K-Tek Stingray MixPro Bag with Kickstand for Sound Devices MixPre-3/MixPre-6, Tascam DR-70D/DR-701D, Zoom F4/F8 Recorders

I'm really happy with the quality and layout of this sound bag. A LOT of really great layout choices, and it is more sturdy than I imagined. I got this bag for my F8n Pro, and while it is technically a perfect fit... The bag is not specifically made for it, so you will have to pull the F8n Pro out of the bag to swap AAs. Not a huge deal unless you intend to really rely on AA batteries--which you shouldn't. I'm lucky to get 60 minutes on a fresh set of lithium ion rechargeables, so I only use those as a backup while I'm changing extension power sources. All of which are really accessed through the bottom zippered section of this bag.Anyway, that's not important. The things I LOVE about this bag is it feels like it will last FOREVER and protect my sound gear in even more extreme working conditions. The orange inside has an almost plush lining that gives your gear a bit of cushion, while the black outter fabric is made of strong, tight knit material that gives the bag solid and protective structure that provides a near hard shell layer of protection, while still having enough give to accommodate various cables and connectors as the job requires. It is also pretty compact compared to and bags I've used in the past with older field recorders--really, the recorders are more compact now too, so this is the right form factor for 8 channels. Perhaps if you are doing bigger studio gigs with more than 8 channels, you might want a bigger bag just to accommodate more space for receivers and extra gear, but this is the right size if you are lugging it on 12 hour days on the go for most commercial/documentary/small cast gigs.

Makes the user experience for a Mix Pre much better. It is very expensive for the product itself, but nothing else comes close.

The bag is useful. It is well constructed. I'm using it with a MixPre6ii.I only have some minor quibbles with the design:(1) The velcro for attaching the recorder is perfectly centred, meaning that to make room for something else in the bag on one or the other side of the recorder, I have to loosen the velcro, making the recorder more wobbly; personally, I would have liked to see two sets of velcro attachment, straddling the centre so that the recorder could be fastened nicely to one side or the other.(2) I don't much care for the white bar-tack sewing on the webbing loops and would have preferred keeping the outlook low-key with black thread (or maybe a darkish grey if the contrast was meant to help the user identify the loops). The highlighting on the bag is not a plus for me. But I guess I can use a Sharpie and blacken them out.(3) There is a large opening on the back of the bag so that a MixPre recorder can be mounted to a tripod without taking it out of the bag. I would have liked to see a flap over this opening, similar to the one covering the corresponding opening on the front of the bag, so that it can be closed if not using with a tripod. I tend keep the recorder towards the front of the bag versus the rear when I'm wearing it with a strap just so that it's easier to access the volume knobs and control screen. But this means that cables and battery packs are exposed (and sometimes sticking out) at the back, which is less than ideal.(4) The rain guard is too small. I can't really fit my hands in through the sides to access the recorder. It's also not really wide enough. If you actually had to use this bag in the rain, for sure the recorder and other items inside the bag would get wet. It's basically not a real solution. It feels more like a token tick on the marketing specification feature list. Combine that with the lack of a closing flap on the back of the bag... I won't be planning to use this bag in wet conditions.These are my quibbles.(On a positive note, I like the "kick-stand" feature. That's super useful.)So, why do I only "almost" feel good about having bought this bag? Simple. It feels *way* over-priced. I spent 11 years helping to manage a technical sewing factory. A bag like this would have been right up our alley (and on the simpler side of things we were making). So I think I have some qualification to weigh in with an opinion.To be fair, there are a few combining reasons why this cannot be a more "normally" priced bag. From a manufacturing perspective, the primary reason is the inclusion of the two protective frames at either end of the bag. Not only do they add material cost, but their inclusion is going to make the bag more complicated to put together. That's just a fact. The other primary reason is that the market for these bags is not massive. These are specialty bags for a niche market. The order quantities with the factory are going to be small, and so the factory is going to need to charge more to cover their manufacturing development and production-line setup costs. K-Tek will have a similar issue recovering their product R&D and marketing costs.I should also mention that it appears the bags are being made in the USA.For these reasons, this bag has to be more expensive than a normal bag of similar size, material and build quality. I accept that. But here I feel that K-Tek has pushed it too far and are just taking advantage of the fact that the market is small, without many competitors. It's their right to do that, of course. I didn't have to buy the bag. But the result is in the headline of this review: the best I can say, despite the fact that I will be using the bag, is that I only *almost* feel good about my purchase, but not quite.Where do I think it should be priced? I expect that somewhere in the $140~$160 range would still give K-Tek more than enough margin to make the bag worthwhile for them, and at that price I'd feel alright with my purchase and give the bag four stars instead of two.In summary, the bag itself is alright. But if you buy it, you may have to prepare yourself to digest that uneasy feeling of buyer remorse. Just FYI.

BUYER BEWARE! What a ripoff!!!!! This product did NOT fit my product as stated in advertisements. When I returned it they charged me a 10% restocking FEE!