After a few month of using the Mongo here is my review with lots of pics. First of all: What a great bag! I think one of the best versipacks maxpedition ever made. I used a Fatboy, a Jumbo, a Clossus and an Active Shooter Bag as an EDC bag and the Mongo is the best one!

Fully loaded with some Milspecmonkey patches. One of the most important points of an perfect EDC bag is the size for me. There must be enough place to stow all the EDC items and then must be enough place to stow some additional stuff e.g. shoppings from the supermarket, letters, rainjacket etc. The Mongo is big enough for all of this. It is that big that my Thinkpad T400s fits in it with additional stuff (mouse, power supply,…).

Top

Lid pocket: INKA mini pen, Leatherman Wave, spare batteries, Fenix PD20, lip balm.

Inner mesh pocket: German Army bandage and a few meters paracord (not shown)

Front pocket with keys

Rear compartment is outfitted with velcro on both sides to insert a holster for a gun e.g. this one from Maxpedition. On the right you can see the bag for the waist belt.

Upper right and left

On the right side is webbing. 2 rows. The upper with 2 slots and 50mm webbing under it, the lower with 3 slots. I’ve attached a Strobe / GPS / Compass pouch from maxp in khaki. By the way it is a S-Type version. I’m not a lefty but I don’t carry a gun so I can wear it on the left side. Behind the webbing is a secret compartment which is connected with the rear compartment. Above is a metal key holder sewn on the 50mm main sling.

On the left side is a phonepouch sewed. I don’t like this pouch very much. My phone is in always in my pants. Here I stowed a bandage. If a anyone has a good idea for what I can use this pouch please leave a comment. In this pouch does a Blackberry 8900 with Otterbox Commutercase fit. On the back is another secret compartment e.g. for a knive.

Lower right and left

The right side has the well known bottle holder. It is made for a 32 0z. (1l) Nalgene bottle. I use it for my EDC First Aid KIT. If you don’t need it you can fold it and fix it with the adjustable velcro closure.

On the left side is a zipper pocket with webbing on the outside, a little inner compartment and a secret pocket behind it. Here is a 3 by 5 in foliage green from maxp stowed with all the little things: Earphones / Headset for my Blackberry, spareparts for my zippo lighter (fuel in a MRE tabasco bottle, flints and wick), a little prybar, replacement earplugs….

It also fits a Otterbox 1000. In the secret pocket I carry a Böker MA-2 knife. On the outside is NiteIze S-Biner and a Grimlock carabiner mounted to fix additional stuff like gloves as you can see later.

Main

On the back of the main compartment is another pocket. But no velcro in here ??? Everywhere velcro why not here? On the right picture you can see the storm collar. The load of the main compartment varies on the mission. Here it is loaded with a Rite In The Rain planner, a maxp pug wallet, admin pouch and maxp Traveler.

The lower pics showing the pockets in front of the main compartment. First is a pocket without zipper or lid with velcro in it. Maxpedition have different additional Hook & Loop Inserts for the velcro in the Mongo. I attched there a Bloodpatch.

The second pocket is zipper-closed one with velcro on the one side and another pocket on the other side. Here I’ve inserted a Hook & Loop Admin Insert filled with some stuff (pens, USB stick, prybar, Fenix PD30,..) The left section is perfect for my Ixus 800 camera.

The third pocket is again zipper-closed and outfitted with velcro.

Bottom view: I wrapped paracord around the webbing. On the front webbing is a S-Biner mit Inova Microlight.

Shoulder Strap

Here is not much to say. 50mm wide. On the shoulder pad is a mounting for a Garmin 60csx fixed.

The result: It is really a great bag! The workmanship is very good.There are only 3 negative points.

1. No Velcro in the main compartment
2. The fixed phone holster
3. The material of the padding at the back starts to abrade (see pic below)