For me, it is really hard to write gear reviews. When you just got a new piece of equipment, you don’t really have much to say about it. But after you use it for a while, it often becomes a part of your life story, your identity, and you can’t really be objective about it. My Rush 72 backpack is one of those items that has been with me for way too long, so frankly, I don’t know if I can be impartial about it.
I lived out of this backpack for several months during my contracts in Iraq, moving from base to base, room to room, container to container, from the beautiful green mountains of Kurdistan to the desert wasteland of Basra oilfields. I traveled all around Somalia with it, jumping from one shaky plane to another, it crossed countless borders on different continents. At a certain point, I had to pack my entire life into this backpack and leave to never come back.
I got my Rush 72 1o years ago, in 2013 when I was working as a sort of brand ambassador for 5.11. At the time, it was the biggest pack 5.11 had, and it was exactly what I needed for 2-3 day hikes, range trips, and travel. It is big enough to carry all you need in hot climates, but small enough that you can still have a chance to bring it on board an airplane as a carry-on, at least with some of the more decent international airlines.
10 year review?!? Wow. Even better is that I can concur with this review completely, having had mine for about 5-6 years. My biggest beef is that the pack itself weighs a chunk, which cuts into available weight allotment for airlines. But I have checked it and I have carried it on on several trips. Really durable pack.