How many of you men carry a man purse? I know in the midwest where I live I have never seen another male with one in the 3 years I have carried one, but I understand on the coasts and in some parts of Europe they are pretty common.

When I first got a man purse my male friends made all the necessary homosexual jokes and a few females laughed so hard they snorted. By now everyone I know is just used to it.

What is a man purse? It is basically just a purse carried by women, but fashioned to look more manly. Same thing really.

I am one of those people who hates having stuff in my pocket or on my belt. My work requires me to carry a cell phone and pager so I needed another means of carrying them than my pockets or belt.

In winter I have plenty of pockets for carrying stuff, but in summer when I wear shorts, t-shirt and sandals carrying room is at a premium.

I used to use a fanny pack, but it is a waist worn item and few are designed to organize what is carried, they are usually just one pouch.

Then I found a Lewis N Clark man purse. It is only about 11" long x 8" tall x 2-4" wide (depending on how much it is stuffed full of stuff). It has a shoulder strap to carry like a purse as well as a waist strap to carry like a nerd bag (fanny pack).

This thing has 4 zippered areas and 2 of those areas have sub areas with sub areas for organization.

In the main area I carry my keys, wallet, mini survival kit, hand held GPS, eye drops, aspirin etc. In another compartment I carry a digital camera and lots of spare batteries. In another area I carry change and a small knife. I also carry a writing pad, pen and pencil, cell phone and pager.

The purse is perhaps at half it's carrying capacity. If I wanted to I could put a smaller Glock in it and still have room to spare.

Yes, it is a purse and it is for men and I get that many find the idea too 'feminine', but for me I think it is too practical to not carry.

What do you think?

does the countycomm bob bag count??

Yeah, I have one, it's called and F350 .

I do use a computer bag from Oakley, but only if the laptop is on the trip.
Oakley Laptop Bag

I usually have a small EDC backpack on or near me for most of the time, however there are some occasions that wearing a backpack is not that conducive. On these occasions, I carry a $15.00 shoulder bag ( the term, man purse is not heard around this area). The bag can hold a fair amount of EDC and still not look out of place as they are very common here.

As I have stated many times, I have small backpack (summit style) with me at all times. It fits my lifestyle. I think a large part of pulling off a look is being committed to it.

I also have small drawstring bags with race logos on them that I will use and a roughed up canvas utility bag similar to Izzy's.

The responses to people who pick on my bag of tricks vary by the gender and apparent education of the person trying it.

To the higher brow, I point out that until very recently, all men carried a purse with their money in it, usually tucked into their tunic or cloak or belt, as the pocket was something of a rarity. The equally wise, but less frilly, I just remind them than Dan Boone, Dave Crockett and no finer butt kickers than Roger's Rangers, the US Sharpshooters, and even some units in WWII carried bags of similar size to hold much of their stuff. To women, I just ask if they want to know where I got it. (Sold a fatboy that way.) And for the tacky, I just point out to them some of us have bigger bags for a reason and they have my pity. *laughs*

Very true. I say carry whatever setup you need for the occasion and walk like you gotta brass pair. To quote Dan Aykroyd in Spies Like Us, "We mock what we don't understand."

The WWII bag was known as a musette bag. The F350 is literally my murse, my tool box and until recently my office. It even has the laptop mount like you see in EMS/LEO vehicles. Don't knock it, it's the only murse with heat and air.

Sherpadog, I like your 'shoulder bag'. I guess man purse/murse might be a midwestern term since folks around here seem to be instinctively/reflexively homophobic.

What I like about it is that it is longer from top to bottom than from side to side. My 'man purse' is longer from side to side than top to bottom which makes it look more purse like, whereas your looks more utilitarian and thus 'manly'.

I am not looking to change from what I have since I have worn it for 3 years and it looks the same as the day I got it, but if I were to do it all over again I would probably choose something taller than it is wide as it breaks the 'purse' stereotype very well.

Then again, anyone who harrasses me on account of my having a purse will have to contend with what the purse holds

When I rode the train to work I used to stow my gear in a bag VEEERY much like that shown by Sherpadog, but made by Eagle Creek. I think it was called a Guide Bag or similar.

I looked at Eagle Creek's web site and don't see it listed. The one Sherpadog showed looks so much like it I wonder if someone bought or licensed the design. Nice bag.

DW refers to me as a "Bag-Ho" because I'm always getting another murse. I have one for when I'm out with her, another when I'm out with the daughters in civilized places, a third when I'm out in the woods with the daughters, one just for teaching my edible plant class, etc... Oh, and don't forget my traveler's vests.

I recommend Kakadu bags.

-Blast

p.s. No one other than my wife has ever said anything derogatory about my bags.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of the inside of the bag and its contents.

MEC (Mountain Equipment CO-OP has had this same basic bag design for at least 8-10 ten years that I know of. Regardless of who designed or licensed the bag, it is one of the best investments that I have ever made. The one main difference between the bag pictured and the one I have is the color. Mine is a deep blue but I am thinking of getting the olive colored bag the next time I am near a MEC store.

I have an Eagle Creek shoulder bag that I carried for years as a man purse, my wife called it my Bag Of Plenty (BOP) even back then. I carried it all over Europe with everything but the kitchen sink, and retired it afterwards.

No I compartmentalize rather than try to carry the kitchen sink everywhere, so opt for vest/coats with lots of pockets. After being stalked by a pickpocket in Paris that obviously coveted my BOP, and the contents, I decided discreet carry was the better option.

But I have BOP's in reserve just in case!

I have an Ameribag Coil , terra cotta. Decent bag, I take it for trips when I wanna play the tourist. Worthless for ccw, but great for toting stuff around.
I don't EDC enough stuff to warrant a bag everyday. I'd put it down somewhere and forget it anyway.

Desperado, you have me beat. I only have a little Silverado 1500.

But you're right about it being a cool purse that no one objects to.

I carry a Maxpedition Fatboy everywhere (except for fancy dress up events -- it clashes with my suit).

Most folks ask me if I'm a photographer (guess it looks like an old fashioned camera bag to some folks).

I first started regularly carrying messenger bags from everest.com back in 2002. I edc'd all sorts of stuff in it. That was back in the day when I was working telecoms and would find myself in fairly remote locations in eastern Washington. I also had one specifically for hunting, which was equipped somewhat differently to suit my needs on the trail. I had a couple friends who also bought into the messenger bag routine. Occasionally we referred to them as possibles bags as well. Most of eastern Washington is what I call Hayseed territory; most agricultural interspersed with minor municipalities, nothing even closely resembling metropolitan (anyone who would consider any part of Spokane to be metropolitan must live out in the sticks). Anyways, I reckon anyone who saw us with our messenger bags over a shoulder probably figured it was man-appropriate, something akin roughly to John Wayne slapping a saddle bag over his shoulder on his way through the desert or some such.

When I forsook my eastern Washington life for a trip to the sandbox, I left the messenger bag hanging on the doorknob to the reloading room and grabbed a backpack to convert into a bug-out bag which was routinely edc'd. I re-equipped at the PX and off the internet for the environment there, and upon my return home, I loaded the BOB into the foot locker and now it resides on the shelf, roughly equipped with most of the same BOB supplies, but adding a few more goodies as I encountered them over the years. When I got to New York, I decided that, since I had to tote my laptop to and fro, I would get a stout shoulder bag/briefcase that would accomodate my laptop and a whole bunch of edc items, thus ending up with a 30 lb man-purse of sorts, but I doubt anyone would actually mistake it for a purse per se. That Swiss Army bag went with me to Brisbane, Florida, and now here in Denver. Unfortunately my company upgraded my laptop and now the bag weighs more than my shoulder will tolerate, so I swapped out my bag for a slightly larger case with wheels and a telescoping handle, which I drag around behind me day in/day out to and from work. I still have it stocked full of most of the same edc stuff (fak, tools, supplies) as I have had more or less for the past 5 years.

As my social life picks up, and I am starting to get out and play more and more here in Colorado, I will most likely load up one of my daypack-style backpacks with appropriate gear and supplies to tote with me up in the hills, out to the shooting range, or just bum around town.

I still have my old messenger bags, and they still have gear in them, but I just haven't really felt much like throwing one over my shoulder again. BTW, I think messenger bags of the type I have are far superior to toting fanny packs around. I never got used to strapping one of those around my waist. I had one back in the 90s, mostly for my pistol CCW, and it just never felt right.

Ben,

If you have to go back to a bag for the laptop look at Oakley brand bags. I have two, the one listed above for the MacBook and a true backpack for my 5 ton pc laptop (17" HP). They do something different with the suspension that makes the load much more bearable, even with bad shoulders. Swiss Army also has a good one. I actually picked both up at the Apple store, one in your neck of the woods. YMMV

i have a Shell Bag from Duluth Pack.i looks like just what it is.
the shoulder strap is thick leather and it shuts with two leather straps and brass buckels..two pouches inside. leave it outside for a month,drag it thru the mud and wash in a lake someplace and it will look like you just got back from duck hunting and not the expresso cafe--

WWII British MK-VII.

Last night I posted that, today I would provide some photos of my shoulder bag and contents, so here it is. Keep in mind that the shoulder bag is only used perhaps 10% of the time and the gear seen in the photos is the minimum that I carry. The everyday small backpack I usually carry contains much more then shown here.

My shoulder bag is a bit older and has a slightly different design then the pic I posted last night. The bag is empty in this photo.



There are a number of internal pockets. Including a handy zippered pocket in the flap


As I stated above, this is a minimal carry load.

In the next photo below
From top row left to right:
Safety glasses ( I have very limited vision in one eye as it is and cannot afford
to loose vision in the other good eye... Also the safety glasses are kept in a case that is not shown here.
A few very basic 1st aid supplies. There is some hand sanitizer, chap stick and anti-biotic cream in the underside of the package.
Some wet ones, diaper wipes and examination gloves

Middle row and left to right:
Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Immodium, Anti-histamine pills
Extra pair of socks
MP3/ AM/FM radio / USB file storage. There is an extra Eneloop battery to the left that is barely visible.
Extra boot laces
Various coins are in the film container
Extra shoe laces. I walk to and from work (9 miles round trip) and breaking a boot or shoe lace along the way and not having a spare is very inconvenient...
Swiss army knife
Box cutter knfe
Bic Lighter
Flexible camera tripod and extra camera lenses....I don't go anywhere without my camera

Bottom row left to right:
Paper towels/napkins in a plastic zip bag
Pen and notebook
Crackberry
Extra AAA batteries
Mini-maglite
Small keychain LED.



Next 5 photos:
All the gear easily fits in the bag, in these photos the gear is pulled up slighly up or out of the pockets so it is easier to see.











With all the gear in the pockets and a water bottle, there is still some room to spare.


With top flap buckled into place, it makes for an easy carry

I prefer to have my goodies attached to me as much as possible. That or course means belt pouches, and I usually wear "cargo" pants (currently 5.11's, which I really like) so I can put the rest of my "stuff" in the pockets. No one can snatch and run with it, I can't set it down someplace and then forget and walk away from it. Heaven help me if I ever fall in deep water...

Speaking of 5.11 gear, LA Police Gear is having a 5.11 clearance sale at the moment, I picked up an extra uniform shirt and pants for about 1/2 their normal cost a couple of weeks ago.

Might be worth checking out if you like their stuff.

L.A. Quartermaster also has pretty decent prices on 5.11 gear as any LAPD officer can attest to.

JohnE

I doubt I will go back to just a shoulder bag anymore. If I can't drag it behind me, then I will likely go to a backpack style next. Actually, the Swiss Army bag I used to tote with a shoulder strap converts to a backpack as well, so I could just use it again. I can tell ya, it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

Erik..i was thinking of a musette bag.my Dad had one and it was a prized item he would not let me fool around with.but i try and avoid the military look so i went with hunting gear..

Sherpadog,

I had originally purchased that bag, but I was a bit uncomfortable walking around with it on my shoulder. Not because of the way it's made, I just felt like I was carrying a woman's purse. I know, I know, it's stupid and I shouldn't be caring about that, but in the end I took it back to Mountain Equipment Coop.

I decided to get a larger bag, the "Carry-On" model. It felt more manly, probably because of it's size. I like it a lot, you can fit a day or two's worth of clothing and equipment for when you travel. It can convert into a backpack or a messenger bag. It also has a padded laptop sleeve, multiple compartments (some hidden)... Really nice!



I walk 15 minutes to work, and the Carry-On bag always comes with me, messenger bag style. I carry my letter-size planner in it, some snacks, sunglasses, hat, gloves, Leatherman Juice S2, etc. Works fine for me.

I carry an Eagle Creek "Guide" bag frequently, and I also have a really nice custom-designed bag that we gave out as a holiday present here at work. It was originally a bag used by a famous DJ to carry his laptop and stuff to gigs, but it turns out to be a near-perfect emergency bag that I keep in the car.

The Eagle Creek bag is really nifty, "manly" enough that I don't get any poop for carrying it. We actually have 2 of them, my wife has one because she hates "dorky" diaper bags.

When I'm home I'll post pix.

Here's my EDC/Get Home bag









I'll show you the contents later, maybe, if you're good.

I have a smallish Eagle Creek bag that can be carried as shoulder-bag or waist-pack. I don't call it a "man bag" or a "murse" or any such thing because that makes it sound even gayer. I like the Eagle Creek one because its style is not effeminate with being overly-macho (cf the Maxpedition stuff). Also it doesn't look too expensive.

It has two main compartments. I keep one mostly free for utility use. The other half has a small first-aid kit, an emergency bivvy, headlamp, monocular, N95 mask, paracord and various other preparedness stuff.

I also have fairly full pockets, and I don't take the bag everywhere so I don't consider it EDC. It's not so much that I care what others think as it not being convenient.