by Guy Singleton
Firstly, a huge thank you to Fieldsports Britain and S&H for the backpack. Out of 256 entrants, I was the lucky winner of this competition. And what a prize.
The backpack is well made, with quality materials and stitching. It is a nice tactile material, which, despite being soft, looks quite durable. There is good stiffness in the back of the pack, which aids comfort and should stop contents from moving about and jabbing into your back as you move around.
The material is described as water resistant. I haven’t yet tested out to what degree it is, but I have clothing with what looks like similar materials, and this stands up pretty well to the elements.
I don’t anticipate a bit of rain being an issue, but doubt it would withstand a deluge.
The pack is a good size and it should be possible to fit just about everything you need (and a few things you don’t) for a day’s hunting trip. There are several compartments to stow your gear.
I was able to fit my 10×40 binoculars into one of the compartments, with room to spare. All the usual stalking essentials were squirrelled away in various locations.
I suspect the biggest issue I will have is remembering what I have put where. I dare say this is something I will get used to over time though.
There are mesh drinks bottle holders in the usual spots on each side of the main body of the pack, with a toggle to secure these in place.
The pack is designed to be able to accommodate a rifle. I tried this out with my FX Cyclone air rifle, which measures in at 115cm with sound moderator attached. The extended section of the back pack is stowed at the bottom of the pack and secured with a clip when not in use. It only takes a second to unfurl this to utilise this extra space. It is shaped to take a rifle muzzle down and there is a reinforced section at the tip of the rifle compartment. This looks to be very tough material and I cannot see it wearing through any time soon. However, I suspect if a rifle is carried in it without a sound moderator attached, it may wear faster.
There is a handy strap at the top of the rifle section with a clip, which I presume is intended to be used to anchor your rifle. Only the butt of the rifle was protruding, as you can see from the photograph.
This section of the pack is open to the elements and, if it were to rain heavily, I suspect your rifle, optics and this compartment would all get rather wet. A rain cover incorporated into the top of the pack to pull over the top of the butt would have been useful. I searched for one, thinking this would be an obvious inclusion. Unless anyone can tell me differently, it does not appear there is a rain cover included. It wouldn’t be too difficult to come up with a solution to this but it would be good if Hart could consider adding this to future models.
In use, the pack sits incredibly comfortably and is very quiet, with no noticeable creaking or rustling. It makes light work of carrying a rifle over distance. I have a heavy barrelled Sako .222. Carrying this in the backpack, I barely noticed it. Usually, after half an hour of stalking when carrying the rifle on a sling, I feel like my shoulder is being pulled out of its socket.
There are straps to secure the pack around your trunk at chest and waist height. These are easily adjusted for fit and are well padded and comfortable. The chest strap has a bright orange clip, which incorporates an emergency whistle. I gave this a blast to see how loud it is. It is very high pitched, but I doubt anyone more than a couple of hundred yards away is going to hear it, especially when there is background noise.
Small items you may need access to in a hurry can be stored in the zippered compartments found on each side of the waist strap. These would be handy for spare magazines, fox calls and the like. Depending on the size of your mobile, you may be able to fit it into one of these handy pockets. I was also just able to fit my laser range-finder into one of these too.
Overall, I am very impressed with the backpack and would recommend it to anyone who regularly has a bit of a walk to a high seat or stand.
Sure, there are cheaper rifle backpacks available, but I generally find these to be a case of ‘buy cheap, buy twice’. The Hart backpack does the job well.
There are also more costly options available. The Vorn Lynx rifle backpack is one I have tried in the past. This is almost twice the price of the Hart backpack, and, I would say it is not as comfortable to wear, especially for any length of time. The Vorn does benefit from the quick release system for your rifle. However, I never felt comfortable with carrying a loaded rifle in a backpack anyway. This just seems unsafe to me. I therefore do not see this as being an advantage over the Hart backpack, as I would not carry a rifle loaded in either.
If you are looking for a well made, comfortable pack, with plenty of storage, the Hart Topak 40 is worthy of consideration.
Pros:
Quality materials
Plenty of storage
Comfortable in use
Value for money
Cons:
No rain cover for the rifle section
Click here to buy the Hart Topek backpack
