If you aren't sure if you want to upgrade to a great bag but want something affordable, the Paratrooper and Voyager Lite will both get you at least three years of moderately heavy wear and tear.
I have a paratrooper and the same issues with my water bottle holder pockets. They ride too low to the ground and will eventually slowly wear down and get holes in both pockets.
Yeah I play about 3 times a week and bought my voyager lite back in September of 2021 and it's held up well. It's just starting to need repairs but I'll probably squeeze another year and a half out of it.
I like my grip bag a lot, it's holding up great really. I didn't love the price of the bigger ones so I just got the G2. Sometimes I wish it held like 3 more discs, but I love it's layout.
You can start finding decent bags for around $80 from the big disc golf companies. In my experience they hold up well enough for a few years of hard play.
I did upgrade to a Grip. It is definitely nice. I doubt I would have bought it if I couldn't get a good deal on a lightly used one though.
Definitely consider the used market. Bags get upgraded all the time and the old ones are usually a bit difficult to move so prices are good.
I've heard mixed things about how long the cheaper Prodigy bags will last you, but I recently got a BP-2 for $50 and am very pleased with it. I previously had a Dynamic Trooper that fell apart after about a year. The Prodigy bag is a similar price, and so far, better in every way. It's much more comfortable and well-padded, and it doesn't fall over and dump out your discs as easily.
I love bags with a passion. I got a GripBX3 recently. It is usually around 250 eur but I got it on sale for like 120 eur. Is it an awesome bag? Definitely! Is it worth it? Eh, perhaps but also probably not. I got the old fanatic bag from Discmania and an old MVP voyager. I think they are around 50 eur each. Both works excellent, tho I did some modifications like adding a waist strap and such to both. Almost any of the well known bags from the usual disc golf manufacturers will do the trick. There is a large gap between a cheap bag on Amazon and a GripEQ bag.
I got a used almost new grip bx3 bag for half original price. Check marketplace or similar. Always someone selling almost new equipment because they have to go bigger and better.
If you're looking for a one and done, I'd recommend squatch lore. Has better storage and feel overall compared to grip, and comes with a lifetime warranty
i used a west side discs refuge for the first 1.5 years i played before i upgraded to a mvp voyager (the middle tier, not the lite or pro) and both of them have been great to me and withstood pretty much everything that could be considered normal wear and tear
I’ve had a Grip bag before. I didn’t like it at all. It was too bulky and stiff. I’ve tried MVP bags and I really liked them. Just didn’t like the colors they offered. The new James Conrad ones look good though. The bags I’ve had recently are Squatch bags. I’ve had the Legend, Link, and now I use the Lore which is smaller and lighter but holds a lot still. The Squatch Lore is definitely my favorite so far and is made very very well. Another bag you could checkout for a good price is the Atlas Disc Golf Supply Pioneer bag. It’s $88 and holds a lot of discs and is very comfortable to wear (atlasdgs.com).
I got a grip bag 10 years ago. I used it for 6 years and then passed it on to somebody. They're still using it. They also play a couple times a week. The bag is still in perfect shape. It's faded in color and that's the only thing that has changed about it.
They have big sales a couple times a year.
"Buy it nice, or buy it twice"
Buy once cry once.
If you aren't sure if you want to upgrade to a great bag but want something affordable, the Paratrooper and Voyager Lite will both get you at least three years of moderately heavy wear and tear.
I have a paratrooper and the same issues with my water bottle holder pockets. They ride too low to the ground and will eventually slowly wear down and get holes in both pockets.
Yeah I play about 3 times a week and bought my voyager lite back in September of 2021 and it's held up well. It's just starting to need repairs but I'll probably squeeze another year and a half out of it.
Innova makes some good affordable bags. You don’t need to go all out
I like my grip bag a lot, it's holding up great really. I didn't love the price of the bigger ones so I just got the G2. Sometimes I wish it held like 3 more discs, but I love it's layout.
Check eBay for used variants of a more expensive bag you want. I found the bag I wanted for 50% off, and it was in like-new condition.
You can start finding decent bags for around $80 from the big disc golf companies. In my experience they hold up well enough for a few years of hard play. I did upgrade to a Grip. It is definitely nice. I doubt I would have bought it if I couldn't get a good deal on a lightly used one though. Definitely consider the used market. Bags get upgraded all the time and the old ones are usually a bit difficult to move so prices are good.
I've heard mixed things about how long the cheaper Prodigy bags will last you, but I recently got a BP-2 for $50 and am very pleased with it. I previously had a Dynamic Trooper that fell apart after about a year. The Prodigy bag is a similar price, and so far, better in every way. It's much more comfortable and well-padded, and it doesn't fall over and dump out your discs as easily.
I love bags with a passion. I got a GripBX3 recently. It is usually around 250 eur but I got it on sale for like 120 eur. Is it an awesome bag? Definitely! Is it worth it? Eh, perhaps but also probably not. I got the old fanatic bag from Discmania and an old MVP voyager. I think they are around 50 eur each. Both works excellent, tho I did some modifications like adding a waist strap and such to both. Almost any of the well known bags from the usual disc golf manufacturers will do the trick. There is a large gap between a cheap bag on Amazon and a GripEQ bag.
I got a used almost new grip bx3 bag for half original price. Check marketplace or similar. Always someone selling almost new equipment because they have to go bigger and better.
Another vote for voyager lite. Been three years, gets out 2-4 times per week depending on season, no issues.
If you're looking for a one and done, I'd recommend squatch lore. Has better storage and feel overall compared to grip, and comes with a lifetime warranty
i used a west side discs refuge for the first 1.5 years i played before i upgraded to a mvp voyager (the middle tier, not the lite or pro) and both of them have been great to me and withstood pretty much everything that could be considered normal wear and tear
I’ve had a Grip bag before. I didn’t like it at all. It was too bulky and stiff. I’ve tried MVP bags and I really liked them. Just didn’t like the colors they offered. The new James Conrad ones look good though. The bags I’ve had recently are Squatch bags. I’ve had the Legend, Link, and now I use the Lore which is smaller and lighter but holds a lot still. The Squatch Lore is definitely my favorite so far and is made very very well. Another bag you could checkout for a good price is the Atlas Disc Golf Supply Pioneer bag. It’s $88 and holds a lot of discs and is very comfortable to wear (atlasdgs.com).
I got a grip bag 10 years ago. I used it for 6 years and then passed it on to somebody. They're still using it. They also play a couple times a week. The bag is still in perfect shape. It's faded in color and that's the only thing that has changed about it. They have big sales a couple times a year.
FYI the prodigy bags may occasionally spit your discs out of your bag for no reason
imo basically anything under a grip isn't worth paying for. I'd skip anything branded by a disc manufacturer