catchers gear bag or bags?

[MsDinosaur]

Well, while in Tucson, I managed to back over my DD's bag and messed up the wheel on one side--Maxballbag. I swear, it's not my fault

I'm looking at the Mizuno G3 and wonder if anyone is using one. My DD eventually didn't like the Maxballbag because of the wheels in clay/gravel type venues. Got stuck alot and she got tired of messing with the wheels. Maybe why the bag was behind the car?

I'm thinking one big bag with one giant pocket to put everything into, instead of a bunch of smaller pockets. Rigid back and sides would be nice too.

Hi, CPSBDad. Up till this fall, my daughter was using a wheeled Mizuno coaches bag that looks like it was the precursor to the G3.

It had one humongous area for her stuff, which did make packing up fast and easy. Honestly, you could fit a person in there. We quite often stuffed small food/drink chests alongside her gear and smuggled them into tourneys inside it. The team used to joke that it would be the perfect bag if you had murdered someone at a tournament; we could just thow the body in and wheel it away. ;-)

DD mentioned that she had a lot of trouble with the Mizuno last summer when she went to a SB camp at Mizzou. They used school busses to get around and the Mizuno was too big to wheel down the aisle.

There were two issues I had with it. The first is that the side pocket for the bats went all the way to the ground and unlike the main compartment, it did not have the rigid protective covering. When she neglected to stow her bats away carefully with the straps, but instead just threw them in, their weight caused the nylon of the side pocket to drag along the ground and get holes worn in it. However, in looking at a picture of the G3, it appears that the side pocket is now set well up from the ground, so I'm thinking Mizuno has fixed that problem.

There was also a small issue with the pull-up handle. It worked well most of the time, but occasionally, one of the small screws that held it together would start to back out and then it would jam up when trying to push it in or pull it out. I don't know if that's still an issue or not. --It wasn't that big a deal, just an annoyance.

DD's new team provided her with a new catcher's bag this fall. It's an Easton. She likes that it's smaller and easier to move around, though she doesn't like that it's slower and more difficult to get all her gear packed and unpacked. I'm a little unnerved that there are already holes worn in it after only a fall season. Maybe the Mizuno was sturdier than I gave it credit for.

 

[FPMark]

A couple of years ago, DD's team got the back pack style bat bags. The catchers then had just a small wheeled bag for their catchers gear. Those back pack bags are a whole lot easier to get around at the parks around here because of all the hills and stairs. At first my DD was against the back packs, but after being able to walk up and down stairs without having to drag a wheeled bag, she now is the first to suggest them when her team is talking about bat bags. The catchers even like them because the only gear they have to drag around is the catching gear, which makes the wheeled bag much lighter and last longer. Just something to consider.

 

[02Crush]

Go with the no E2 bag more than enough room and great warranty. The larger wheels make it easy to pull even in the grass or clay/sand

Ditto....NO-ERRORS

No Longer in agreement with this post. Bag Falls Apart. Especially zippers.

 

[KevinC]

Santa brought my DD a Maxballbags Cobra XL catchers bag. It appears to be a high quality product - we'll see how it holds up. Although it is big enough for everything including the catchers gear you do need to pack it somewhat carefully to fit everything in. If you want to be able to just throw everything in there and zip it up you may want to look at a larger bag.

The strangest thing we found when cleaning our her old bag was swim goggles, not sure how those got in there.

 

[TheRogue]

Ditto....NO-ERRORS

We bought for our whole team, awful expensive but heavy duty wheels and handles. Unfortunately, the zippers broke and the fabric around the zippers tore out on over 1/2 of the bags within about 8 months (one after 2 months, warrantied). Granted, we travel a LOT, flying included, so we were pretty hard on them. For the price of the bags, could purchase 2 cheap bags and get the same or more life out of them.

 

[Daddy O]

Santa brought my DD a Maxballbags Cobra XL catchers bag. It appears to be a high quality product - we'll see how it holds up. Although it is big enough for everything including the catchers gear you do need to pack it somewhat carefully to fit everything in. If you want to be able to just throw everything in there and zip it up you may want to look at a larger bag.

Don't know how you could find a bigger one. My dd has one and they are huge. If your dd has not figured it out yet, put bats in one side compartment and shin guards in other side. This will help balance bag from side to side, as the wheel base is kinda narrow for how wide the bag is. Hope she likes it.

 

[#10]

DD got a Boombah Beast for Christmas, she loves it. Heavy duty zippers, fairly big wheels, a TON of room including internal shelves when it hangs, more color combos than any other maker, and a great price at about $90 shipped. Apparently, Boombahs and Maxballbags are the same product from the same factory. I'll check back in after the spring season with a report on how it holds up.

 

[Fastpitch Mom]

FYI the Beast has been replaced with the Brute. It is slightly smaller and less compartments.

My DD has the Beast bag, actually 2. Both have not been very good. To get all of her gear (catching equip, 2 bats 3 gloves, mask, helmet, misc) into the bag packing has to be very particular and just barely fits, causing the stitching to tear away from the zippers. If you put a helmet in the bottom compartment it bulges slightly causing small tears in the canvas from scratching the ground. I contacted Boombah and they said that was normal wear and tear after one use. The good side is DD loves all of the pockets, as she can separate by use.

The Cobra XL (40x20x12) appears to be the same bag but slightly larger than the Beast (40x14x12.5) has anyone seen them side by side?

 

[PlaySundaySoftball]

My DD had a separate bag until just a month ago. Now She has the Largest Boombah bag. Rest of team have same color Boombah backpack bags. It is a pain having to pack catchers gear and regular gear in one bag, but not near as much hassle as carrying two bags. She likes it better to since she doesn't ever need any help carrying her gear. Its also one less thing you have two pack in the car. So far I say one big catchers bag with all her equipment is better. Still would like to try that huge E2 bag, but is pricey.

 

[CPSBDad]

The perfect bag quest never ends. DD has a Mizuno backback for field gear and bats, and a large Mizuno duffle for catcher gear. She plays MS school ball and travel as well. At first she liked the two bag combo, but now that she has to take those two bags along with her school backpack for MS games, she's thinking she wants to go to a one bag with wheels! Actually, she doesn't take those bags to school. I meet her at school and she exchanges her school backpack for her SB gear for practice. I met her at the field where she was to play a game yesterday and did the "exchange" there. Not sure how she will deal with these bags when she has an away game. I doubt she would actually carry a wheeled bag with her when she goes to take the bus to school.

Travel is a totally different thing and the two bag combo works fine.