{"id":61,"date":"2024-05-20T10:52:55","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T10:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/?p=61"},"modified":"2024-05-26T09:26:32","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T09:26:32","slug":"goruck-gr1-21l","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/?p=61","title":{"rendered":"The Goruck GR1 21L"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A lot has been already been said about Goruck and the GRs. A quick look online will yield a lot of controversy and sentiment around the brand – they’re either still a great company making a great bag and innovating or they’re not what they used to be and quality is going down hill. It can be quite hard to tease out whether Goruck still makes good backpacks or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I did what a sane person does – I bit the bullet and bought a bunch of them so I can make up my own damn mind. All-in-all, I’ve bought and own(ed) the:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. GR1 26L Ranger Green, without 210D lining<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. GR2 26L Ranger Green<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. GR1 21L Tiger Stripe<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. GR1 21L Ranger Green with QAP (Yes, I really like this colour)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Some of these I’ve since sold, it was the only way to keep owning these and there are only so many green nylon backpacks one can use at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    What’s Great<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I don’t have the experience that people who have owned an OG GR1 have so I can’t really say whether they’ve gone downhill or not but honestly, all the backpacks felt solid. The bag feels tank and robust, from the stitching to the zips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The flexibility (or lack of organisation) worked well for me – as this is my dad bag, you’d think this would be a problem but my system of pouches, dry bags and reused zip lock bags worked out just fine. It takes some personal organisation and planning to get this right (which I enjoy, you might not). The laptop compartment feels secure. The rigid framesheet and the generous straps all felt pretty good over distance with weight. 12kg over 5km and I never really felt much strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My current favourite and the one I will likely keep of the bunch above is the latest GR1 21L with the QAP. It’s just a very pretty bag, the minimalist look, the patch just where it is, very easy on the eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What’s Not Great<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I sold the GR1 26L Ranger Green without the 210D so I could pick up and try the newer ones but I kind of miss it. The extra friction made it easier to carry on one shoulder as the 210D is quite slippery. It also makes it look\/feel less premium – the rough but tough no-nonsense 1000D that will take whatever you throw it is really what the bag is about and the 210D I feel dilutes its appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There isn’t any on-the-go side access (unlike the Peak Design Everyday<\/a>) so if that’s what you want, this is not the bag for you. If you like lots of organisation and little niche pockets, nope, not the bag for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It’s also quite expensive – I’m a sucker for how this bag looks so if the aesthetic doesn’t appeal to you then you might find more satisfaction with your money elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lastly, I live in hot humid tropical place and the back ventilation leaves much to be desired – no bag I’ve used does this well though so I don’t think this necessarily does this much worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Verdict<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you dig the rugged minimalist appeal of the GR1, it’s a great bag. I use it nearly everyday, to work and to the gym.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A lot has been already been said about Goruck and the GRs. A quick look online will yield a lot of controversy and sentiment around the brand – they’re either still a great company making a great bag and innovating or they’re not what they used to be and quality is going down hill. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77,"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbeereviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}