Review: Rainmaker by Greenroom136
Choosing the right bag is a dialog. It's a series of statements, made by professionals as they ply their craft. Even when you aren't commissioning a bagmaker to create a custom design, you are listening to what they have to say whenever you try on a backpack or load up a messenger to test it. When you select a bag from existing solutions, there is give and take. The bagmaker has expressed themselves through stitch and strap and dimension. You express yourself, ultimately, in whether or not you buy what is offered.
Patrick Lim of Greenroom136 (a company I've written about before) is comfortable in this dialog. His collection of bags is cohesive - its design language speaks of understated capability, precision, and durability. Greenroom136 bags are consistently well designed, easy to use, and beautiful to behold.
A few months ago I was given one of Greenroom136's newest designs, the Rainmaker, to test - fitting name, as I moved from Philadelphia to Seattle last year. For the past few months, I've been using this bag as my main carry - riding to and from work daily in rain and shine, hiking in Pacific Northwest forests, flying across the country on multiple occasions, and hauling everything from groceries, to clothing, to hardware, to other bags all the while.
Patrick and I, you could say, have been engaging in a lengthy dialog. And now that I've heard what he has to say, I'm ready to share it with you.
The Rainmaker comes in two sizes, Medium and Large. I was presented with the Large, which is approximately 12" wide x 17.3" tall x 8" deep . This comes out to approximately 27 liters of carrying capacity, split across two main compartments. The Medium, in comparison, is approximately 11" x 16" x 8", which drops it down to 22 liters. Not bad, by any means, but I believe firmly in the power of carry capacity.
When you first pick up the bag, its quality is evident. The bag is not trying to be ultralight, and weighs in at at least two pounds. However, in my experience - when a bag is loaded with your stuff, you're unlikely to notice additional weight unless you are the type of person who snaps the handle off of your toothbrush.
Patrick sent me the Tactical version, which includes a few additional details not included in the basic version. For one thing, the front of the bag has a set of PALS loops. I used these mostly for holding some of my gear (a carabiner, knife, and bike light), but I also tried them out with a few of the MOLLE pouches I own and they were very sturdy. No complaints here.
Additionally, around the outside of the pack are a series of grab handles and gear loops, made of 1.5" seatbelt webbing. These were comfortable to use, and very convenient for handling the pack on a daily basis. I find that as time goes on I am more interested in bags that include these sorts of details - a grab handle that you can use to move the pack in any situation is extremely useful.
The front of the Tactical version of the bag also has a large area of loop velcro, designed for morale patches and hook velcro accessories. I made a pen pouch with a hook velcro backing, and it was pretty nice to have it readily available.
Overall, if you are the type of person that uses tactical gear, this is a no brainer - go with the tactical version. However, even if you are not, I suggest that you consider the tactical version, unless you are absolutely certain you want the clean minimalism of the non-tactical version. Apart from the versatility of the PALS loops and the velcro, the grab handles make the additional MYR$50 ($11 USD) well worth it.
The back of the bag is pretty rigid - it's got a dense, non-removable pad (I believe it's closed-cell foam) wrapped in air mesh fabric with a small hidden zipper pocket behind the pad. People seem to like these pockets (I've seen them on Timbuk2 and others as well) but I don't really like them, except maybe to stash an external battery for my phone or something.
The straps are wide, comfortable, and have airmesh on the innner side. They were good for daily usage in all conditions, although the airmesh was not enough to prevent sweat marks in heat. There's a webbing rail on either strap and a plastic D ring for attaching accessories, as well as a floating, non-detachable chest strap. The chest strap was great for keeping things stable when riding or running.
The bottom of the straps are attached to flaps that are sewn into the bag itself.
At the top of the shoulder straps are two additional pull-straps for another level of control over the strap tightness. I think this is a great idea in practice, but didn't use them really. I think the idea of adding new places to adjust and perfect the fit of a bag is a great one, but in this case I don't think the straps could be tightened or loosened enough to make a real difference.
Ultimately, however, the bag straps didn't disappoint. Similar to the Genesis, they were comfortable, wide, sturdy, and great to wear.
For outside access, there's a large front pocket with a zipper beginning at the top of the loop velcro swatch, and goes the entire width of the bag. It's protected, as all of the zippers on the outside of the bag are, by a 1" mud flap that I liked in practice but found somewhat frustrating in reality.
It's great to have protection from the elements, but I think that the bag should come with zipper pulls to compensate for the additional difficulty in grabbing the zippers. At any rate, with zipper pulls these would be just fine, but without them you will often find yourself fiddling to grab the zipper. The pocket is exTREMELY deep - it goes all the way to the bottom of the bag. Although I wouldn't recommend it, it could even fit a laptop or a textbook. Inside the front pocket there's two phone-sized pockets and two very wide pen pockets. These performed as expected with my Nexus 5, and also worked just fine with my Nexus 6P.
Inside the front pocket hangs a detachable key fob, which was a nice touch. I found the clip itself to be very aggressive - you certainly won't lose your keys no matter what you clip this thing to - but as you should not likely be unclipping this thing with much regularity, its strength isn't a problem. I used the front pocket a lot just for typical easy access stuff - bike lights, cell phone/wallet/keys/Kindle, pens, etc. - it was great to have so much capacity in the pocket, although sometimes I had to go digging because of how big it is.
The main bag splits into two separate compartments. The compartment closer to the straps is smaller, includes a plush sleeve for a laptop and a bit more (I found it useful for larger books).
The laptop compartment unzips entirely and lays flat, so better to comply with TSA requirements for laptops going through security. I put my 15" work laptop in this sleeve daily and found it to be more than adequate to keep my computer safe.
There's also a divider on the opposite side from the sleeve (towards the middle of the bag) - I found this usually just got in the way of me putting something into the compartment, and think I would have preferred not to have it.
The main compartment is much larger and contains a series of internal organizers - two mesh pockets sit on the front inside of the bag.
On the back there is a thin divider for a laptop or papers. On this are two phone pockets and two pen pockets, mimicking the design of the outside pocket. There is also a smaller set of PALS loops inside the bag if that's how you'd prefer to accessorize.
The main compartment does not lay flat, and so takes a bit more effort to pack. This is definitely a nitpick, but I'd love to have seen both sides lay flat for ease of packing.
The capacity is intersting on this bag. For one thing, it feels bigger than it ends up being - there are so many layers, and pockets, and places that the bag feels extremely big. However, when you actually look at the continuous, pure-volume capacity of the bag, it is definitely reduced in comparison to the volume of the bag on the back.
That being said, the bag IS big, and it IS quite capable. I found myself sometimes wishing that the two pockets were just a single, but it was more than enough for grocery, ski, and work trips. Depending on whether or not you like to have separate compartments for things, you will prefer this or you won't. The Genesis is better for people looking for a bucket style pack, but this is definitely a popular design, and the two compartments afford certain advantages. The only way to make that decision, however, is to think about what you will be carrying.
Both sides of the bags include compression straps. They worked great for holding things (as compression straps often do), and double as an effective means of decreasing the volume of the bag when its full capacity was not in use. I also used them as makeshift handles on occasion.
Durability-wise, this bag is everything I expected from Greenroom136. In a word: bombproof. If you like to buy new bags every season, this one will not make you happy. I've taken it through the ringer repeatedly - over-stuffing it, dragging it on the cement, using it as a pillow - and it looks fantastic inside and out. The bag is absolutely going to withstand anything you could possibly throw at it (barring a flamethrower).
Comfort-wise, I would rank this bag in the high middle of the pack. The straps are wide and comfortable, the chest strap is nice because it moves up and down, and the structure is such that the weight feels very well distributed. The air mesh is a little abrasive (as it often is), but overall the bag is pretty comfortable.
So should you make this bag your next pack? That depends on an few factors. Do you like a lot of organization? Do you prefer to split your gear up into compartments, instead of a single, large compartment? Do you use MOLLE pouches, or feel like you want to? And are you on a budget? If most of those things are true, you are probably going to enjoy this bag a great deal. But if you prefer a simple pack without a lot of pockets and mechanisms, or if you want something with continuous capacity for even larger items, you might want to consider another bag from Greenroom136, such as the Genesis.
You can pick up the Rainmaker on Amazon - the medium is $125, the large is $140. To get the tactical version, however, you will have to go to the Greenroom136 website.
