Brown Bag Company 30299 ToolRider GSR

Brown Bag Company 30299 ToolRider GSR

I can vouch for the quality of the ToolRider GSR, as I have just received mine.

I've been a professional finish carpenter for 35 years. I wear my tool belt with the pouches in the rear, not in the front, as this makes climbing and bending over much easier. I bought my last tool belt 23 years ago. It was also nylon ("Cordura") and is still in good condition.

I really hadn't thought of replacing it until I saw all the features of the current generation of tool belts at various sites online.

The main features that made me want to upgrade were:
~ Sheer number of pockets
~ Easily adjustable belt
~ Gel-foam padded suspenders with breathable fabric
~ Padded belt with breathable fabric

Since I expected this to be the last tool rig I would ever need, I ended up doing quite a bit of online research of possibly every brand of tool rig made with one or more of these features. I also considered buying belts and suspenders separately.

Ultimately, I picked the Brown Bag ToolRider GSR because it had all the right features at a reasonable price, in one package. I ordered it from Amazon at the lowest price on the Web including the free shipping, and it arrived in 5 days.

I was not disappointed, except for the fact that it was made in China, like many U.S. name-brand tools are now. The workmanship and materials, however, are very impressive. The nylon material is 1680 denier, the toughest I could find. I was relieved to see that it has a nylon hammer loop in front of the right bag, which is where I have always carried mine. It was hard to tell from the pictures if it had one or not.

Most of the smaller pencil and tool pockets are located inside the large right bag. It is nice to have a dedicated place for each small tool. No more fishing around with several floating items. There is a dedicated pocket behind the left nail pouches for my 8 inch Speed Square. Also nice is having three pouches on the left side for fasteners instead of the usual one. There's even a business card-sized transparent pocket in back so you won't miss an opportunity to bag another client while working on the job!

My old belt has a large plastic clip-type "buckle" on the belt. To adjust the size, I have to take the belt off and tediously move the belt through plastic loop-style adjusters. The GSR has a twin-tine "normal style" metal buckle, so adjustment is instantaneous every time I put it on.

I had standard, unpadded suspenders attached to my old belt, and they worked just fine, but would collect sweat during the hot summer months. The GSR's not only have a breathable mesh layer underneath, but substantial gel-foam padding that can be adjusted to rest perfectly on the tops of the shoulders. Also important is the adjustable connecting strap between the two straps in front that helps keep the shoulder pads in the most comfortable spot. The suspenders also have three pencil sleeves and a bonus carabiner on the right strap and a padded cell phone or PDA pocket with a velcro lid on the left. There is also an identical cell phone pocket on the belt. The slightly stretchy pocket is a snug fit for my oversize MDA Pocket PC PDA/phone.

The exact color and appearance was hard to tell from various photos online. With the name "Brown Bag", and from some pictures, I thought it would probably be a grayish tan, and I was concerned that the tool belt and suspenders matched. Actually, they do, but the main color is an attractive, slightly silvery charcoal gray, with black edging and gray stitching. The mesh fabric covering the padding on the waist belt and suspenders is a lighter gray. The black edging around the rims of the various pouches contains a stiffer core that can be bent to shape the pouches "just right". All the metal hardware is plated with an attractive "black chrome" finish.

I used to have a problem with the bags shifting positions on the belt. The GSR has velcro between them, so I can adjust them once, lock it in and forget it.

All in all, I consider this one of the best tool investments I've ever made. I find new features just about every time I wear it. Someone really must have put in a lot of time and thought into its design and function. I, myself, did the same in researching and shopping for it. I hope my efforts save you a lot of time and trouble.

There may be equal or better rigs out there, but I consider this to be the best value for the money. If you buy this rig, I seriously doubt that you will be disappointed.

I will start this off by saying; I am not a professional Framer or contractor. I'm a DIY'er that tends to tackle big projects. For the last couple of weekends I've been repairing and re-shingling my garage from the damage that IKE caused.
I knew I wanted more support from a belt that only suspenders could provide. I chose the Toolrider because I have a pair of their knee pads and they are comfortable as well.
Now, I was looking for three things in a belt. Fit, Function and Comfort.

Fit- I'm 6'3", so the length of the suspenders was a concern for me. Having a long torso, I didn't want the belt wrapped around my belly. After extending the suspenders fully, they put the belt in the perfect position for me. For anyone that is taller, I would assume that they belt would ride up.
The belt's fit was great, with plenty of room to adjust based on your waist size. The large padded back provided plenty of support with all pockets full of tools and other stuff.

Function- Now being an amateur woodworker and DIY'er, there are more pockets than I could possible fill for one job. I can't see professionals needing any more storage space, but if they do, The Brown Bag Company makes another belt with even more pockets.
The pockets were well placed and sized perfectly. With the belt and suspenders adjusted, I was able to easily reach every nook and cranny of this belt and my tools. In addition, the pockets can be re-configured or removed from the belt completely, based on your needs. The suspenders can be removed as well, if you only want to use the belt. The padded electronic pocket was a nice touch as well. I have an Iphone and it fit perfectly.

Comfort- The padded suspenders and belt distributes the weight around great. It makes you feel as if you not carry anything at all. For the past two weekends, I've been on my roof for 8 hours a day and have not once questioned the comfort of this product. My last belt (Dewalt), felt like I had a gym weight belt on the whole time.

Summary- In closing, I and my back are extremely satisfied with this product. So far this belt is the total package. I would say all DIY'er would be completely satisfied and most Professionals would be as well. The only thing that remains is durability. I can't answer that yet as I've only used it for 2 weekends on the roof. But, I would be surprised if it let me down in that area as well. I will keep everyone posted.

I've been a professional frame to finish carpenter for the past 15+ years. In which time I've chewed up various, and numerous belts. Only finding one other that I was happy with and that was about 12 years ago. I am very hard on belts and I have been using this one without a hitch for 5 months now. This thing seems to be bullet proof, it's comfortable and rides well all day. My only gripe: I'm right handed and normally pull my tape with my left and mark with my right. The tape clip is in the right bag, as well as the pencil slots. No real big deal, I just sacrificed the small top nail pocket in the left bag to my tape, still plenty of room for nails, never had much luck with those clips anyway.