Haha awesome! I stitched mine with Zip ties and later added a rubber insert. The fact is though that it worked just fine for the smaller periods of use. When on holidays and hiking in the Alps last year, the overhanging weight on one side gets quite annoying after some time. Especially if the weather is bad at the top and you carried the tripod up the mountain for nothing up
I guess I could call myself lucky that I ran into this deal. I've watched enough of Youtube videos about camerabags and hiking bags with ICU's to know what your search was like.
I guess the second fact is that I bought the Fastpack 350 about 10 years ago for I believe 80-90€. If I look in the same price category nowadays I'm really disappointed.
The same for lenses. I saw a second hand 100mm L Macro in the shop last time I went there. They ask the same price I have paid for it new when it came out