Fishpond's
Open Range Tech Pack
features molded fly boxes with tough and
tested construction. The
Open Range Tech Pack is
trusted by guides and professionals and is
known for its innovative and comfortable
suspension. It fuses the future with
traditional elements. Fishpond's soft goods
are covered by a lifetime guarantee. Should
one of their soft goods fail during normal
use due to defect in materials or
workmanship, they will, at their discretion,
repair or replace it free-of-charge. Each of
fishpond's designs are inspired by their own
angling experiences and travel
adventures-resulting in products that
perform flawlessly under the most demanding
conditions.
On The Water Review
In the early 90's I tried the chest
packs that were popular at the time and
found them to be uncomfortable and felt I
needed more storage. The Open Range Tech
Pack is a complete marriage of both the
traditional vest and a chest pack. Guess
what? It works!
Let me start off with comfort as this is one
of the most comfortable vests I have worn to
date. The padding on the shoulder makes
wearing this vest for 8-12 hours a pleasure
instead of a chore. This vest is offered in
a one size fits most size. We tested this on
a variety of body types and weights and
found that it fit up to about a size 3XL.
What we liked about it thou was the ability
to easily change the sizes. I usually have
different sized vests, why? Well In the
winter or colder months you may require a
larger than normal sized vest due to extra
bulk from coats, neoprenes, sweatshirts,
etc. With this vest you will only need to
adjust a couple of straps.
This vest is very well thought out and
designed, everything just seems to be stored
exactly where you need it to be. You wont be
playing a game of twister in order to get to
your strike indicators so to speak. Majority
of storage is placed near your waist area,
which makes accessing gear simple and
efficient. As far as storage goes their is
more than enough room for all of your
accessories and fly boxes. There are two
molded fly boxes with removable inserts on
both sides of the vest. This feature alone
makes vest worth every penny. Storage
doesn't stop there thou there are numerous
inside zippered pockets and pouches. We were
very surprised as to the amount of storage
this vest has to offer. In fact when I
switched over from a traditional vest for
this review I thought I would had to leave
some gear and fly boxes out since there may
not be enough room. Well, I had room and
there was still pockets that I did not
utilize. Two of the pockets have a lanyard
for your keys as well.
When wearing the vest was high enough that
your able to wade pretty deep without
getting the vest wet. The back of the vest
has netting material which help aides in the
drying of any gear you may have as well as
ventilation for warmer weather.
There is even a hemostat keeper which we
found to be placed in a more comfortable
place that pinched and hanging off of a
pocket closure. There is plenty of Gear
attachment tabs, cord loops, and a D-ring
net lash as well. There is a rod holder
similar to one found on a traditional vest
too, handy when changing flies adding tippet
material.
The construction of this vest seems
extremely durable. We noticed all of the
seams were perfectly stitched upon a visual
inspection. I honestly don't think you could
find a better constructed vest. This the
only vest you will ever need, period! We
believe with this quality of craftsmanship
you probably wont need to purchase another
vest either.
Specs
