gura gear Kiboko photog backpack

[Iguide]

Does anybody have experience with this pack? http://www.guragear.com/index.php


http://www.guragear.com/product.php


When you read the reviews by the pro's the reviews say this bag is the best invention since sliced bread. Or the best bag since one was designed to carry camera gear. The counter to that is I don't remember when a Pro really said a product was not worth buying, do you?


It seems intriguing, but $400.00 is a pretty penny to part with for a somewhat unknown item.





Godspeed


Wayne


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[Mark Elberson]

I have heard great things about these bags. They are designed by pros who were not satisfied with the bags that were available. They are light weight so that when you weigh in at the airport it's your gear that makes the bag heavy and not the bag itself. All of this is done while still providing a safe and secure home for your gear. $400 is a lot to spend on a bag but for some people it will certainly be worth it.

[Iguide]

Hi Mark:


What you have heard is very similar to what I have read in reviews. Have you heard from someone you know personally or through the grape vine? Almost all of my work/hobby is done in the outdoors and often is a fair hoof to what I want to capture and if anyone is familiar with back packers you will know of the drastic measures that can and are taken to reduce weight. I was leading a trip one time and on that one there was this gentleman who like most of us do things like cut down his tooth brushes handle, he went an extra step and drilled holes in the reaming part of his handle. Extreme? Perhaps, but that is what is like when you tote a "rock" on your back for fun.. Same is true for many backpacking photog shooters. They just hope nobody shoots back.[]





Godspeed


Wayne


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[Mark Elberson]

Have you heard from someone you know personally or through the grape vine?

<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"]Not exactly an unbiased review but I was listing to TWiP (This Week in Photography Podcast http://www.thisweekinphoto.com/)and the designer of the bag was interviewed. If I recall, it was mainly safaris and such that was the inspiration for the bag design.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"]Obviously the bag designer will only speak well of his own product but the guys on the TWiP are bag aficionados and they all had good things to say about the bag (when the designer was not present).

[Iguide]

Good Evening Mark &amp; everyone else that chooses to read this:


Since I did not get much of a response hear about Gura Gear's, Kiboko bag I also posted the question on another Canon forum. I didn't get much more results there, however there were 2 guy's that had bought the bag &amp; the link to that thread is below. The basic jist of it was that it did not get a resounding positive review. One fellow flatly stated how uncomfortable it was after wearing it for a while &amp; a few miles. The second mentioned a similar concern although he had not done it but was offering his suspicion of the bag on his back. He did give it positive word about how on a safari in Tanzania that since the safari was mostly conducted inside the vehicle it worked well there opening on each side thusly having 2 panels to open over the bag rather than one at the bottom that had to be stretched out to get access to your gear. With two opening panels it did not inter fear with other occupants in side the vehicle. ( yea just what a photography backpack should be, a good vehicle bag) WELL WHOOPEE !!! NOT !!! I'm sorry but if it is a backpack it should preform that function better than all other applications rather than it not performing that task competently.


To often this is the problem of new gear on the market. The "professionals" are basically coerced into giving products nothing but a positive word. When was the last time you actually read or heard a professional review/er (which did not have an axe to grind) that a given product totally sucked and it would be a total waist of your money to buy it. Yea me neither, not even once. If you have heard an honest and complete evaluation of a product, please post the information here so others can view it.


When a product buy's advertising space in a mag. they are helping to pay for that publications costs. If someone from given publication were to actually give something less than a stellar review you can darn well bet that the product in question will not buy any more advertising space in it. So therefor rarely are the reviews really honest in my experience. As I said if you have information to support an opposing view I would love to see it.


Over the course of my career I have written for a few local sportsman's monthly papers. Sometimes with stories like the 30,000 yr. old moose or the moose that decided to add a radial tire off a jeep as the top fashion statement of his falls ensemble. Those were printed without any problem. I have done a fair amount of reporting on events or once in a great while a product or two, and when ever I would write down both sides of the pro and con coin the con's were always edited out. The negative truth always died in favor of prospective $. Can't really blame them though.Can you?


http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?s=7402a11d509e98be9b207ad87e597226& amp;p=10897805#post10897805


Take Care &amp; Godspeed


Wayne


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[neuroanatomist]

Thanks for digging up the additional details, Wayne! The bag looked interesting, but I had some doubts - when I read things like 'retractable harness system' and 'convertible bag' I immediately start thinking that compromises must be made to allow the harness to retract for the conversion. I have a couple of travel cases like that, and for those bags it's clear they are roller bags first, backpacks only for short-term use. The Gura bag is probably better designed than that, but I think if you want a backpack, it should be a backpack first and foremost. Looking at the photo of the Gura harness, the shoulder straps and hip belt look reasonably well-padded, but don't have much structure to them (presumably so they can fold into the bag); that's a lot different from most real backpacks I've had.


Even then, a photo backpack is for carrying photo gear, primarily. I have a couple of Lowepro bags (Flipside 400AW and Primus AW), and both are pretty comfortable for a day hike over moderate terrain (the Flipside is for camera only, the Primus is half camera gear, half general use). I think if you're really going to rough it, you may be better off with individual cases for your photo gear (e.g. a Lowepro Toploader Pro and a couple of lens cases) packed inside a good internal frame pack - less convenient, but a lot more comfortable.


--John