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| Biographical
Information |
Name:
|
Mark
Wood
|
A
Brief
Introduction
I grew up camping with my
parents and had taken a few short backpacking trips, as well as a
couple of 10-day trips before I got married. While my wife and I have
enjoyed car camping and day hiking for close to 5 years, this year we
have decided to make backpacking a perminant part of our lives. Our
trips generally shorter (2 - 5 days) over rocky, hilly terrain. My
general pack weight for a 3 day is around 35 lb (16 kg) including food
and water. |
| Age
/ Sex: |
25 / Male |
| Height: |
5' 11" (1.8 m) |
| Weight: |
240 lb (109 kg) |
| Email
Address: |
woodmark0 at yahoo dot
com |
| Location: |
Chenango County, NY,
U.S.A. |
| Product
Information |
| Manufacturer: |
Eastern
Mountain Sports (EMS) |
 |
| Year of Manufacture: |
2005 |
| URL of Manufacturer: |
http://www.ems.com |
| MSRP: |
$89.00
US |
| Listed Weight: |
3
lb 7 oz (1.56 kg) |
| Weight as Delivered: |
3 lb 6 oz (1.53 kg) |
| Advertised Volume: |
2200
cu in (36 L) |
| Listed Dimensions: |
25
x 10.5 x 6 in (64 x 27
x 15 cm) |
| Materials: |
330-denier
double ripstop
nylon with hypalon accents and a 1000-denier Kodra nylon bottom. |
The
pack arrived at my doorstep
in a nondescript brown cardboard box. The pack itself had no
hang tags and no instructions whatsoever. There was an invoice included
which gave a brief description of the pack and its retail price. I did
notice that the pack was not crammed or smashed into the box and all
webbing and straps were neatly secured with rubber bands to avoid any
tangling en-route.
Initial inspection of the pack itself revealed high quality materials
and workmanship. The pack had no loose threads and all stitching
appeared straight and tight.
Inside
of the Pack
The pack has a lid with a pocket. The inside of this pocket is rather
ordinary, but does include a clip on a piece of nylon webbing where one
can store keys or any other personal item that is necessary to have
close at hand. The lid is sewn along the back panel at the top of the
frame sheet (therefore not removable) and is secured down by two
clips in the front. These clips are adjustable along nylon webbing to
cinch down the lid.
Un-clipping the top flap I found a
standard two drawstring storm collar arrangement as found on many larger
packs. Opening the pack revealed one large main compartment with a
sleeve for a water bladder. Since I have never used a water
bladder, this was of little interest to me except to note that it might
provide a nice place to store smaller items which I want to separate from
the bulk of my gear. There is a small hole covered with
rubber
flaps directly over the water bladder sleeve in the middle of the back
of the pack to allow the water bladder hose to exit the pack.
Front
of the Pack
While the main compartment of the pack was quite ordinary, the front
is not! The pack has webbing daisy chain down the front which continues
under the top of the "shove-it flap". The "shove-it flap" is
one
of the packs most interesting features. This flap
is connected about two thirds of the way down the front of the
pack and is
held to the surface of the pack by the top-most side compression
straps. I'm really unsure how useful this will be, but it does seem to
provide a place where I can store my
wet rain gear or ground tarp.
On the front of the "shove-it flap" there are two rows of
slits
to be used as attachment points for gear. Provided with the
pack
is one webbing loop to secure gear. It would seem to me that
two of these should
be included since they line up perfectly with the small loops at the
bottom of the pack (presumably for securing hiking poles). The front of
the "shove-it flap" also has a very small vertical zipper.  This
opens a
small pocket. There is really very little room in this pocket but I
think it would be nice for storing such things as lip balm and a pocket
knife. There is
also a large, retractable, rubber-coated loop in the middle of the
bottom of the pack which is advertised as being for an ice axe. When not in use, it slides up into the lining of the pack so only the orange pull-tab is exposed.
Sides
of the Pack
The sides of the pack contain a somewhat interesting cinch strap
arrangement. The top cinch strap is connected to a Y shaped piece
of rubber coated webbing. From here, the top of the "shove-it flap" is
connected. Thus, when you tighten the top cinch strap, the
"shove-it flap" is also pulled securely to the pack body. The bottom
cinch strap is independent of the "shove-it flap" and has the Y shaped
webbing connecting in reverse as shown in the picture. At
the bottom of each side there is a mesh paneled pocket with sleeve
running behind it. I believe this design is to allow for
skis to be
easily slid behind the pockets and secured to the pack. The side
pockets appear to be large enough to hold a Nalgene bottle. Since
the mesh on the pockets does not run completely to the bottom of the
pocket and there are no drainage holes, I don't believe that there
would be a problem storing small items in these pockets. Also,
the elastic band at the top of the pocket is snug enough to hold the
pocket closed against the pack.
Back of the Pack
The back of the pack looks pretty standard. At the top of the
pack, there is a large nylon webbing grab loop. This loop is
sufficiently sized that I can fit my whole hand in it to lift the pack.
Directly below this loop is the hydration port. Since I don't have a
hydration system, I cannot comment on the size of the port provided.
Directly below this port is an embroidered EMS logo. The back panel of
the pack has a sort of chimney arrangement of padding. There are
two rows of padded squares directly behind the shoulder straps and a
gap down the middle of the pack. I believe this arrangement will work
well to provide some ventilation though I'm not sure how much. The back
panel is stiff enough that it is hard to feel the single aluminum stay
through the back of the pack. The hip belt connects on either side of
the pack and has a single nylon webbing strap on either side to draw
the load close to the wearers back. Neither the hip belt nor the
shoulder straps are thickly padded, but with the size of the pack, I
think the padding will prove sufficient. The sternum strap is connected
to either shoulder strap in a somewhat interesting arrangement.
Instead of sliding on nylon webbing as is most common on the
packs I've seen, it instead slides on bits of cord piping. This
arrangement is quite clever and provides for very easy adjustment.
|
| Initial
Impressions |
After inspecting the pack, I
decided to try it on. I first stuffed an old sleeping bag into
the pack to fill it out so I could get an accurate measure of how the
pack would feel when full. Adjustments were easy and in little
time, I had the pack fitting comfortably. I did notice that the frame
sheet is not overly stiff. Therefore, while there is sufficient
padding to prevent sharp objects from poking my back, stuffing the pack
full tends to bow the back of the pack so only the center is touching
my back. This is a little uncomfortable as it places all the
pressure on my spine. Re-arranging the load fixed the problem easily
and allowed the two columns of padding to do their job.
I decided to place a bit more weight into the pack to see how it would
feel under a more reasonable day load. Overall, I think I put
close to 15 lb (6.75 kg) into the pack. I was very happy to find
that most of the weight was transferred to my hips via the aluminum
stay. It appears that this pack could easily handle a much
greater load without too much problem. During this short test, I
was unable to find any points where the pack pinched or was otherwise
uncomfortable. The rather wide shoulder straps were very comfortable
and the padding on the hip belt and shoulder straps was completely
sufficient. I will be interested to see if the pack maintains this
level of comfort on the trail and with a heavier load.
I also tried placing a Nalgene bottle in each of the side pockets.
While they did fit, the pocket is simply not deep enough to make
them very stable. I will verify this during testing, but my
initial impression is that they will fall out with any sort of
rigorous activity. This does make it difficult to use this pack and
have water readily available unless I purchase a water bladder to use
with it.
The other concern I have so far with the pack is the sternum strap
adjustment. While it is very easy to use, it seems to allow the
sternum strap to ride up. I'm not sure if it will ride up far
enough to touch my neck and become a problem, but I will keep a close
eye on this throughout the test. |
| Field
Conditions |
Recently, I have managed
to go day hiking almost
every other weekend in areas surrounding my house. During the next four
months, I plan to continue this schedule. Living in the Upstate New
York area, I have access to many trails in the Catskills and
Adirondacks as well as numerous state and local parks. Elevations will
range anywhere from around sea level up to 4000 ft (1220 m). Current
temperatures in this region are quite warm and humid. It's
been
relatively dry this summer, but rain is quite common come fall. By the
end of the four month testing period, it would not be unreasonable to
expect cold and snowy weather.
It also appears that my wife and I may try to hike in the upper part of
the Lower Peninsula of Michigan during November. This would be a
one or two night trip with my mother and would be a good place to try
the pack in a short overnight arrangement. |
| Test
Plan |
During testing, the
following items will be
specifically observed:
Materials and Workmanship
- Are the chosen
materials
sufficient for their particular functions?
- Are the materials used
in the
construction of this pack going to fade quickly with exposure to the
elements?
Comfort
- How comfortable is the
pack under trail condition?
- Do the aluminum stay
and
frame sheet transfer the load to my hips while on the trail?
- What is the maximum
weight I
find comfortable in the pack?
- Do the wicking back
panel
and
Brock foam hip belt allow the pack to breathe on my back?
Size and Features
- Is it possible to fit
a very
small overnight load in this pack?
- Do the compression
straps
properly contain a load of any size?
- How well does the pack
shed
water?
- Do I find the layout
of the
pockets on this pack convenient to use while hiking?
I also plan to report on anything else of significance that comes up
during the testing period. |
| Summary |
My initial impressions of this pack are very positive. The
load transfer and comfort of this pack are very good and I truly feel
that this pack will fit well with my style of backpacking.
Likes:
- Very comfortable
- Good load transfer
- Lots of external attachment points
Dislikes:
- Two webbing loops should have been included for attaching things to the pack instead of one.
- No documentation included as far as use and care.
- Have not found an easy way to carry water bottles where they are easily accessible.
|
I
would like to thank EMS
and
BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to participate in this test!
Read more reviews of EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) gear
Read more gear reviews by Mark Wood
|
