorts and needed to run to the trash dump real quick or something, I can throw the sling bag on. I quite like the Kelty Tactical sling bag - it's not tactical looking, it's well made, it's not overly big, it's not expensive, and the layout works. It looks so un-tactical that my mother confiscated my original blue one for her to use, as she only carries off-body and she 'thought the bag looked cute' Now, I'll also throw a couple other things out there - fanny packs make a GREAT 'emergency grab and go' bag. Something to keep the essentials in that you can grab in an emergency. Whenever I travel, I keep one in my regular EDC backpack with most of the important stuff that I don't keep in my pockets. It sits next to my bed on the nightstand in hotel rooms, I throw all of the stuff from my pockets into it. In an emergency, I can grab that and walk out the door. During the day, it sits in my backpack as an organizer for the very important stuff. It's not a bad idea to use one for this purpose. They also make really good 'emergency survival' bags. Something to throw in a basic knife, firestarting kit, cordage, a small poncho, etc. in. You can wear these separate from your backpack while hiking and also works great for short hikes and for kids who won't want to carry a pack. I always keep an eye out at thrift stores for cheap waistpacks to use for this purpose, I've got a few sitting in my closet set up like this that I picked up for $1 each. The one other good thing they are useful for is with full on tactical gear setups. To use as an IFAK or as an admin pouch or as a survival / E&E pouch. Or some combo of the above. Those are my thoughts. They have their use. And honestly, I wish they weren't so gay, as I think they're actually pretty useful even for EDC. We used to wear full on suits that had lots of pocket space. And before that, we had people who had 'possibles pouches' that they wore, either on their waist or as a sling bag. Something to carry the stuff they needed around. The more modern and comfortable society has gotten, the less stuff we carry around. We might have taken that too far. 
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Originally Posted By Stryfe: I've seen some manufacturers call them both at the same time. 5.11 calls this a sling bag even though you could clearly wear it around the waist. I have fanny packs that I wear crossbody just because it's easier. That's what I was hoping with the bag pictured above, but even at the belt's tightest adjustment, it was too loose for my waist. Granted, I have a 30" waist, but I suspect bigger guys might have had an issue as well if they wore it low. Had to have my wife cut the belt and move the buckle. Now it works in both configs, because I admit sometimes it is more convenient on the waist, regardless of how it looks. |
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Originally Posted By scuba_steve: That's what I was hoping with the bag pictured above, but even at the belt's tightest adjustment, it was too loose for my waist. Granted, I have a 30" waist, but I suspect bigger guys might have had an issue as well if they wore it low. Had to have my wife cut the belt and move the buckle. Now it works in both configs, because I admit sometimes it is more convenient on the waist, regardless of how it looks. I bought my kid a sling bag, strap at the top. I'm doing the same this week. Bought new webbing to remake the strap. |
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Fanny packs are 'teh gayyy'... with 2 exceptions 1) I wear one while mowing to carry my phone so I can BT music to my ear buds - not gay 2 a F.A.G. Bag. A purpose built Fast Action Gun bag that has a built-in holster and a rip cord for zipping the bag open for fast access to your EDC. Also not gay. |
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition" - Rudyard Kipling
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I wear athletic shorts a lot so I wear one pretty much every day. I have this one in ERDL from Ex Umbris on right now. Wallet and SAK in the front zipper pouch, phone and some paracord in the main pocket. I also have a Mora Robust clipped onto the strap, a working around the house knife. I bought it because I also have a 5.11 pack, the discontinued Rapid Waist pack, that is huge (TFBTV showed it can hold a Desert Eagle  , most gun bags seem sized around a G19 and I wanted to carry a 17) and I wanted something smaller. This is just slightly too small for a Glock 48, the bigger problem is it doesn't zip down far enough. imo fanny packs should open 2/3 the way, easier draw for a gun and if you're using it for regular stuff it doesn't flop open and dump everything out.
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945 makes dedicated pistol bags: https://945industries.com/collections/bags I ordered one for my wife like 2 years ago, its a very nice bag. I ordered one for myself over a month ago and have yet to recieve it, however. Not sure what is going on with these guys. They've sent me 3 shipping labels, one was canceled, the other two show no movement for weeks. Their customer service has been "looking into it" . So, very nice bags and holsters, but buyer beware. You may never get it. EDIT: Shortly after posting this, the third shipping label showed picked up by USPS. |
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There was a question in this thread about drawing from a fanny pack. I've been legally carrying a handgun EVERY DAY at the 3:30 position for 34 years and would guess my number of presentations is in the hundreds of thousands. I can get my HK VP9CC with RMRcc out of my fanny pack's Maxped UPW faster and more efficiently than out of my Tier One Concealed Light Bearing Echo IWB holster. I probably have 200 fanny pack presentations vs maybe 200,000 IWB. |
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Originally Posted By GaryT1776: I use to GORUCK with the local SWAT Team. They called fanny packs "F@G B@GS" ... but every single one of them had one Originally Posted By GaryT1776: Originally Posted By marnsdorff: Can we vote for 'it's gay!' and 'it's a useful tool!' at the same time? lol. I use to GORUCK with the local SWAT Team. They called fanny packs "F@G B@GS" ... but every single one of them had one |
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Have one for hiking or biking out on trails. Added a water bottle holder too. Mine is a Helikon-Tex |
I was born in Birkenhead and I was poor , I was dressed from the local army and navy store and I can tell you its no fun going to school dressed as a Japanese admiral-UKjohn
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I have a couple. I don't wear them around out and about except on a cruise ship . Super handy to carry your key card, water bottle, sunscreen, chapstick, etc. Outside of that, I just keep them in vehicles as grab and go trauma/aid kits. I've never tried carrying a gun in one. My preferred waist pack is the Spiritus Big Fanny Sack.  |
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Originally Posted By marnsdorff: We used to wear full on suits that had lots of pocket space. And before that, we had people who had 'possibles pouches' that they wore, either on their waist or as a sling bag. Something to carry the stuff they needed around. The more modern and comfortable society has gotten, the less stuff we carry around. We might have taken that too far. https://i.ibb.co/YYNLFvt/longhunter.jpg 1st - Love the image. 2nd - you're correct. We have lost our sense of self preservation. Countless people walk around in flip flops carrying a phone and credit card - while thinking they're ready for anything. I know and work with a lot of people that carry guns, keep a get-home bag in their car, heck one guy even built a "retreat house" on a private lake. However, I never see a single one of them walk into the office with a backpack. It all sits in their cars. What if something happens and you can't get to your vehicle? The possibles bag epitomizes the proper mindset. Possibles. |
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My wife and I rode our bikes to a coffee shop this morning before work. She had her backpack panniers on her rear-bike-rack and I was wearing the fanny pack I described in a previous post above (my bike is carbon fiber and doesn't have a way to mount a rack). I typically ride with a backpack and fanny pack but she wanted to use the panniers. The coffee shop is a 15 minute walk / 4 minute ride from the house. |
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Fanny packs are gay. I'm not gay, but I like "waist packs" I probably have a dozen or so. I rarely carry them on my waist unless I'm actually wearing my field kit. If I'm rocking flip flops and Chubbie shorts with a T-shirt, I usually carry them crossbody and such sling/crossbody bags work better for me for what we do (short day hiking, kayaking, paddle boarding, mountain biking, etc.). I rarely use them as a CCW platform and only in very rare situations. I do carry a spare mag and med shit or EDC stuff that doesn't work for my skimpy, sexy attire Even if wearing full field kit, the lowly, much maligned waist pack makes a great IFAK or even an E&E kit bag that will stay with you if you're forced to jettison your fighting kit/ruck. Where I see them in the "gear line" philosophy" is a step above EDC (Line 1) and just below the fighting kit or larger EDC backpack (Line 2). Waist pack = Line 1.5 Word of caution. Big waist packs that are as big as big ass fanny are a major PITA (pun intended). They stick out, they're unbalanced, they're obnoxiously noticeable, and they get in the way of everything regardless of where you position them. "I like small fanny packs, I cannot lie..." ROCK6 |
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