On the Backpack hunt...

[busere]

The pack that I've used for 20+ years, has been a good old pack. It's seen more contries then most people have seen states. I've used it for a lot of vacations and eurorail trips. The pack was used in place of my U.S. Navy Sea bag to pack-out my bunk aboard five diffrent Fast Attack Submarines. My Eagle Creek has been around the world four times and at deapths greater then 800 feet for the last 18.5 years. She's been a great and sturdy pack...and still is. But, she's very heavy. The pack is 55 leiters and weighs in at almost 8.5 lbs. She's still in great shape and will be my suitcase of choice for years to come. However, I need a good pack for wilderness backpacking...any good advice? :confused: I'd like to keep the price bellow $250. THanks!

Rodney

[immortal_ben]

Re: On the Backpack hunt...

Using your current pack size and price limit, I came up with this... http://www.rei.com/search?cat=450000...nder%2CMen%27s

My personal pack for now is a Kelty Coyote 4750, which can get me through a week in the field. I paid around $100 for it on clearance. It is fairly comfortable, but weighs 5.2lbs. My next pack will be the Kifaru UL5200, but at $558 it does not meet your price point, lol.

[busere]

Re: On the Backpack hunt...

What about Deuter? I've been reading up on them while waiting for a responce...the ACT 65+10 is $199, and I've found a couple on ebay for $100. Know anything about them? They only weigh 4 lbs. (3 lbs 15 oz).

[busere]

Re: On the Backpack hunt...

Mine is an older version of the Rincon 90L (70L main pack with a 20L zip-off day pack). They're very sturdy packs...but man, they're heavy.

[Shadow]

Re: On the Backpack hunt...

On Ben's link, I actually had the REI guy recommend that Crestrail 48 to me today. I like of like more smaller pockets than it had, but it seemed to be very customizable. I wasn't impressed with the price, but it looked like it was well built.
Doesn't come with a bladder or cover though.


I looked at the kelty 4750 online, and I really like the look of it. I like those big side pockets.

Only packs I have had in the past are an old texport external frame that I just used as a gear caddy for car camping, a medium ALICE pack, and various urban daypacks used as book bags, laptop carriers, etc.

[immortal_ben]

Re: On the Backpack hunt...

A buddy of mine that is really into thru-hiking bought a Deuter, and he looked and looked for weeks for just the right pack. He loves the thing to death. I would absolutely look at Deuter. They are the oldest pack manufacturer in existence and they build them right. They do tend to be heavier than similar sized packs from other companies, but I think they look a bit more durable than most others.

The link I posted was just filtered with price, size, and gender. That was what popped up and so that's what I linked, lol.

I really like packs from Osprey and have carried some around REI on my back at times. They have an incredible guarantee that you can trade in any Osprey pack from any era for any reason. So if you bought an Osprey at a garage sale or on craigslist, you could get credit toward another pack for it, from Osprey. I nearly put one on my wishlist, but I want the Kifaru more than any of them.

None of the good packs I have seen come with a bladder. It is one way to keep the price point down.