FIFO 900D Shoulder Sling Backpack

A day pack is overkill. Your pockets are not enough.

There is a gap in every kit bag. You are walking the fence line, running errands, on a bike or wandering a town for the afternoon, and you need a bottle of water, your phone, your wallet, keys and one or two other bits. A day pack for that is silly — you take it off every time you want anything out of it. Stuffed pockets are worse, because that is how a phone goes into the dirt when you crouch down.

This is a single-strap sling that rides on your chest or your back. Swing it round on the strap and the pockets are in front of you, on your body, without taking anything off. It is small. That is the point of it, not a shortcoming.

Six colours, and each one can be ordered on its own or bundled with two webbing hook clips that let you hang keys or a bottle off the outside.

What It Does

• Water without stopping: the open mesh pocket on the side takes a bottle, so a drink does not mean taking a pack off and putting it back on.
• Swings round to the front: slide it along the strap and everything is in reach at chest height — useful on a bike, on a ladder, or anywhere you would rather not put a bag on the ground.
• Phone stays off the dirt: the small stuff lives in a zipped pocket on your chest instead of a back pocket that empties itself when you bend over.
• Fishing and the tinny: pliers, a spare spool, a knife and a drink in one bag you can wear while your hands are full of rod.
• Travelling light in town: small enough that it does not read as a pack, big enough for a passport, a phone, a charger and a bottle.

Key Features

• Single padded strap: wide strap with an open air-mesh backing panel, adjustable, worn over either shoulder.
• Three separate compartments: a main zipped body, a slim zipped pocket across the front, and a lower zipped pocket on the face.
• Open mesh bottle pocket: stretch mesh pocket on one side, sized around a standard drink bottle.
• MOLLE-style webbing: two rows of webbing loops across the lower pocket for clipping small pouches and gear to the outside.
• Hook-and-loop patch panel: a small patch square on the front. Patches are not included.
• D-ring on the strap: steel D-ring at the top of the strap for clipping keys or a torch.
• Stabiliser strap: a lower webbing strap with a clip that stops the bag swinging when you move.
• Six colours: black, army green, khaki, CP camouflage, ACU digital and desert digital.
• Optional hook bundle: the "and 2 hook" options add two webbing clips — a metal snap hook and a moulded clip with a rubber loop that grips a bottle neck.

Limits

What this bag will not do

• No capacity figure: the supplier has not published a capacity in litres and there is no dimensioned drawing anywhere in the product photographs. We are not going to print a litre number we cannot source — sling bags are the worst category in the shop for inflated capacity claims. Judge it on the photographs: a bottle, a small tablet and the small stuff, and that is the bag full.
• Not a day pack: it will not carry lunch, a jumper and a first aid kit. If you need to carry a day's gear, buy a day pack and keep this for the days you do not.
• One shoulder, not two: all the load sits on one side. That is fine at sling-bag weight and it is not fine if you overfill it. A single strap on a heavy bag is a sore shoulder by the end of the day.
• Not waterproof: no water rating has been supplied and the zips are plain, not sealed. It is a woven fabric bag. Rain will get in.
• No laptop compartment: there is no padded sleeve and no dedicated device pocket. The photographs show a small tablet sitting in the main compartment against the back panel, unpadded.
• Dimensions not published: the supplier has given no measured dimensions and no weight, so both are listed as not specified rather than estimated.

Q & A

How many litres does it hold?
We do not know, and we would rather say that than invent a number. No capacity has been published by the supplier and there is no dimension diagram to work one out from. What the photographs actually show is a drink bottle in the side mesh, and a small tablet, a bottle and a tin sitting in the main compartment. Size it off that.

What do the "and 2 hook" options give me?
Two webbing hook clips, shown in the product photographs alongside the bag. One is a metal snap hook on a hook-and-loop webbing tab; the other is a moulded plastic clip with a rubber loop that goes around a bottle neck. Both are made to wrap onto a strap or a MOLLE loop. Same bag, same colours — the hooks are the only difference.

Will it fit a tablet?
The supplier photographs show a small tablet in the main compartment. There is no padded sleeve for it, so if you carry one, carry it in a case.

Can I wear it on my back instead of my chest?
Yes. It is made to sit on the back over one shoulder and slide round to the front when you want into it. That sliding is the whole reason to own a sling instead of a small backpack.

Is a patch included?
No. The hook-and-loop square on the front is there for a patch if you want one, and the bag arrives with nothing on it. The emblem shown in one of the product photographs is not supplied with the bag.

How long will it take to get here?
Allow 10 to 14 days from the day you place the order, and up to 3 weeks before you chase it up. Regional and remote addresses run longer. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs