Test: Husar Cubby Admin Pouch Plus

Popularity of a fanny pack has been noticed by various tactical tailors. Every well-known brand of tactical gear has at least one product which can be used as a waist bag. One of these manufacturers – Husar from Bielsko-Biala (Poland) provided a product for me to test.

EDC is growing in popularity lately. Historically, carrying all necessary equipment on a person isn`t something new, but it`s starting to grow popular in general public again.

By watching internet mediums, we can see that more and more young people want to everyday carry more than a wallet, phone and keys. They want to have the unobvious stuff like knives, multitools, flashlights, string, first aid kits, fire starting equipment etc. At the same time, a lot of folk want to share their EDC with other people. This makes them a part of a special group of population, which always carries kilograms of gear useful in such random situations as zombie apocalypse or a snapped shoelace.

At some point, the gear will literally pull our pants down, even when our belt has a fancy, Austrian made buckle. If we can`t, or don`t want to, carry a backpack, we have a problem. Women don`t have this problem – they have their bags. But what about men?? Nowadays, real men also carry bags. These bags are called waist bags.

Husar Cubby Admin Pouch Plus (it`s a mouthful) waist bag comes in an ordinary brown cardboard box. Box has a manufacturers logo on it (worn-out stamp style). When we open it the pouch itself is a bit different that what we know. It`s wide, not very tall, very angular and, at a first glance, not very anatomic. But it`s just a first glance, please read on.

Waist pouch Husar Cubby Admin Pouch Plus is delivered in a brown cardboard box with a manufacturer`s logo. Outside diameter is 200 x 100 x 50 mm and weight is 220 g

High quality stands out. Pouch is made of 500D Cordura and hypalon. It has single straight stitching and key spots are reinforced with bartack stiches. There is no fluffy thread sticking out and inside has a label with hand marked manufacturing date, serial number and a name of the tailor. Almost like in an elite, limited edition products.

Besides the pouch itself, box contains a leaflet concerning the 3-year warranty and information on hand-manufacture. There is also a black and white Husar sticker present. Kit contains a 25-mm hip belt, made of polyamide. The bag is attached to it by Duraflex Slik Clip buckles, which makes the whole operation comfortable and provides enough durability. Belt itself has ITW Nexus fastex clips.

Cubby Admin Pouch weights 220 g. The front has a Velcro panel with the manufacturer`s patch.

We tested the coyote brown model. Husar supplies the pack in other colors, such as various camo patterns (Pencott Greenzone, Multicam, A-Tacs FG), ranger green and very fashionable black.

One thing is important – the Cubby waist pack isn`t a waist pack per se. It`s more of an admin pouch (as the full name suggests) with an option for mounting on a belt. Or, to complicate a little, it`s a fanny pack, that can be mounted flat on an equipment vest.

As already mentioned, the bag is made of 500D Cordura and hypalon – a rubberized composite that is soft and durable at the same time. Pouch measures 200 mm length, 100 mm width and is 50 mm high. Weight is equal to 220 g. Front has a small Velcro pouch (50 x 155 mm). Out of the box, manufacturer`s patch is attached there. Two hypalon strips allow for backpack/vest mounting.

Fanny pack is made of 500D Cordura and hypalon. Stitching is straight and reinforced with bartacks in key spots. Product`s quality can be seen straight away

Pouch also has 4 rubberized loops, useful for carrying small, oblong objects like pens or chemlights. Below, a shock cord is mounted. It`s size allows for carry of a 0.5-liter bottle or small items like gloves. Close to it, belt attachment buckles are located. Bottom, front and back has drain holes. YKK zippers are inside-mounted. Not only this looks nice but also helps with keeping the interior dry. Zippers terminate with standard pull-cords which quietens them and helps with operation in cold weather.

Back has 2 hypalon tabs for MOLLE system mounting and 4 rubberized loops for chemlights. Elastic band loop resides below

25 mm wide belt is included in the kit. Pouch attaches to the belt with Duraflex Slik Clips. Belt itself is fastened with fastex buckles

Sewn-in tab identifying date of manufacture, serial number and a name of the tailor

We can see how the pouch looks. But what`s inside? The interior is the most interesting part of such equipment. Husar bag has two compartments. The front one, which small and quite flat, and the main one which can accommodate the most of carried gear.

Front pouch is fastened with a full width Velcro closure. To open it, user has to pull on a hypalon tag placed on the front. The opening is quick and access is very easy. Front pocket is about 25 mm wide and 70 mm deep (measured to the bottom line of Velcro strip). It can accommodate smaller items such as a folding knife, coins, keys or earplugs.

Plus model of the described waist pack has an option of zipper closure instead of just Velcro. Zipper is attached to the Velcro and works quite well but this makes the pocket a bit fatter. The upside is 20 mm more space in the compartment. This makes it easier to carry a smartphone with 5,5-inch screen (which does not really want to fit in a normal Velcro fastened compartment). There is however one noticeable downside of such arrangement. The attached zipper closure can catch on the hypalon tag and hinder the opening. It might be a small problem but can get annoying after some time.

Plus model has a Velcro-attached zip for the front compartment

Husar`s main compartment seems a bit…strange. Why the front wall elastic bands are vertical and placed in 3 rows? What is the use for this? The whole design is a bit problematic. The pouch has a full-length zipper which, theoretically, allows for flat opening. However, there are elastic bands preventing this. It seems that this feature was based closely on admin panel. The bands mentioned are very short and keep the front wall almost vertical. Of course, these can be stretched but a re-design would be better. User can utilize the zippers to keep the front wall from opening fully.

Main pouch bottom is covered with a Velcro loop. The inside wall has a small nylon compartment, which opening is limited by yet another elastic band. Unfortunately, the compartment runs the whole width of the bag. This makes it a bit proud of the rear wall. The stitching of the elastic band makes it less useful as well. It works well with bigger, flat objects (like a notepad) but placement of small, cylindrical objects (flashlight) can be annoying. Under weight, the nylon flap protrudes quite a lot and makes organizing items inside challenging.

As mentioned, front wall has 3 vertical elastic bands. Each of these is divided into 3 parts – two narrow at the top and bottom, and a wider one in the middle. Sounds good, doesn`t it? Not really. When You start thinking about organizing the items some problems occur. If we place bigger and heavier items (like a flashlight) in the top loops, access to the rest of the pouch will be limited. Placing such items in a middle loop creates another issue – due to very limited opening getting items from the bottom loops can a pain. In fact, the bottom loops are not necessary. Obviously, Your millage can vary, and the interior might work out for You just right. However, I can`t shake the impression that the solutions from competing manufacturers work better.

The interior of outside wall has a D-ring for keys, carabiners and such. This is good and I have no negative comments about it.

Bag consists of two compartments. Front one is smaller, while the main one has a useful D-ring sewn in

After a lot of thoughts poured into organizing the items comes a surprise. Despite strange interior arrangements, the waist pack has a lot of space inside. And I mean A LOT! Due to how wide and angular it is, user can stuff it with plenty of gear.

In testing, main compartment swallowed (with a good access to each item) the following: few meters of dyneema rope (there was easily place for a lot more), bandage, sterile dressing, bunch of keys, 50 by 10 mm cylindrical box, 20000 mAh power bank, Convoy S2+ flashlight, hand sanitizer, inhaler, lighter, few blisters of various pills and a retractable tape measure. After some rearrangement, there was still enough place for more rope, bandages, pens, pencils and other small items.

Even stuffed to the brim, the bag was still comfortable to wear both on a belt and on a chest rig. When full, it becomes quite solid. This, together with how wide it, reduces the bounciness by quite a margin.

Despite initial problems with organizing the gear, access to large amount of equipment is easy

Elastic band serves two functions. It`s a limiter for main compartment opening and a rear wall organizer.

Even when stuffed full of things, hypalon tabs allow for easy MOLLE mounting

Main compartment can accommodate a lot of smaller items like power bank or a flashlight. As You can see, it can also carry a lot of extra 7.62 x 39 mm ammunition (in this case, for Hellpup rifle)

Is it worth to by this? By all means, Yes! Despite the initial problems with the main compartment, Husar Cubby Admin Pouch Plus is a great quality product which can be modified for multiple types of use. Using this waist bag was a pure pleasure.

Thank You to sprzetmilitarny.pl for making the pouch available for testing

This article was originally published on MILMAG 01/2018