One of the biggest stories of 2015’s Outdoor Retailer Summer Market is Mystery Ranch’s reintroduction of a consumer based, retail line. MR literally overhauled everything available commercially, and introduced new colorways with several completely new packs added to the line as well. This move means that the hunting and outdoor packs will be available through retailers all across North America. It also means that if you’ve been carrying a MR pack for work, now you can carry one for recreation as well.
Mystery Ranch founder Dana Gleason and I talked about the expansion. MR has been concentrating on military and fire load carriage for the past 15 years and these new packs incorporate a lot of lessons learned. Dana related, “It has to carry the load extremely well. Our goal for outdoor is 45-50 lbs. Nobody is going to make a 75 lbs invisible, but we will make it bearable.”
Tags: Mystery Ranch
Great packs, built like tanks. Great company behind them also. I like the fact that when you call you actually talk to a live person who is informative and helpful.
Sad to see the Spartan cancelled. I was totally gonna buy one. It would have been a nice edition to my ASAP and Wolfpack
Very cool! Best news yet.
Jon, OPT
I guess MR has saturated Japan / Asian market that production finally has capacity to hit the US retail market, eh? Awesome move Dana!! (When are they going to offer coyote color zipper on 3DAP…)
Probably never. The black zippers in the “Y” configuration is their signature look, if you haven’t noticed. Their packs would have a lot less flair and look boring with color matches zippers.
I have my 3DAP sitting right next to me, and the zippers are the same waterproof YKKs that are on the USMC FILBE assault pack. If the Marine Corps couldn’t get YKK to make the zippers in Coyote for them, then it’s probably not going to happen.
Ykk makes the tan 499 uretek zip. Its just stupid pricy. Double price the black zip.
I asked them about that at Warrior East. You are absolutely correct. But it’s more like triple or quadruple. I guess YKK are the only ones making that style of zipper. It’s insane.
MR dropped a lot of their offerings. Kinda bummed that they discontinued the RipZips without warning and you can’t buy the NICE frame separately anymore.
The RipZips are getting a redesign. They will be back 😉
Y.T. Give us a call at 406-585-1428 and we can get you set up with a just a frame.
Great company, great service and great product.. in USA.
In Europe, you only can buy backpacks from CF, Philipines, and if you want backpacks made in USA, depending dealer (in Europe) you have to wait a looooonnggg time, and of course, a substantial price rise.
Maddening.
The civilian model packs from Mystery Ranch are NOT made in USA anymore, and they have not been for a while, now.
Only their military styles and colors are still USA made.
Terraplane is still made in the USA.
Love me some MR. Have a US-made Glacier for fun and black 3-day for work. They love abuse.
Their new website is nice, but they removed almost every interesting accessory, and they have no plans to rerelease any of them (Stick It, Live Wing, side pouches, removable elastic water bottle pockets, accessory pouch, the list goes on), as well as certain color options on their more popular packs. I’ve traded correspondence with them a fair bit in the last two months or so, and I’ve been surprised at how terse and unwelcoming they are compared to a few years ago.
I have a 3DAP, made in America, and it’s fantastic. Don’t get me wrong, they are still making great products, but their philosophy has changed to something far more commercial lately. As long as they keep up the quality of their products and continue to appeal to their Military audience (which is probably the majority of their customers), they will probably float. They have had huge commercial markets in Japan and Asia. Almost every major department store in Tokyo has at least a couple MR bags.
No wing??
Even special order?
That would be a major let down if so.
Hopefully these civilian packs have lighter materials as well.
Their tactical line carries heavy loads fantastically, but then used for “standard” outdoorsy stuff they are overkill. If they went lighter on this line while keeping their fantastic design, it sounds like a big win.
the colorful ones are mostly 210d fabric with 420d in spots. Lighter yokes and framing, should shave a bunch of weight.
That’s great.