TGO Rating: 4
I wait years to try a “drybag with straps”, then two come along at once. This is the heavier, more featured of the pair in this test, with a roll-down canoe bag-style top closure and taped seams.
TGO Rating: 4.5
AN excellent, lightweight day pack that carries comfortably and isn’t overburdened with features you might never use. Compression is good and the Aircomfort system kept my back comparatively sweatfree.
TGO Rating: 5
FEW companies offer men’s and women’s options on day packs but extra points to GoLite and those whose back length options go some way to addressing the issue.
GREGORY describes this as “ultralight” but it’s one of the heavier packs tested here. The oval pack has several pockets, including a front pouch – useful for wet waterproofs – an internal mesh pocket, a tight zipped entry pocket behind your neck and small, accessible, hipbelt pockets.
THIS cross-over from challenge events and trail running is a lightweight pack that’s genuinely innovative and very comfortable to boot.
THIS looks like a traditional top-entry pack with bellows side pockets. Look again: rather than putting a mesh panel tensioned across a wire frame against your back, the AirSpace back system has two tensioned fins strung between lid and hipbelt, curved into the pack’s back: the only constant points of contact between you and the pack are your hips and shoulders.
WHAT is a rucksack other than a bag slung over the shoulders to carry your gear in? This Kathmandu model is perhaps the exact opposite of the Wengerpack reviewed on page 87: very light, minimalistically simple, and very affordable.
ONE of the more traditional packs here but with a contemporary styling. The pack sat comfortably – another model that suited my own medium/long back length – and transferred weight to the hips well though it won’t suit all and there’s no shoulder adjustment.
TGO Rating: 2
THE Aspiring is, I’m reliably informed, the UK-only re-introduction of a model formerly known as the Tuatara, which appears to be, essentially, a scaled-down version of the company’s Pursuit backpack.
I’M fan of Osprey packs and the Stratos is certainly an excellent, roomy pack that carries comfortably, transferring weight to the hips and sitting up straight on your back thanks to the LightWire frame’s incorporation into the hipbelt.
