Why the Vertx Gamut 26 Became my New EDC Bag

It’s been a busy week. Finishing the taxes. Prepping. A little firewood work. Lots of work in the bee yards, including repeated feedings and equipment construction. My wife said to me, “Why is so much of your bee equipment unpainted?” Because I just built it. I am gearing up for what I hope will be a year of growth as I raise my own queens, and it’s better to have too much equipment than too little.

I am helping two new beekeepers get started in beekeeping. One bought two nucs while the other does not have hives yet, so I am teaching, demonstrating, and answering questions.

I also upgraded one of my EDC bags. That’s the focus of today’s post.

EDC Bag vs. Bug Out Bag

Let me differentiate the bags I have and why:

My wife and I have bug out bags, just in case we have to grab something, jump in the car, and bug out.

I also have homestead defense bags, one in 5.56 and one in .300 blackout. The idea is to grab one of these and your rifle and head into the woods if we are about to get overrun. The intent is to provide ammo (four magazines each), food, water, and some first aid supplies. They are supplemented by caches hidden on our 20 acres.

And then there are my EDC bags. These are intended to hold those every-day-carry items that don’t fit in my pockets or on my belt, including thousands of calories, water, electronics, and self-defense items. The bag is designed to help us if we are caught in a sudden terrorist or mass casualty event, stranded in the car, or stuck somewhere and have to walk out.

With any luck, we’ll never need to put them to hard use. Mild use is grabbing a band-aid, using a Leatherman, replacing a coin-cell battery, reaching for a cough drop, or snagging a snack or some cash from it.

I should note that there is redundancy between the bags. There is also survival gear in our vehicles, like wool blankets and a tarp, and even in the Polaris. If we ever threw all of our various bags into the vehicle and took off, we’d be able to survive for some time.

Double Trouble

I have two EDC bags. One of them does not contain a gun; one of them does. Because I have a truck gun and carry concealed, I usually carry the non-gun version. While it doesn’t hold a gun, it contains two magazines holding 34 rounds for my EDC gun. It also has a more robust tactical med kit. This is my primary EDC bag. It’s the one I wrote about here.

If there are two of us in the car, I will put both of them in the backseat, ensuring each of us can be armed. It’s this second bag that needed to be replaced.

The second bag holds a 9mm AR pistol and more than 100 rounds of 9mm, making it understandably heavy. The original bag, a Voodoo Tactical Matrix pack that is about seven years old. Its main zipper failed. The zipper starts at either end and can either meet in the middle or go all the way up, over and down the other side of the main compartment. One side broke first, so I started using the other side. Within two months, both zipper tabs refused to hold the zipper shut. Not exactly ideal when you are trying to hide an AR pistol.

Picking the Ideal Size

I had seen the Vertx backpacks and sling bags years ago when I was working with law enforcement, and they were impressive. I could not find anyone within a two-hour drive who was selling them, so I shopped online. Vertx now has far more sizes than I recall, and how am I supposed to tell the difference between a bag that holds 22, 24, or 26 liters? I ended up buying the 26-liter, and in hindsight, I am glad I did not go smaller.

If you convert that to gallons, it holds about 7 gallons, more than your standard 5-gallon pail, or close to 1,600 cubic inches. That sounds huge, doesn’t it? But no, it’s not. I’d call it medium. But it was tall enough to fit my CMMG Banshee, and that was the key criteria.

At 26 liters, it’s smaller than my 50-liter bug-out bag, and larger than my homestead defense bags, which are probably 12 liters or less, so right in the middle.

The Vertx Gamut is very much a gray man bag in that it does not look military. There is no MOLLE webbing on the outside. It comes in non-military colors like blue and brown. Not coyote tan or flat dark earth, mind you, but cedar brown, like the tree. That’s nice, but it also means the MOLLE water bottle container and the MOLLE first aid pouch on the Matrix can’t strap to it. The pack has MOLLE webbing—or something similar—inside, hidden away, but I have yet to get my med kit inside it.

Why an EDC Bag?

There’s more to an EDC bag than a gun. As you can see in the image below, it holds a variety of items, starting with food and water.

• Food, including two MRE entrees, two pouches of meat, nuts, dried fruits, gummy bears, candy bars, and other junk food.
• Water purification tablets and a sports bottle that includes a suck-through filter capable of purifying 125 liters.
• Extra clothing accessories, which vary by season. At a minimum, it includes a baseball cap and/or knit cap and tactical gloves.
• Spare batteries for multiple devices. This includes CR123s, 18650, and three sizes of coin cells.
• My electronics recharging kit, which includes charging blocks and cables for USB-C, USB-A, mini, micro, and Lightning. I also have a (supposedly) 36,000 recharging brick. It has an all-but-useless solar panel built in. I have a larger folding solar panel, but it is not in the bag.
• The miscellaneous pile includes a back-up wallet with some cash, some snivel kit iems, pens, duct tape, pens, etc.
• A Cold Steel SRK knife plus two 30-round and a 17-round 9mm Glock mags. These fit the Banshee, but neither of my EDC pistols. That’s OK, I can always take 9mm rounds out of one of these and reload my pistol in a pinch. But I adhere to the old saw that the purpose of your handgun is to fight your way to your long gun. I’d rather have a reload for the 9mm AR than for the pistol.

After packing this up, I decided to add an inexpensive headlamp.

Pete’s Rating

In terms of a product review, so far, so good. I like the bag. It is more comfortable to wear than the Voodoo Tactical Matrix. The Gamut has more structure to it and rides higher. It also has more high-end pouches, zippered pockets, and hidden EDC panels. It costs more, but Vertx is a high-end brand. I was also able to get 12 percent off and use some “points” I had from shopping on the website, so I saved almost $40. With any luck, it will last me at least ten years.

I am not thrilled about how my gun fits inside. I expect I’ll repack it a few times before I get the optimal loadout. I may try the KelTec Sub 2000 instead. I need a bag that will carry bulk, and I think the bag is designed for urban use by hard-core tactical types who carry more streamlined gear. Still, everything from the Matrix fit, except the MOLLE first aid kit. I’m sure I am not using half of the Gamu’s bells and whistles. But if the time comes when I have to stuff a tarp or a blanket under the fly designed to hold your helmet, you can be sure I’ll let you know how that works.

My preliminary rating is a solid 4.5 out of five pickles. Recommended.