ReadyMan Gray Man Bag | Initial impressions

The ReadyMan Gray Man bag is a simple, well-designed bag that was built to be your everyday carry bag that does not draw attention. The design was based on ReadyMan’s quick opening Patent Pending Scorpion Rapid Access Bag minus the mass amounts of Velcro and adding a laptop, bladder, plate carrier slot. There is a pocket for all the essentials and has an elastic cord on the exterior to cinch down an outside layer (rain/wind jacket, etc.) or put a carabiner on. The grey man bag is a perfect “Get Home Bag” as it is non-conspicuous and provides adequate room for essential solo-survival gear.

The straps and rear padding are enough to go long distances with some weight about 10 – 20 lbs of gear; plenty to get home with. Access to gear is quick, and the zippers are built strong to withstand multiple entries. I have removed the provided zipper attachments with Firestarter zipper-pulls (e.g., Exotac TinderZip). The front pocket also has Velcro to secure the flap and is seriously hearty to keep gear in place. Inside the flap has sewn straps to attach a variety of gear, from knives, holsters for firearms or whatever your imagination can come up with. Just note that they are not MOLLE or PALS webbing. There is a pocket that can hold a 13” laptop pretty easily. However, the bottom is not padded to support a drop at height.

A couple of areas that I find the bag is lacking and in need of some upgrades. First that the bag is not made in the U.S.A., this is too bad as there are some boutique Veterans owned shops that could enhance this bag ten-fold. Add some stiffness to the back, at it is the bag has no support structure for maintaining shape or providing some back support. A full complement of MOLLE/PALS webbing can be added to the flap in lieu of the straps. I additionally would place MOLLE/PAS webbing on the interior for better configurations (i.e., Conceal Carry, etc.) and leverage the quick pocket access. The next-to-last upgrade is to the shoulder straps, I would enhance the current straps with 1919 modular webbing on each side to allow for additional attachment points (e.g., Sternum strap, hydration bladder hose clip, etc.). The final touch would be a ventilation hole for the water bladder at the top of the pack.