Mystery Ranch x Carryology Spartanology (“Cerberus”) Impressions Review

The Spartanology is the 3rd collaboration bag between Mystery Ranch and Carryology. It’s the smallest of the three and based on an older bag that was called the Spartan.

Some quick features

• 16 L volume (feels tight)
• X-Pac X50 exterior in a variety of colors (black, multicam black, multicame alpine, and multicam woodland)
• Main compartment accessible via a panel/flap opening
• Lots of interior pockets — laptop sleeve, mesh slots, zippered pocket, and side dump pockets
• Dual exterior water bottle pockets, and dual hydration ports
• Height-adjustable harness with load lifters and sternum strap
• Integrated (non-removable) “Stick-It” beaver tail that stows in a pocket on the bottom of the bag

It’s a relatively new bag, and it doesn’t have much mileage on it yet in terms of use, so this is very much a quick/impressions review.

Critiques so far

I thought I would like this bag more than I do so far. Access to the main compartment feels unnecessarily cumbersome and requires 4 steps:

1. Unclip buckle
2. Fold up flap
3. Unzip the two sides
4. Pull down flap

Doing this almost certainly requires two hands, which makes this pretty much a non-starter as a parenting bag for me, at least not until my kid can walk on his own.

Getting your laptop involves pulling it out at an angle because the opening is more outward-facing rather than upward. This is further exacerbated if you have the main compartment packed out. And when that’s the case, the front bottom exterior zippered pocket easily gets flattened out making it impractical for anything that doesn’t have a flat profile.

Not the intended use, but I tried using the bag as a compact tennis bag. Because of the opening, the handle sticks out at an angle.

The hydration port holes are not consistent across bags (a particularly heated topic in the Carryology Facebook group). Even on my bag, one is 👌 and the other by default always has a small opening. Nevertheless, it’s not really an issue unless you’re hoping to use the bag in heavy rain.

With the Stick-It deployed, main compartment/internal mesh pocket access is somewhat hindered.

I also wish there was some internal organization that makes better use of the upper part of the bag, maybe move the mesh zippered pocket a little higher. As it is, the main compartment fills up and gets tight very quickly, so having pockets to utilize the top space would help. Additionally, that mesh pocket is not accessible if you have the Stick-It deployed.

Lastly, the branding is a little excessive. I could do without the logos on the Fidlock buckles.

What I like about it

There is a lot I do like about the pack. The X50 black and materials are solid. If you don’t like the sheen or smoothness of VX and prefer the texture of Cordura, this will feel like the best of both worlds. Chunky #10 zippers for the panel opening make it fun to grip-and-rip open (even if you have to do it once for each side).

The adjustable yoke and back panel are very comfortable. Having the ability to lengthen/shorten the harness is pretty awesome especially if you’re sharing the bag with someone else who is a different height. It is a smaller bag so shorter folks finally get a taste of that Mystery Ranch x Carryology collab goodness (the “Unicorn” and “Dragon” are really tall packs).

The elastic slots in the main compartment and top lid pocket are effective at taming smaller items. A lot of bags have more medium/larger pockets where small items slosh around, so it’s nice to finally get a bag where the balance is more towards smaller pockets.

The deployable beaver tail is quite handy when you need it. I’ve used it to keep dirty shoes/sandals outside and drying in the sun at the beach. When you don’t need it, it stows nicely in a pocket on the bottom of the bag and serves as a layer of protective padding (the bottom is otherwise not padded). Just be careful because stuff can slip out of the sides of the beaver tail if not secured properly. Yes, I lost a sandal.

The hypalon counter pulls are very functional especially with the Aquaguard zippers that tend to be stiffer.

The dual side water bottle pockets are awesome, perhaps one of my favorite implementations. They are made with a nice balance of elastic and exterior fabric, stay low profile when not in use, but can expand easily to fit a 1L Nalgene. They are also a good height, not too short and not too deep.

Concluding thoughts

I mentioned earlier that the bag feels tight for 16 L. A GORUCK Bullet 15 can comfortably store more stuff. Regardless, it’s more than adequate for my office EDC or a non-winter day hike.

I’m not in love with how the bag looks, and for that reason (along with the other critiques) I will probably move it along. I wanted to at least give this a shot since it is in the liter range for EDC for my needs, and c’mon, it’s an exciting collab!

Thanks for reading this quick review! Leave a comment or send us a message on our Instagram to see what else we’re testing.