Packs

[Slamz]

Tell me about packs.

Especially interested in Dustie's "small, medium, large" system. Not the contents of the pack, but what actual pack(s) do you have/want/like?

[Thudz]

I currently only own 1 pack. It's the Maxpedition Condor II assault pack pictured in my blades and hydration system posts. It cost just over $100 and has about 1950 cubic inches of space. It's bigger than a day pack but not as big as a three day pack. It can be used for the three main backpacking functions, hiking, camping and assaulting :twisted: .

I really like the quality of the Maxpedition gear. Everything is atleast double stitched. The zippers and d-rings are high quality. The pack has MOLLE webbing on both back pockets and both sides as well as both shoulder straps. The pack, as shown in the hydration system thread, has a space for up to a 100oz hydration system. And a must for any load bearing pack is a chest strap that connects the two shoulders straps and a waist strap.

You can view this particular pack here.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.emgear.net/Products/i1000.aspx">http://www.emgear.net/Products/i1000.aspx</a><!-- m -->

[Dustie]

Tell me about packs.

Especially interested in Dustie's "small, medium, large" system. Not the contents of the pack, but what actual pack(s) do you have/want/like?

I have 3 main sizes, small, medium, and large. I try to plan it around not just "what do I need" but "what do I need, what is the priority, and what is realistic"

With that in mind, I thought of the things you need to sustain yourself in an emergency. You basically start with air, water, food. Then you come to shelter, communication, transportation etc. Over all of this, you have to be secure -- it does you no good to stock pile a years worth of food and water if someone with a gun can just come and take it.

Back to packs, I basically have
1. A pocket kit (tiny) (just the first few items from my "small kit" that will basically fit in your pocket)
2. A belt kit (small) (this is simply a belt to which I attach my buck knife and a bunch of durable pouches to hold things from my list for "belt kit" or "small kit" list
3. A backpack kit (Medium) (this class of pack)
4. A Large Pack Kit (Large)(They don't have mine listed anymore, but my large kit is in this class of pack)

After that, comes my car kit and house kit but this post is about packs so I'll leave that out.

The key for small day packs and larger camping packs are 1) does it hold everything and 2) does it fit comfortably. The best part about my large back pack is that hip strap fits me perfectly (it is adjustable also). The padding on the hip strap holds a good part of the weight. The should straps are also adjustable and the real key there is to get the right distribution between hips and shoulders. Some people have packs adjusted with far too much weight on the shoulders. The problem with getting it right, is that sometime you need to walk 10 miles for 3 days before you can be sure you have fine tuned it. As long as the hip and shoulder straps are adjustable you should be ok (hip straps that don't move horizontally can pigeon hole you into an uncomfortable pack).

I'll try to find my list of items from the other thread that shows what I have in each pack.

Edit: I agree with thudz on hydration. I would add a camel back to any medium or larger kit. The integrated daypack/camel backs look nice, I almost got one last weekend.

[Dustie]

It looks like you found it:
http://www.thepurge.net/forum/viewtopic....51&t=10403

I've made some updates to this list after I merged it with my camping list. I'll post those tonight.

[Hoofhurr]

I have an old Gregory pack for backpacking. I've owned it for 9 years and it's awesome. I've used it for everything from vacationing to backpacking and it's still in perfect shape. Very rugged. I don't have it prepacked for emergencies but it may be time to at least put a box of stuff together that can be easily transferred into the pack.