Osprey
Levity 60 Backpack
Test Series by Kurt Papke
Tester Information
Name: |
Kurt Papke |
Age: |
64
|
Gender: |
Male |
Height: |
6' 4" (193 cm) |
Weight: |
231 lbs (105 kg) |
Email address: |
kwpapke (at) gmail (dot) com |
City, State, Country: |
Tucson, Arizona USA |
I do most of my hiking in the desert Southwest, but occasionally get
up into the Pacific Northwest and my old stomping grounds in
Northern Minnesota. I am a comfort-weight guy when it comes to
most gear, trying to stay as light as possible but I don't go to
extremes. I do use lightweight packs whenever my load weight and
volume allows.
Initial Report
Product Facts
Product Information
|
Manufacturer
|
Osprey Packs Inc.
|
|
Manufacturer website
|
https://www.osprey.com
|
Year manufactured
|
2018
|
Size tested
|
Large, also available in Small and Medium
|
Country of manufacture
|
Vietnam
|
Dimensions
(manufacturer spec for Large size)
|
30.31H X 15.75W X 12.99D in
(77H X 40W X 33D cm)
I did not try to verify the measurements, as it is difficult
to replicate how they were made with an irregularly shaped
object like this backpack.
|
Volume
|
60 L (3661 cu in) nominal, 63 L (3844 cu in)
for large size tested
|
Load range
|
10-30 lbs (4.5-13.6 kg)
|
MSRP
|
$270.00 USD
|
Warranty
|
Like all Osprey products, the Levity comes
with their All Might Guarantee: free repair of any defect or
damage for any reason, any product of any era
|
Weight
|
Specification: 2.029 lbs (0.92 kg)
Measured: 2 lbs (0.91 kg)
|
Material
|
Main: 30D ripstop silnylon
Accent/bottom: 210D Nylon
|
The Osprey Levity 60 is termed a "Super Ultralight" backpack by the
manufacturer. Osprey is remarkably candid in their website
description: "In fact, it's probably not the right pack for you.
It's for people who pack lighter, go further, and think smarter."
The design does however make some compromises on their lightweight
goal for comfort, primarily:
- The stiff frame with mesh backpanel, the goal being to
ventilate the hikers back and avoid sweat buildup, as well as to
transfer load to the hipbelt.
- A top lid.
- A non-removable hydration pocket.
- Dual front daisy-chain straps (low weight penalty for this)
for flexible external gear attachment
On the other hand, the pack has almost no padding anywhere, not
for the lower back, hip belt straps (see the front and back of the
hipbelt at left in the photo below) and very little in the
shoulder straps (see the front and back of the shoulder straps at
right in the photo below). The mesh backpanel provides a lot
of "give" in the lumbar region with the flexing of the stays and
mesh, so padding there was not likely needed. Osprey labels
the "padding" in the shoulder straps and hipbelt as their
"Exoform" technology, which is a seamless, layered mesh.
Features:
- Aluminum frame with mesh backpanel.
- Hipbelt (one size only).
- Shoulder straps are fully adjustable including load lifters
and a sternum strap with emergency whistle. (see above photo)
- Dual entry side pockets (top and back of pocket) - this is
highly unusual. It'll be interesting to see if things fall
out and how accessible it makes the pocket contents. (see photo
below top left)
- Large front pocket (no stretch, but bellowed) with
buckle/strap. (see photo below top center) I make
extensive use of large front pockets on my other packs for
clothing layers, i.e. I begin my day with the pocket empty and
by noon it is full of windbreakers, fleece insulation layers,
gloves, hats, etc.
- Tip lid with zippered pocket and key holder. This is
*not* a floating lid, it is sewn to the frame so there are
limits to the size of gear that can be stowed beneath it outside
the main compartment. (see photo below top right) I
often use the top lid on a pack to store my lunch.
- Full hydration bladder support with large pocket, hang
strap/buckle, and single center exit port. (see photo below
bottom center and right) I don't normally use hydration
bladders because I cannot see how much water is left in them,
and they are hard to remove and refill without emptying the main
compartment. I may use one with this pack if it is
difficult to get water bottles in & out of the side pockets
without taking the pack off, or if it is not workable to hike
with water bottles attached to the shoulder straps.
- Side compression cords to take the slack out of the main
compartment if underloaded. Note that these are not
webbing straps, just light cordage, so I would hesitate to use
them for any serious compression.
- Extensive external attachment cords for strapping gear to the
outside of the pack. This includes the dual daisy-chain
webbing loops on the front.
- Lift strap for picking up the loaded pack. (see photo below
lower left)
Features not included:
- Hipbelt pockets. I am a big fan of these. It's
where I keep my smartphone, snacks, lip balm, and other small
items. Many backpacks include a useless hipbelt pocket
that is too small to be of any utility, so I applaud Osprey for
not wasting the materials on a too-small pocket, but I will miss
having one available.
- Trekking pole loops. It can be handy to stow the
trekking poles on the front of the pack when doing a
scramble. It may be possible to store them in the side
pockets. I'll have to experiment with that.
That's a pretty short list - for such a lightweight pack, Osprey
didn't have to cut out a whole lot.
Initial Inspection
The first thing I noticed when I picked up the pack is that it is
light, yet the frame is quite rigid. The aluminum stay is taut
within the frame, and should do a good job of transferring the load
to my hips.
The shoulder straps and hip belt are soft, but devoid of padding, so
I'll be interested to see how comfortable they feel after several
full days on the trail. The shoulder straps look like I should
be able to stuff a sock or something similar into it for extra
padding right where it hits my clavicle, so I'll have to experiment
with that a bit. For reasons I don't understand, the "tube" of
mesh that makes up the shoulder strap pad is sewn shut at the top
but open on the bottom, so I could stuff some socks in from the
bottom, but I'd be a little concerned they would fall out. It
would have made more sense to me to reverse that and have it open on
the top and sewn shut on the bottom.
Bear canister compatibility: a BV450 fits horizontally, a
BV500 (both firm, stiff round bear canisters) fits vertically
only. The back of the main compartment is *very* convex to get
the air spacing behind the mesh backpanel, which doesn't jive real
well with a convex bear canister. To get efficient use of
space behind the canister will require stuffing smaller loose
clothing items like base layers or socks to fill the gap. This
will unlikely be a problem for me, as I normally use an Ursack (soft
fabric sack for food wildlife protection) which is more pliable and
fits better into irregular spaces. I attempted to show the
curvature of the back panel with the photo below. I stuck my
hand in there to give a sense of scale, but the fact that I can fit
my hand into the gap between the mesh and the panel gives an
indication of how much the stays bend the main compartment in.
Just below my middle fingertip in the photo a cross-stay is visible,
which also pushes the frame in horizontally, so the main compartment
is convex in two dimensions.
Fit: I loaded the pack up with a bunch of gear and tried the
pack on. All the adjustment straps work smoothly, I like the
front-pull straps on the hipbelt. All the straps seemed about
the right length, no excessive slack when tightened, none too
short. The length of the pack felt good - I am typically
challenged on this dimension as I have an unusually long torso, even
for my height. Comparing the dimensions of the
small/medium/large packs shows that only the height changes with the
size. The width and depth are all identical, so the sizes are
primarily an accommodation for torso length.
The pack did feel like it rode high on my hips, but perhaps it will
settle down when loaded up with food and water weight.
Accessibility: I am able to reach into the side pockets
through the side hole, but I am a bit dubious of getting water
bottles in/out through the holes. Seems like it might work
better for small items, but time will tell. I will have to
play with attaching water bottles to the shoulder straps, something
I am a big fan of because it shifts my center of gravity forward and
makes it easy and fast to get a drink.
Materials: the 30D ripstop used for much of the pack is very
sheer - you can almost see through it. The 210D fabric used
for the front pocket, bottom and lid top is much more robust and
stiff. When placed upright on the ground, the bottom of the
frame supports the weight of the pack. There is a strip of
webbing reinforcement at the low points, likely placed to prevent
abrasion. My guess is the bottom of the pack is going to see
some wear and tear, but experience will tell.
Summary
Osprey has delivered a reasonably lightweight backpack for its
volume with an interesting choice of things included and left
out. I am intrigued by the product, and look forward to
getting it out on the trail loaded up with gear, food and water
and seeing how well it carries, and in the long term, how well it
holds up.
Field Report
Acquisition/installation of Osprey 2.5L LT Reservoir
In preparation for my first outing with the pack, I anticipated
having to go 24+ hours without access to a water source, so I
purchased (with my own funds) the matching Osprey hydration pack,
the 2.5L LT Reservoir. I am normally not a big fan of
reservoirs, I find them clumsy and I don't like being ignorant of
the amount of water I have remaining (it's tough to see how much
is left in any reservoir). I decided to make an exception in
this case. I will not include the performance of the
reservoir in this report, just how well the pack worked with it
(or not). Below is a photo collage of the reservoir
installed in the pack:
The top photo at left is the view looking down into
the main compartment. The pack reservoir sleeve was plenty
big; it could have contained a substantially larger unit. The
hang strap/clip mated well with the reservoir and was just small
enough to fit through the handle slot. The hose and connector
are visible at the center and top going through the H2O port.
The connector is easily accessed to disconnect the feed tube for
refilling.
The photo at bottom left shows the feed tube exiting the front of
the pack and going over the right shoulder strap, which is the
preferred side due to the magnet attachment to the sternum strap
that will be discussed next. When I put the pack on, the tube
did not interfere at all with my shoulder.
The photo at bottom right shows the feed going through the elastic
band on the shoulder strap to keep it flopping over onto my chest,
and just below my thumb is the magnetic holder that attaches to the
sternum strap cord which in turn is attached to the right shoulder
strap. This allows a quick disconnect from the sternum strap
to take a drink and easy reconnect.
As might be suspected, these two pieces of gear mate well together,
almost as if they were designed to do so by Osprey! In fact,
on the Osprey website page for the Levity pack, there is a section
for "Buy the Complete System" which includes this reservoir.
Field Use
Date
|
Location
|
Trail
|
Distance
|
Altitude
|
Weather
|
Base Weight
|
Total Pack Weight
|
April 9-11, 2018
|
Saguaro National Park, East Unit (Rincon
Mountains) near Tucson, AZ
|
Douglas
Spring
|
25 miles
(40 km)
|
2750-8000 ft
(840-2440 m)
|
Sunny, 35-98 F
(2-37 C)
|
16 lbs
(7.2 kg)
|
31.5 lbs
(14.3 kg)
|
April 26-29, 2018
|
Santa Catalina Mountains in the Coronado
National Forest near Tucson, AZ
|
Showers
Point
|
N/A
|
About 8000 ft (2440 m)
|
Hazy, 40-75 F
(4-24 C)
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
May 16-17, 2018
|
Huachuca Mountains in the Coronado National
Forest near Sierra Vista, AZ
|
Crest
|
14.6 miles
(23.5 km)
|
6500-9000 ft
(1980-2740 m)
|
Sunny, 45-75 F
(7-24 C)
|
16 lbs
(7.2 kg) |
31.3 lbs
(14.2 kg)
|
June 10-11, 2018
|
Santa Catalina Mountains in the Coronado
National Forest near Tucson, AZ |
Samaniego Ridge
|
6 miles
(9.7 km)
|
7800-9100 ft
(2380-2770 m)
|
Sunny, 50-76 F
(10-24 C)
|
13 lbs
(5.9 kg)
|
27.4 lbs
(12.4 kg)
|
Douglas Spring Trail
This winter seems to be a "complete the list" season for me, in
this case backpacking the last major trail in the Rincon Mountains
of Saguaro National Park that I had not yet done. I had
avoided the Douglas Spring trail for the better part of a decade
due to a reputation for vehicle break-ins, but thought I'd take my
chances. The temperatures were forecast to be pretty hot in
Tucson with highs around 97 F (36 C), so I thought I'd climb to
some altitude in search of cooler conditions despite having to
deal with the heat at lower elevations. This hike is a
"desert to mountaintop" journey, beginning and ending in the
Tucson basin with the attendant dry heat, and an intermediate stay
in alpine conditions in the Ponderosa pines of Manning Camp with
the accompanying cold nights. I had to be prepared for and
thus carry gear for high heat and cold.
While packing up for the trip there were a couple of things that
struck me:
- The main compartment is huge, but very irregularly shaped
particularly with the reservoir installed. I found I had
to experiment a bit with placement of items to fill up
space. The good news is I was able to get all my gear
inside the pack including my z-fold foam mattress, which
typically I always have to attach to the outside. I had
plenty of space to spare in the front pocket.
- When fully loaded, the side pocket openings seem very
small/tight. It would be tough to get a large diameter
bottle in/out of the pockets. In fact, I had to strain to
get even a soft-sided bottle into the pockets (see photo below,
upper-left corner).
- The small buckles/clasps provided to secure webbing straps
work really well. They are very easy to close and
open. I like the contrasting color (blue) of the webbing
straps, making it easy to find them in low light conditions.
My total pack weight was well above what Osprey
recommends. I wasn't sure there would be water at Douglas
Springs where I camped the first night, and it was quite warm
outside, so I packed about 4.5 L (4.75 qt) total of water. I
filled the LT reservoir to the brim and packed two soft bottles in
the side pockets. Despite the high weight, the pack carried
very well, I had neither soreness in my shoulders nor issues with
the hipbelt straps abrading my hips. The weather was quite
hot, especially on day one and day 3, though the humidity was low,
and my back sweat a lot. Despite the sweating, my back stayed
quite comfortable due to the excellent back ventilation provided by
the Levity pack.
The photo in the upper-right corner shows the pack sitting nicely in
the roots of a dead Alligator Juniper tree at Cowhead Saddle where I
stopped to take a pack-off break. In general, the pack stands
up better on its own than most packs I have used due to the stiff
frame.
The photo at lower-left shows the pack on me from the front. I
noticed I had to fiddle a bit with the shoulder harness belt tension
to get it to ride well. I ended up tightening it down a bit
more than I usually do - if left loose the pack bounces off my back
quite a bit, probably due to the rear-biased center of gravity of
this pack. It also seemed like the sternum strap would loosen
itself a bit after an all-day hike. Fortunately, the tension
on the sternum strap is not critical, so it didn't cause any serious
issues.
The final photo at lower-right shows the huge number of steps that
make up the elevation change of this hike, about a mile (1.6 km)
from the trailhead heading to Manning Camp. It is punishing
taking all those steps on the descent, and I was very happy to be
carrying such a light pack that minimized the strain on my knees and
quadriceps muscles.
I was very happy with how well this minimalist pack carried the
weight I threw at it. My initial concerns about shoulder strap
and hipbelt comfort turned out to be unfounded. The only
complaint I have is the overly-tight opening in the side pockets,
making it hard to get my water bottles in/out even when the pack was
sitting on the ground in front of me.
The strategy for pocket use that I employed on this trip and the
succeeding outings was as follows:
- Daytime food items and cooking gear in the top lid. My
Jetboil fit quite nicely along with my lunch items.
- Toiletries, water treatment/purification and clothing layers
in the front pocket. I had space to spare in this pocket,
I could have easily packed rain gear as well, but fortunately I
didn't need any (yet).
- Soft water bottle in each side pocket. Accessed only in
camp.
- Everything else in the main compartment
Showers
Point Campground Hammock Hang
This was a 3-day/4-night car camping trip ("hammock hang"), and I
used the backpack just to transport my gear between my car and the
spot where I hung my hammock, maybe 100 yards (100 meters) or
so. I pretty much lived out of the backpack for the 4
days. After I set up my shelter I hung it from a tree and
used it to store clothing, cooking gear, etc. It wasn't much
of a test of the carrying ability of the pack, more of its
durability and usability for base camping.
It worked quite well for the purpose. The large front
pocket was handy to store and access toiletries and miscellaneous
gear items. I hung the pack from the carrying handle/strap
which seems pretty spartan compared to that found on most packs,
but it held up with no issues.
Crest Trail (Huachucas)
The Huachuca Mountains are little-used, it seems
like people are not aware of the excellent hiking there. I
hadn't been there for several years, and had never been to the
southern terminus of the Arizona National Scenic Trail adjacent to
the Mexican border in the Coronado National Memorial. The
weather was starting to get hot in Tucson, so I thought heading
for some elevation would be a good plan.
I tried to go a little lighter than my Douglas Spring hike, but
as can be seen from the table above, I
had difficulty getting rid of much. I brought a lighter
(net-less) hammock, but more insulation because I was going to be
up a little higher. Once again I was fully loaded with
water, even though there is a spring not too far from my first
night's camp. I've been to the spring before and it had good
flow, but we've had a very dry winter and I was concerned I would
be dry camping the first night at least.
My intent was to go for two nights, but I ended up cutting it
short due to high winds. Not a lot of fun to hang in a
hammock when you are swinging in very windy conditions.
The pack performed very well on this hike, the only issue I
noticed was some noisy "creaking" of the pack if it was bouncing a
bit due to large step ups/downs on the trail. The noise went
away eventually, so I don't know what that was all about.
I really appreciated the light weight of the pack on this
trip. I was humping up and down some serious mountains, and
the altitude definitely impacted my hiking performance (that means
I was wheezing a lot). This is the kind of hike where
ultralight gear really pays off.
Samaniego Ridge
I was looking for a break from the Tucson summer heat, and I
hadn't been up to one of my favorite campsites up on Mt. Lemmon
for years, so I set off in search of altitude. The trail
begins just a few steps away from the mountain peak, and descends
1300 ft over 3 miles to a bucolic spread of Ponderosa pines with a
thick bed of needles beneath. Great spot to pitch a tent,
too bad I hang from the trees in a hammock!
Note from the summary table above that I was able to trim both my
base and total pack weights a bit to get them under the
manufacturer's guidelines for the pack. I only had food for
one day, and I brought minimal clothing changes & insulation
since the conditions were pretty ideal. The lighter pack
weight was very noticeable, causing the pack to ride more on my
hips. I think it helped a bit that I cinched the pack
shoulder straps down a bit more, so the pack rode more closely to
my back; there was little/no gap between my back and the
mesh. It's feeling to me that this pack *wants* to be
adjusted that way - since the mesh forces a space between my back
and the pack, no sense in adding to it with loose shoulder straps.
I started out with 4.75 L (about 5 qts) of water, but on the
ascent on the return trip I had consumed most of that so the pack
was quite a bit lighter. Always nice to have a lighter pack
on a climb. I was amazed how light the pack felt now when
putting it on or taking a pack-off break -- with little food or
water I felt like I could lift it easily with one hand.
On this trip I crammed more stuff into the lid pocket. It
really is pretty good-sized, and it seemed like just when I
thought it was full I could cram one more item into it!
One last item of note from this trip: the frame on this pack is
very stiff, to the point that I found I could hoist the mostly
empty pack up by grabbing it from the frame base. I
exploited this to hang the pack from its carrying strap on a
branch stub high on a Ponderosa pine - I was able to reach the
pack way over my head and hang it high. Nice feature for
critter country.
Summary
So far the pack has performed without a hitch. Despite only
a small amount of padding on the hipbelt the pack rode very well
with loads in excess of the manufacturer's recommendations. The
elasticity and spacing of the backpanel from the pack prevented
any feeling of irritation from the pack contents impinging on my
back, which meant I didn't have to be selective when loading up to
avoid placing hard or pointy contents away from the back of the
pack. The pack has space to spare for a 3-day trip, even in
conditions where I had to anticipate and pack for wide variations
in weather.
I am still experimenting with water-carrying strategies with the
pack. I carried 1 L (qt) in each of the side pockets on my
trips, but accessed the bottles from the pockets only in-camp, not
while hiking. During the Long Term testing I hope to try out
some other options, perhaps attaching a bottle or two to the
shoulder straps which is my favorite method.
One thing I missed on the Levity pack is hipbelt pockets. I
use them a lot on my other lightweight packs to carry
things that I access often while hiking such as my smartphone, a
few snacks, lip balm, etc. I had to carry these in my
pockets which is serviceable, but I really don't like my
smartphone banging around on my thighs while hiking.
Overall I am quite impressed with the size and comfort that
Osprey has provided in such a lightweight pack.
Long Term Report
Field Use
Date
|
Location
|
Trail
|
Distance
|
Altitude
|
Weather
|
Base Weight
|
Total Pack Weight
|
July 18-20, 2018
|
San Juan Mountains, Colorado
|
Colorado/CDT
|
21 miles
(34 km)
|
8900-12700 ft
(2710-3870 m)
|
35-75 F
(2-24 C) with sun, rain, hail and wind |
14.2 lbs (6.44 kg)
|
23.6 lbs (10.7 kg)
|
Colorado
Trail/Continental Divide Trail
The Tucson Backpacking Meetup group traveled to the San Juan
Mountains for a week of camping and hiking. Several of us
took off and did a 3-day backpacking jaunt. We headed East
from Molas Pass on the Colorado Trail, then turned North on the
Continental Divide Trail before turning Northwest to our trailhead
and shuttle in the Highland Mary Lakes area.
I was tent camping on this trip, unusual for me a die-hard
hammock camper, but much of the backpacking trip was above
treeline and from photos I knew that at least one of our two
campsites had no trees anywhere to suspend a hammock. My
pack was the lightest of my trips so far, though I had to carry
rain gear (poncho) to protect me from the afternoon mountain
thunderstorms. One of the reasons for the lighter load was I
forgot my tent poles and stakes at home (sob!) and had to
improvise. I was also very conservative on the amount of
food I carried, and only toted 2 L (qt) of water since we were in
areas where water should be plentiful. Overall, I did not
use the whole pack capacity - I'd say I had about 10% spare volume
on this three-day backpack.
The following photos were taken along the Continental Divide
Trail, well above the tree line.
The hydration reservoir tube is visible in the photo at left above,
but it was dead weight -- I did not put any water into it during
this hike. Instead, I used two Platypus soft bottles, one in
each side pocket. My goal was to test how easy/hard it is to
get bottles in/out of the side pockets. With this style of
bottle, they turned out to be easier to get out than in. It's
not difficult to get the bottles out of a side pocket, they
slide out pretty easily. Getting a partially full soft bottle
back in is a little like pushing a rope up a hill - it can be done,
but not an easy task. I need to try and experiment with some
hard-sided bottles for comparison.
Also note in the photo at left above the small carrying case on my
left shoulder. I bought this case years ago for my camera, and
it clipped easily to the little horizontal strap (the same one the
hydration tube is threaded through). I didn't carry real heavy
stuff in the pocket, mostly my iPhone X, and occasionally my InReach
PLB. This worked very well, I would highly recommend it.
I really enjoyed not having my phone banging against my thigh and/or
trekking poles from being stored in my leg pockets.
My fellow hikers remarked on how the pack was much wider at the
bottom than the top, as seen in the photo above right. This
was accentuated by having water bottles in the side pockets.
This contributes to the pack's low center of gravity, hence its high
stability (and my body's stability too!) They also commented
on how thin the blue straps are on the pack (the color contrast
makes them stand out). Despite their minimalist dimensions,
they have functioned well so far.
The pack carried well on this trip. Over the three days of
hiking, much of it consisting of steep ascents and descents, I never
really gave the pack a thought. That's a good thing - the best
gear simply disappears and performs its function without you having
to think about it. When I needed to grab or stash something
from the front pocket or lid I simply did it. I did notice one
thing about the lid pocket: it feels like the zipper opening is on
the wrong side. With the hard attachment to the frame
(non-floating) it seemed like I had to reach around the pack to
unzip the lid pocket. It's a small issue, but the fact that I
noticed this several times would indicate that it could be
improved. At one point I noticed that something in my pack was
gouging my back. This rather shocked me, as I had assumed that
I could stash gear with wild abandon and the mesh back would keep
nasty things away from me. This is true only up to a point -
in this case it was my stove that was stuffed in at an odd angle
causing a corner to dig into my back.
Descending the Continental Divide
Highland Mary Lakes trail
Grenadier Mountains in the background
Overall a successful outing for the pack and a stellar trip!
When I returned from the trek I inspected the pack for any damage,
whether from the hike or from being crammed into the back of a truck
for a week and found no issues, just a few stains.
Summary
The Osprey Levity is a huge pack - it is big enough that I found
myself regularly carrying more weight than recommended by the
manufacturer. The pack carries well across its specified
weight range and somewhat beyond. It's easy to pack, easy to
unload, easy to access the content on the trail with the exception
of the placement of the lid pocket zipper and my difficulty in
re-stowing partially filled soft bottles in the side pockets.
It's unusual for me to have extra space in a pack - I often end up
strapping things to the exterior because I have run out of room to
stash gear. If I was serious about trying to shave some more
weight off my pack I would consider the smaller Levity 45.
Kudos to Osprey for delivering a pack that weighs only two pounds
(0.92 kg) that I am pondering whether it might be too roomy for my
needs!!
Despite its large volume the Levity 60 carries well, even in tough
terrain like the Colorado Trail. Its low center of gravity,
the rigid frame that distributes weight to the hips, and the airy
back panel make for comfortable all-day hiking.
I have a week-long canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Wilderness
planned for next month. I plan to take one of my older,
tougher, heavier packs on that trip as I don't trust the Levity
frame to hold up to being thrown into a canoe many times on
portages. I'm not sure the wire frame would hold up to that
kind of abuse, but on the trips I have subjected it to so far the
pack has held up well with no signs of wear and tear.
Many thanks to Osprey Packs Inc. and
BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to test this product.
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