Name: Brian Tannehill  
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Height: 5’ 7” (1.7 m)
Weight: 175 lbs (79 kg)
Email address: bj(at)tannehillclan(dot)com  
City, State, Country: Lompoc, California, USA
Date: 13 Mar 2004

Backpacking Background:

I am fairly new to backpacking, but I have hunted/fished all my life in East Texas, Colorado, and California. The majority of my hunting has been done from a well established basecamp, venturing out from there for the day. Because of the young kids I have (2, 8, 10), I mostly do weekend overnight camping trips, or day hikes Geocaching anywhere along the central coast of California. I am also an avid Mountain Biker. My 2 oldest boys are getting to the point where they can come out more hiking and camping with me, and I am looking forward to this in the future. I now live in the Central Coast area of California (Lompoc, Santa Maria area), and am surrounded by many different areas from beaches to mountain regions ranging up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m), with the temperatures averaging about 60 F (16 C) degrees year round. I have also recently been accepted to join a Search and Rescue team for the local area, and will be using the majority of my equipment for this, so it had better work!

Product Information:

Manufacturer: L.L. Bean
Year of manufacture: Unknown
URL: http://www.llbean.com
Listed weight: Not Given
Weight as delivered:  2 lbs 8 oz (1130 g)

Product description:

LL Bean's fly fishing backpack is a 2900 cubic inch (47.5 L) top loading pack with a highly abrasion-resistant ballistic nylon bottom and 600 denier canvas polyester that will keep your gear well protected. Multiple pockets of different sizes isolate your water bottle, spare spools and fly boxes for easy access.

Field Information:

I bought this pack from LL Bean's web site over three years ago when I started Fly fishing in Colorado. I have used this pack for everything from gear to books and everything in between. This has by far been one of my all time favorite all around packs for everyday use. I mainly use this pack when I ride my mountain bike to work to haul books and clothes and such to and from work. It is a medium sized internal frame, top loading pack. The top opening is 13.5 inches (34.3 cm) wide with a drawstring closure to help keep items dry.  The area I call the back of the pack (the area that goes against the users back) is a 3 panel foam type material that has held up well over time. It is sturdy enough to hold the pack up by itself, but yet flexible enough to form to a users back.  This pack has one large internal compartment and 7 small pockets on the outside. One of the pockets I found to be almost totally useless, and that is the very small front pocket. Once I pack out the backpack it leaves almost no room to expand and put something in the small front pocket. The lid has a good sized pocket, but the opening is a bit small and I had trouble getting larger items in and out of it. The top two outside pockets are a bit small, but they do fit a fly fishing reel well. The shoulder straps are comfortable, and there is a carrying handle at the top of the straps.

The belt is just a standard 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) webbing with no padding. I like how both sides of the buckles can be adjusted so the buckle will stay in the middle of your waist versus off to one side. The left side of the pack does have two velcro closing no slip wraps to hold a fly pole. I have used it to haul everything from my fly poles to Nalgene bottles, to bed rolls, to a coke can. None of which have ever slipped out.

When they say highly abrasion resistant, they mean it. Nothing has torn this pack up except washing it about 10 times in a row to get cat pee out of it. Somewhere along the 10th washing the pack rubbed against the washing machine tub during the spin cycle, and rubbed away the material. Besides cosmetic reasons, this tear has no impact on the pack at all. Over the last two years, the tear has not grown any at all, so as of now, I see no reason to send it back to be replaced.

Overall I have loved this pack. Some good things I like about it, nice big top opening, very rugged, and comfortable. Some things I don't like about it, the belt not being padded, the outside pockets need a bit more room, and the top pocket zipper could open about an inch more.