Some time in the past year GORUCK chose to remove the buckles from the sides (and take $40 off the price) of the GORUCK GR2. From what I recall there was a post somewhere in which Jason stated he didn’t use the side buckles on the GR2 and they only got in the way when trying to open the pack. To remedy this he had them removed from the GR2 and dropped the price from $395 to $355.
We had a GR2 from 2013 which had the side buckles and were curious if anything else had changed in the transition. Recently we were able to get our hands on a Wolf Grey GR2 (made in 2015) and were able to take some pictures of the two packs next to each other for comparison.
Front of the packs appear identical. Both have the 4 row/6 column wider than normal MOLLE webbing.
Both have the “bat wing” but the Wolf Grey (2015) one is a little larger than the Coyote (2013) version. It’s a very small difference, one tough to see in the pictures, but it’s there.
As expected the side of the older GR2 has the buckle while the newer version does not. I plan on using the Wolf Grey GR2 as my everyday pack for a little bit to see if I miss it or not.
When open we can see that the interiors are identical, except for fabric choice.
Color of the fabric and paracord zipper pulls are the only real differences.
The 2013 YKK zippers were made in Taiwan…
…as were the 2015 YKK zippers.
Both internal pockets are sewn the same way with a larger mesh area on one side.
Besides a little bit of scuffing on the inside of the 2013 GR2 these are about identical.
Identical back middle pockets as well.
As expected the same stitching is used in both shoulder pads…
…and the backs as well.
Conclusion
Besides the side buckles and maybe the sizing on the bat wings the 2015 version of the GR2 is, as far as I can tell, identical to the 2013 release. Notice something I missed? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Nice comparison. I find the 34 litre version much more travel-friendly than the 40 and I don’t really miss those extra litres of space.
I hated the buckles on the previous version, they did get in the way and I basically never used them.
Buckles aside, I still use the GR1 as my EDC despite thinking that I would use the 2 with all the built-in organization options. Strangely, I find the 1 to be much more versatile.
Looking forward to your update on the comparison and the 34 in general if you get to them.