Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

This is a great pack, it is huge, and eats up gear. It's not the pack you want to carry with you up a climb, but for an approach pack to a long route--or for a long day of cragging--where you are carrying a rack, rope, and a day's supplies, this is a great pack. It eats gear--large rack, rope, shoes, helmet, guide book, bottles & food--and has a capacity that is much larger than it looks. I love the zip access through the back and the top. Back access is huge, top access is situational (i.e., food, water). It is comfortable on approaches. Comes with a rope tarp that cinches shut (works great) and a chalk bag holder that I was skeptical about, but have learned to like. Good capacity, great pack. Big enough to stuff in a small pack to carry with you when you do your big route. Replaced a cragging pack after a dozen years of use by blowing out the bottom.

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

This is a good pack. However wish the internal rack was bigger, it holds my quick draws, but my pro rack itself I just stuff in the pack. Also wish that this had a couple of side pockets on the outside to hold water bottles, in case you don't want to use a hydration bladder stuffed inside, sticking out the zipper, which I don't think this was really designed to be used like that, and I can't because of how much is in the pack itself.

Additionally one note is to remember for the top flap, to keep the zippers off to one side, and not centered in the middle, if you are carrying a rope, as the rope will have a tendancy to pull the flap back, and unzip it.

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

So when I first got this pack, I thought it was the best invention ever. Now, almost 2 years down the road, I often have the feeling of wanting to set it aflame.
First issue is the top zipper. I feel like it's a design that's not really made to last. The square shape the zipper has to follow becomes more and more difficult to deal with, the more use it gets.
Second issue, and this really bums me out, is that the padding on the straps, feels like cardboard now, ie. no padding. I'm not trying to use this on anything other than cragging, but on some of the longer approaches (even hiking in and out of Smith Rocks) my collar bones and shoulders kill (this is when I want to burn it).
The gear loop inside is cool, but i never use the netted zippered thing or the dangly chalk bag, either. I have found that the way the back opens doesn't really work for me and just makes things a bit more complicated and discombobulated whenever I use it, so I always end up just digging through the top to retrieve whatever i need from the bottom. The stiffness of where the zipper is located on the back just makes it difficult to sneak in and grab something, like you would a duffel bag. The fabric on the padding is pretty soft and I ripped a big gash in it while lowering it down off of a ledge (which surprised me).
I really really wanted to love this pack and have it be my buddy for a long time but I think I'm going to have to retire it early.

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

I have used this backpack for sport climbing a lot. I like to be very organized, and this backpack is great for that. In fact, it's the only backpack I've seen that has this many climbing-friendly organizational features. Additionally, the backpack is very comfortable to wear, and the gear inside is quite easy to access. One of my favorite features of this pack is the built-in, removable rope bag/ tarp.

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

I got my Mammut Neon 45 about 3 years ago. I absolutely love it! My wife doesn't really love climbing as much as me, so I need to make it as easy as possible for her to go. That means, I pack all my stuff and her stuff. The Neon 45 makes that very easy for me. It is very spacious- I can pack all our sport climbing gear- shoes, chalk, draws, harnesses, rope, water, snacks, and jackets. One stop shopping. It is built to last, which is great because I plan on using it for years and years to come!

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

i was really hoping this could be a good cragging pack. the idea is good, but there is not enough space. you cannot get a rope, shoes, a medium sized rack, 10 draws, & helmet in there. let alone any jacket, food, water, ten essentials. the zippers are lightweight and use the smaller teeth so they bind easily. the material is pretty lightweight (read wear and tear easily). the external straps are so thin I wouldn't trust anything important on them. when i ordered it i got a call from rei saying 'your carry on bag is here.' what did fit? a 60m 9.5, 10 draws, a few cams, set of nuts & hexes, 1 pair of shoes, harness and then squeeze in the helmet.
if that's all you carry, fine or this could be a gym bag for indoors, i guess.
i like mammut's ropes and some other items, this isn't up to par.

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

This pack is one piece of gear I honestly believe the creators thought about, instead of just throwing something to gether to put on the market. Ive had it for about a year now and its plenty big enough to fit my 70 meter rope, 15 draws (sometimes more), a first aid kit both my and my girlfriends shoes, harnesses, belay devices and chalk bags along with some food and water wait for it... in a hydration pack! I dont know why that seems to confuse everyone. I just put mine right inside the back panel, there is a sleeve to slip it into and a velcro strap to hang it from, and run the tube out between where your back panel zippers meet, allowing you to make it exit where ever you like.

Its plenty comfortable, even without the waist belt, mine is usually tucked away and unused. The whistle on the chest buckle is a nice feature on any pack, you may not ever need it, but if you do... The tarp/ropebag could be bigger, but functions well enough as is. One of the best features are the metal stays, even with rope removed pack shape is mantained. Making it easier to get to gear sitting at the bottom of pack or clipped to rack with back panel open. Things like jackets and helmets are easily strapped to the outside with the v strap at the top and no matter how many weekends I take this thing out to abuse it, i havent popped a seam or zipper yet. As long as you dont do something rediculous, this is a bomb proof pack and im not sure it can be made better.

P.S. One of my favorite features of this thing is that it doesnt have 5 million unneccesary loops and pockets all over the outside.

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

I used to love my Metolious rope bag, a gear bag, a helmet and a camera all dangling off my when I was hiking up to a crag. The worst was hiking out to the sunshine wall in vantage. With this bag, I can consolidate all of those into 1 bag.

All in all, this bag is great. I usually pack a 70 meter rope, helmet, shoes, 14 quick draws, 3 belay devices, harness, personal anchor, 1 liter water, chalk bag, lunch/snack and guidebook. That is pretty all the bag can handle on the inside, but you can also strap a rope or a tent to the top, and strap the helmet to the back.

Best:
- Rope tarp included, so much better than a separate rope bag!
- Dufflebag handles. So useful when you're jumping from climb to climb
- Giant backside door, great for quickly packing and unpacking. Keeps everything at your finger tips
- built in rack. I love being able to clip my gear right into the pack.

Cons

until I went to climb down to the Sunshine wall out at Vantage. Since it was in its own bag, the rope and my helmut and all my stuff

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

This pack is great for the average sport climber. I can easily pack all the goods for my wife and me- 2 harnesses, 2 pairs of shoes, 60 M rope, 20 or so quickdraws- and room to spare. I love it!

Comments about Mammut Neon Gear 45 Climbing Pack:

This pack is marketed towards climbers, but it's not much better for it than my regular backpacks. I like how the pack offers top-loading as well as the zip-down back, which makes loading it easy. However, I find it fills up incredibly quickly. By the time I have my pro (1/ea C3 and C4's up to #3, 2 sets of nuts, one set of hexes), webbing, harness, helmet, water, shoes, chalk, etc inside it there is no room for the rope. I'm a pretty careful gear packer and there is just no way I can get everything I need to carry inside the bag. The bag does, however, make it easy to strap a rope across the top of the pack. Not ideal, but it works. Also, considering the pack is marketed to climbers you'd think there would be a LOT of gear loops. But you'd be wrong. One measly loop inside plus a handful outside is it. There is enough room for me to hang my draws and a couple extra biners, but everything else has to be packed inside.

The biggest issue I have is the chest-strap. It is adjustable slightly by sliding it up and down, but even adjusted as low as it will go it's too high and rides close to my throat. Not the most comfortable way to hike... I'm 6' 3", but I think this wouldn't be a problem for shorter people.

Even with it's faults, I still like the pack. My favorite feature is easily the zip-down back which gives me fast/easy access to just about everything inside the pack. I like it, but I don't think I'd buy a replacement if this one were stolen from me. So I can't really recommend it to a friend unless they are shorter and don't need to carry much gear.