One Bag for EDC & Bushcraft? Maxpedition Jumbo Novo Plus

Maxpedition has done it again. They've come out with the Maxpedition Jumbo Novo Plus. This is a bigger version of the traditional Jumbo, but it's not as big as a Mongo. And this thing is awesome if you're looking for a very cool bushcraft, survival, haversack, or even an EDC bag. So let's take a look today. So one of my all-time favorite companies and bags that I've always had in my rotation of gear has been the Maxpedition Jumbo. Maxpedition is a U.S. company. They have been around for a very, very long time. When I first started getting into this whole kind of bushcraft survival thing, you know, Maxpedition was one of the first brands that I looked at and started purchasing. And ever since then, I've been always looking at and purchasing new products that they come out with because their stuff is very innovative and the quality is insane. They make fantastic, durable pieces of equipment. And this Jumbo Novo Plus is just hitting the market. It is a redesign of the famous Jumbo. The Jumbo is a bag that I use as EDC. It's something that I carry quite often. It rides in my truck a lot of times with me, taken on trips. And I did a video not that long ago of some of the stuff that I carry and like to take a Jumbo with me to camp. It's kind of like my camp bag to work out of. And when they came out with the Novo Plus, I was really excited because it fixes a few of the issues of the old Jumbo and improves upon that design and makes it just a little bit bigger, which is something I've always wanted. And now we have it. So we're going to take a closer look at this today. And you can tell already, there's a few things that are very different about it. One thing, of course, is this outer bottle pocket. This is one reason I love the Jumbo is because you can access your water very quickly. It's not buried in the bag. But what they've done is they've expanded this pocket. So now you can carry larger bottles. And I will confirm that I was able to fit a 32 ounce Nalgene with a nesting cup in this pocket, no issue in and out. And of course, you have a retaining strap. And I've got a little bit of a skinnier stainless steel bottle here. But what I can do is I can zip this up, and then I can run that retaining strap and lock that in. And then that's not going to fall out when I'm on a hike, when I'm running around. Another feature that they've added is the bungee material on the bottom of the bag. So now you can carry some kind of oddball items. So I've got my little folding sit pad right here. Fits perfectly under here. It's not in the way. Very secure. Good place for a rain jacket, whatever. But then we have a lot of the traditional Jumbo features. We have the top pocket. We have MOLLE webbing here. There's a slip pocket right in here. Now you will notice that the strapping material has also changed. This is more of the slick, what I would call seat belt material, which I love because it goes on and off clothing easier. It doesn't snag things, doesn't rub your clothing as quite as much. And it's actually tougher. So let's sit down and take a look at this a little bit more in detail. So sometimes when you're out hiking, you don't want or need a big heavy backpack. And for EDC, running errands, going to the office, maybe going on vacation, it's nice to have a shoulder bag that can contain some of the necessities that you need, but you don't want the thing to be this huge, cumbersome thing that you have to wield around, especially if you're operating in an urban environment. The Jumbo does a nice job of carrying very well. There's a few features that make it suited for carry. So one thing on the back, of course, with all the Jumbos is you have this padded section right here. It's a nice piece of padding, good soft material, so it doesn't rub against your hip or your back. It has a waist strap that's integrated into the bag. Now this is removable. You can take this off if you don't want it. But what is fantastic about these little waist straps is when you're shouldering this thing, especially hiking, if you extend this, put this around your hips, around your waist, it's going to secure the bag and keeps it from swinging forward, especially when you're leaning forward, going over things, under things. This helps secure the load and press it up against your side. And then, of course, we have a grab handle. Always a nice feature. Now the Novo, I got some specs here I want to read to you. This is the Novo Plus. It is 651.5 cubic inches, which is 10.68 liters. We have 1000 denier nylon with water resistant polyurethane coating, YKK zippers, Duraflex hardware, high quality materials in conjunction with reinforced stitching throughout. Colors are going to be black, foliage, khaki, and wolf gray. So what are the big differences between the Novo and the regular Jumbo, which I've shown in past videos. I've done several videos using a traditional Jumbo as a survival kit or a haversack. The Novo Plus is 20% larger than the standard Jumbo. We have the expanded zipper activated water bottle pocket. We have bungee retention system on the bottom, which I showed. And then there are some key differences with some of the pockets. Let me show you those. So one thing that the traditional Jumbo always had was this MOLLE webbing and then these slip pockets right in here, which is a great place to like add a pocket knife. So if you have a clip knife, you can put that in there. But one thing that they did is they removed the wolf hook that was here. There was a metal hook that would hang down, a clasp, and that would be a place to like secure keys or gloves. I always found it to be in the way. I never really utilized it. It's a little heavy because it's a big piece of metal. So I'm really glad they got rid of it. It's not needed. If I want a hook, I'm going to add a carabiner to this or maybe a Grimlock and then I'll hang something off of it. But for the most part, I don't put a lot of stuff on here. I like to keep that open, especially if I'm using radios and I can clip my radio in there. Another feature that they've added is this little kind of sleeve. And to me, I'm not sure 100% what it's for, but I think it's for a flashlight and that's what I've got mine in. It clips right in there and it's kind of nice because when you're actually walking with this, you can turn this on and now it's shining down on the trail. So it's a great place just to access your flashlight quickly. Of course, we have the same side pocket that we've always had and the slip pocket behind that, which is deep enough to carry a small fixed blade knife. This pocket really hasn't changed. It's a perfect size for a cell phone, radio. I keep a small first aid kit in mine and then it's got a pocket behind that which I keep wipes, dude wipes. One thing you may notice on the front, the front has slightly changed. It's a little bit more scalloped, which actually does a very nice job. You can see that it has more of a scalloping to it. It's not straight. That does a better job of actually covering the front and conforming to the top of the bag. Now one feature that is really interesting that they've done is they've added this loop. See that? So this loop sets behind the main buckle and the reasoning for that is that if you need to hang this bag, let's say you're traveling in an airport and you use the bathroom, the bathroom stalls always have a hook on the back of them. Well, this is a place to hang your bag and then now if you need to work inside your bag, get things out, toiletries, whatever, it's hanging opened up and now you can work out of the bag. So it's a small feature, right? Tiny little loop, but the possibilities of how do you utilize that are, there's many different ways of using it and I think it's a great addition. And then also they've added an additional pocket back here. Nice long flat zip pocket. It's a great place to put some snacks, maybe a spoon, another flashlight, whatever you want that's long, maybe some cords, kind of keep those out of the way. Just an interesting spot to put another zippered pocket and I really like it. We've also got, of course, the storm collar that opens up and that helps keep the contents of the bag, you know, intact so it's not spilling out. And with this larger size you can certainly get more items like food, a small cook set, things like that, especially if you're using this for bushcraft. In here I've got my little one wind poncho that I use as a poncho or a tarp. I've got my bivy sack, got some micro cord. I've got my Free Kansas Supply Company. This is my little 24-hour hygiene kit. And then I have a water treating kit that I've put together. Now one thing I want to show and note is the interior pocket layout because things have changed and I'm not really totally on board with this. So what they've done is there's always been two pockets on the inside of the jumbo, on the traditional jumbo. There's been a solid pocket on the front that is tall and then on the back there's been the same height pocket, a taller pocket that was mesh. And those pockets were fantastic for organizing flat items, bandanas, folding stoves, tablets, things like that. What they've done is they've shortened those pockets. They don't go all the way up now. They're kind of half height and they're both solid. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. I don't know if I like them as much because I don't think you can carry taller items like, you know, pads, notebooks, things like that. You have to kind of turn them sideways. They'll stay in that way. See, that works pretty well. But I don't know. I like the tall pockets. It's not a deal breaker for me but I really would have preferred if they would just kept them the way they were. But that's the change and I'm not sure what the thinking behind that is but I'm sure, you know, they tested different things and it worked out for them. So on the front we have the pocket on the front that's always been there but now it's much wider. You got a zip pocket here which is great. So I've got my snacks in here. And this is kind of what I would consider like the admin pocket. Very large. You've got a removable key leash and a loop sewn in so you can add things like keys, whistle, whatever. And in the back here we have another solid pocket and I've got a little land nav kit that I put together and I've got my reading glasses. So a lot of room up front, tons of room. Now the top pocket, that has always been on the traditional jumbo but they've done a few things to this that make it even better. Now they've included elastic webbing to organize your gear. And this is something they've done on other bags but they never did it with the jumbo and I'm really glad they did this because now it makes this pocket more utilizable. Got a little repair kit from Exotac. Holds my mini SOG power pint multi-tool. And then I've got my Nitecore headlamp. So keeps things from kind of rolling around inside that pocket. It keeps them organized and quick access from the outside of the packs. You don't have to dig around looking for things. That's always a pet peeve of mine with packs. I don't want to be rummaging through stuff looking for things especially if I'm in camp or it's night time. I want to be able to get to it easily. And then of course same pocket that they've always had. This is big front pocket which is a great place for like a bandana or maps, documents, things that you need to access quickly. Velcro fields for patches. And then same layout that they've always had in the back is the velcro lined back pocket which for some people they will carry a CCW in here. I do not carry a handgun in here just because I don't like that extra weight along with a water bottle. To me it's a little too much but it's a great place to put a small lightweight jacket, things like that. I've upgraded the zipper pull. This does not come with it. I took off one of these and just added this one that I had and put a bead on it. That way I can find it quicker, access easy. So a good way of carrying a haversack like this, especially this size, sometimes is to the back. And that way a lot of the weight is in the back of your hips, the small of your back. And it also keeps the front free so you can do things. You can reach your knife, carry a pistol, you can reach your pistol. Make a fantastic bag for muzzle loading or maybe a blind bag to put in your deer stand, carry all your stuff, have your water, your binoculars, your snacks, a knife, things like that that you would carry with you. But it would keep it in a nice compact, easy to access format. All right, I hope you enjoyed the video. Check out the links down below. There'll be a link to Maximum Expedition. There'll be a link to their Amazon store if you're interested in purchasing the Novo Plus or reading more about it. If you like this kind of content, do me a favor, subscribe. Leave me a comment down below. Tell me what you think of the new Jumbo. And as always, thanks for watching and we will see you next time on the Prepared Wanderer.