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Taska Missionary Shoulder Bag (4.13/5 stars from 8 reviews)

This bag features a strong nylon construction that will last beyond your misison. Made with a comfortable frame that allows for air circulation. With an ajustable padded shoulder strap and...

Be aware of what you're buying.

Like others have pointed out, this bag does very little to keep heavy rain out. I used to use old pamphlets as a kind of shield for the contents of my bag. The waterproof wrap doesn't enclose the bag and leaves rather a decent bit exposed. Rainwater will run down your back or coat and soak through the back. Or simply run off the top and down the back to the same end. Even if it did provide full coverage, I'm not a fan of needing to put on the cover or partially remove it to get at the contents of my bag. I really did like the camera pocket though, I must say. It is also quite a cramped bag. That's fine for some, but I like to carry a lot and have a bit roomier of a bag to do so. Also, sadly, not but three months into my Mission and I was already replacing broken shoulder strap pieces with carabiners. The rest of the bag seemed to hold up well, but the plastic pieces of the shoulder strap broke easily. A companion of mine had the same issue with his Taska.



I'm actually rather stunned as I was told that the designer of this bag went to the same mission as me: Iceland. Taska means "bag" in Icelandic. Yet, at least on Iceland, having a waterproof bag is an absolute must! We were always soaked through and I learned to stop caring, but I really wasn't too fond of handing out soaked and warped copies of The Book of Mormon. I was fond of the bag, but these things were a hinderance nearly every day before I got a different bag. For a less "wet" climate, I can recommend the bag if a small bag with good pockets is your thing. Bringing a few carabiners just in case couldn't hurt.



If you are a Missionary headed to Iceland, I would recommend at least a fairly water resistant bag. TimBuk2 is amazing and the stm Velo 2 is another good one. They're kinda difficult to find. If you find yourself having trouble with it while biking, shorten the strap. These wider bags don't tend to slide down as smaller ones do. Iceland actually got bikes when I had three transfers left, so there's much less walking in at least the two areas that now have bikes. The other two just ride busses everywhere. I also hear they finally got smartphones there, so that might be a factor in your bag choosing. Velo has a good pocket for that.

Great bag for missionaries

This bag has a strap that goes around the waist and will secure the bag while a missionary is tracting or riding a bike. I have sent out 3 missionaries. The first had this bag, the second had a different one, and now my last will be going out with the bag. My second missionary went to a 3rd world country and began having shoulder problems. The bag that he had did not have a good strap around the waist that would take the weight of his bag off of his shoulder. He had many problems while he was there and ended up coming home for shoulder surgery. When it was time for our 3rd missionary to go, the second strongly suggested getting the same bag as our 1st had because of the strap.

Mrs. Surette

I have bought two of these for two grandsons and they are pleased. I do have a missionary in our branch who has one and he is having trouble with the zipper.

Ok bag

This bag is good quality, but nothing spectacular. A good basic bag. Hip belt is well padded, big buckle.

TASKA

<p>This is the 3rd TASKA bag I have purchased for missionaries, 2 of which have returned with the bag still it total working order. One bag went to the Marshall Islands (Kiribati) and one to Southern California. Both weathered the elements perfectly and neither broke. All compartments worked very well and held everything they needed/used. The newest purchase is for an elder leaving to serve in Colorado. He spent the first time trying all the straps and handles, putting things in and out and rearranging everything. He is delighted with is. I have been very happy with the responses I had from these 3 young men but there is a 4th, the one who first recommended the bag to me. His came home from as well in perfect working order.</p>

Taska missionary bag

Bought one for my grandson now serving in Kiribati and he said it's been wonderful to keep things always dry. So when a young friend was called to CA. Wanted to give him as good a bag and returned for this one.

This bag does NOT handle wear and tear and does NOT protect well against heavy rain

Though this bag may work for some missions, it did NOT work well in mine. I served in the Chile Osorno Mission, where there is heavy rain in the wintertime, and the missionaries travel either by walking or using public transportation (we didn't have bikes or cars). So my mission gear got a lot of wear.



This bag isn't sturdy enough to handle two years in a mission like mine. After only six months of being in Chile, the bag's shoulder strap broke. Other parts of the bag (such as the padding on the waist strap) later broke as well.



Although this bag is advertised as having a waterproof raincover to keep it dry, the location of the clasps that connect the shoulder straps to the bag keep the raincover from covering the entire bag. So the raincover only covers about half of the bag, which allows water to easily enter and soak pamphlets and scriptures. I had to put all my missionary gear in double plastic bags within the Taska bag to keep them from getting wet.



What I like about this bag is the waist strap that helps take weight off of your shoulders and all of the small pockets that you can put pass-along cards and pens in. However, there are better missionary bags that have waist straps and pockets as well.



Also, there wasn't a very convenient way for me to carry a wet umbrella in this bag. It would also be nice if the bag had an outside mesh water bottle pocket (though the bag has small pockets on the side that do not work very well with bottles).



In short, I would not recommend this bag to someone who is going to a rainy mission or a mission without cars.

This bag will serve me well

To all of you reading this review, please note that I have not used this bag in the field yet, so I don't know everything about it.If you have not watched the YouTube overview video of this bag, "Missionary Shoulder Bag", by the Mr. Mac store, you should, to begin with.I got my bag on amazon, so it was shipped from the LDS Bookstore. Taska Outfitters only has a few employees, so I assume that they only make one version of the bag. In the YouTube video there is a water bladder in the back of the bag. My bag does not have this feature. That Mr. Mac video is two years old by now, so the company may very well have removed this feature of their product, but I'm not completely sure. Does Mr. Mac get different bags than the LDS Bookstore?

I was a little disappointed that there was no water bladder in the back, but since I didn't really need that part I'm still giving this bag five stars.Now for the good part. This bag is very well made! The material/fabric is thick and the stitching is good. It feels like it should last well beyond my mission. Keep in mind that I haven't actually used it.

I'm going to a mission with the iPad Minis, so I didn't need a big bag. I just need to carry the iPad, some pens, pamphlets, and maybe a notebook or something. I was surprised when I got the bag because it was smaller than I thought it would be. Here is what I can describe to you about the size. If a Preach My Gospel was two inches wider it might not fit. The entire mesh padding on the back is like a big pocket. Plenty of space for the waist straps if you want to tuck them in.

I like the water bottle holder. There is tight elastic so that if a bottle is not in the pocket it still looks nice and not stretched out.

The "Taska" stitching on the front is not bluish like on the picture, but a dark grey, close to black. The electronics pocket in the back is soft.

This bag is not waterproof, but the bottom has a fabric on the bottom that feels a little like soft leather. The rain fly does not come out of the bottom like in the YouTube video either. It is inside the bag. Fine with me.As far as the price, this is a bit much for such a small bag, but I think that this bag might last a long time and be well worth the $100. This bag is probably the perfect size for me since I'll have an iPad mini, but for those of you who will carry more than a notebook/Preach My Gospel and a few copies of the BofM, you might want a bigger bag.

Overall I'm impressed and can't wait to use it and go biking with it. :)<strong>Response: The first version of the Taska missionary bag was larger and had a water bladder on the inside. This new version doesn't have the water bladder as most missionaries found it more convenient to just use a water bottle as it was easier to fill and keep from leaking, mildew, etc. The smaller size also makes it easier for tracting and wearing while riding a bike. Thanks for your great review and good luck on your mission!</strong>