Update time....

OK, while I'm waiting for my account over at the EDC Forums to be validated/approved/flattened with a rubber stamp (or whatever it is they do over there), I chatted to a retailer (who will remain nameless for the moment - he wasn't exactly plugging his own stock, but he'll get a plug for his advice soon ;)) over here. Seems that getting MaxP stuff over here is currently difficult, at best. Apparently, the wholesaler deal was revoked, and MaxP took back the UK wholesale business... Result: Yet more delays on getting stock in the UK.

We then talked about the various options, and I briefly went over the choices I'm looked at. I was told in no uncertain terms that the BHI bag was the "biggest of the lot". I've still got misgivings over it though: For one thing, there's no method of securing the sides at the top when the lid's closed - things look like they could drop out, which is not ideal in any shape or form. If BHI were to add an under-flap draw-string storm neck closure to their Tactical handbag (as done on the MaxP Jumbo bag), it'd be a great incentive for me to buy one.

I've also looked at the purely civvy man bags out there on the web: I'm none too impressed, to be honest. By my reckoning, I need, including the blister pouches and drink container capacity, about 6 to 7 litres of capacity in whatever bag I get. For the "tacticool" look, thus far, I thought only the Jumbo gave that, but I'm now told the BHI Tactical Handbag (what I will now call the THB) has that. Civvy kit-wise, I'm looking at a blasted messenger - or Pizza - bag, and remembering my earlier comments, that's just a non-starter. Even a laptop bag's out, as it screams "Expensive stealable gear inside!", and one of the ideas here is to try to keep a semi to low profile.

It's a tricky one, to be sure... More thinking and research is indicated here...

On the plus side, I saw a civvy-style bag that made me chuckle a bit (the Police line tape), which, capacity and features-wise, came close... It's a nice bag to be sure, definitely has the right amount of storage capacity, but, and these are big buts, first off, it's a Pizza Bag style of bag, and it's got no external pouch for drinks (meaning you have to open up the massive messenger flap at the front to get at the stuff inside); in addition, it's a non-rigid bag, meaning that fragile items - such as one's very expensive smartphone - could get broken if the bag bounces off a lamp post, corner, or other hard object by accident. So, while it may be nice for some of you (hence the Amazon link to the right), it's not, regrettably for me. The search goes on, anyhow :)