- What's up?
It's Tom from Pack Hacker and in this video,
we're going to be taking a look at the GR2 and the GR3.
This is a highly requested video from maybe you
and a lot of the Pack Hacker audience,
so let's jump in and just get
into a quick comparison of these two packs.
Let's check it out.
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So the GR2 is special to me personally;
I traveled the world with it for about a year and a half
and just basically lived out of it.
The GR3 I've tested for a couple months now
in a couple different settings,
so I think I have a pretty good idea
as to what's going on between these two packs.
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So the overall look of them is fairly similar
on the outside.
You can see they look, you know,
we've got the four rows of MOLLE,
we've got the slash pockets up here.
The GR3 is a little bit wider for sure
and there's a couple things on the exterior
that's different on the GR3 than with the GR2.
So with the GR3, we do have these kind of handles here
on the outside of the pack,
so I know that was a requested feature
by a lot of people after the GR2.
So you have one on the side here,
one on the top,
and then you got another one on the side here again.
In addition to that,
we have the compression straps on the GR3.
And these things work generally pretty well.
But on the GR2, we don't have any of that.
However, on the GR2, we have MOLLE on the side here.
So if you want to put a hip belt,
which I'll show you in a second,
or if you want to put like a water bottle pocket,
that's definitely going to work here as well.
On the bottom here, we also have this thick MOLLE going on,
so that's going to be for GORUCK Tough Bag.
However, on the bottom of the GR2,
instead of having that 1000d Cordura,
there's a different weave of Nylon going on here.
Overall, the harness systems here are pretty similar,
there's just a couple key differences.
So, there's a sternum strap here,
that could easily be interchanged
between either of these packs.
It's kind of just an add-on,
I think GORUCK sells it on their site.
However, what's really big here with the GR3
is the integrated hip belt at the bottom here.
So you can slide in that massive hip belt at the bottom
and it's going to be integrated with the pack.
However with this,
you're going to have to attach a hip belt
to the side with the MOLLE here.
The nice thing about the MOLLE on the side is
that there is some variability in the height
in which you're going to be able to attach that hip belt to
or any other MOLLE accessories.
So moving on to the GR3's hip belt.
It kind of looks like a wrestler's belt
with this buckle going on here.
It's a lot fatter,
it's going to distribute the weight a lot more.
And then on the GR2's hip belt,
you can see here that it has a similar Duraflex buckle.
However, it's attached by MOLLE on the side
so it's not quite as integrated into the pack;
it won't distribute as much weight as you get with the GR3.
Alright, let's move on to the interior of these packs.
With the GR2, we have two compartments
and in this one, we've got just one massive bucket.
If I pull of the compression straps and unzip it,
it's actually going to open right up
into a massive compartment.
And the same thing with the GR2, let's just open that up.
This is the main compartment,
there's two compartments with the GR2.
Moving on to the interior,
on the GR2 there is a pocket here
and then four rows of MOLLE by six across.
On the GR3, you have VELCRO on the entire backing.
So that's going to be good to kind of secure,
whether it's, you know, Velcro packing cubes,
or you want to put some patches on there
or, you know, anything else that's VELCRO,
it's going to secure very nicely in there.
And because this compartment on the GR3 is so big,
you can stack up packing cubes kind of
on top of each other, so you can have two rows.
So the Velcro really helps everything kind of stay in place.
Two rows of MOLLE here to attach any other accessories,
then we have a metal D-ring at the top as well.
And on to the frame sheets.
Overall, these are both pretty sturdy
because inside of the GR2, we have the Kydex mod.
So it's a completely,
kind of thicker frame sheet as after market.
However, in the GR3, the frame sheet
that comes with this thing is super beefy right off the bat.
So actually was talking with Scott over at Ruck Customs,
he kind of does these custom Kydex frame sheets.
And at this point in time,
he doesn't even know what he's going to do
to try to improve the GR3 frame sheet.
He thinks it's just super beefy already.
But again - the GR2,
it's going to have a little bit more
of a flimsy stock frame sheet than the GR3.
Okay moving on.
We have one giant compartment going on here,
so you can kind of tell the pockets apart
with some different colored Paracord going on here.
We have two mesh pockets at the bottom
and then one larger,
kind of nylon enclosed pocket at the top.
Moving on to the GR2,
we have a similarly sized mesh pocket at the top here
and then a larger mesh pocket at the bottom.
So now, let's get into the other pocket of the GR2.
So similarly here, we have this nylon pocket at the top,
and then a similar, larger mesh pocket at the bottom.
Again, they use different zipper pulls based
on the compartment that you're in.
If you flip this over, same.
A long mesh pocket, and then you've got this kind of,
field pouch, admin pouch at the top here.
So this is separated by two little partitions
and definitely a lot more organization inside of the GR2.
That right there is the main difference
between these two packs.
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With the GR3, you kind of have a giant bucket
with three interior pockets to organize your stuff
and then a slash pocket on the outside.
So if you're like a packing cubes person,
maximum legal carry on -
you want the biggest possible bag you can get.
The GR3's going to be very easy to organize for you.
The GR2 on the other hand,
has a lot more interior organization.
And again, it's a little bit less in size.
You can still use packing cubes in here,
but if you're the type of person
that likes a little bit more interior organization,
there's definitely a lot going on here with the GR2.
Now keep in mind with both of these bags,
a lot of these mesh pockets aren't necessarily 3D pockets.
They're a little bit flatter,
and generally the best for flatter items
although you will have a little bit more room
on these bigger pockets on the GR2.
So that wraps up our quick comparison
of the GR2 and the GR3.
Hopefully it was helpful to you!
Be sure to hit us in the comments
if you have additional questions
and we will do our best to answer it.
Thanks for checking out this video,
we'll see you in the next one.
It's going to be like GR2 .. GR3 .. GR2 .. GR3.
Just get those out of the way.
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