This bag is Maxpedition quality, which means you can drag it across the highway for several hundred miles and not notice any wear. No surprise there. I'll start the review by talking about what I don't like about the bag as well as some warnings, then finish it with things I like about the bag. Negatives: First off, because this is a 1-strap bag, IF YOU OVERLOAD IT, the bag will become uncomfortable to carry and hurt your shoulder and chest. Because of its size, it's pretty easy to put too much stuff into this bag. If you want to use this to replace a school backpack or a day bag, it's not going to work since all of the weight will be focused on a single point. I'll discuss some workarounds later. Second, the water bottle holder is located in an awkward spot. If you sling this around to your chest, the water bottle holder will be at the bottom of the bag, which makes retrieving and inserting a water bottle much more difficult than it should be. Also, the design of the water bottle pouch will result in the bottle decreasing the size of the main compartment since it will stick into the bag when in the holder pouch. Third, there are no bottom straps for a tarp, blanket, tent, or other item typically strapped to the bottom of a regular backpack. Basically, there are few external attachment options. Yes, there are loops, d rings, and PALS webbing on the one side of the bag, but that's it. Fourth, there is no admin section to store pens, small notebooks, and other school\office-type items. Almost every other Maxpedition and your typical school bag has some form of pen-holder/admin type of organization pockets, but the Kodiak only has a "keyper", and lacks any type of school/office type organizational areas. There are a few sleeves in the bottom-middle compartment, and the top compartment has some elastic straps, but there is no dedicated admin panel like what the smaller Malaga has. Fifth, there is a CCW compartment. This compartment is useless in a real-world situation, because it would take too long for the wearer to sling the bag forward, unzip the compartment, pull out the weapon, then aim at the adversary. If you plan to buy this bag mainly for concealed carry, then you should reconsider your purchase. Finally, there isn't much in the way of PALS webbing. There's plenty of webbing on the back, but that's not ideal since putting pouches there will affect your center of gravity and make the weight distribution be "bad", for lack of a better term. A few webs are on the side and short belt-strap, but the webbing is insufficient to mount anything significant. As a comparison, the Malaga gearlsinger can support a 10x4 water bottle holder on both sides of it, while the Kodiak cannot support one despite being a larger bag. Positives: You can wear this on your back or on your chest, and effortlessly switch between both carry options. This feature makes the Kodiak be an EXCELLENT travel or commuting pack. If you travel by bus or train, you can simply sling it across your chest and sit down on the bench without having to worry about your stuff. It makes for good airplane carry on as well for the same reasons. The Kodiak is large enough to fit most laptops. My old 15" laptop would not fit in a Sitka or Malaga, but the Kodiak is just wide enough that it will fit behind the inner panel. It barely fits due to the plastic buckle's attachment strap, but it does fit with no real issues. Right behind the padding is a CCW compartment with a large loop field. You can attach a hook & loop pistol holster to the bag's loop field. You can fit a 100z water bladder in the CCW compartment, and run the tube out of the top of the bag and through the webbing on the main strap. It has a whistle attached to the support strap. The support strap can be tucked into the CCW compartment. Has several built-in features to prevent thieves from opening the zippers without the wearer noticing. The top, small pouch has plenty of elastic loops to hold things like a zippo lighter, travel-size deodorant, a travel-sized toothbrush, and a normal AA flashlight. Workarounds: This bag CAN be used as an overnight pack or day-pack if you use it intelligently. The one-strap design WILL make this pack become uncomfortable after 3 or more hours if you put too much weight in it. If you are convinced that this is "the bag to end all bags", then you need to realize that the Kodiak will not replace a 2-strap backpack on its own, but could do so with a belt rig. I want to emphasize the "belt rig" part, because it will make this bag be much more effective, but will cost more. * If you don't use a round water bottle in the water bottle holder, but instead use a 32-oz GI-style canteen such as the Nalgene Oasis, then you won't lose space in the main compartment. The shape of the GI-style canteen is an effective space-saver for bags like this one, since it's wider but won't intrude on the main compartment. * If you want to go backpacking using this bag as your main one, you need to fill it with light, bulky items. Heavy, metal items like stoves shouldn't go in this pack, but items like ponchos, tarps, tents, hammocks, ground cloths, cordage, and blankets should go in this pack. Anything that takes up space but is light should be packed in the main compartment. * If you keep heavy items like knives, axes, saws, metal tent stakes, stoves, food, and water on a belt-mounted pouch, buttpack, or other form of waistpack, and keep light/bulky items in the Kodiak then you will have a much easier time wearing this pack on a long trip. The Maxpedition M-4 and Thermite are good examples of belt/waist packs that compliment the Kodiak by keeping heavy weight near your hips. Overall, I like this bag and will be keeping it until I find a better one. It does get uncomfortable if you put 15+ pounds in it, but if you watch what you put in it then it will work well. This bag will work better as a travel bag than as a hiking pack.
