Got a chance to take my new pack (Here) out into the woods yesterday for a typical bushy day out - i.e. a bit of a walk, a brew, a bit of tree spotting, foraging, tracking and whatever, another brew, taking some photos, a brew... you get the idea. I thought I'd write a review/test since I know lots of folks are contemplating making their own.
To start, a couple of pics of the pack in its natural environment:
As you can see, it was a cracking day in the Forest of Dean, with low sunlight and someone had kindly run in front of me sprinkling icing sugar everywhere.
I wanted to look at, in particular, capacity, comfort and practicality and compare this to my usual pack for such a jaunt - a Karrimor Sabre 30. Such a comparison seemed fair as the capacity of my pack is around 30 litre (without the pockets).
Capacity:
I have redone the calculations and still I get 30 litres as the size of my pack but it fits in MUCH more stuff than the Sabre 30 - so much so that I was chucking extra stuff in and still it was not full to capacity. This implies for me that the Sabre's 30 litres is a generous description. I managed to carry:
DSLR in its bag, tripod, cookset, bushbuddy tinder and firesteel, Lunch and snacks, down gilet, basha/poncho, mora, laplander, 2xcups (in case I meet someone...) FAK, waterproof trousers and jacket, 12m paracord, journal, 1L water bottle groundsheet, sitmat, preMac water filter, Binoculars, map, GPS, compass; and still had room for more:
Only downside is you tend to want to fill the space available and end up carrying too much stuff. On the other hand, I reckon that, with the pockets added and more judicious selection of kit, this pack could well do for a summer overnighter.
Comfort
Most of the time I forgot I was "testing" the pack and just enjoyed the walk - this indicates that it must have been comfortable. It sat very firmly on my back with no movement - a good thing since retro-fitting a hipbelt would be difficult (I'm not a big fan of hipbelts on smaller packs as, if your are fairly tall, they become bellybelts and are not so useful). Even crashing through the undergrowth, it felt stable. The only exception to the general level of comfort was the shoulder straps. I had been worried that unpadded straps would hurt my shoulders but this was no problem whatsoever. The issue was where these straps passed under my armpits. No problem during "normal" walking but whenever I brought my arms together (e.g. to read the map, take a photo) they dug into my pits painfully. I think I have made the wide part of the strap overlong but, before I cut them and try again, I am going to wait until the leather softens a little as it ages as this may be a less radical solution.
Practicality
Having a single large compartment is a disadvantage compared with the Sabre. The Sabre has a lid compartment which is really useful for the stuff you want to lay your hands on quickly. Otherwise it does all you expect it to.
As yet, I don't know how it will stand up to the test of time and there are things I would like to improve: the shoulder straps, maybe the lid is a tad too large, use 3/4 inch buckles and straps instead of 5/8 inch. But , generally, I am delighted with the outcome. I am going to make a smaller one for EDC since it does rather swallow my sarnies when I take it to work...
Finally:
The X factor
I am biased. But this sort of traditional homemade kit has it in spades! If you are considering having a go at one - what are you waiting for?
To start, a couple of pics of the pack in its natural environment:
As you can see, it was a cracking day in the Forest of Dean, with low sunlight and someone had kindly run in front of me sprinkling icing sugar everywhere.
I wanted to look at, in particular, capacity, comfort and practicality and compare this to my usual pack for such a jaunt - a Karrimor Sabre 30. Such a comparison seemed fair as the capacity of my pack is around 30 litre (without the pockets).
Capacity:
I have redone the calculations and still I get 30 litres as the size of my pack but it fits in MUCH more stuff than the Sabre 30 - so much so that I was chucking extra stuff in and still it was not full to capacity. This implies for me that the Sabre's 30 litres is a generous description. I managed to carry:
DSLR in its bag, tripod, cookset, bushbuddy tinder and firesteel, Lunch and snacks, down gilet, basha/poncho, mora, laplander, 2xcups (in case I meet someone...) FAK, waterproof trousers and jacket, 12m paracord, journal, 1L water bottle groundsheet, sitmat, preMac water filter, Binoculars, map, GPS, compass; and still had room for more:
Only downside is you tend to want to fill the space available and end up carrying too much stuff. On the other hand, I reckon that, with the pockets added and more judicious selection of kit, this pack could well do for a summer overnighter.
Comfort
Most of the time I forgot I was "testing" the pack and just enjoyed the walk - this indicates that it must have been comfortable. It sat very firmly on my back with no movement - a good thing since retro-fitting a hipbelt would be difficult (I'm not a big fan of hipbelts on smaller packs as, if your are fairly tall, they become bellybelts and are not so useful). Even crashing through the undergrowth, it felt stable. The only exception to the general level of comfort was the shoulder straps. I had been worried that unpadded straps would hurt my shoulders but this was no problem whatsoever. The issue was where these straps passed under my armpits. No problem during "normal" walking but whenever I brought my arms together (e.g. to read the map, take a photo) they dug into my pits painfully. I think I have made the wide part of the strap overlong but, before I cut them and try again, I am going to wait until the leather softens a little as it ages as this may be a less radical solution.
Practicality
Having a single large compartment is a disadvantage compared with the Sabre. The Sabre has a lid compartment which is really useful for the stuff you want to lay your hands on quickly. Otherwise it does all you expect it to.
As yet, I don't know how it will stand up to the test of time and there are things I would like to improve: the shoulder straps, maybe the lid is a tad too large, use 3/4 inch buckles and straps instead of 5/8 inch. But , generally, I am delighted with the outcome. I am going to make a smaller one for EDC since it does rather swallow my sarnies when I take it to work...
Finally:
The X factor
I am biased. But this sort of traditional homemade kit has it in spades! If you are considering having a go at one - what are you waiting for?
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