Review: Tactical Tailor Admin Pouch Enhanced

Tactical Tailor has been making quality gear since 1998. Since they were founded they’ve designed, and re-designed, dozens of packs, pouches, and other useful items. Their “do what’s right because it’s right” attitude is one that I love and their commitment to designing and producing all of their gear in the USA is one that I highly respect. It definitely makes it easier to purchase their gear for reviews.

Review

I used the Admin Pouch Enhanced from Tactical Tailor for a number of months in my GORUCK GR1. The idea was to sort out and organize the items I carry (but don’t always use) on an everyday basis. The GR1 isn’t known for having great organization and this seemed like one of the best ways to add some to it.

For the review I purchased two of these: one of the standard ones in black and one of the Fight Light ones in grey. There are two minor difference between the standard and the Fight Light version. The first is that the Standard is made of 1000d Cordura while the Fight Light is made of 500d Cordura.

The second is that there is an extra row of webbing on the standard version giving it four rows while the Fight Light only has 3.

Quality

Tactical Tailor makes quality gear. As of this review I own one backpack and four accessories from them and they all have very nice and consistent sewing.

All Tactical Tailor products are made in the USA, specifically in Lakewood, Washington which is very near Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

It’s honestly tough to find an issue anywhere on this thing. There were a few extra strings I had to clip but nothing major… definitely nothing noteworthy.

Tactical Tailor uses USA made YKK zippers on their pouches, which as most people know by now, is something I always look for in my reviews.

Design

The Tactical Tailor Admin Pouch Enhanced features four row by four column Velcro covered webbing on the front.

The zipper runs from the bottom left of the pouch around the top ending at the bottom right giving it a clam-shell opening.

The bottom of the pouch features two elastic bands which can be used to hold a small item.

The back of the pouch features more webbing which is used to attach it (via MALICE clips) to other pieces of gear.

Upon opening the pouch you’ll immediately discover that there’s a special insert to keep a map protected.

Removing that gives good visibility and accessibility to the rest of the pouch.

One side is sewn up with elastic running vertically to easily hold pencils and other pen-sized objects. You can easily fit two pencils, two pens, and either a pen flashlight or something else in there.

Behind that side is an open pocket that runs the length of the pouch. This area is great for a thin notebook, like one from Field Notes.

The reverse side features four evenly spaced elastic sections running horizontally along the pouch. Here you can store chargers, battery packs, cables, and other medium sized items.

Behind that section are two equally sized pockets great for storing slightly larger items. When the pouch is attached and opened this area will be upside down so you’ll want to take that into consideration when choosing what to place in there.

There is shock cord running along the entire admin pouch which can be tightened to prevent it from completely opening. The shock cord can also be removed and used if you ever end up needing it.

Usability

One of the best parts about this admin pouch is just how usable it is. Every now and then I like to use patches and MOLLE clips and this is a nice way to have some on packs that don’t have the space.

The first thing I always do is take the map holder out. I might put it in if I’m going hiking or have a map… but since I don’t carry a map on me I figure out it goes.

Using the included MALICE clips makes it very easy to attach one of these inside your pack. The picture is just for show and if you’re actually attaching it you’ll want to thread the clips and flip them over. Basically nothing in this attachment picture is correct. Due to the spacing of the GORUCK packs the four columns on the admin pouch will match up against three of the GORUCK columns.

All it takes are two clips to keep this thing secured which makes removing it much easier.

Even though the pouch is made by Tactical Tailor the grey color they use, on the outside at least, matches the Wolf Grey that GORUCK uses very well.

The inside is a different story but it still doesn’t look bad. Using the shock cord makes it convenient to prevent it from fully opening which makes it function like a shelf. The idea here is that you could strap it to your chest and it would act like a desk when you use it.

It’s really nice how little space is taken up with this pouch. Since it only takes four columns there’s room next to it on most packs for something extra.

You can tell from the above two pics how skinny this pouch is when empty.

It doesn’t take up much space in a pack and you get so much functionality out of having it.

I was always interested in the bottom area of the pouch but never got around to using it for anything. I thought about storing something in there but could never figure out a reason as to why it needed to be there. Maybe if it were mounted on the outside that would be a good spot for a chem light for night time rucking… just a though.

Pretty much everything I needed could be stored in the elastic areas or the side pocket. I was even able to get a USB cable into one of the pen/pencil areas.

I’ve got a spare Field Notes notebook stored in the long pocket which is great if I finish my current one.

On the other side I’ve got a battery to recharge electronic devices with. I kept a lot of the pockets open because sometimes less is more and that will allow me to easily add new items to the pouch.

In one of the back two pockets I keep a wall charger so that I can keep my camera or phone charged if they ever get low.

Value

The Tactical Tailor Admin Pouch Enhanced sells for between $55 and $77 (depending on color) on the Tactical Tailor website. If you’re looking for a deal on it I’d highly recommend searching around because there are many websites that sell them. Amazon, for instance, sells them for between $33 and $41 with Prime shipping… which is tough to beat. Personally, I’d say the $55 – $77 price tag is pretty high but do some digging, or wait for a Tactical Tailor 25% off sale, and you’ll come away happier.

Check out the Tactical Tailor Admin Pouch Enhanced on Amazon (standard and Fight Light) and Tactical Tailor (Standard and Fight Light) to compare all of the colors.