I purchased both the tall and standard versions of this backpack, thinking I'd decide which one I liked more and return the other. I'm actually returning both, and here's why.Here's the deal- Both this bag and its little brother are as tough and sturdy as everyone says they are. The stitching looks good and I don't know what they're made of, but it feels like 1000D Cordura. I really liked the icon based organization too, and the pistol cases are one of the coolest features I've seen in a range bag. I'm not going to get into whether 3 pistols or 4 pistols in a range bag makes more sense, that's your call. Go watch the YouTube reviews if you aren't sure.Unfortunately, as the sum of its parts, neither bag really seems to come together. 1000D Cordura (or whatever they used) is bombproof, but it's also a very stiff, abrasive fabric. Couple that with the padding and inner lining stitched to it, and you have a bag that wants to retain its shape regardless of the hard shell surrounding the pistol storage. Sounds great in theory, but it was actually pretty annoying in practice. The main compartments of each backpack are particularly bad about grinding the zippers against my hands while I'm reaching into it, and carrying it feels like carrying a fabric box.Speaking of box, pictures and video don't really do justice to how ugly these backpacks are. The front of the Tall version looks like it'd be awesome with its hard shell enclosures, but up close it's not so great. Same with the standard version; they're squat, ugly nylon boxes with tacticool amounts of MOLLE. They both have unnecessary waistband straps that don't tuck away, and the standard version has a pointless compression strap that only gets in the way (but is removable, leaving potentially useful D-rings stitched to the bag).- The standard version's space management in its upper front pouch (eyes & ears) wastes space by centering the inner pouches, whereas the Tall doesn't.- The Tall version's lower front pouch wall uses a soft loop backing similar to Vertx's, allowing you to make your own pouches with Velcro's One Wrap or use the included velcro backed cups and divider. Depending on who you are, the cups may or may not be useless. They're useless to me, but I still preferred the Tall's velcro backing for its versatility. The standard's stitched pockets and elastic loop combo just seemed like an arbitrary limitation of my options.- The standard version's main compartment is vastly superior to the Tall's. 400 rounds of 9mm, muffs, OWB paddle holster, double mag holder, Lula loader, fit almost lazily into the smaller bag with space to spare. The Tall's required a careful Tetris job for the same gear, and was maxed out.- Both the Tall and the standard version's main compartments have a divider between the two with a velcro'd bottom, but stitched sides and top. What is the point of a divider with three sides stitched and one with velcro? It's neither removable nor completely sealed. This struck me as especially dumb with the Tall version, since half the main compartment is occupied by the 4th pistol pouch.- Speaking of pistol pouches, ignore folks who say they won't hold three full size guns in the bottom. I fit a P226 + TLR-2HL, an Arex Rex Zero 1t with RMR & TLR-1HL, and a CZ75 into the compartment, with 4 mags each. Use your brain when choosing which direction the pistol is facing inside the pouch, and you'll have similar results.- Icon based storage is great, but it's hit or miss with both bags. If the pocket isn't large enough to hold standard sized eye pro like ESS Crossbows, Wiley's, etc, what's the point of making it? I shouldn't have to forcibly compress my glasses into the pocket. The earplug pouches are on the small side as well. The stapler, tape, multitool, and phone pockets are good to go, but I'm not a phablet guy so your mileage may vary.If G Outdoors offered a model that combined the best features of both, I might be interested in it:- Standard height, the Tall's width- increase the eyes/ears pouch size- the Tall's hard sided front pockets and soft loop interior, the standard's double main compartment (with an actual removable divider)- lose the waist straps, keep the chest strap, keep the compression strap (the strap is useless, the D-rings it uses aren't)- lighten the material weight to 600DIt'd still be a squat, ugly box of a backpack, but at least its design and features would make sense to me.I thought I stumbled onto something great with these packs and I really wanted to like them, but they just don't work as intended and every use would require too many compromises to justify their cost.TLDR: Awesome bag, if you could actually fit guns into it.Built like a tank.-However, the gun bags, which fit nicely into the bag when empty, are a struggle to get into place when they have a gun in them. Add magazines in their holders in the gun bags and three guns are a real struggle to make fit in the bottom compartment. We're talking H&K USP compact with four mags in the pouches, a Smith and Wesson 625 revolver with NO mags, and a S&W 617 revolver in .22, also no mags. Bummed.-The Gun bags are tiny unless you only shoot compact autos or small revolvers. Neither my K frame 617 revolver or my N-Frame 625 will entirely fit into these bags length-wise.-The fleece lined pockets in the gun bags, presumably intended for the gun itself, has only a tiny opening at the "top of the bag. Gun bags generally open fully (which, if you don't use the pocket, these do as well), for a reason. Having to struggle to get a weapon around the zipper and into the fleece pocket creates the potential for muzzle control issues. If you lie the gun into the nylon-face central pocket of the gun bag itself, this isn't an issue, but then why waste space with a fully-padded fleece pocket?-Gun bags are way overpaddded, contributing to all of the above issues. Two layers of padding between the mags and the gun (if you use the pocket), or two layers of padding between the gun and the outside of the bag (if you don't use the pocket) is overkill. The Large bag itself is quite protective, and I'd be quite happy to use the gun bags alone without concern for a quick trip to the range if my GUNS FIT. But, many of them do not.-The gun bags do not have locking zippers. While this would be overkill if you used them only with the whole range bag arrangment, these really are so overbuilt that they'd be nice to use occasionally alone. Unfortunately, in California, your gun bag must be locked in most circumstances for transport. I live in a jurisdiction that will most likely be fine with a padlock through the pull loops, but in the city.... maybe not so cool.===Most of the specialized pockets suffer from being on the small side, and too tall for their use. This results in a very small opening at the top of the compartment that make them hard to actually, you know, use...Compartments are on the small side. There is no dedicated space for muffs in this bag, and not a lot of extra space for them in the larger main compartment. Having said that, is easy to find a small Molle bag to put on the upper outside opposite the upper gun bay.- Who in the hell designs a range bag without a few loops for a sharpie and a pen or pencil. I use these far, far, more often at the range than I do my stapler. Yeah, you can use the Molle loops, but you wanna see my back seat after the sharpie gets knocked out of it's cap (which is clipped into a Molle loop) and rolls around for a while?--Which leads to: I teach. I have seven range staplers. NONE of them fit into the "stapler" pouch on this bag.-The "ammo/parts" cups. These are smart, but need to fold. ESPECIALLY if you shoot lots of .22 (again, I teach. We shoot LOTS of .22....), being able to dump the rounds out of their packaging for loading is nice. They take up way too much room in a range bag that's a little short on that commodity, though. If you do like we do and carry a separate ammo bag most of the time, that's a good place for these.-Plastic parts box. Again, due to a small pouch made for it, it's VERY difficult to get this out past the zipper above it. Take an inch off the vertical height of the pouch and this would be great.-"tools" pouch-Fits what, exactly? It's small and too small for even a standard screwdriver.--Glasses pouch. Again, small and hard to get in and out of. My prescription glasses fit well, but safety glasses are a challenge.===Pros:-This bag is BUILT. Overbuilt, really, but it's likely to outlive me.-This bag has the best backpack straps for slinging it over one shoulder and changing stages I've ever used on a range bag. Very nice. Works great as a full backpack, too, but I rarely go that far.This is a nice bag, but I think it suffers from overthinking at the design stage. Too much padding, too little room for....guns.I haven't actually used this pack for anything gun related. I converted the bottom 3 pistol holder into a cooler for work. I work 12.5hr shifts and this beast carries everything I need. I've had a couple dozen people ask about this bag. It can definitely carry a lot with no issue in the straps, seams or zippers. This bag is practically flawless. Ya expensive but you get what you pay for.