Light(ish) pack choices

[Amias]

Hello everyone,

I've been looking at a few options for a roughly 50L pack and wondering if anyone has experience with any of them?
At the moment the one's that have caught my eye are:

One Planet's Canopy (or the only slightly heavier Overshadow which is now on sale)
https://www.oneplanet.com.au/product/pa ... ng/canopy/

Wilderness Equipment's Razor 50
https://www.wildernessequipment.com.au/ ... 0-s-ocean/

Katmandu's Altai 50L
https://www.kathmandu.com.au/camp-and-h ... -pack.html

Katmandu's is the lightest and cheapest (while on sale) but not sure how the quality holds up against the other two?
I'm not planning on hauling heavy loads in these (have an old Alpine Lowe pack-horse downstairs if needed), but I'm not sure if I'm keen on going with a frameless UL pack quite yet

Any comments would be a great help! Thanks

[Amias]

Should have put this in the main post, but if anyone has recommendations of other similar packs that'd also be great!

[Zapruda]

You don’t need to go frameless. There are quite a few “ultralight” framed packs.

Let’s talk about what’s locally available considering the plummeting dollar.

Dan at Wilderness Threadworks makes amazing custom
packs with or without a frame. He is a nice bloke and will work hard to get you what you want.

https://wildernessthreadworks.com/

The Osprey Exos is by all accounts a great, fully featured pack, coming in around 1kg. Paddy Pallin sell them for a decent price.

https://m.paddypallin.com.au/osprey-exo ... -pack.html

I like the OP overshadow but it is overbuilt in my opinion.

I hope that helps.

[rangersac]

My small pack is an Osprey Talon 44, and I can quite comfortably do a 3-4 night hike using it, and gear which would definitely not be considered ultra light. If you had to transport a lot of water it would be a bit undergunned but it takes up to a 15kg load very comfortably

[Lamont]

Exos, WT and the Talon. Three very good suggestions I reckon. Used all three and would say a really nice group to consider.

[mikeRsyd]

+1 osprey exos, light and comfortable. Gossemer gear Mariposa is nice but it's a bad time to buy. Aussie dollar is down.

Sent from my Mi 9 Lite using Tapatalk

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

I have an Exos. It's great with 12 kg, OK with 15 kg and above that I'll take something else. However of those packs you mentioned I would be seriously considering the one planet packs because you can adjust the back length to suit your individual physique, something you can't do with an Altai or an Exos or a Talon.

[Lamont]

....seriously considering the one planet packs because you can adjust the back length to suit your individual physique, something you can't do with an Altai or an Exos or a Talon.

Not correct Johnno, you can easily adjust the back length on the Talon 44 to suit your torso should you need.

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Well there you go. I should have bought a Talon!

[Petew]

Thumbs up for Wilderness threadworks, really well made and customisable to a degree in materials and dimensions. Dan is super nice and very helpful. Also Osprey exos 48 is a great pack, particularly if you can find the previous model to the current one.
If money is no object go for an Atom packs MO 50. I have the 40l version of the MO. Best pack I've ever had.carbin frame and removable plastic back plate with aluminium stay if you're carrying a ton of stuff.

[Son of a Beach]

I have the Overshadow which looks almost identical to the Canopy apart from slightly different fabrics and 50g. I'm very happy with it. My only complaint would be that I don't like the front pocket. It's a thin elastic fabric, and cannot be closed completely. This means that pointy things (like my fork) can poke through the fabric, and that things could potentially fall out the top, if not packed and strapped carefully (I generally don't walk upside down, but ducking sideways under logs, I and my pack do lean over beyond 90 degrees sometimes). I suspect that it would have the potential to let water in (and out) easily too, but I haven't actually noticed this yet (have been lucky enough to avoid heavy rain with this pack so far).

The top pocket is a little on the small side, but big enough.

I'm still trying to adapt to not having two large fully-closeable pockets on my pack. I have to change where/how I store some things, and I'm still packing slightly different on each trip, as I've not decided on the best place for everything yet.

Having said all that, the Overshadow (and I guess the Canopy) is a great pack. As with all One Planet packs, the harness is very comfortable, the hydration pockets can be used while walking because they are actually bottle-shaped (what a radical concept!) and not flat and tightly compressed when the body of the pack is full.

The fabric is definitely not as tough as their big canvas packs, so I'm a little more careful about dragging it past rocks and scrub than I am with my larger Strezlecki.

[Lamont]

Well there you go. I should have bought a Talon!

Ha ha, maybe next time.

[slparker]

I have the OP overshadow as well.

i really like it but I agree with Zapruda that the harness is over the top - the pack is 50l ish and you're not going to be carrying 20+ kilos in it, which the harness seems built for.

I don't particularly like the water bottle holders, as they are hard to access and i like having some weight forward, so i have put on a z-packs 1l 'smart' bottle holder on each shoulder strap. That said, they do hold larger diameter water bottles really well - if they had slanted them forward they'd probably be perfect.

I like the front pocket as it holds my waterproofs perfectly. If I know I am bashing through scrub i out everything in the main bag.

[Neo]

Try Exped for around $260 and just over 1kg empty.
My 45L was so comfortable I bought another at 60L.

Can be a little tricky to find to try on, Bushcraft Wollongong and Bogong usually have some stock. I bought from outdoor fair .de to get the model and colour of choice.

[andrewa]

Another possible option - MYO?

Packs are reasonably easy to make, and you can then design to your requirements. Lighter fabrics and simplifying design offload a lot of weight, and if a seam fails, you know how to fix it! In reality, they are just a bag attached to whatever harness system you choose. The only seams that really need to be carefully done are where the harness attaches to the bag. The others don’t have nearly as much strain. And, yes, I realise that you need basic sewing skills, but it’s way easier to make a pack that a quilt or sleeping bag, or tent

If interested..

viewtopic.php?f=53&t=8363&p=142115&hilit=Andrewa#p110565
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=19792&p=330056&hilit=MYO+pack#p330056

The red fabric developed some holes last year, so I recently made 2 more, with slightly different design to accomodate my requirements. The Cuban needed a lot more care.

A
A

[ofuros]

My hip belt ripped apart after a rest stop on a ascent in the Main Range last weekend.
Compression straps & harness look like the same material so I test tore those too. Compression straps tore easily but the harness webbing was still ok.
Abandoned the trip 2/3rds of the way up an easy going off-track spur, but it was good to be out & about in the bush again. Short but sweet.

Time for a new lightish pack.
Oneplanet Canopy 50litre + 2 hip pockets arrived yesterday.

Initial thoughts...
Love the comfy hip belt & harness, pull forward to tighten. Didn't like the buckle, so changed that for single finger operation Bergbuckle.

Bottle pockets...I'd have to dislocate my old shoulders joints to get a bottle out so I'll stick with my bladder set up. I'lI use one pocket to store Bidet/hand cleanser & the other a water filter.

Hip belt pockets...mounted on the hip belt as shown on the OP videos were too far back for me( I'm no longer young & flexy...more like decrepit & stiff) + they were in the way for adjusting side buckles. So I moved them forward onto the webbing itself. Top webbing at 1st then onto the lower webbing. Useable, we'll see how that works out. Spare batteries + point & shoot camera in one pocket, Scroggin in the other.
Metal pull tabs on zips, hit together, tingling while walking around during test fitting.
P.S. tingling pull tabs are a non issue in the bush...your footfalls mask any metal sound.

Mesh Front pocket...stores rain jacket & sit pad for easy access. We'll see how long the stretchy material lasts, not a fan of stretchy pockets.

Top lid...shallow, key clip with zip pocket underneath. Beanie, gloves, fly net & neck buff in there atm, for easy access.

Just a few small personal niggles..
Steady rain outside the window...time for a walk.
Have a great weekend.

[Aardvark]

With everything in easy to access pockets and the hip belt and lid, it seems to me you should do away with the main compartment.

[ofuros]

Surprisingly...or unsurprisingly, my gear only fills up 3/4's of the main compartment.

Bells & whistles this time around. Never had or used pockets before.
Just as long as the Canopy lasts longer than my last pack I'll be happy.

The add-on-this & add-on-this experience is grating on me alittle...I still have to purchase the bladder sleeve (they come in 2sizes) or make one.
At least I have the option to remove the hip pockets or cut the bottle pockets off if they annoy me.

[Nuts]

I have a used OP Vertex if you want one Amias ? (It has a DIY dyneema front bellow pocket rather than the yellow stretch fabric).

Agree on the OP Overshadow. I really want to like it, and have carried 28+kg in there. Thankfully the side pockets are a good size for overloading as they are hopeless for bottles. Try with Bursitis and you'll end up walking in circles It's really a light pack designed to cram in heavyish loads, or for those who feel they need the comfort padding, otherwise there are as tough packs without so much weight in the harness and compression etc.

[stry]

I'll partly agree on the OP bottle pockets, but only partly.

They are superbly positioned to carry something as heavy and dense as water, and with a little bit of thought, I can remove the bottle(s) with the pack on.

Forget putting a bottle back in with the pack on though Way beyond my skill set.

I simply take pack off every hour or so, have a swig and a nibble and get going again. The break does me good.

[Nuts]

They've gone?

Yes Stry, I can get the bottles out too.

I had though of reinforcing the lip of those pockets with some W'snipper cord but for me it would still need painful contortion. I had a pack where the front of the pocket has an open/ non stitched section so the bottles go in horizontal, thumbs up. I just use a hip bottle when using the pack. Maybe such a pocket as they have, even further forward where the fabric can be pulled (forward) with a bungee on to the hip belt (or something like that)?


I like the change with the way OP hip belt tensions, I like the move to weight consideration. Like the shape of the pack and it's smallness and compact form and the suspension padding is nice with heavier loads (than they recommend). Don't like the front pocket, that should bellow out like Mont packs. I know OP like to build for slickness but as -is the front pocket has limited value.