Tactical Baby Gear: Carrier Bags Review

RECOIL reviews the Tactical Baby Gear diaper bag, day pack, and accessories. Tactical baby gear carriers for tactical dads … and tactical moms!

Tactical Baby Gear Overview

With Father's Day celebrations fresh in mind, we take stock of the tremendous importance of family. Building one's family typically starts with the cutest bawling ball of flesh and a pile of diapers. That's when you need a carrier from Tactical Baby Gear.

Any new dad has probably walked the aisles at stores like Babies R Us with mom, picking out pacifiers, bottles, and other assorted baby tactical gear. Not to mention all manners of diaper bags, designed to hump all this kit — in colors like teal, coral, pink, and azure.

What the hell is azure? Screw azure. Let's think about this — what industry knows a thing or two about carrying kit? Where can you find load-bearing gear that's modular, flexible, and durable?

Sure enough, the guys at Tactical Baby Gear thought the same thing — why not build and optimize tactical bags for all the dads out there?

We took a look at two of their newest product lines, the TBG The Deuce Diaper Bag 2.0 and the TBG Day Pack. We put them to the test with one of our staffers, who has a new baby boy. Here's a typical load out:

Tactical Baby Gear The Deuce Diaper Bag 2.0

The Deuce Diaper Bag 2.0 is a typical over-the-shoulder bag, tailored for diaper bag duty. The front side features three built-in pouches; the vertical pouch perfectly fits a pack of baby wipes and has two rows of MOLLE webbing, while horizontal pouches keep other items close at hand.

The top one is zippered, and the bottom one has a velcro flap. A full length zippered and padded pocket is a nice spot for a tablet. There's also plenty of velcro in the Tactical Baby Gear bag to slap on your favorite morale patches.

The back side of the bag has a complete field of MOLLE webbing and a full-size zippered pocket. We used the pocket to hold a changing pad (more on this later).

While the MOLLE makes attaching additional pouches convenient, we opted against that for daily use because it made carrying the bag more awkward, especially with more bulk against the body and the shoulder strap anchored in the middle of the bag. Note that the shoulder strap has plastic hardware.

Diaper Bag back.

The inside of the Tactical Baby Gear bag is padded and lined with nylon. The back side has a full sized pocket with mesh and solid pockets on front of the panel.

The rest of the interior has velcro attachments for a removable padded T-shaped divider. A carabiner attachment is handy to clip in keys, toys, or whatever you'd like.

Diaper bag inside.

The Deuce Diaper Bag worked well, swallowing everything and organizing it nicely. Everything we needed was easy to access, and no one had to hand over their man card. It's offered in coyote brown and black.

Tactical Baby Gear for Dads: Day Pack 2.0

You can't beat a backpack for serious load carriage — they're better suited for vigorous activity, heavy loads, and long treks. The TBG Day Pack serves this role for the new dad and is also available in coyote brown and black.

The pack bristles with MOLLE webbing for attaching accessories and pouches. The front flap has a side access zippered compartment and a felt-lined pocket at the top, both handy to keep frequently used items easily accessible. Bottle pouches adorn the left and right sides of the pack, with more MOLLE webbing at the ready.

Tactical Baby Gear Day Pack Front pocket.

There's closed cell foam padding to cushion your back and shoulders, a removable waist strap, and an adjustable chest strap. Note that the tops of the shoulder straps are positioned fairly close to each other — some testers didn't notice but some preferred wider spacing.

The Tactical Baby Gear pack comes with a 2.5 liter hydration bladder, which slips into a pocket on the back side and is secured with velcro straps. Many packs have a pass-through slot for the hose; this one doesn't but has dual zippers, so you can leave a gap to accommodate the hose.

There's also a small hidden pocket at the base of the pack, behind the bottom foam. We tried stashing a weapon there; the pocket is rather small, barely taking a Glock 23. Smaller guns would work better, though there's no loop Velcro lining to attach a holster, so you'd have to add your own or figure out a way to safely secure your pistol.

Tactical Baby Gear Day Pack Back pocket.

The main compartment is roomy, with nylon lining and built-in pockets on the back side. There's a full size pocket plus a mesh pocket on the top half of its face and additional organizing pockets below.

The TBG Day Pack easily swallowed everything we had stashed in the Deuce Diaper Bag, and as a backpack, we appreciated it on a long day at a local amusement park.

But with fewer exterior pouches and pockets, it was harder to quickly access items. For daily use, we'd look to attach another MOLLE pouch or two to the front panel to alleviate this.

Still, the shoulder bag was easier to work from when wrangling a child. As with everything in life, you can't avoid trade offs.

Baby Tactical Gear TBG Dump Pouch 2.0

We also had some optional accessories, shown attached to the Deuce Diaper Bag. The TBG Dump Pouch 2.0 is quite clever, puns aside.

When closed, it's quite compact; when unzipped and deployed, the removable and washable nylon pouch will take that dirty stink bomb until you can find a better place to desecrate with your kid's toxic waste.

TBG Bottle Pouch 2.0

The Tactical Baby Gear Bottle Pouch 2.0 is a nice, thermal lined pouch with a drawstring to secure your bottle. You can attach it to your bag with MOLLE straps, and it's wrapped with MOLLE webbing as well.

TBG Changing Mat

Finally, the TBG Changing Mat was both fun and useful. With a velcro enclosure, it opens to provide a convenient and hygienic surface to change diapers. A built-in pocket is a nice spot to stow a few diapers or wipes.

Tactical Baby Gear Changing mat open.

Tactical Baby Gear Changing mat closed.

So if you want to proudly celebrate tactical fatherhood rather than lugging a delicate azure bag, check out these bags. The Deuce Diaper Bag retails for $80; the combo set shown above also includes the changing mat, bottle pouch, and dump pouch for an MSRP of $162.

Purchased separately, the accessories retail for $35, $30, and $30, respectively. The Day Pack 2.0 retails for $135. Check the Tactical Baby Gear website though, they often offer discounts on this pricing.

If tactical diaper carriers trip your trigger, you're gonna love Tactical Gun Digest: The World’s Greatest Tactical Gun Book.

Corey Graff contributed to this article.

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