ACL Approved Gladiator Battle Bag 2.0 - Professional Cornhole Backpack with Patented Bag Holder | Perfect for Tournaments, Tailgating & Outdoor Games

2023-11-05. Cornhole Backpack for Cornhole Bags by Gladiator. Battle bag 2.0. Professional Cornhole Bags carrier. Black.Wow. Just wow. I'm normally a pretty technical guy when it comes to items like this and I'm pretty critical with them. I've reviewed many bags, carrying cases, and storage items. I pick away at everything, from materials, to zippers, to stitching, to functionality, and construction quality. In going through this bag it was as if Gladiator read every review I ever wrote and incorporated everything I ever talked about, even the small details! Let's break it down shall we...Materials. The bag is made of polyester nylon fibers woven together. The end product is often call oxford cloth, and the unit of measure is DENIER and refers to the fibers weight and thickness. In general the higher the number, the heavier and thicker the plastic yarn used in the material's construction. As a reference 600D is the most common weight used in bags. And you probably guessed it, the higher the weight of the same fabric, the stronger it is. e.g. 700D is heavier and stronger than 600D. Oxford cloth is durable, abrasion resistant, and weathers very well. This backpack bag uses a lot of hook and loop materials. Hook and loop is more commonly known as the branded Velcro®. The generic name is hook and loop as the rough side is a series of hooks and the soft side is a series of loops. The hooks get caught in the loops and thus forms your bond. Gladiator employs a lot of LOOP material on the front face of the bags. This is done by design to hold all your patches. It's an ingenious application and the new trend to iron and sewn in patches. Plus this allows you to rotate or switch out your patches if you have too many! Full marks for materials.Straps. The shoulder straps are made of the same oxford cloth, but with a much lighter weight.. These straps are padded with foam and the inside fabric is a polyester nylon mesh for breathability. The same breathable padding can be found on the backside of the backpack, essentially all spots where it meets your body. This is a common design of bags to improve comfort and breathability without adding to much bulk and weight. The top of the straps sewn directly into the top piping of the bag. This reinforces the straps greatly as any stress is distributed across the band vs directly on the stitch. The bottom of the straps as secured to a triangular piece of material which is then sewn onto the bag to serve the same purpose and distribute any stress over a larger area. ladder lock sliders are employed here to allow for easy adjustment of the straps. Simply pull on the dangling end to tighten, and lift on the ladder lock to slacken.There is also a sternum strap (aka chest strap) that links both shoulder straps together. This will help support and distribute the weight from your shoulders to your back. This is often added to bags that will bear a heavy load. Since this bag is designed to hold 4 sets of cornhole bags, you're looking at a minimum of 16lbs, and with all the extra pockets and pouches, I think the bag can probably reach twice that weight, so this is a nice inclusion. However, the sternum strap is quite large, even at it's smallest setting. The strap is designed for people with at least a 42" chest, so if you are a smaller person, you may not get the full benefit of this feature. A plastic quick release buckle is employed here, which is pretty much standard when it comes to bags. The same ladder lock adjustment is also present on the chest strap allowing for quick and easy horizontal adjustments. Minus one for the sternum strap since it is a highly functional piece, and an essential one for smaller players.Stitching. All major pieces are double stitched and/or piped. Cosmetic pieces and areas that are not load bearing are single stitched. Where the high stress points are with the straps, cross stitching is employed to reinforce the area. Full marks for stitching.Zippers. All major openings are double zippered. I'm a huge fan of double zippers when they cover a large areas, and in this case, Gladiator put them in where it mattered. There is a large flat, meshed pocket on the inside of this bag that is single zippered, but it makes sense as it's not a large opening. All zippers are molded teeth zippers. It's pretty much your standard zipper for MOST textile applications. There is a lower grade zipper, which is nylon coil, and I suggest you stay away from ANY product that employs them. All outside zippers are not fully exposed, but they're not exactly lapped either. They're taped on both sides and the slide moves underneath it. Full marks for zippers.Compartments. There is essentially two compartments to this bag. The first one is a lower profile compartment and stores personal items as the pockets within this compartment are relatively shallow. Keys, wallet, watch, phone, etc. The larger mesh pocket is in this compartment so it can store damp items. This compartment is a few inches wide, so you can store other items loosely if you need to (portable speakers, toiletry bag, glasses, etc. The second compartment is the main one. Within this compartment, there is a mesh divider. On the one side of the divider is the main compartment for your cornhole bags. This compartment is further divided into quadrants and each quadrant is designed to store up to 4 cornhole bags. The mesh divider is designed to hold the bags in place during transport. One notable here is that the padded divider is sewn down into the bag. The side walls are attached via hook and loop so there is some room for slight adjustment, but the divider cannot be removed altogether. The other side of this mesh bag is pretty much a catchall. It's smaller than the outer catch all and measures about 2" wide (vs the 3" of the other). There is another flat mesh pocket here that is single zippered as well. Full marks for compartment size and accessibility.Miscellaneous features. The backpack includes two other bags or pouches. Both have a section of hook material sewn into them so that you can attach it to the exterior of the backpack by mating it to the loop material. This smaller bag is double zippered and also has the loop material to hold patches was well. The pouch does not have any zippers rather is closed by drawstring via a springlock. This pouch has a mesh bottom and can be used to store used items that you want to allow breathability. Another feature is that there is a carrying handle at the top of this bag. It's nicely padded and comfortable, and appropriate considering the potential weight of this bag. There are also some D-Rings on the shoulder straps and on the top carrying handle for you to attach items for quick access. Lastly, the bottom of this bag contains rubberized foot pads. These pads are spike textured for grip on soft turf like grass, and help protect the bottom of the bag from abrasion when on hard surfaces like concrete. These features didn't garner any extra points from me, but they're really nice to haves.Overall, this bag is very, very, well made, from the materials used, to the quality of the workmanship. The features are well thought out and well designed to even the smaller details like adding loop material and mesh pockets, making the bag very functional. Aside from the minor notable I made about the sternum strap not accommodating smaller-framed people, I'm pretty impressed with the bag. This cornhole backpack is designed for the competitor, not the casual player or weekend warrior. It's pricey retailing at $120, but it's really an investment rather than a storage solution. And with the lifetime guarantee offered by Gladiator, it's a solid one in my opinion.