What bergen?

[EdBaz]

Hello all, thanks in advance for any help.


I am looking for a bergen with at least 100L capacity.

I will be carrying around 30kg but with some bulky items like cook ware/food etc.

I will be using it for about two months hiking almost everyday. It needs to be durable to withstand rain and snow.

It also needs to come in civi appropriate colours like olive drab or black no MTP/DPM camo.

So far I’ve looked at the berghaus crusader 3 and the kitpimp pathfinder 150L. I’ve heard from friends that the berghaus is very comfy and sits well on the back, but apparently the plastic clips arent mega durable and I’m not a huge fan of the layout.

The pathfinder looks ideal with the poncho pouch and extra pouches/top lid zipper with mesh compartments. However ive heard just from a youtube review that the shoulder straps arent very comfortable and that weight falls away from the back.


My question is does anyone know of a bergen that fits my requirements that they could recommend? Or have any experience with the two ive mentioned.


I’m open to suggestions that are 90/100L as I can add poncho pouch modifications with dixies corner or similar companies and add more carrying capacity that way.
My priorities are firstly comfort and then capacity and durability. Not bothered about weight.


For reference for the past four years ive been wild camping and hiking out of a second hand 60 quid army surplus bergen obviously with no padding on the waist strap or on the thin shoulder straps and no airflow around the small of the back. The bergen is falling apart abit now and id like a fancy replacement. My budget is about 350/400 quid max.

Thank you for reading this essay of a question any help is much appreciated!

Cheers

Ed

 

[C_Claycomb]

Keep an eye out for a used Hill People Gear Qui-Ya. The new price (must remember to add belt) then with shipping is right at or just over your limit, but it is an excellent pack that ticks all the boxes you describe.

 

[EdBaz]

Keep an eye out for a used Hill People Gear Qui-Ya. The new price (must remember to add belt) then with shipping is right at or just over your limit, but it is an excellent pack that ticks all the boxes you describe.

Ah cool thanks mate, thats an interesting one never heard of the company. Yeah it looks very comfortable it has great reviews. However the capacity is only 80L and do you know if the material can be modded i.e. side pouches sown on etc? Otherwise looks great.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Ah cool thanks mate, thats an interesting one never heard of the company. Yeah it looks very comfortable it has great reviews. However the capacity is only 80L and do you know if the material can be modded i.e. side pouches sown on etc? Otherwise looks great.

On subject of volume, based on my experience with their packs, I think your assessment that it is only 80L is pessimistic. Did you find the thing about different ways to measure volume?

SPECIFICATIONS
Weight: 5.30 lb
Length: 12.00 in
Width: 12.00 in
Height: 31.50 in
Dimensional Volume: 4536.00 in3

Comparative Volume: 6500ci / 105L
Belted Chassis Capacity: 300lbs
More about capacity help

VOLUME

Everyone who has taken geometry knows that volume is length * width * height. Except no backpack manufacturer uses that metric. They use a combination of loading a bag with something like beans and voodoo math to arrive at their pack volumes which are expressed in either cubic inches or liters.
We used to publish only "dimensional volume" like we learned in geometry for our volumes. Then we started hearing back from unhappy customers that our packs were *way* bigger than we said they were. This is because they had an idea in their head based on other manufacturers' published volumes. So we started using some voodoo math of our own to come up with "volumes" that allow you to compare apples to apples with other manufacturers. That's what the "comparative volume" is.
Which of those two volume measurements is the one to pay attention to? Tough to say. Depends on what you're comparing with. If you pay attention to the dimensional volume, it's not going to be smaller than you're thinking -- but it might be bigger than you're thinking.
In addition to the volume measurement, we also give the dimensional measurements because it's another way to understand just how big a pack is. You can always get out a measuring stick and plot out a rectangle using the dimensions.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Ah cool thanks mate, thats an interesting one never heard of the company. Yeah it looks very comfortable it has great reviews. However the capacity is only 80L and do you know if the material can be modded i.e. side pouches sown on etc? Otherwise looks great.

Regarding modding and sewing on side pockets, the material is 500 Cordura, so quite easy to sew with a regular domestic sewing machine. The problem, as with all pack modding, is accessibility of where you want to sew now that the pack is a finished assembly.

However, the HPG packs are very good for adding additional storage. They sell several pockets and smaller packs that can be docked to the back of larger packs. The docking system is not complex and I would be surprised if it wasn’t possible to modify a pair of PLCE pockets to fit. That said, I think taller and thinner pockets fit better and have made one of my own that works well.

I used to use packs with side pockets, but kind of went off the idea. I didn’t like my elbows bumping them when using a walking stick or pole on steep ground. I didn’t like that the pack was wider as well as taller when trying to fit under or around trees and bushes.

This thread has some examples of stuff I have made to show what is possible.

Show us Your Own Modified Rucksack....

As title, Preferably with pictures, what Mods have you done to your carrying gear? more specifically Rucksacks?

bushcraftuk.com

This post is some more, simpler pocket ideas

Hill People Gear

Good thread. I was introduced to Hill People Gear by a friend from the early day of BushcraftUK, same chap who introduced me to hammocks, Kifaru and Helikontex ... and Mors Kochanski. I have wound up with quite a collection, an Ute V1, Umlindi V1, Connor V1 pack, Tara pack, M2016, Attache case...

bushcraftusa.com

 

[EdBaz]

Thank you very much this very informative I’ll have a read of those links. Interesting point about capacity.