Review on Maxpedition 0211B Neatfreak Organizer by Leslie White

I love Maxpedition products and own a few including Neatfreak, Mongo and Organizer bags. I thought Neatfreak was perfect for my EDC needs, but after using it for a few weeks I gave it to my wife who might have better use of it. The quality of material, construction, zippers, etc. is Maxpedition's traditional excellence. The problem I found was the design. First, the size didn't meet my needs like I thought it would. I found it too small to get to the level I needed. I found that he really couldn't carry as much as I thought he could. If you don't need to carry a lot of small and flimsy items, this bag seems to me to be a problem for you. As with many of the bag organizers that Maxpedition sells, I found that the Neatfreak also suffers from the side-by-side arrangement of internal pockets that meet when closed. This problem is exacerbated by the doubling and tripling of pockets, each sewn from front to back. If only one of these pockets contains something essential, the usefulness of other pockets sewn behind or in front of it will be limited or even eliminated. If one of the pockets is filled with any substance, the act of closing the bag, in which the pockets are in contact with each other, actually requires deformation of the surrounding material to achieve the closure. The deformed material containing other pockets and interiors can no longer hold the volume it was capable of, leading to inefficiency and waste. Think of it this way, if you count the outer front and back pockets as well as the inner pockets, there are 9 pockets that meet each other vertically, which is 3 inches deep inside the pocket. This means that, on average, each pocket cannot provide more than a third of an inch of usable depth if all pockets are to be used. Remember that the material the bag is made of does not stretch. It can deform to create more depth, but at the expense of the surrounding space. I also question the wisdom of leaving about a half inch of unused space around the inside perimeter of the bag, just below the zipper. The inner pockets don't have enough material to extend the full width of the bag from side to side, so some space is wasted inside the bag just below the zipper. In practice, this unused space never existed for me as the bag would always warp and stretch after closing, but if the bag were only comfortably stuffed it would be there. Yes, items can be moved or placed in this space, but they are not protected by anything and can be lost if the bag is opened quickly or at an angle. Despite being a traditional YKK zipper, the zipper does not wrap around the bag far enough to be used in a horizontal position when open. The shoulder strap is great if not overkill for a bag of this size. Other design issues included a strong but unusable Velcro strap on the back and a pocket just below the webbing that requires more effort to access due to the webbing. Accessibility issues aside, I found that this outer pocket (like the front mesh pocket) rarely carries anything as it stretches a lot when closed. A fold in each of these pockets would help. There's also a front flap that offers very little storage but plenty of webbing loops. Attaching other Maxpedition bags here or to the Velcro back straps will result in uncomfortable carrying and an odd appearance. With little to no use, most people stuff the flap into the front mesh pocket and waste the storage space that pocket offers. Again the quality of the bag is typical Maxpedition and many people find this bag serves them well. Big! I didn't find it suitable for me and bought Mongo which is actually much more useful for my specific needs. However, I believe the limitations I mentioned are not unique to me, and others will also find that the bag could benefit from fewer larger internal pockets or a larger overall size.