I've had my Paradigm Pack for about a month, and I'm very impressed with the engineering and customer service I received. The magnetic buckle, along with the one-handed rip-open design of the main compartment are SO satisfying once you get the hang of it (took me like a day or two).
The zippers are very satisfying to use and I've found a use for just about every compartment on the bag.
The bag is pretty light-weight, even when I had all of my stuff in it and felt very comfortable to carry around.
I also LOVE the dual, fold-away water bottle pockets on the sides of the bag. That's an AWESOME feature I wish more bags had.
There are a few areas I would say this bag could be improved, most notably as others have already stated: The capacity. The bag LOOKS great and has satisfying features, but it is limited to only ~19 Liters, so if you're planning to pick one of these up, understand that going into that decision. An owner/representative of NSG responded to a comment I posted on one of their ads saying that they plan on implementing bigger sizes of this bag in the future, so I am excited to see that.
Another area that might want to be re-visted is the suspension system.
This bag features a very cool adjustable suspension system with the straps on the back that are easy to adjust both in length and in width and that is a really cool feature not many bags have. However...if you don't like the sound of velcro, you might have some conflict there...because the velcro on this bag is LOUD, lol. I'm talking, you might want to be in another room with the door closed because it might wake people in another room.
While on the topic of the velcro, keep in mind the straps on the back are partially held to the bag by it. I contacted NSG on how to minimize the tearing of the velcro when I picked the bag up by the straps and one of the owners messaged me an sent me videos on how to do just that. I REALLY appreciated that customer service and with his help I was able to greatly minimize the noise.
To sum it all up: Great overall bag, great innovation, great ideas with the Paradigm Pack.
- Different sizes (or at least a larger size of this bag) would be PHENOMINAL.
- Maybe doing something different with the suspension system could improve the bag a lot. The velcro is understandable and it works well overall, but it is loud and may bother some people who don't want to hear the sound of it when they pick up the bag by the strap.
This last one is completely optional and just a consideration to make future designs even cooler. Maybe future designs of this bag could include modularity, like designing extra pouches, containers, and add-ons that can be added to the bag to carry more/different things. I see the ads for this bag include different load outs for fishermen, archery, concealed carry, and snacks (lol)...I feel like it would be cool if there were like pouches or straps that could be added on but also taken off like the hip belt if not needed. That's just a consideration.
I know it might seem like I've been very critical of this bag, but I'm actually very impressed by it. There are just some things about the bag to think about considering it costs around $200.
Regardless, these guys make some great products, and I do recommend picking up something by them. 👍
First and foremost thank you so much for the awesome, in depth review!
I wanted to touch on the topics you mentioned in the review.
1) Size: As you mentioned, we are coming out with a 40L model hopefully this year. On top of that, we’ve adjusted the size of the paradigm pack for future rations to sit at around 21L. It’s A small adjustment on paper, but if you ever get your hands on the newer model when it releases it feels much better for the “small pack”.
2) Suspension: I Appreciate the feedback here as well. On the newest sample, we’ve removed a little bit of Velcro on the top rear of the straps to try to remove some of the sound that you were having when you’re picking up the pack.
3) Modularity: It’s been my goal to have modularity and add-ons to the system since the inception of the design. All of these pouches are going to be apart of our USA Made Accessory Line-Up. I’ve been sampling these pouches myself and they should start showing by up on the site in the coming months. As of now, I have 2-3 panels with elastic loops for knives, pens, flashlights, gun mags, etc, as well as 3-4 different pouches for better organization.
Thank you again, & I’m glad you’re loving your pack!
Never Surrender!
I’ve had this bag since I bought it at an expo for the Granite Games and it’s literally my favorite gym bag of all time. I may buy a new one just so I have a back up incase anything happens to it. LOVE this bag!!
Thanks for the awesome, long term review! Stoked after all these years your Grizzly is going STRONG!
Smaller than I thought it would be, looks to be an over-engineered pack that cant carry much or even max out its ability if weight due to the size of the thing. The framing/ padding weighs more than what it can potentially carry. Definately not worth what was paid for it.
Will, thanks for the feedback on the Paradigm Pack. As you mentioned it is an over-engineered pack for the size. This suspension system was built for the larger models coming soon. We added it to the smaller Paradigm to allow customers to ruck for training purposes. You can add ruck plates and train on the same suspension that you would carry on the larger models for packing out animals, through hikes and camps, etc. I typically ruck with 45-50 pounds, but for testing purposes we have tested up to 130lbs. Thanks again for the feedback. We hope to launch the next sizes sometime in 2026 along with an updated Paradigm that is a touch larger than the original size as well.