TGO Rating: 3
The El Lobo is another fully featured but fairly heavy pack. As with similar packs it’s great for loads over 20kg but unnecessarily heavy for lighter ones.
TGO Rating: 3.5
As one of Berghaus’s Bioflex packs, the C7 has a hipbelt attached to the pack via a flexible frame. This means that when you bend and twist, the pack moves independently from the hipbelt.
The Deuter Air Contact is a big, bulky pack suitable for very heavy loads. It has a massive thick, wide, multi-layer, stiffened and shaped hipbelt that will easily handle 20+kg, as it should as the pack is the heaviest tested with the lowest volume to weight ratio. For any load under 20kg it’s overkill.
TGO Rating: 4.5
The Jam started life as an ultralight, basic pack with an unpadded hipbelt. Over the years it has grown in capacity and weight. Although this has been criticised by some ultralight backpackers, I think the changes have improved the pack and that the 2010 version is the best yet.
TGO Rating: 4
The Odyssey has been my favourite pack for bulky and heavy loads in recent years as it is very light for the size and carries loads up to 25kg comfortably. In fact, it’s significantly lighter than many of the smaller packs reviewed yet will easily swallow bulky winter backpacking gear.
Of the big heavy packs reviewed the Gregory Baltoro 70 stands out. It carries big loads superbly well and has every feature you could want. The hipbelt and shoulder straps are heavily padded and pivot to fit your shape and allow free movement.
The Gregory Z Pack was one of the first lightweight packs able to handle a load of 15kg. I liked it very much. The latest version, the Z55, is 260 grams heavier and seven litres smaller and barely counts as lightweight. It’s a good pack but I prefer the original version.
Karrimor, once one of the biggest names in packs, has rather faded from view in recent years. However the Cougar shows that the company is still making good quality packs. The Cougar isn’t lightweight but the cost is lower than average.
Kathmandu calls this a hybrid pack as it has a suitcase-style front opening and a pack-style lid and top opening plus a cover that can be zipped over the harness when the latter isn’t needed. It’s made from a tough laminated fabric that is waterproof and should prove extremely durable.
Lightwave’s new Ultrahike pack is a simplified version of the Wildtrek 60. The basic design is the same but gone are the lower compartment, hipbelt pockets and mesh-covered foam back while the side webbing straps have been changed to thin cord.
