USMC FILBE Rucksack Very Complete Review.

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USMC FILBE Rucksack Very Complete Review.

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Description

The USMC FILBE Field Pack in Coyote Brown is a genuine US government issue piece. These are made for military contract by manufacturers like Propper and Eagle Industries. The USMC Pack System is designed as a replacement for the standard ILBE pack system and is specifically intended to provide the Marine with a load carriage system that fully integrates with currently fielded body armor systems. One called FILBE (Family of Improved Load Bearing Equipment), it's now just simply called the Marine Corps Pack System.

The main pack is separated by a shelf into a 3400 cu. in. main compartment and a 1600 cu. in. lower sleeping bag compartment. It can be converted into one large compartment by opening a slide fastener located on the shelf. The padded shoulders straps and waist belt are highly adjustable for all sizes.

Key Specifications
NSN:8465-01-600-7911
Main Bag Component of USMC FILBE Pack
1,000-denier CORDURA® ripstop nylon
Drawstring cinch top with rain/dust flap
Shelf zips out to make 1 huge compartment
M.O.L.L.E webbing
1,000-denier CORDURA® ripstop nylon
Color: Coyote Brown
Main Compartment Capacity: 3,400 cu. in.
Lower Compartment Capacity: 1,600 cu. in.
Total Capacity: 5,000 cu. in.
Reinforced stitching, heavy duty zippers
Dimensions: 24″ x 16″ x 14″
Weight: 9 lbs.
Country of Origin: USA


The review below is a very detailed review  of what to look for in a filbe pack. Manufacturing codes to avoid. But also how to fix those problems. It was taken from a page here on Amazon. I could not find a link. My apologies.


Excellent pack, best I've owned, but one near-fatal flaw that buyer has to fix if s/he's unlucky. 

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2014

I didn't buy this pack from Amazon, but wanted to review it here since there are so few reviews for it. I've had it for about 2 months and have taken the main pack plus pouches on 2 winter backpacking trips, use the assault pack as my EDC bag, and wear the hydration carrier when I go on jogs in my neighborhood. For the money, this pack system is hard to beat. It's large, comfortable, durable, water-resistant, and flexible. You get 3 packs for various uses at the same price a single good-quality civilian mountain pack of the same size costs. This pack isn't like the fragile MOLLE and MOLLE II packs, and it's far more comfortable and of better quality than the ILBE pack system. The brown color is also civilian-friendly, and doesn't scream "Military or Prepper" like camo patterns do.

I'll go over the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. If you're reading this and are interested in the pack, you definitely need to be aware of the defects in *some* of the packs made by Eagle Industries. If you don't read anything else, please read The Ugly section at the very bottom so you're aware of the packs that failed the USMC's quality standards.

*The Good*

What you'll get:

Assuming this item is the complete system, you'll receive the following (I did at least):

*Main Pack pre-assembled with frame, hip belt, and shoulder harness assembly (*Edit: after getting the stitching reinforced, I noticed that the bottom compression straps weren't attached correctly and the bottom of the pack wasn't attached to the frame; that would explain how it felt like the pack was swaying more than it should. I made the mistake of assuming the pack was fully assembled, because it looked like it was when I got it. If you buy, double-check that the pack really is completely assembled once you get it. There is a 30-minute online video that shows how to assemble the pack, and goes over some things that the instruction card does not.)
*Assault Pack (attaches to top of main pack via buckles)
*Hydration Carrier (goes wherever you want it; I put it in the radio sleeve in main pack)
*Camelback Mil-Spec Antidote Short (search Amazon for specs on these) (*Edit: the tube cover on the FILBE bladder is not the same as the Mil-Spec Short you can buy on Amazon; the Mil-Spec Short's cover is insulated, while the FILBE's cover has no insulation)
*2 Hydration pouches (meant to attach to sides of main pack or right side of assault pack; you can put these wherever you want)
*2 Sustainment pouches (meant to attach to front of main pack; you can put these wherever you want)
*1 Assault Pouch (fits perfectly on top-front of assault pack or top of main pack)
*Sternum Cinch (let's the pack be used with body armor and prevents the shoulder straps from sliding off the armor vest)
*5 grimlocks (4 to let you attach the Hydration carrier to the pack, 1 extra)
*2 full sets of spare buckles
*1 spare split-bar
*1 spare cord lock
*Instruction card that goes over how to put the pack together from scratch
*Inventory card that tells you all of the above

Carry capacity:

The main pack has a zippered internal flap that can be used to separate the bottom of the bag from the top. The bottom area, meant to carry your sleeping gear, is 26L and the rest of the main bag can carry 55L for a total capacity of 81L. The sustainment pouches can carry 8L each, and the hydration pouches are made to carry Camelbak Mil-Spec Antidote Short bladders in them and not much else. The Assault Pack's main compartment is 25L in size, and its front pocket is 13L. The Assault Pouch is about 3L in size. The Hydration Carrier's main compartment is 3L, and its 2 pockets give it about another 0.5L carrying capacity. Overall, the entire system can internally hold about 123L.

Comfort:

First off, I'm not a marine, so I'm never going to put 100 lbs of gear, ammo, weapons, food, and water into this thing. The main pack is meant to carry at least 75 lbs by a soldier wearing body armor, and you'll even get a special sternum strap that's meant to attach to the PALS webbing on a MOLLE armor vest. The most I've put into the main pack is 40 lbs, and the most I've put into the assault pack is 20. The hydration carrier is basically a Camelbak Ambush made by Eagle Industries instead of Camelbak, and doesn't carry much more than the water bladder and some snacks, so it weighs about 7-8 lbs depending on how full it is. All three of the packs are very comfortable with those weights. To compare to some "civilian style" Mountainsmith packs I've worn that are the same size, these packs are more comfortable to me and they are FAR more comfy than the ALICE pack with the same weight load.

Organization:

The main pack is one big rucksack with a non-detachable lid that has a slip pocket, an internal pouch near the back of the pack (meant to hold a radio or camelbak short bladder),an internal zippered flap near the bottom of the bag, and two side pockets with elastic that can hold water bottles (they're actually meant to hold mortar rounds).

The Assault Pack has slip pockets on the back padding, where the waist and shoulder straps can be stowed when attaching it to the main pack. The front compartment is one large pocket with a mesh zippered sleeve on the back of it. The main compartment has an asymmetrical zipper that goes down farther on the left side. This affects the placement of the PALS webbing on the sides of the bag, in that the left-side zipper can get in the way of any MOLLE pouches you put on that side. The main compartment has a mesh zippered pocket at the top front, a radio/water bladder pocket on the back plus velcro'ed holes at the top for the antennae/hose to exit the bag, and a small internal sleeve pocket below each zipper that can hold a 20oz bottle or some other small round object.

The hydration carrier is basically a cheaply made Camelbak Ambush, and is almost identical to the pack made by Camelbak. Only the quality, straps (the FILBE's are unpadded), and logo-area are different. It has one 3L main compartment for the 3L water bladder, a zippered upper pouch/lid that also buckles into place (you can stow objects like a jacket behind the pouch if it's unzippered), a zippered slip-pocket on the upper pouch, and a zippered lower-pouch with 2 mesh pockets and a key-ring. The lower-pouch has PALS webbing on it, so you can attach a small MOLLE pouch to the bottom-front of this pack. There are tons of reviews for the Camelbak version, and you can get a good idea of what to expect by reading/viewing those reviews since the bags are almost identical.

The Hydration Pouches take up the entire length of the main pack's side PALS webbing, and are long and thin. They have a paracord hanger the water bladders can hang from, and a buckled cover flap. They do not have a storm collar. They can hold other objects just fine in case you don't want to put the Mil-Spec Short Antidode in one of them. Normal civilian Antidote bladders are too long and poke out the top when full, because these pouches were meant for the shorter and wider military Camelbak bladders.

The Sustainment Pouches are shorter than the hydration pouches but bulge out further and are meant to go on the PALS webbing on the front of the main pack. They have storm collars with paracord pulls and buckled cover flaps. They're meant to hold MREs, but I use them to hold items I want easy access to.

The Assault Pouch has a paracord loop for keys or something like a flashlight with a lanyard. It has a sleeve pocket on the side with the MOLLE attachment straps, and the rest of the pouch is a simple bag. I'm not really sure what it was designed for, but I'm using it as an admin and tool pouch.

Other Features:

Except for the Hydration Carrier's main compartment, all pouches and compartments have drainage holes. The holes on the bottom of the main pack, Hydration Carrier's bottom-front pocket, and assault pack have PALS webbing running over them, so water can leave the pack but dust/dirt can't get in it easily. The main pack's compression straps, the assault pack's compression straps, the assault pack's shoulder and waist adjustment straps, and the hydration pack's shoulder straps all have velcro strap "keypers" on them that allow you to roll up the straps and tie them up so they don't flap around. The main pack has 2 internal compression straps inside the main compartment, and the bottom of the main pack has a zipper that allows you to gain access to the bottom compartment/sleep system holder.

The main pack's waist, shoulder, and load adjustment straps do not have strap keypers on them so they must be tucked away or some other form of strap locks used to keep excess strap out of the way.

The assault pack has a hard plastic internal frame and a zippered internal pocket along the back, behind the radio/water bladder pouch, that gives you access to the frame sheet.

The entire pack system is highly water-resistant (NOT waterproof), and all zippers on the main and assault packs are covered by either water-resistant nylon flaps or rubber strips.

*The Bad*

Height Adjustment:

The pre-assembled pack I received was in "standard height mode". I'm 5'10" and the standard setting was too short, so I had to undo the shoulder harness and set up the pack in "tall mode". The pack is adjusted perfect for me, but I can see taller guys having problems adjusting since there are only two height settings for the shoulder harness. The FILBE main pack will supposedly accept ALICE and Mystery Ranch frames, so if you're over 6 foot and the pack rides too high, then you may want to look into the other frames.

Quality:

If you're used to high-quality manufacturer tactical packs like those made by Maxpedition, Vanquest, Tactical Tailor, Kifaru, 5.11 Tactical, or Camelbak, then the stitching will disappoint. The Hydration Carrier especially was disappointing to me, as the velcro name strip on the one I got wasn't stitched on very well, so it distorts the top pocket's shape and pokes out the side beyond the stitching that holds the zipper to the upper pouch. It clearly was stitched while the pocket was bent inward. The rest of the main pack has some light fraying around the stitches that create the columns in the PALS webbing, and some nylon hairs at the base of the main pack's storm collar are showing up. Nothing a careful scissor job can't fix, but still a bit disappointing considering the cost of the pack and the guys who are supposed to carry this as part of their job.

On the plus side, the packs and pouches are still heavy-duty and way more durable than non-tactical civilian pack. The stitching on the Assault Pack I received is much better than the Main Pack, and aside from the crappy job done on the velcro name field on the Hydration Carrier the carrier's stitching has held up better than the main pack despite being carried more often than the main pack.

The walls of the assault pack, main pack, and all pouches are only one layer, so the stitching that attaches the PALS webbing and MOLLE snaps to the bags/pouches can be seen from the inside of the packs and pouches.

Overall, the pack is still very durable and well-made, but isn't up to the same quality standards of the pricey civilian-market tactical bags. Then again, this 3-pack system is less than half the price of an equivalent-sized one from a high-end tactical company like Kifaru or Mystery Ranch.

*The Ugly*

If you can, I highly recommend you make the seller tell you the LOT number of the item you will receive, even if that means the plastic packaging has to be ripped open before the item is shipped. The FILBE complete system is made by 2 manufacturers: Propper and Eagle Industries (EI). The first few batches from EI contain poor-quality shoulder harnesses that will tear off when significant loads are placed in the main pack. LOTs 1 thru 135 require the quick-release straps and load adjuster straps to either be replaced with the modification kit (good luck finding it) or the stitching has to be reinforced by the buyer. LOTs 136 thru 211 only need the load adjuster straps to be replaced/reinforced. The marine corps has a modification kit they use to fix the poor quality straps, but the kit is next to impossible to find for us civilians. The pack I received was from LOT 131, and after 2 trips with only 40 lbs I can see my right load-adjustment strap's stitching coming apart, which will require me to find someone that can reinforce the stitching on all 4 straps or it may tear off on the next hike or two.

Due to this problem, I have heard that EI has been selling its bags from LOTs 1 thru 211 on the civilian market rather than issue the bags to the USMC and risk failure during a combat mission. Instructions for finding out which bags are defective or not can be found in a 6-minute YouTube video. Search for "usmc pack mandatory modification" in your favorite search engine and the 1st video hit will describe what the problem is, which packs are affected, and how to fix the problem if you have the modification kit. If you can, try to find out the LOT number of the main pack's shoulder harness you will receive from the seller so you can be prepared and know if you need to get the should strap and/or quick-release strap stitching reinforced or not. This problem was not a deal-breaker for me, as I knew about it before I bought the pack, wasn't planning on carrying more than 40 lbs in the main pack, and had ready-access to a shoe-repair shop that was glad to reinforce the main pack's shoulder harness for me once I noticed the stitches tearing away after the 2nd hiking trip.

Despite the problem, I still recommend this pack to people who want a reliable external frame MOLLE pack system on the cheap. Yes, some of the packs will require some straps to be reinforced, but you may not end up with a pack from the bad LOTs, and if you do then you'll know what to do about it so you don't get a surprise rip while on the trail."


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