The Eberlestock F4 Terminator Hunting/Sniper Backpack – click for pricing
The Eberlestock F4 Terminator is a top-notch backpack that’s being used all over the world for all types of purposes. It’s used by the civilian population as a bug-out bag, hiking bag, backpacking, camping, hunting. But it’s also used by a number of military forces around the world as a sniper bag. The Germans use this, so do the Israelis – this is a weapons portable system, just like the G1 LittleBrother, or the G4 Operator packs also from Eberlestock. The back end of this pack opens up to a big expansion pocket where you can stick wood, scabbard any weapons that you need to inside there. Let’s get going reviewing this neat backpack.
The F4 Terminator has 67 liters worth of space, around 4100 cubic inches and weighs 9 lb 10 oz. Definitely not light, but then its target audience, besides military folks, is mostly hunters and serious bushcrafters.
There are a lot of pockets on this bag. As an example, just the top lid has three different sections to it, and the lid itself is detachable and you can wear it as a fanny pack, or as courier bag. The lid has PALS webbing on it and straps to attach other bags and pouches, for instance a sleeping system. On the top of the lid toward the back, there’s a small zipped pocket with lining inside, for carrying sensitive items like a cell phone or glasses. The top front part of the lid opens into the top main compartment. On the side there’s another pocket that goes inside of the back under the top compartment, another area for storage or for a water bladder. Right underneath that there’s a Velcro lid that serves that purpose when the top is used as a fanny bag.
On the front of the backpack there are two rectangle pockets, one on top and one in the lower part. The pockets are covered with Molle webbing. The bottom pocket has got a second zipper all around it that flaps down the pocket and opens to the interior bottom part of the backpack. That’s an open space right below the main compartment, that you can use for the sleeping bag, and which has tuck pockets on each side, as well as webbing to hold the attachments orderly in place.
On the very bottom of the pack, opening with a zipper from the back, is the rain fly compartment. On the bottom of this compartment there’s more PALS webbing.
Let’s now have a look at the side of the bag. Each side is essentially the same, with a tubular pocket extending full length all the way down to the bottom of the bag, straight into a bottle holder. There are compression straps on these pockets, as well as more webbing. Inside of these pockets you can find clips that can support hydration bladders on each side. There are spaces behind these pockets where you can tuck the main compression straps if you don’t want to use them.
Both side pockets can be unzipped on one side to reveal a couple of really large pockets with PALS webbing from top to bottom, where you can attach anything you like. That’s a feature unique to this backpack. These pockets are large enough for stashing a tripod on one side, a thermos and hydration bladder on the other side, or even hydration bladders on both sides. There are really plenty of options with this bag. Another neat feature is that the zips on these pockets have a hook that gets attached to some cordage at the top, so the zip doesn’t slide open by itself.
On the back of the pack, there’s a very sturdy handle, and all the different abilities to adjust this pack to fit your body, and lots of comfortable padding on the shoulder and hip straps. The shoulder straps can be moved up and down to accommodate torsos of various lengths, the aluminum frame stays can be pulled out and bent to the contour of your body, all the nine yards. There’s webbing on the hip belt, to attach external pouches.
As with most Eberlestock packs, there are two ways to approach the main compartment. You can approach it from the front, and from the top, underneath the lid. That’s an example of the thinking that Eberlestock incorporates into their systems. You can access the bag from the top, the front, and even the bottom, as shown earlier. To get in from the front, you unzip all around the top half of the bag, and once inside, you find a massive amount of space with compression straps. On the sides there are pockets made of really heavy-duty mesh.
What makes this bag a good sniping or hunting platform, is not only that you’re able to carry a weapon system, but you’re able to use it as an actual shooting platform. The bag was developed so that you can lay it flat, front side up, and right in between the two front rectangle pockets, you can rest your gun and you can shoot from a solid platform. Very well thought-out.
This backpack does not come with a scabbard, but you can attach one to it. Click for a list of available accessories. Check details, ratings and available colors here.
Watch a video about this backpack: