The new rucksack

[caorach]

I thought to write a quick "preview" of my solution to the lightweight rucksack problem.

In the end I got an Exped Lightning 60l. These seemed to hit a decent place on the price/performance graph (about £120ish if you shop around) and were getting good reviews plus a few people I'd been in touch with recommended them as well.

I only took delivery of mine about a week ago and it has only been out once for a bit of a walk with a day sack type load but I thought to give a bit of an overview just in case anyone else is considering something similar.

The Exped comes in at just over the 1kg in weight so it is not ultra lightweight in terms of rucksacks but it is certainly getting there. Despite this I've been impressed at how robust it is and the actual fabric is much more sturdy than I had expected. I'd sort of imagined that I'd have to be a little big careful of it but in truth it looks like it will stand up to the normal treatment that my rucksacks get. Some of the plastic buckles feel a little lightweight but then it's a lightweight bag and my first impression is that they are going to be fit for purpose, without being over engineered. The same also applies to the webbing and straps - it is a little lighter than you might see on some other bags but unless you are going to be carrying anvils around it will be fine. I believe exped rate the bag to carry a maximum load of around 52lbs.

If you pick the bag up you might notice that the shoulder straps feel a little light and lacking in padding and initially I was a little concerned about this but in actual use this has not been a problem. The bag is really, really good at transferring the weight to the hip belt and once you put it on and get the fit sorted there is very little weight at all on the shoulders, really they are just stabilizing the load. There are load lifters on the shoulders and these work well to get the bag sitting just the way you like it. The hip belt is extremely well padded indeed and there is a very solid lumbar pad which covers the adjustment mechanism for the back system. I found the hip belt arrangement very comfortable in use.

The suspension system uses a single alloy stay that runs up the centre of the back and mine has a little outward bend in it which I thought might catch my spine but this wasn't the case in practise. However, the Exped people suggest that users will have to bend this stay to suit and this is something that I will look into should it cause problems for me.

The bag has a wide range of straps and attachment options on the outside and being honest I can't work out how half of them might operate. The best I can say is that no matter what you might want to attach there will, with some thought, be a way. The good bit for the angler is that there are two good deep pockets on either side and some straps run right up the bag so it would be a simple matter to put a rod tube into the pocket and use the strapping to lash it up the side of the bag making everything secure. Apart from those side pockets then what you get is basically a single 60l compartment with a small pocket, accessible from outside the lid of the bag, at the top. So this isn't a bag for people who want pockets or complexity. However, I really don't think that is going to pose any problems for me as a lot of my stuff will go in dry bags and that system becomes "self organizing" in a way. The side pockets are open topped and there is no way to securely close them so while this makes them ideal for a rod tube or similar clearly they are not somewhere that you'd want to store a critical bit of gear and, when travelling lightweight, all the gear you carry is likely to be critical.

My first impression is pretty positive and I think this bag will serve me well while giving a considerable reduction in weight over the mil surplus Sting I was using previously. It will probably be quite a while before I do any actual camping with it but hopefully it will be out on quite a few days trips over the next while and I'll be increasing the weight etc. with a view to getting ready for longer walks to camp by trout lochs. Hopefully I will get around to writing a real review towards the end of the season when the ruck sack has had more use and bigger loads.