I have always had a love hate relationship with chest camera bags for back country use. Your camera is always right there and protected, but most of the carrying harnesses just plain sucked, or the bags were too boxy or the flap opened towards your body. I should know, I’ve owned four of them two from Lowepro, one Mountainsmith, and now one Clik Elite. Despite it’s minor shortcomings the Large SLR Chest Pack from Clik Elite may be the last one I ever own. That is saying a lot from a guy that swears by Lowepro, yes the Mountainsmith buy was a serious short term laps in judgment. Clik Elite is a new company that only makes camera bags for adventure travel. The designer is the same guy that started Ultimate Direction, which is well known for their well made hydration systems.
It took some time for me to decide to buy the Clik Elite since the retail is $20 ($100 MSRP) more than the Lowepro Toploader Pro 70 AW ($80 MSRP) and I already owned the Lowepro. The company’s philosophy of designing bags specifically for outdoor use and the fact they "dock" together with larger packs in their line got me and I had to have one. I bought mine from Adorama for $89.99 since Clik Elite’s dealer system is pretty limited and not offered in the Midwest. My first impression of this bag when I took it out of the box was that I could probably shot it with my Glock and not damage the bag it is that beefy. Don’t take that as a bad thing, I want my camera bags to be beefy, more protection the better. The zippers are heavy duty and are going to last for years with out fail. All of the stitching seems to be excellent.
There are just two sections of the bag, one main compartment for your camera and an accessory pocket on top of the flap to access the main compartment. The main compartment is simple, lined with a soft material and tapered to hold the camera tight and opens away from you. I’ve had no problem fitting my D300 with a battery pack and a Nikkor 18-70 attached, hood backwards. The accessory pouch holds the essentials for a DLSR very well and doesn’t add bulk to the camera bag. I even have enough room to fit the cables to connect my GPS to my camera without them being in the way of other things in the pouch. The one major over site in the bags design is the lack of a rain cover. Are you serious, no rain cover? Any bag that is meant to be carried in the backcountry should have a rain cover. Since this bag does cost close to $100 I think this is the most serious design flaw and lack of forethought. I know your think enough beating them up over this but since the bag is so well thought out this just really sticks out.
The carrying harness is a well designed and just enough padding that you don’t notice it even under the straps of a larger backpack. The yoke does tend to ride up some in the back which cause the top of the bag to lean out but it would be hard to have a yoke that fits everyone perfectly. One problem I’ve had with all chest mount camera bags is the strap that goes around your body and this bag is no exception. When you are breathing hard you have to compromise in loosening up the strap so you can breath and having it tight so it doesn’t move around. Previously I’ve used a bungee strap around my back or pack to hold the bottom of the pack in and still be able to breathe when I’m working hard. The way the straps are designed on this bag it will be difficult to do that but the way the bag is designed it would be easy for them to add some elastic. The “D” rings that attach to the bag and the webbing could easily be attached to the bag the same way Blackhawk Tactical does with their military chest rigs. They use a heavy duty elastic webbing to attach the “D” rings instead of nylon webbing. Just a suggestion if you’re reading this Clik Elite.
I only have two other complaints about the bag and they are very minor. First this bag has really nice nylon cord pulls attached to metal zipper pulls. Get rid of those damn noisy metal zipper pulls and just use the really nice cord ones you already have on the bag. I did cut the metal ones off they bugged me so much. I know it is OCD but I’m comfortable with my problem. The last is there isn’t just a plain old shoulder strap so you can carry this bag over the shoulder. I like to have a small bag when I'm at family events and my large commercial bag would just be inconvenient. Their buckles that connect the shoulder harness are their own design so really can’t make your own to connect to these buckles. I will probably email them and see if I can buy a shoulder strap like the one they have on their smaller bags. So this is really a minor complaint.
In conclusion the Clik Elite Large SLR Chest Pack is an excellent choice if you like spending time outside and want your camera well protected and close at hand. Despite it’s minor flaws I think it is the best chest pack I’ve ever owned. So my Lowepro Toploader Pro 70 AW is on eBay. I will also be buying Clik Elite’s Medium Nature pack before the summer so look for a full report in how the two mate together.
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