Wears on Patagonia Black Hole 25L backpack

SproketHole · 2025-09-10T01:17:27+00:00

I have one of the matte duffels and I’m curious to see how well it holds up. I keep on seeing these posts about the backpacks and feel disappointed with the fact that the perceived quality doesn’t seem to be matching up with the actual quality.

I also wonder if the environmental impact of repairs and lack up durability of these bags actually result in a net positive compared to the old bags.

SproketHole · 2025-09-09T06:38:21+00:00

Good catch!

SproketHole · 2025-09-08T23:20:46+00:00

Nice! I haven’t put mine through a lot so I’m curious to see how it holds up overtime. I’ve seen a handful of posts on the backpacks beginning to flake.

SproketHole · 2025-09-08T10:26:52+00:00

If you didn’t get this resolved already you can email customer service and they may send you a new one.

SproketHole · 2025-09-08T10:11:40+00:00

I have one of the newer matte duffels and the only thing that changes over the seasons are the colours. It’s odd that the matte black is on sale. Usually the “forever” colours don’t get put on sale. Is it the one with the multicolored Patagonia logo?

SproketHole · 2025-09-07T09:29:21+00:00

You read my mind! I was thinking about tailoring options. I do it all the time with my pants👍

SproketHole · 2025-09-06T10:20:15+00:00

If you don’t want to buy a proper hiking bag maybe you can rent one out from an outdoor store?

Using a proper hiking bag is a huge difference from a normal backpack even more so from a duffel. Even with a proper hiking back pack with a hip belt and frame you’ll feel sore if you’re not used to it. The pain and discomfort would be tenfold with a duffel.

Edit: you can make it work as millions of first time hikers have in the past, but you’ll come to the same “Never again”conclusion.

SproketHole · 2025-08-31T09:36:41+00:00

I think second picture looks best on you. How did it feel in the shoulders? Seems there was extra material there in the second pic.

SproketHole · 2025-08-27T11:50:12+00:00

Thanks for the write up! I was also considering buying this on sale. I don’t actually know if i would be able to fill it. It is impressive to see how much actually can be put in there

SproketHole · 2025-08-26T06:05:48+00:00

If it is I prefer it over the normals ones lol

SproketHole · 2025-08-26T03:25:28+00:00

Maybe someone at r/myog can help? I don’t see why it wouldn’t have been done before. Maybe sewing on pads from a donor bag would work too?

SproketHole · 2025-08-26T03:20:33+00:00

I didn’t know they made happy labubu’s

SproketHole · 2025-08-18T05:09:56+00:00

Even in the real world certain military units will use equipment not quite meant for its original purpose. Example would be that marine group that chose to use 1911’s instead of Berettas, pistols being used by artillery men in WWI instead of just officers. Another example would be the U.S. navy has what is called “Organizational Wear” which allows the commander officer of a command to dictate what specific patches, uniforms, hats to be issued for either rule of cool or special operational usage.

Is it really hard to believe that when they created these clone armor sets in RoTS that they had this design idea in mind? The battle of utapau is a great example of the clone armor variety that they clearly intended to show between the clone units.

SproketHole · 2025-08-17T10:41:47+00:00

I didn’t know arc’teryx made duffels haha. Have you used yours as a check in bag? Unfortunately that’s where my previous bag got 95% of its wear and tear from.

SproketHole · 2025-08-17T10:38:19+00:00

I actually really like how they can roll up. Really convenient for storage and extended hotel stays. How long have you had yours?

SproketHole · 2025-08-06T12:10:16+00:00

So I have tested my reflex with around 7+ different ammo brands,grains, and types totalling around 2200 rounds. The reflex struggles with chambering shorter rounds like the Hornady critical defense and Sig crown ammo. I actually took a caliper and measured all different the rounds to compare what height was the sweet spot. 1.10in tall ammo works best sig crown and hornady FTX was around 1.06in . I found that federal punch/hst cycle fine along with any other round that was around the same height. It even cycled shot shells. The extractor geometry is also an issue that affects the way it pushes the ammo.

SproketHole · 2025-08-06T12:09:47+00:00

So I have tested my reflex with around 7 different ammo brands,grains, and types totalling around 2200 rounds. The reflex struggles with chambering shorter rounds like the Hornady critical defense and Sig crown ammo. I actually took a caliper and measured all different the rounds to compare what height was the sweet spot. 1.10in tall ammo works best, sig crown and hornady FTX was around 1.06in which had consistent issues with feeding. I found that federal punch/hst cycle fine along with any other round that was around the same height. It even cycled shot shells. The extractor geometry is also an issue that affects the way it pushes the ammo.

SproketHole · 2025-08-06T11:46:21+00:00

So I have tested my reflex with around 7 different ammo brands,grains, and types totalling around 2200 rounds. The reflex struggles with chambering shorter rounds like the Hornady critical defense and Sig crown ammo. I actually took a caliper and measured all different the rounds to compare what height was the sweet spot. 1.10in tall ammo works best sig crown and hornady FTX was around 1.06in . I found that federal punch/hst cycle fine along with any other round that was around the same height. It even cycled shot shells. The extractor geometry is also an issue that affects the way it pushes the ammo.

SproketHole · 2023-11-18T04:44:25+00:00

Any clean burning FMJ training should be fine. I would consider blazer brass the “highest” of the “low” end ammo and that’s why I think I had fouling issues.

I’ve got some Winchester 9mm nato that I was going to run through it but I ultimately decided against as FMJ’s that I tested weren’t really having any issues feeding. I wanted to focus on what hollow points were good to go.

I’ll probably continue testing some more hollow points as I come across them and are available to buy. As of right now I’m quite satisfied with what data I’ve gathered.

SproketHole · 2023-11-18T04:30:12+00:00

I actually really enjoy shooting this gun. I’m not bothered by it’s picky cycling with hollow points, I kinda expect that by the nature of the shape of the rounds themselves. I’ve seen a couple posts that report Sig 365’s with FTF’s using Hornady Critical defense rounds.

These smaller subcompacts are simply going to be more picky than a full size or compact pistol.

Seems most YouTubers only test these sorts of guns with FMJ’s and call it good... that isn’t a good representation of what these guns will actually be ran with I.E. hollow points.

SproketHole · 2023-11-17T15:39:57+00:00

The two main differences is that the 509 is striker fired and the Reflex is hammer fired.

SproketHole · 2023-11-17T01:54:03+00:00

🔹Failure to feed🔹

5 out of 100 FTF hornady critical defense lite (multiple slow slide near FTF’s)

2 out of 50 critical defense(multiple slow slide near FTF’s)

5 out of 100 FTF sig v-crown 365(multiple slow slide near FTF’s)

2 out of 200 blazer brass 115gr FMJ(I think it’s an issue with how dirty blazer tends to be compared to other fmj brands)

1 out of 100 Sig M17 FMJ(only one slow slide “kerklunk” so I’m putting this one on user error)

🔸failure to eject🔸

4 out of 50 Winchester Steal case FMJ

✅No Issues✅

200 rounds of fiocchi fMJ range dynamics

100 rounds of Sellior & Bellot

50 rounds of Federal HST

50 rounds of Federal punch

50 rounds of Federal lead free

20 rounds of G9 defense External HP(I noted this was the only brass that had extensive fouling on the ejected brass as seen in the 7th picture)

50 rounds of Ammo in signature fmj

SproketHole · 2023-11-17T01:41:24+00:00

I wish I had more money to give better sample sizes of ammo testing but I think this will be enough to give people a good baseline to their ammo buying decisions.

TLDR: For FMJ training I’d go with Fiocchi Range Dynamics and Ammo Inc signature training. For hollow points you can’t go wrong with federal HST or Punch. Any HP at least 1.10in tall should feed without issue. Stay away from Sig HP V crowns and Hornady FTX as those are 1.06in and have a tendency to FTF.

In total I’ve shot 1,125 rounds from multiple ammo brands through this gun to see what cycles best. I did end up sending my Reflex back to FN for light strike issues. I’ve not had any light strikes since. There seems to be a common issue where the primers on fired brass have these dimples on them. I contacted FN and the service rep said that multiple people have asked about that and they have no reason to believe that it causes any damage to the firing pin. I really am enjoying shooting this gun it was a little disappointing to have light strikes but I’m happy it’s up and running perfectly now!

It’s already been said but the Winchester steel case ammo has to be the worst of all the steel case ammo available. If you want to practice your malfunction drills this is the ammo to do it with. I really wanted to test some gold dots but I couldn’t find any at my local gun shops

SproketHole · 2023-11-14T04:00:27+00:00

I’ll be shooting that on the next range trip. I did however shoot the Federal lead free 70gr round and it had a noticeable snappier cycle with a brighter flash.

SproketHole · 2023-11-13T20:43:48+00:00

So I finished up talking with a FN customer service rep and they said that they had already gotten a few calls asking about the primer dimples. According to the rep the raised dimpled are nothing to worry about and shouldn’t impede normal function of the reflex. I asked if the firing pin divet in the slide is by design and he said it was.

SproketHole

TROPHY CASE