I’ve had a couple of shots with Haglöfs ACE L pack that’s in for test, and I must confess I’m awfy impressed.
It sits low on my back which suits being on the bike and makes the bottle pockets super-accessible, the hipbelt is stable, comfy and has big zipped pockets. The shoulder harness is low profile and feels good, with the floating mechanism hidden in the lumbar area working well and being unnoticed while doing so.
It’s a good shape and is the usual robust Haglöfs design at the expense of ultimate weight.
There’s a couple of oddities on there though. The tiny external pocket has double fabric and a shielded zip to protect the contents from any assault by persons or weather, but there’s a hole in the top for iPod earphone cables and to let the water in…reaches for roll of duct tape…
There’s a bladder sleeve (and tube exits), but no internal pocket. I haven’t missed it yet, but I’ll be watching for frustrated fumbling at the bottom of the pack for “stuff”.
There’s the chest strap which has the much maligned slider attachment, here though the slider wire/tube ends are captured, so no frustrating re-attachment woes. The buckle has the now obligatory wee whistle on it. I wonder if this now common feature on packs is causing trouble in the global whistle manufacturing industry, are Fox trying to increase their already earsplitting whistle output to 150db to keep demand up?
Anyway, it’s early days, but on my back it’s like a limpet, a very comfy limpet. I’ll try and destroy it over the next few months and report my findings.
Aye, that bothered me too. I reckoned it could do with at least some kind of cunning clippable compression cord across it to take a bit of the pressure if it’s stuffed.
Could be worrying about nothing though…?
The zip’s a worry for the reasons mentioned. Pressure from inside trying to burst it, pressure from outside if there’s gear tightened into the bungees, and then there’s trying to zip it up when it’s full.
I saw a Wingnut pack just tear apart from exactly those causes.
I suppose they’re hoping it wont happen, and if it did you can rig the bungee cords to hold the thing shut. In the middle of a race?
There’s ways of constructing it that takes the stress off the zip but you’re not going to get those impressive weights that way.
A nice test of the zip will be when I’m carrying camping kit a four litres of water in the 35l version next month.
In saying all that, they’re well made packs and the components are good, so maybe they’re quietly confident?
I have used this Little beaut all summer 09 & will be using it all summer 2010 too,i love the big side pockets & hipfin pockets,i can get a walking pole in each side mesh pocket along with a water bottle in each too,great piece of kit.
Good job Ades.
It did become my first choice pack for most stuff. In fact today was the first time I’ve used another pack for day-walking for months.
It went well though, no withdrawal :o)