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K-Tek Backpack Review---Cyber Monday Special


James Louis

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With CyberMonday, and with the announcement of a new line of mixer bags, it may be that the promotional price of the backpack is a sign that it will also be updated. If you've wanted one, you probably knew about this price reduction already. So no FOMO. K-tek is definitely moving in the right direction.

 

I picked mine up at Gotham (shameless plug!) about 6 weeks ago, and it was off to the races, lugging it up Broadway, under the JMZ, to a pickup location in Brownsville, then a ride to Long Island. I know it's going to be heavy, and what I will say so far, in order to address what it means to me in no necessary order:
1) the waist belt is every bit as rugged as a rucksack: you could have this properly fitted and balanced at REI or Paragon, and just use the shoulders as a counter balance.
2) there is AMPLE space everywhere. Most gigs have just enough that I can fit ALMOST everything in the mixer bag, and then there's the damn spillover which requires me to carry a second bag. This solves that. That top pocket currently has
a) my onboard mic. b) boom softie and it's comb c) Sony over-ear headphones d) my empty sandbag/waterbag. e) oh yeah don't forget the shock mount for that mic. And that's just the top zipper. Yesterday, I rolled my quilted ski jacket in there without even having a thought as to how much room was left over. Oh, and the rain/flight cover is still in that same top pocket. That’s how roomy it is...
(I'm calling it a flight cover because most backpacks when checked in utilize covers such as these so the buckles and tension straps don't get caught on anything.)
3) The laptop sleeve accounts for the necessary depth to support the main mixer cavity as well as the shoulder harness, which suspends the bag off the back a bit, and in doing so should mitigate some perspiration. I see it as the perfect place for that slate, just in case they ask for it. And it's so much easier to make it through security pulling out a laptop with its own access when you are traveling through security checkpoints. Some criticism is that you cannot entirely unzip and leave this section at home. But I don't see why you would need the laptop component to be detachable, because in this case it's structural, and if you don't want the depth, just don't put a laptop in it. It's scarcely the cause of the weight, compared to the gobo head I'm carrying today.
 
Addressing other hesitations one might have, such as "where does my harness go?"
Your harness can hold on like a starfish to the back of the bag, and use it's own clips to go under the shoulder straps and your lumbar curve. Yesterday I lugged a COTOPAXI bag piggy backing on my k-tek backpack yesterday, and used its own hardware chest clips to do just that. I didn't even know it was there.
 
"would this make a good field recording outfit, or could i record from the backpack?"
Yes, there is something nifty about having the boom eye level if you wanted to record field work with this on your back. That's a neat configuration. Maybe with a remote that would all come together... The zeppelin could just live on the boom, and then you carry that to location. When traveling, a zeppelin could also conceivably bulge out in front of the mixer bag then clip it in, but honestly, I think you'd run out of space to store it there.
 
"aside from the mixer bag, Isn't that a lot of dead space?"
It seems counter-intuitive to get a bag as big as a giging electronica dj bag, or one that a sponsored video game player might carry on a plane, and yet have a major space of the bag carved out in a cavity. Once the mixer bag is in place, it feels complete. Life just got easier for someone. Maybe you, if you can walk home or to your platform. Maybe the crew if you can be a sport and grab a tripod or two, maybe your partner if you can head home with groceries. Fitting the mixer bag, once the buckles are tarped down, the webbing makes even my bloated mixer bag, entirely wired and stuffed with everything I'd normally just lug over my shoulder (including a paperback book, maybe a card game, knife) nonetheless smooth across all sides, like there wasn't even a dock. Howard Hughes would be impressed.
 
The sides of your bag, whether you put a water bottle there, or all your accessories fit in the side pockets, look as if they belong on the sides of a hiking pack. Nothing gets snagged, and ample space for other tie lines and what have you, if you were already hanging things from the bag itself, cables and tape clips, you may leave them in place. Ample tie lines on the backpack as well. More Military loops than I could imagine uses for, but it allows you to place the accessories where they swing and dangle the least. Maybe we can come up with other uses for all those loops with your contribution. I don't even think K-tek imagined everything you could do with them, or they would be making far more add-on accessories for their bags.
 
I have a fantasy that one of the feral cats in the ruins near my home will warm up to me, and use that ledge in my bag to take a nap. Then I can bring one home without waking him up.
 
I will say, the boom cup hangs low. And if you have it really tied down, the boom kind of kicks out its heel in that cup rather than fit directly in. The result may be that the back of your head is resting on the boom. The solution might be to not cinch it in so snuggly. Would make accessing it a bit more swift, but would have to test if I trusted it or if it then bounced more. If you can pack it better than me, it'll make sense when you stand up, but the butt end will be the first thing to hit the ground and tilt when you plop this thing down. I hit the hilt when I tilt. It would be nice if there were other anchor points for the boom further up the bag, or if you could choke up on the cup holder itself. But I can imagine k-tek has compensated with this lower position by assuring that most length booms don't decrease your headroom clearance, or shift and wobble overhead during transport. That would make things much more complicated throwing it all in a trunk, for example, or lowering to step out of a train.
 
I do find that putting the boom back in the holster for EVERY length of a trip, when you switch from being on your feet, to placing it in a car, becomes a time waster. And if you skip steps, its just more work on your shoulders. The consequence of just throwing it in where it fits is then having someone throw their C-stands on your boom or slamming a trunk on it while it sticks out. Taking the boom out of the holster would be further complicated if you already had the boom wired to the bag. I'd really like to get that boom carrying position right the first time. Or consider using it with a sectional boom that matches the bag. For more safety, put a pvc pipe in the Boom holder, and carry the shock mount and mic in a separate compartment. Then accessing the boom is a matter of sliding it out. But then it's not wired and the mic isn't in place. I know, leave the pvc pipe open on the top rather than with a cap, so the mic can travel in place. See, the Howard Hughes reference was appropriate.
 
I use the other cinch ties with a wide-base light stand that fits best upside down. And I haven't begun to fathom what goes in the bottom compartments. They're big too. And I haven't yet felt the need to spill into them.
 
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Thanks for the review; I just ordered mine. I'm on a show right now where this backpack seems like the only option. 

 

I plan to put the Stingray Junior in there. I realize it will be too small so I also ordered a large Gizmo bag. I guess the two bags will sandwich together upright into the slot in the backpack. I'm curious how this will work out, I can't find a picture or video with the JR loaded up in there. 

 

 

 

 

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I think with the bags packed in the depths of that space, front to back, it would serve you well. Then you can crush the Gizmo bag to tighten it up. But a large Gizmo might be all you have room for. Let us know. Mind you,  backpack has an internal frame, so "crush" isn't really the best word. Anything that fits in that space well enough for the clips to reach each other is going to contour to the bag, and if you really included bloat, you'd want the soft stuff on the outside. You should still be able to access those side pockets on the stingray, so you might plan how you are using them (snacks. grabbing the time code to lock them while you're on the train. Pen. scissors to cut more moleskin...)

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I grabbed one of these earlier in the year and agree it's very well thought out, particularly for small crew, run and gun style shoots.

 

At the time, I only had my custom Kortwich bag housing a 664 and SRC's, but it fit in the slot pretty well, though being a "just-in-case" kind of guy, I managed to make it SUPER heavy to carry around once I'd thrown everything into it, including spare batteries, chargers, cables etc. Ideally, in future I'd pack those in a separate bag and only take stuff that might be required on the day in the backpack.

 

I've since compiled a second kit with an 833 and the small K-Tek bag, and that really does seem to fit the backpack well, but be warned it's still pretty heavy to lug around.

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So far this backpack is working great. It feels like a very durable and professional hiking pack, not just a bag with some straps on it. On a shoot where your only option is to haul your gear on foot, this is better than simply wearing your mixer the entire time and much better than shoulder bags or carrying cases by the handles. 

 

The Junior mixer bag does fit in there just fine. I keep my harness attached to the bag sort of jammed behind it. It is more snug with the large gizmo behind it aswell but both methods work.

 

I was worried about something falling out, especially when I pull out my mixer and leave just the gizmo bag in it, but the way it's designed I don't think that will happen.

 

I guess I wish it had some kind of water bottle pockets or something towards the bottom. I'm struggling to attach even my molle bottle holder to it and I don't like the idea of it hanging off the flap. I think I will steal your idea of a small hydration pack where the laptop compartment is. 

 

My headphones are sort of hanging off the side getting knocked around and squished but I'm not sure how else to protect those.

 

Anuwaus, another solid Ktek product; they all are!

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Hydration bag is a nifty idea. I know what you mean, about water bottles and headphones...That's where the loops might come in handy. And thus far, my water bottle is indeed held on by the lid to the back of the pack, and not available for sipping. The alternative is to take it off on set, and inevitably forget I left it on some surface. The other issue being that freeing up my hands and then going, "oh yeah, I left a water bottle somewhere" means I'll only have one hand when I find it. So maybe a chalk bag, bike feed bag accessory for the waist belt; we'll play around with it for a bit, and meanwhile see if K-tek is listening...

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  • 3 weeks later...

I bought a ktek backpack a few years ago for a docu shoot that was in the Philippines. We had to carry our gear a lot when the vehicles could only get us so close. It worked really well and was a huge time and arm saver. I could just grab the pack from the van and I was off not having to take multiple trips. I used it with an orca bag housing a 633 and a few SRCs. You can cram a lot of stuff into it although that can make it heavy as reported above. Overall a solid bag and lots of room for accessories. Also the “raincover” is great to keep your gear hidden.

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  • 6 months later...

I have since copied the idea of a Camelback reservoir in the laptop compartment. Works well!

 

I wish the bag had some sort of strap or buckle inside the shelf. I often remove my mixer and leave a gizmo bag there, but it flops around and has nothing to attach to unless the mixer is beside it. I'm worried it's going to just fall out.

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