Granite Gear  Blaze A.C. 60 Pack - Men's

I rated this pack as a 3, because if you're like me, you don't care about the 4-5 star living room reviews, you want to know the knitty gritty, why people don't like this pack. To start, I've owned this pack for about a year and a half. I've used it in places like the Central African jungle (dry season and rainy season), to take my kids on overnighters/weekenders in the Alaska bush, climbing trips through the Yosemite Valley, to bouncing around hostels in France and Germany. My longest trek with it was about 400 miles, the shortest was about 20 miles. I average about 25-30lbs packed weight, and have yet to desire a replacement. The knitty gritty: The pack cords are a brilliant concept, wonderfully flawed by the fact that they used a near-proprietary diameter of cord as opposed to a universal sized paracord available anywhere. I haven't had a cord fail me yet, but I do consider it an irritating design flaw, because it makes a good idea (user replaceable compression/load adjustment straps) worthless. The pockets will stretch permanently if you're not careful. And won't secure anything bigger than a water bottle, well. The accessory pocket on the back of the pack becomes limited on size dependent on how full your pack is. The fuller the pack, the smaller the capacity of the back pocket. I use it for maps usually, and once for a pair of Chacos. The zipper on the available lid is backwards. To get something out of it, you have to take off the pack to access the zipper or have a friend access it from behind. You can't reach behind you with the pack on your back and access the zipper over your shoulder. The attachment points make it a one way only mounting system unless you modify it by cutting seams, so you cant just turn it around to fix this, without some work. The redeeming qualities: I won't talk too much about fit and comfort, it fits me or I wouldn't own it still. The straps are some of the most comfortable I've worn when compared to other big brands, otherwise, packs are like shoes, try them on for a personalized fit, or else no matter how great the pack really is, you'll hate it. Sizewise, it's a 60L tube, very basic pack design. I recommend you buy the lid, it's great for your stove and things you need to access quickly. It detaches and makes a great carry bag. Not the best hip pack design, but I carry it like a courier bag for little day excursions and it suits me well. The tube design of the main pack makes it versatile enough for a large day pack sized load to a 3-week trekking load (not to be read "expedition load," definitely wouldn't consider it for Denali, etc.). Its perfect. Holds everything I need with not a zipper to fail on the main pack. The Cordura (pack body) holds up well in thorns and on granite, in mud, in forrests, against African clay...it's good ol Cordura, not much to say there. They make motorcycle jackets out of the stuff, so it's going to last. Scuffs don't excite me like other nylon packs because of this. The side pockets, while seemingly worthless spandex/lycra/elastic afterthoughts, actually hold up better than expected and can hold a water bottle well. If you're the kind of backpacker that still thinks Nalgene bottles are a backpackers' tool, you will probably struggle with the concept of this pack. It is not a heavy duty "load everything you can" kind of pack, nor is it a fast packer's "drill holes in the toothbrush" weight saving pack. It's a compromise. Skimp on stuff that doesn't matter to some people, like extra pockets, zippers, etc., but keep the body durable (cordura, it's heavy, but, it's going to last). It's for the guy that wants a lighter pack so he can justify bringing an alite for camp fire creature comforts, who knows compromise. It's for the guy who knows to wear his clothes dry at night while he's sleeping, not the macho weekend warrior bushwhacking in Southern California (if that's possible, my exaggeration is for reinforcement of MY opinion). It's a no-brainer, no-frills pack that will be hard for me to replace.

I rated this pack as a 3, because if you're like me, you don't care about the 4-5 star living room reviews, you want to know the knitty gritty, why people don't like this pack. To start, I've owned this pack for about a year and a half. I've used it in places like the Central African jungle (dry season and rainy season), to take my kids on overnighters/weekenders in the Alaska bush, climbing trips through the Yosemite Valley, to bouncing around hostels in France and Germany. My longest trek with it was about 400 miles, the shortest was about 20 miles. I average about 25-30lbs packed weight, and have yet to desire a replacement. The knitty gritty: The pack cords are a brilliant concept, wonderfully flawed by the fact that they used a near-proprietary diameter of cord as opposed to a universal sized paracord available anywhere. I haven't had a cord fail me yet, but I do consider it an irritating design flaw, because it makes a good idea (user replaceable compression/load adjustment straps) worthless. The pockets will stretch permanently if you're not careful. And won't secure anything bigger than a water bottle, well. The accessory pocket on the back of the pack becomes limited on size dependent on how full your pack is. The fuller the pack, the smaller the capacity of the back pocket. I use it for maps usually, and once for a pair of Chacos. The zipper on the available lid is backwards. To get something out of it, you have to take off the pack to access the zipper or have a friend access it from behind. You can't reach behind you with the pack on your back and access the zipper over your shoulder. The attachment points make it a one way only mounting system unless you modify it by cutting seams, so you cant just turn it around to fix this, without some work. The redeeming qualities: I won't talk too much about fit and comfort, it fits me or I wouldn't own it still. The straps are some of the most comfortable I've worn when compared to other big brands, otherwise, packs are like shoes, try them on for a personalized fit, or else no matter how great the pack really is, you'll hate it. Sizewise, it's a 60L tube, very basic pack design. I recommend you buy the lid, it's great for your stove and things you need to access quickly. It detaches and makes a great carry bag. Not the best hip pack design, but I carry it like a courier bag for little day excursions and it suits me well. The tube design of the main pack makes it versatile enough for a large day pack sized load to a 3-week trekking load (not to be read "expedition load," definitely wouldn't consider it for Denali, etc.). Its perfect. Holds everything I need with not a zipper to fail on the main pack. The Cordura (pack body) holds up well in thorns and on granite, in mud, in forrests, against African clay...it's good ol Cordura, not much to say there. They make motorcycle jackets out of the stuff, so it's going to last. Scuffs don't excite me like other nylon packs because of this. The side pockets, while seemingly worthless spandex/lycra/elastic afterthoughts, actually hold up better than expected and can hold a water bottle well. If you're the kind of backpacker that still thinks Nalgene bottles are a backpackers' tool, you will probably struggle with the concept of this pack. It is not a heavy duty "load everything you can" kind of pack, nor is it a fast packer's "drill holes in the toothbrush" weight saving pack. It's a compromise. Skimp on stuff that doesn't matter to some people, like extra pockets, zippers, etc., but keep the body durable (cordura, it's heavy, but, it's going to last). It's for the guy that wants a lighter pack so he can justify bringing an alite for camp fire creature comforts, who knows compromise. It's for the guy who knows to wear his clothes dry at night while he's sleeping, not the macho weekend warrior bushwhacking in Southern California (if that's possible, my exaggeration is for reinforcement of MY opinion). It's a no-brainer, no-frills pack that will be hard for me to replace.