Unlike the smaller Urban Assault 21, the 24 has a compartment with direct exterior access. That saves a whole lot of digging around when you’re on the move. The laptop sleeve is large enough to fit any 15” laptop, which is great.And, there is a webbing strap with a Velcro strip that ensures that the laptop stays safely in its sleeve, even if you decide to do a handstand with the Urban Assault on your shoulders. We’ve taken this bag all around Michigan and Minnesota throughout our testing cycle. Head down below to read about our experience! Materials & Aesthetic Durable, well-design products are painstakingly developed over time and multiple production cycles. They are refined through systematic testing and careful incremental improvements.

Mystery Ranch Unisex Urban Assault 21 Backpack (pack of 1)

We’ve still been comfortable enough keeping our laptop inside as is, given the support from the frame sheet and the significant suspension of the sleeve from the bottom of the bag. The laptop compartment has a nice false bottom. Both of these features keep our tech protected when it’s getting shuffled around on our commute or if (when) we accidentally drop it. I undervalued it before, but never again. This is an excellent bag, and if you are left wanting in other bags like the GR1, take a look at this one — it will likely fill the void for you. It’s finding its way to my office more and more these days. Another interesting thing about the shoulder straps is the daisy chain. I’m not completely sure if it was intended as an attachment point for additional gear, but you can always improvise with a carabiner. Perfect if you need to carry something bulky around, and don’t want to carry it in your hands. Sternum Strap It would also be great to have a hydration hose pass through on this bag, making it even more versatile. The external laptop access, if done correctly, could double as this as well. But this wold then make the bag a gimme for EDC and Day Hikes.I found the Urban Assault 24 exceptionally comfortable for day hiking. The water beaded off the fabric in light rain and my camera always stayed bone dry.

MYSTERY RANCH Backpacks Catalyst 22 | MYSTERY RANCH Backpacks

You can use the laptop sleeve for a hydration bladder, but there’s not a dedicated hole for the tube to go through. Each of those are minor gripes about the bag, and I could see many people arguing that the bag is better because of how it is right now, I am sure adding any of these would increase costs. They would make for a nicer setup though. There is enough organization on this bag to be very useful, but not enough to make the bag overly structured or less versatile. Just right. The 3-ZIP design means you can open just the top lid, which is shown here, or the full duffel-esque long zip for full access. If you want a bit more access, there’s the third, vertical zipper. It opens up the main compartment fully and helps you get to the things at the bottom of the main compartment in a matter of seconds.

Performance Comparison

I suspect I’ve convinced more people of late to buy the Urban Assault 21, than I have the GR1. The reasons being: It’s more comfortable than some of the other cheaper Mystery Ranch bags I have tried, and more comfortable than the Fixed 1 Day Assault I reviewed. It works well. But is it so good that it’s worth the triple-digit price tag? In this Mystery Ranch Urban Assault 21 review, we are going to find out!

Review: Mystery Ranch Urban Assault 21 (in comments) Review: Mystery Ranch Urban Assault 21 (in comments)

The 3-Zip design has allowed for easy access to the bottom of the bag—it’s been easy to grab a balled-up hoodie out of the bottom of the bag I am not 100% sure if this is an intentional design feature (Mystery Ranch does not mention it anywhere), but it certainly is a useful one. The ability to attach a water bottle to the shoulder strap and always have easy access to it suddenly makes this a great option for hiking.The top pouch of the Urban Assault holds small, easy-to-access items. It’s protected by a watertight zipper, as you can see here. That’s coupled with the crazy durable 500D Cordura fabric. The size makes it easy to store lots of items, but then it’s hard to sort through those items well. The zipper is also quite hard to open with a single hand. With over four decades of design and manufacturing experience – coupled with simultaneous in-the-field testing and real-world hammering – we've learned a thing or two about load transfer, active framing and the importance of using only the most top-shelf materials.