Bill@dwp
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
We never seem to review in any detail the sundry items we acquire as birders. There are lots of opinions about bins, scopes and now camera’s and then I suppose waterproofs. After that tripods maybe but seldom do we consider a bag. We seem more than happy to spend many hundreds on all of that other stuff and then chuck it in a rucksack at best. I know I did and although it worked to a fashion I was never totally happy it was safe. So last year when I lashed out on a Swarovski ATS 80 scope I started to get more paranoid about stowing it in my rucksack and that never really catered for the tripod properly. The other thing was now I am lumping round a camera and a tripod I am starting to resemble the Buckaroo Donkey. Combined with advancing years I decided I needed to get serious.
So Santa decided to reward me with a nice present and I thought how about a better bag. I looked at bigger rucksacks but it seemed they went from what I had now to probably double in size and still nothing totally suitable for the tripod. Attachments for walking poles didn’t appear that sturdy for a scope and to adapt it I would need to get all Barnes Wallis which isn’t me.
Review wise there seemed little about and just about the best advice I found recommended camera bags as a solution. What I investigated looked very good but stowing a big scope wasn’t catered for and why should it be? Of course there are the ScopePak or Scopemule but that didn’t factor in the other gear I carry satisfactorily.
Then I found the Lowepro Scope range and more specifically for me the Travel 350 type. I had a look at the travel 200 and decided it was too small and there is a Scopeporter model. This looks a very clever item but again for me doesn’t cater for other stuff so the 350 seemed on paper to tick all the boxes.
So how have I found it? Size wise it’s not much bigger than my rucksack and its light. The tripod sits comfortably and securely which was the big bonus for me and is easy to stow and get off. It folds down to about the same height as the bag anyway. Although it looks like I am carrying my life on my back it doesn’t feel unduly heavy. The 200 model is too small for my scope.
There are lots of internal pockets for small things and it even has a laptop pocket. The main compartment has a myriad of padded sections that are velcroed together and adjustable inside to alter the size and position in the bag. A central pocket is in this part to stow the scope and a specific one for a camera. The scope pocket just about takes my ATS 80. It’s the angled model which means it bulges a bit at the top but some adjustment to how it sits gets it in ok but it is a squeeze. Anyone with a straight scope would be fine. My camera fits in well but it’s a bridge model so I don’t have extra lenses to worry about so a more dedicated photographer will find limitations. I think I would struggle getting my Nikon bins in too but I don’t envisage doing that as they would be round my neck. I’d be uneasy about trying to carry a laptop in the extra pouch but a small tablet is doable.
The problem I have found mainly is although you have all of these extra pockets available if you use them in conjunction with scope/camera stowing then they compete for space and it hard to close the bag. I may need to rationalise this but getting waterproof jacket and trousers in is a challenge. It could also be that as a new item it’s still fairly stiff and in time may stretch a bit. I did find it hard to zip it up when my camera was in the camera pocket at the top of the bag next to the scope. All the inter-changeable padded pockets at probably there for extra lenses and camera equipment that needs to be protected. So taking them out to increases storage space.
Price wise is it value for money? RRP is around £150 but I found it for around £100 at a few of the camera retailers on offer, but that’s comparable with most of the similar sized camera bags I looked at. It’s a still a lot in my view so glad it was a gift otherwise I may not have gone down that road. I found rucksacks that were cheaper but not totally suitable and other camera bags that offered what I had but were definitely more expensive. So overall against what is available it probably is decent value.
If you have a gift coming to you and a smaller straight scope then you may get on better with it than me
I suppose it’s about compromise. Coats and vests with many pockets were recommended by some and I could see their value in certain scenarios and I know many birders who just take out the basics and they cope. But I feel I have a solution for me just about. It’s not perfect, it feels better than I had so it’s a step forward but for the price I am disappointed a little. Like all things I need to learn and to adapt. I think it will make a good bag for a short holiday though.
I have added the Amazon link as that has good pictures of it and hopefully helps to explain my meaning.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455344027&pf_rd_i=468294
So Santa decided to reward me with a nice present and I thought how about a better bag. I looked at bigger rucksacks but it seemed they went from what I had now to probably double in size and still nothing totally suitable for the tripod. Attachments for walking poles didn’t appear that sturdy for a scope and to adapt it I would need to get all Barnes Wallis which isn’t me.
Review wise there seemed little about and just about the best advice I found recommended camera bags as a solution. What I investigated looked very good but stowing a big scope wasn’t catered for and why should it be? Of course there are the ScopePak or Scopemule but that didn’t factor in the other gear I carry satisfactorily.
Then I found the Lowepro Scope range and more specifically for me the Travel 350 type. I had a look at the travel 200 and decided it was too small and there is a Scopeporter model. This looks a very clever item but again for me doesn’t cater for other stuff so the 350 seemed on paper to tick all the boxes.
So how have I found it? Size wise it’s not much bigger than my rucksack and its light. The tripod sits comfortably and securely which was the big bonus for me and is easy to stow and get off. It folds down to about the same height as the bag anyway. Although it looks like I am carrying my life on my back it doesn’t feel unduly heavy. The 200 model is too small for my scope.
There are lots of internal pockets for small things and it even has a laptop pocket. The main compartment has a myriad of padded sections that are velcroed together and adjustable inside to alter the size and position in the bag. A central pocket is in this part to stow the scope and a specific one for a camera. The scope pocket just about takes my ATS 80. It’s the angled model which means it bulges a bit at the top but some adjustment to how it sits gets it in ok but it is a squeeze. Anyone with a straight scope would be fine. My camera fits in well but it’s a bridge model so I don’t have extra lenses to worry about so a more dedicated photographer will find limitations. I think I would struggle getting my Nikon bins in too but I don’t envisage doing that as they would be round my neck. I’d be uneasy about trying to carry a laptop in the extra pouch but a small tablet is doable.
The problem I have found mainly is although you have all of these extra pockets available if you use them in conjunction with scope/camera stowing then they compete for space and it hard to close the bag. I may need to rationalise this but getting waterproof jacket and trousers in is a challenge. It could also be that as a new item it’s still fairly stiff and in time may stretch a bit. I did find it hard to zip it up when my camera was in the camera pocket at the top of the bag next to the scope. All the inter-changeable padded pockets at probably there for extra lenses and camera equipment that needs to be protected. So taking them out to increases storage space.
Price wise is it value for money? RRP is around £150 but I found it for around £100 at a few of the camera retailers on offer, but that’s comparable with most of the similar sized camera bags I looked at. It’s a still a lot in my view so glad it was a gift otherwise I may not have gone down that road. I found rucksacks that were cheaper but not totally suitable and other camera bags that offered what I had but were definitely more expensive. So overall against what is available it probably is decent value.
If you have a gift coming to you and a smaller straight scope then you may get on better with it than me
I suppose it’s about compromise. Coats and vests with many pockets were recommended by some and I could see their value in certain scenarios and I know many birders who just take out the basics and they cope. But I feel I have a solution for me just about. It’s not perfect, it feels better than I had so it’s a step forward but for the price I am disappointed a little. Like all things I need to learn and to adapt. I think it will make a good bag for a short holiday though.
I have added the Amazon link as that has good pictures of it and hopefully helps to explain my meaning.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455344027&pf_rd_i=468294
