Field Tested: SEG45 on The White Rim Trail

 

 

It’s an ever-present goal among the Matador team to extensively field test our products prior to releasing them to you… the adoring public. Over the last 12 months, our Product Development team has been feverishly prototyping, redesigning, tweaking, and testing the new SEG45.

 

 

The SEG45 is the new iteration of our previously released SEG42. This bag was borne from customer feedback along with our own desire to make a more rugged SEG bag that is engineered for the outdoors. With added UHMWPE reinforced high wear panels, some tweaks to the architecture to embrace duffle carry, as well as a few added bells and whistles, the SEG45 is an ideal choice for any outdoor adventurer.

 

In the summer of 2022, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to traverse the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park as part of a 3-day off-road trip. When the opening came up, of course we jumped at the opportunity to put the SEG45 in the field. Our product team along with the media team set out for Southern Utah, with one mission… abuse the SEG45!

 

Piled in with the rest of team’s gear, which brimmed over the top of the truck bed, the SEG45 was ready for its maiden voyage. Our goal was to expose this bag to all matter of natural elements… so we did. Obscene amounts of dust and dirt covered every inch of the gear, along with ourselves. The beating sun and sporadic mud pits left us all filthy, sweaty, and happy. A plunge in the Green River on our 2^nd day reset our spirits and also gave the SEG45 a taste of wet clothes… which granted didn’t last long in the desert heat. Nonetheless we were incredibly pleased the bag held up as expected, especially when all of our belongings that were stowed away were clean, dry, and ready to help us refresh.

 

Of course it’s never a real adventure without a little bit of adversity. One particular section of the White Rim Trail is extremely rough and bumpy, causing the gear in the back of the trucks to bounce around like popcorn kernels. One particular section, the truck inadvertently left the ground (we have no idea how that happened), a few bags broke free of their ties and sailed into the air landing flatly in the middle of the trail. One of these bags was our illustrious SEG45. Fortunately our follow vehicle radioed ahead and we were easily able to recover and re-secure the payload.

 

We were spoiled with a phenomenal journey through the desert, in one of the most stunning and stark landscapes you can find. And the cherry on top, was traveling with the SEG45 in tow, and knowing that we always had a clean and dry pair of undies for the day ahead.