Bergen Long or Short?
- Thread starter Steve27752
- Start date
Well if you want to wear webbing get the short back if you don't get the long. I've used both & the short is very short, I'm not tall (167cm) & still got a sore back with the short back.
A lot of the load we carry needs to go on the hips & the waist band on the short back sort of sits around your stomach - I guess it was more used for balance then load support.
A lot of the load we carry needs to go on the hips & the waist band on the short back sort of sits around your stomach - I guess it was more used for balance then load support.
Steve,
I am 6ft and the long back sits perfectly the base sits in the small of my back. I have an old 90s Olive green PLCE Bergen and side pouches. It could hold everything and the kitchen sink. Most of the time I have it all pulled tight to make it smaller and the side pouches off.
I tend to put a side pouch inside the main bag just to help separate items and easy access. I can't fault them. My only issue was I had to rivet the frame as it had popped due to age. Treated mine with nixwax and it's bombproof now.
I am 6ft and the long back sits perfectly the base sits in the small of my back. I have an old 90s Olive green PLCE Bergen and side pouches. It could hold everything and the kitchen sink. Most of the time I have it all pulled tight to make it smaller and the side pouches off.
I tend to put a side pouch inside the main bag just to help separate items and easy access. I can't fault them. My only issue was I had to rivet the frame as it had popped due to age. Treated mine with nixwax and it's bombproof now.
I forgot to mention that I am 5'-10......................................and a 1/2" apparently the 1/2" makes all the difference.
So you both recommend a Long back/
So you both recommend a Long back/
In case it's of use to anyone, I bought a long back bergen years ago to use as a standalone pack. I chose a long back because I'm 6' 3". More recently I bought some PLCE webbing and thought the two would work together quite well, largely because the kidney pads on the bergen are higher than you'd find on a civvy pack, but I was wrong.
The webbing belt sits right around my belly button, because of the length of the straps on the main yoke, and at that position the long back bergen sits too high to be comfortable. Also, too much of the packs weight rests on the webbing pouches and when it's loaded it's really uncomfortable.
Last week I bought a short back bergen to see if that was any better. At first I was put off by just how high the short back sat on my body, but after a bit of adjustment, of both the webbing and the bergen, it's actually turned out to be a pretty comfortable combo.
Even at my height, if I want to use the bergen with webbing, the short back is the favourite. However, if I need a bergen to use without webbing the long back wins.
The webbing belt sits right around my belly button, because of the length of the straps on the main yoke, and at that position the long back bergen sits too high to be comfortable. Also, too much of the packs weight rests on the webbing pouches and when it's loaded it's really uncomfortable.
Last week I bought a short back bergen to see if that was any better. At first I was put off by just how high the short back sat on my body, but after a bit of adjustment, of both the webbing and the bergen, it's actually turned out to be a pretty comfortable combo.
Even at my height, if I want to use the bergen with webbing, the short back is the favourite. However, if I need a bergen to use without webbing the long back wins.
