Reviewer Information:
Name: Jim Hatch
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Height: 5'9" (1.8 m)
Weight: 180 lbs (82 kg)
Torso: 18" (46 cm)
Chest: 44" (112 cm)
Waist: 36" (91 cm)
Hips: 38" (97 cm)
Email: colonelcorn76@yahoo.com
City/State: Simsbury, Connecticut

Backpacking Background:
I've been backpacking and camping for 30 years and get out for a weekend or more once a month, with longer trips (5 nights or more) 2-3 times a year. Most of my backpacking is done in the mountains of the East Coast (Appalachians, Whites, Berkshires, Adirondacks). Having tired of 60 lb (27 kg) loads, I caught the lightweight bug about 5 years ago and am currently carrying a base pack weight of less than 10 lbs (4.5 kg) before food and fuel and rarely venture out with more than 20 lbs (9 kg) anymore. I am now trying to develop a low-volume style to go with the lightweight nature of my gear.

Product Information:
Manufacturer: Fanatic Fringe
Year of Manufacture: 2004
URL: http://www.fanaticfringe.com
Style: Frameless Rucksack with hip belt

Color: Hunter's Green/Black (1 oz/28 g) less than the Tan/Black version

Size: Large (17 to 22 in/43 to 58 cm torso)
Mfg Weight: 9.5 oz (269 g) -- without hip belt, weight with hip belt not listed
Tested Weight: 10.3 oz out of the box (292 g) -- with hip belt
Capacity: 2,400 cu in (39 L)

Tested Capacity: 2,350 cu in (38.5 L)
Capacity (with extension collar & pockets): 3,600 cu in (59 L)
MSRP: U.S. $79

Pack Features (see my Initial Report and Field Report for more details):
Here's what Fanatic Fringe has to say about the pack on their website:

Weighs in at a scant 10.5 ounces/298 grams! [Note: the Hunter's Green model without the hip belt is 9.5 ounces/269 grams -- the hip belt appears to add only an ounce (28 g)]
Compression straps on the upper portion of the pack sides to eliminate top flop [In practice these turned out to be superfluous and will be sacrificed to the scissor gods.]
Uses a closed-cell foam pad as its main support and padding [Under 13 lbs/6 kg of gear and I don't need any support/padding at all.]
The body of the pack is 1.9 ounce (54 g) coated ripstop and the back and bottom is 200 denier coated Oxford [The bottom is the only portion to suffer damage during the test period. More on this below.]
It has one large mesh pocket to dry gear and two smaller ones on the sides to carry water and fuel [I no longer carry water in the side pockets preferring to use a bladder inside the pack or in the large center mesh pocket on the outside of the pack.]
The pack is around 2400 cubic inches (39 L) for the main body with an extra 400 cu in (6.5 L) in mesh pockets and about 800 cu in (13 L) more with the extension collar up [I found this to be more than sufficient for a week's worth of gear/food/water.]
Sized in Medium for torso lengths 15 to 18 inches (38 cm to 46 cm) and Large (17 to 22 inches/43 to 56 cm) [I got the large and would say it runs somewhat small as I found it a tad short for the hip belt.]

This pack is was built for the ultralight backpacker and would definitely not be suitable were I still packing "large". Everything about the pack; straps, belt, material are "just enough" for the purpose. Carrying 15 lbs (7 kg) of gear requires far less material & substance than carrying 60 lbs (27 kg); this pack dispenses with weight by fitting the design & construction to its mission.

Bottom-line:

For those who skip forward to the last chapter in the book, here's my bottom-line on this pack: I have used the Thompson Peak on all of my trips since getting it six months ago. I have experienced every form of weather except snow, including conditions ranging from bone dry to hail/sleet/rain. I have found this pack to meet my needs within its design constraints almost perfectly. The only failure I've had is a small tear or cut (less than an inch or 2 cm long) on the bottom of the pack. Since my trips included scrambling up & down boulder strewn mountains in New England (where trails go straight up the mountainside over whatever rocks happen to have been left by glaciers long ago) I'm not sure if this is entirely unexpected. A needle and thread or an iron-on patch will be put to use to repair it. My only other issue is with the length of the pack - I find the hip belt to more of a waist belt as it rode a little higher than I prefer...however, overall I prefer a higher-riding pack versus a too-low-slung pack that bumps my butt, so I'm not sure how to rectify this. Since I only use the belt to relax pressure on my shoulders infrequently, it's not a big deal but were I taller and closer to the upper limit of the recommended torso length (22"/56 cm) I don't believe I'd be able to make use of the belt at all. My overall conclusion? This one is a keeper for 3-season use.

Field Information:

Now to the details of my experiences. I carried the Thompson Peak on many day hikes, several weekend trips, a whitewater rafting trip, as well as longer 3 and 4 day mountain treks. It experienced its most challenging environment on a weeklong trek through the Presidentials in New Hampshire's White Mountains where in August it saw temps ranging from 80 F (26 C) down to 30 F (-1 C) within an 8 hour period (with relative humidities swinging from about 60% up to 80% and then to nearly 100% as all forms of liquid and semi-solid precipitation began). It was only after 3 days of torrential wet that I began to lust after a larger capacity pack that might have held another set of dry clothes. Truth be told however, I carried one spare set to the clothes I wore. When the ones I wore were soaked I stayed in them until I hunkered down for the night. Then I changed to dry clothes (carried in my pack in a roll-up space-saver vacuum bag). In the morning before heading back out into the rain, I wistfully packed my dry things away and climbed into the clammy wet ones from the previous day as whatever I was wearing was going to be soaked within minutes of walking anyway. I really didn't need any additional dry ones, but I couldn't help thinking how nice it would have been to stay warm, dry, and comfy in the morning as I headed out & onward. On the other hand, then I would have had to carry not only the extra clothes but all the extra water soaking them as well. No, the pack was just what I needed -- this is key to its effective use. Carrying extra changes of clothes, extra supplies, large volume sleeping bags, etc. will rapidly eat up the volume of the pack. In order to make the small size of the pack work, the loads must be kept light & small.

The trip through the White Mountains (elevations to over 6000 ft/1829+ m) included several days above tree line and a trek up the side of Mt. Washington (officially home to the worst weather on the planet) in a cold driving rain accompanied by near fog-out conditions (the fog/clouds were so dense and low that it was difficult to see cairn to cairn along the route). Near hurricane force winds gusting over 65 mph (105 kph) drove the rain into me as I climbed. As the day proceeded the weather worsened and began to sleet and finally small hail accompanied the wind and rain. Through it all the contents of my pack stayed dry. See my Initial and Field Reports for details on how I pack my gear and how I closed the "twist top" to keep rain out. I experienced only minor leakage that did not impact my gear. I believe some attention with a tube of seam sealant should suffice to prevent this from occurring again. As I don't use a pack cover (it adds weight and generally has potential leaking spots of its own where it encircles the shoulder straps & waist/hip belt) the ability of the pack to keep my stuff dry through this extreme weather is a serious selling point for me. After this inauspicious day of rain, the next two days continued the pleasant weather with decreased wind but low hanging clouds (are they clouds when they touch the ground?) and constant heavy rain that fell without letup. Checking later it was reported that nearly 7 1/2" (19 cm) of rain fell in those three days. This was caused by the remnants of one or the other of the hurricanes that made life miserable for the folks in Florida this summer.

The Presidentials are a series of peaks in the White Mountains that require a trek up one mountain, down the other side and then up the next one. With the harsh conditions it seemed prudent to take some of the "downs" on my butt. Many sections of the trail we followed were distinguished from the surrounding boulder fields by the diminished size of the prevailing rocks -- VW Beetle sized vs. the non-trail minivan sized ones. With slick conditions, it seemed the better part of valor to drop & slide rather than scramble on some of the "down" sections. It was on one of these sections that I no doubt tore the hole into the bottom of my pack. In addition to the tear, there is noticeable abrading of the fabric in the form of a slight roughening of the material to where it "fuzzes" up somewhat. Nothing that impairs its structural integrity though and easily repaired. It does however suggest that somewhat more prudent care be taken than I normally do were I to want to maintain the pack in pristine condition. I suspect it would be inappropriate to consider this for hard-core bouldering as well.

Other Findings:

A couple of other "issues" arose through the six month test period. The pack has compression straps to be used when the loads are small to keep the pack from "flopping". I found that I never used these. When carrying light loads the weight & gear were carried low in the pack and the top simply folded over. With full loads, I usually carried a RidgeRest (1/2 length) or Therm-a-Rest GuideLite 3/4 length pad rolled into a cylinder inside the pack. This has the effect of providing a fixed structure to the pack that prevents "top flopping". I found the RidgeRest to be my preferred carry pad as I'm a hammocker and don't need one for sleeping but like to have one around for sitting on; with the side benefit of having an insurance policy in case of cooler than expected nighttime temps requiring a pad under me in the hammock. As result, I expect to be removing the compression straps. The weight savings should be on the order of about a half-ounce (15 g) which on another pack wouldn't be much, but is almost 5% of this pack's weight!

I began this test using the side pockets for water bottles and found that the size and construction of the pockets made that difficult in practice. Once wearing the pack, it's difficult to get at the bottles in the side pockets unless I remove the pack first. Yet, due to its comfort, taking it off seems like an awful lot of effort sometimes and certainly is tedious at best. Instead, I now carry a bladder almost exclusively when using this pack. I stuff the bladder into the pack running vertically and centered between my shoulder blades, routing the hose out through the top and over my shoulder. A tab or loop to hold the hose to a shoulder strap would be a nice addition to the pack. A buttonhole to route the hose out the back of the pack rather than through the top would be helpful too. When rain threatens I move the bladder to the center large mesh pocket with the hose running up & over the pack and my shoulder. I use a Velcro "carry strap" that loops around the hose & through a slot in one end. This keeps the strap on the hose and the tail then sticks to a Velcro "dot" - a circular piece of Velcro about 1" (2.5 cm) diameter that I stuck to the shoulder strap.

The last issue I found was the positioning of the waist/hip belt. Rather than ride centered on the top of my hip bones, I find the belt rides centered around my belly button. This is a couple of inches (5 cm) higher than I like. It is due to the high carry position of the pack which puts the belt at a relatively high position. This carry position limits the available room on the bottom of the pack that could be used to fasten the belt to the pack. I use the belt only when carrying weights in excess of 15 lbs (6.8 kg) which accounts for less than half my trips (or days when on a multi-day trek where the food weight starts to decline rapidly out of the gate). As it stands, I use the belt only late in the day when I want to give my shoulders something of a break (not entirely necessary but nice nonetheless) by loosening the shoulder straps and fastening the belt. A half-hour or so of hiking like this and I've gotten the shoulder R&R that encourages the miles to rack up. I don't have a suggestion for the mfg on how to "fix" this as I like the height the pack rides and it's not designed or meant to carry the heavy loads that make a belt a necessity. Dropping the pack down would cause it to hit my butt and drop the center of gravity below my comfort level.

It's a wrap:
I will continue to use this pack for my 3-season backpacking. I replaced my winter sleeping bag last year with a low-volume quilt that I had high hopes would help in keeping all of my treks below the 3-cubes mark (3000 cu in/49 L) which would make this my 4-season pack. However, I've found that the quilt is insufficient in keeping me comfortable in sub-freezing weather despite a 10 F (-12 C) rating. The pack size (smaller than a football) is great, the lack of warmth is not. Last week's trip found temps riding in the high-30s F (3 C) and I was uncomfortable even when wearing my wool pants, thermal underwear top & DriClime shirt. Until I find a low-volume cold weather bag, I need a larger pack for winter campouts where I am usually below freezing and often in the 0 F (-18 C) range, with dips below that on at least one trip each winter. Once I find that bag though, the Thompson Peak should fit into my ultralight low-volume backpacking style in all but the most extreme conditions (when I carry a 20 below F/-29 C expedition sleeping bag).

I would like to thank Fanatic Fringe and BGT for the opportunity to test this pack.

Read more reviews of Fanatic Fringe gear
Read more gear reviews by Jim Hatch

Long Term Report