Last Updated on November 19, 2020 by Lisa Vargas
The 5.11 Tactical RUSH72 Military Backpack has to be one of the most popular bug out bags you can find online. It’s liked by the prepping and survival community for good reason. It’s supreme ruggedness, durability and storage design made this our top pick for Best Bug Out Bag For SHTF.
Below you’ll find detailed information about the 5.11 Tactical RUSH72 Military Backpack including comfort, fit, storage design, and water resistance.
5.11 Tactical RUSH72 Military Backpack
Editors Comments: The 5.11 Tactical RUSH72 Military Backpack passed all of our tests and came out on top. If you want a superb, rugged, well-put-together bag to throw your survival gear in, you will absolutely love the features that we share with you below.
Read Our Comprehensive Review: Best Bug Out Bags For SHTF
- Capacity: 55 L
- Dimension: 23 H x 13.5 L x 8.5 W in, 5.5lb.
- Pockets: Front (15.5 x 11.5 x 2 inch), Side (16.5 x 6 x 1.75 inch)
- Hydration: 60 oz. hydration pocket (21 x 13.5 in)
- Material: 1050D Nylon
- Manufacturer: 5.11 Tactical
Bottom Line: A ruggedly designed bag that won’t break the bank.
Pros
- Rugged and extremely durable
- YKK branded zippers
- 30 compartments for excellent organizing
Cons
- Not many cons, but the zipper pull cords on the inside are black which makes it hard to see
Summary
This was one of the best bags we had the chance to review. To start, the bag has dual-zippers on the front and main compartments which adds to the strength and longevity of the openings.
The molded grip pulls make it easy to handle if you are wearing heavy gloves during the winter months.
In an emergency situation, you may need maps, a pen, and some paper and possibly your important documents to move around freely. There is an administration organization pocket so that you can store those important items tightly and securely.
This backpack can be used as a multipurpose pack, range bag, bag for hunting, army backpack, tactical sling bag, survival backpack, hiking bag, or an everyday outdoor backpack.
The bag’s adjustable dual-density shoulder straps are adequately padded with foam along with a waist strap that cinches and dual compression straps so that the bag stays secure and comfortable with you the entire time you are using it.
This bug out bag is designed as a 72-hour bag, so which indicates you will be able to fit enough food, water, and gear to get you safely through the roughest few days of an emergency.
Read Our Comprehensive Review: Best Bug Out Bags For SHTF
Our Analysis, Comparisons & Test Results
performance comparison
The 5.11 Tactical RUSH72 Military Backpack is an incredibly well put-together bag that combines ruggedness, durability, and storage design to make it the top back on our list.
It’s built to be a 72-hour bug out bag, which means you’ll have enough room to pack supplies to get you through the first 3 days of a crisis. It’s huge and has a ton of room for all of the gear you’ll need when outdoors. It’s got 2 main compartments for all of your gear.
What I liked about this pack is it has what I call a “stuff sack” that you can stuff things such as a rain jacket into the middle of. You can loosen the straps to get even bigger “stuff” into the center between the main compartment and the front compartment. A unique feature when compared with other tactical bags.
Comfort And Fit
As rugged as this bag is meant to be, it’s extremely comfortable. It has adjustable shoulder and sternum straps so you can place it on your back just where you need to.
The bag also contains a cinching waist strap and dual compression straps to keep the bag firmly strapped to your waist and back.
I didn’t find that the waistband took off a lot of weight. Typically they are designed to support the weight on your hips and take away some of the pressure on your back, but despite that, it was very comfortable when we wore it.
On the back of the bag it has nice padding for comfortability and there’s a hard liner that can be removed if you don’t want it but it’s nice because it has some nice breathable channels so that when you’re wearing it on your back it helps control the air flow so it stays nice and cool.
You’ll notice the bag mentions it has adjustable dual density closed-cell foam shoulder straps as well. Man, these felt good! I carried this around for a while with a load of 32 pounds ( about as much as I was willing to go) and it didn’t bother me at all.
Durability
In terms of durability, it doesn’t get much better than the 5.11. Tactical RUSH72 bag. If you’ve been searching for bug out bags for any length of time, you’ve probably seen this bag pop up before simply because it’s so popular among preppers, military, and everyday people.
Its sturdy makeup and design shown by its MOLLE webbing, high-quality zippers and stitching can instantly be noticed once you start loading and unloading gear into this bag.
5.11 Tactical has made product lines for FBI training and law enforcement and several more professional organizations and is known among the very best as being one of the highest quality tactical gear makers on the market.
Zippers, buckles, and stitching
Everything on this bag is really well stitched and very high quality. But we kind of expected that from 5.11 Tactical because they’ve been doing this for so long.
Dual-zippered front and main compartments with molded grip pulls. YKK zipper hardware makes this bag tough and rugged and is another reason it made it to the top of our list in most categories.
When you’re choosing a bug out bag, you want to make sure the strongest points are the zippers and buckles. You can’t get much better than this when it comes to these features.
We can also add Velcro to this category as it’s got some Velcro pouches that allow access into the interior of the main compartment where you can access the hydration carrier.
Storage Design (Pockets, MOLLE)
This bug out bag has amazing storage design. This RUSH72 series of bags is compatible with 5.11 Tactical’s “RUSH Tier System” which is a 4-piece strap set that allows you to transition your kit easily from work, to range, to travel.
The front pocket is large and compartmentalized so you can fit all kinds of different things in here like first aid, toiletries, glow sticks so you can get neat and organized.
Moving towards the main pouch, you’ve got a larger mesh pouch inside so you can see everything inside without having to unzip pouches. and nice zipper compartments.
In the rear of the pack it has a cool little pouch sunglasses and it’s mesh lined. Then in the front, it’s got a small pouch for writing utensils and its quick and easy to access.
It also has 2 pouches on either side of the bag. These pouches are quite large as well and they are great for things such an emergency radio, flashlights, and cordage for example.
The system is compatible with all MOLLE-compatible 5.11® backpacks, messenger bags, duffle bags, and many accessory packs. It really opens up a lot of options for you by having all of that MOLLE webbing. There’s even a little webbing on the bottom of the bag that you can use for throwing on a sleeping bag or tent with straps.
Internal hydration compartment has hangers and toggles to make it super easy to store your water.
It’s got a great “shove-it” pocket on the top. It also has heavy MOLLE webbing, pockets for tactical pens, tons of mesh-lined pockets,
Both of the side pockets are identical in size and work well for holding a light rain jacket for example.
It’s even got a fleece-lined pocket for your sunglasses that we fell in love with!
Water Resistance
The 5.11 Tactical RUSH72 Military Backpack was designed with heavy-duty water-resistant nylon. As you might know, nylon is used for a lot of bags because it has water-resistant properties.
5.11 Tactical went a step further on this bag and coated it with an extra layer of protectant. It’s always a good idea to coat your bags with an extra layer anyways to keep the moisture out. If you want it to be completely waterproof make sure you get some dry bags.
One of the nice things is that this bag comes with heavy-duty resistant zipper covers which is the next best thing to keeping the rain out if your bag isn’t 100% waterproof, which none of them will be anyways.
Our Final Verdict
Based on all of the categories including comfort, durability, storage design, water resistance, and zippers we gave this bag the highest ratings of all of the other bags in our comparison table. We just found that it outpaced any of the other bags in every category and would work extremely well as a bug out bag.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is The 5.11 Tactical Rush72 Backpack TSA Approved?
This backpack is not technically “TSA approved”, but at the same time, you can easily take it onboard a plane and you should be fine.
Can You Attach A Tent To The Bottom Of the Pack?
Yes, you can attach a tent to the bottom of this bag! It’s fantastic for that purpose! This was one of the coolest features about this pack that we loved.
conclusion
Final Thoughts
The RUSH72 was made to be a full functional 72 hour bag that provides a ton of space for survival gear and accessories while remaining rugged and reliable enough for extended length of time or tactical deployments.
You can’t go wrong with this as a bug out bag, and we highly recommend it as one of our favorites when compared to others.