Hey guys, Short review on the Vulkan gi bag. Whats that i hear you saying? its only a bag, who cares? Thats what i thought until i recieved mine. I was quietly surprised at the quality.
Bear in mind this is my first review so probably wont be as professional as you're used to ;)
The Bag!
The Vulkan Gi bag, available from
http://www.vulkanstore.com and a variety of online retailers for between $14 and $18, is a relatively light weight and stylish gear bag.
It comes in the colours of: White, Blue, Red and Yellow which indicates the colour of the bag at the top and bottom extremities. Each bag is banded through the centre by a black Vulkan logo patch sporting the vulkan website and logo proper, on a backing of material which feels similar to a pair of lightweight gi pants.
The coloured upper and lower exremities are of a lightweight gi material, which looks like it could take a fair bit of yanking around before it even considered stretching or tearing. Bottom corners are made of the same material and coloured black centred with a metal eyelet which a medium quality (at best) drawstring is fed through, up through the mouth of the satchel and to the other sides eyelet, effectively creating a backpack with a top that pulls tight.
All stitching is of good quality, with double stitching present in most areas, sure to take a fair bit of pressure before they pop.
The capacity of the bag is... ok i guess, i was actually expecting it to be slightly bigger, and those who are of the big or tall variety or have thicker gi's may find the fit rather tight. Im roughly 6' tall with a thick practice gi, and mine fits pretty nicely, definately room in their for a set of gloves, belt, and a mouthguard, drink bottle and maybe a pair of grappling shoes if you rolled your gi tight enough.
The bag itself is very breathable, and im unsure whether this will be a good thing or not, it will either release the stench of my workout, or allow it to breathe and make it more bearable, havent put a dirty gi in it yet, will update when i have.
Only real problem i can think of is it might shrink if washed, which i would recommend to do regularly due to the type of material its made out of (gi), as its sure to absorb some sweat and the nasties associated with it. Once again, i only got the bag today, so i cant say whether or not it would, but id be recommending an ice cold wash just to be sure.
The draw string is a good idea (backpack like) but the drawstring really needed to be of higher quality and probably larger (similar to the giant shoe lace type tieups) as the drawstrings arent overly comfortable on the shoulders.
Overall 7.5 out of 10, Great bag, cant go wrong especially for the low price. International (non us) guys are looking at roughly 30 bucks including shipping for a great bag, and cant go wrong with it. Good first, or lightweight carry bag.
7.5/10
DP
