Triple Aught Design makes some of the toughest no-compromise military-spec gear out on the market. And they have one of the most feverishly dedicated customer families out there. Their design, approach and execution of carry is some of the highest end available.  We’ve had the pleasure to previously Road Test their FAST Pack Litespeed, and it certainly didn’t disappoint (it still has yet to be dethroned as the “favorite backpack that I own”). And we’ve been told forever that their OP1 Admin Pouch is the king of all admin pouches. If it’s anything like their FPL, it should be amazing. So we had to take a look.

A quick intro on Admin Pouches:

Initially they were specifically invented to attach onto the front (chest) area of tactical vests or body armor, to give the user quick and organized access to a multitude of small gear that otherwise would be buried deep in the backpack behind them (inconveniently on their back). Especially when wearing body armor, taking off a backpack in the middle of a combat scenario can prove to be quite difficult, inefficient and unsafe. Lucky for 99.9% of us civilian folk, we’re not in a combat situation in our daily lives. So, these admin pouches are meant to be attached onto any backpack (or messenger or any form of carry really) that has MOLLE/PALS webbing on the exterior to make organizing and accessing our gear much easier. As you can see a little further below, this is my particular gear setup… and this compact pouch holds quite a bit.

Out of the box I was met with exactly what one comes to expect after having been exposed to Triple Aught Design gear in the past… superior quality. Sized at a compact but capable 7.25” L x 1.0” W x 6.75” H, it seems just about right for all my stuff. Any bigger and it would add unnecessary bulk to your pack, any smaller and it wouldn’t be as useful.

The fabric is a durable 500D mil-spec Codura nylon (available in Black, Coyote Khaki, and Foliage Green), the zippers are heavy duty reverse-coil YKK, with two ITW Nexus 1″ D-rings, lined with smooth oxford nylon, and made in the USA.

It’s incredibly fair in price at an affordable $55. On paper, the specs don’t get much better than that. Basically what they’re saying is, this thing isn’t going to fall apart anytime soon.  Maybe ever?

Let’s take a look inside… There is one large zippered main compartment with plenty of appropriately sized elastic webbing to snugly store your primary gadgets.

Within this compartment, there is a non-zippered drop pocket on the back wall to keep larger items for rapid access. Gravity keeps these items in place for you.

There is also a zippered drop pocket on the front wall, which is great for smaller items (like a miniature compass and sharpening stone). This is technically upside down when opened, so the zipper is critical here.

On the exterior, you have two additional compartments for storage.

One, a simple Velcro drop pocket with some nylon webbing to pull it open. In front of that, the other compartment is a flip-up panel with several liner pockets for longer items (pens, etc), all held shut with more Velcro.

Both these two pockets are right on the front of the OP1, so you can quickly snatch and store items on the fly without having to mess with zippers.

If you plan on attaching the OP1 to a TAD FAST Pack Litespeed, you can either add it to the webbing on the front of the Transporter Tail (TT) or to the webbing behind the TT.

For the TAD FAST Pack EDC (see our recent Road Test here), you can attach it to the front of the TT, as there is a zippered pocket behind it.

Both of these options are very convenient to access your gear. And of course, you can add the OP1 to any other pack with MOLLE on it (Mystery Ranch, GORUCK, etc, etc). Rather than force you to buy a pack of malice clips, TAD built in their own attachment system to the back of the OP1. It consists of two structured webbing strips to pass through the pack’s MOLLE, which close with Velcro. Usually, this system is difficult to open once closed, but they designed in two strips of excess webbing to use as pull tabs. A clever detail here.

There are infinite ways to set up the OP1, depending on the gear you decide to run.  Office gadgets, tactical EDC, even Daddy diaper bags. Whatever you’ve got, the OP1 will take, while giving you immediate convenient access to it.  Myself, I opted for an “emergency/survival EDC style” load out for this review.  This pouch holds every item I could possibly need in a pinch.

I personally want an OP1 on all of my military/tactical packs, as they generally don’t have amazing organization (usually just 1-4 pockets maximum). In fact… I want even more military/tactical packs, just so I can have more OP1s, each loaded out with their own unique set ups. Highly recommended for anyone with a MOLLE capable pack that wants to organize their gear.

–

Giveaway

What’s better than one TAD giveaway in two weeks? Yeah, you’ve got it, two giveaways!! Go into the draw to win your own TAD OP1 Pouch (in Coyote Khaki).

Note: these little beauties are currently sold out and only a few can be hunted down in retailers. So this is some real high-in-demand piece of kit! And TAD estimate new stock will be arriving at the beginning of USA’s Fall – that’s a real long time!!

How do you win?

Easy. Just ‘Share’ this post on either Facebook and Twitter and make sure you tag both Carryology and Triple Aught Design – if you don’t tag us we won’t know you’ve entered 😉

The winners will be announced on the 22nd of May.

*Facebook handles: Carryology & Triple Aught Design

*Twitter handles: @Carryology & @tadgear

Good luck!!

–

PS:

Don’t forget to enter to win a a Triple Aught Design FAST Pack EDC at our Road Test / Giveaway!  (contest ends May 22nd)