SlingFin, a small outdoors brand based in the Bay Area, will soon launch a unique backpack/pannier combo product that’s made of a thick, hard polypropylene material and named after the feisty little mammal popularized via YouTube and the short “The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger” film.
The to-be-released Honey Badger backpack is a weird concept that no doubt can take a beating just like the little guy on YouTube. Its super durable exterior is not a cloth but a hard polypropylene plastic shell that folds shut like a case. The design with this tough material is made to stand up to anything in situations like canyoneering or for using it as a haul bag on a big-wall rock climb.
Indeed, on its blog the company shows the Honey Badger pack being dragged behind trucks, dropped out of airplanes, and sent down whitewater rapids to make sure it can withstand anything an outdoors user might throw its way.
(Says the blog post on the truck test: “The Honey Badger and a competitor’s pack were drug for 3 miles with a max speed of 60mph over asphalt, gravel, and rock stopping after each mile to observe results.)
SlingFin has launched a Kickstarter campaign to get the Honey Badger off the ground. The company is hoping to have the pack in production early next year. In the mean time, the designers have been beating the snot out of the prototypes.
The pack is essentially a hard shell case with shoulder straps. It comes with a removable 23-liter roll-top dry bag to keep contents waterproof inside.
Another unique touch: The pack converts for use as a bicycle pannier — just remove the shoulder straps and waist belt and it can hang on a bike rack.
The pack will come to market in 2013 for about $230, and it may well be worth it if you frequent high-impact adventure scenarios. Need to drag it behind a truck? Or maybe haul it up a rock face, the pack dragging and scrapping the whole way. Sure. The Honey Badger don’t care.
—Amy Oberbroeckling
