Name: Karen Ross
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0" (1.5 m)
Weight: 103 lb (47 kg)
Email address: karen ross AT tufts DOT edu
City, State, Country: Metropolitan Boston area, MA
Date: September 18, 2004

Backpacking Background
I have been hiking and camping for as long as I can remember. I'm an avid runner and day hiker, ski occasionally, kayak, car camp, and generally like to spend as much time outdoors as possible. I've spent time hiking and orienteering with scout groups, as well as while doing my military service in Israel. I travel frequently and try to use every opportunity to explore. I started backpacking a few years ago and my trips have been mostly limited so far to shorter ones, although I’m slowly working my way up to longer trips (including trail maintenance work). Being small, I tend toward lightweight gear, although I’m not one to hit the digital scales with every item – it’s more of a philosophy than a science for me. I like to think of my style as light, but not without a couple luxuries.

Product Description

Manufacturer: Six Moon Designs.
Manufacturer website: www.sixmoondesigns.com
Year of manufacture: 2004
Configuration: 420 Dernier Pack Cloth, padded hip belt
Listed weight (without stays): 27 oz (765 g)
Received weight (without stays): 24.8 oz (703 g)
Listed weight (with stays): 32 oz (907 g)
Measured weight (with stays): 28.8 oz (816 g)
Capacity: 4100 c.i. (67 L), 2600 c.i. (42.6 L) in the main bag
Size: Adjustable torso length from 18 to 24 in (46 to 61 cm)
Color: Dark Green
MSRP (based on configuration): $145.00

Selected Features (from the website):

Zippered Pad Case on the back of the pack allows your sleeping pad to work for you both day and night. The zipper allows quick access to remove the pad for use during breaks without unpacking your pack. The case is sized to accommodate a variety of pads, including: Z Rest or Therm-a-Rest.
Advanced Suspension System keeps your sleeping pad rigid, thus allowing it to transfer weight off your shoulders and onto your hips.
Three exterior mesh pockets for quick access to gear.
Contoured Cut of pack conforms to the shape of your back providing a more comfortable carry.
Choice of fabrics gives you the option of selecting the right combination of weight, strength and cost to fit your needs. High strength 1/8” Spectra Gridstop provides the greatest strength to weight ration of any pack cloth used today. Also available is a 420 Denier pack cloth to provide a cost effective pack.
Removable Harness allows complete flexibility in configuring the pack to suit your needs. When traveling on planes, buses or trains, simply remove the harness altogether. This keeps your straps from getting hung up.
Two Stay pockets allow easy upgrade of pack to a full internal frame pack with the addition of two 24"(61 cm) stays.

Additional Product Information:

I received the Starlite Pack in 420 Dernier pack cloth and with a padded hip belt. The pack is a handsome dark green, not too conspicuous (in my opinion), but easy enough for my young eyes to spot in the dusk. The three mesh pockets are huge, and in addition to the storage space they provide, the pack is equipped with a bungee cord (placed strategically over the front mesh pocket) which allows the user to cinch the pack down and reduce pack volume considerably. The Starlite is also equipped with an extension collar which can be filled to capacity or folded down in order to close the pack. For a full description of the pack, see my Initial Report.

Testing Information:

Pack Use and Conditions:
The Starlite pack came with me on a 3-month trip to South Africa, during which I was traveling - for both work and pleasure - throughout the country. The Starlite was used as my primary travel pack throughout this period. I used the Starlite as an airline travel bag (with both the harness removed and with it attached), and while schlepping around South Africa via bus and car. I also used the Starlite while hiking in the Drakensburg Mountains (up to 10,000 feet, or 3,000 meters). Temperatures during this period ranged from 32 F (0 C) to 80 F (45 C), and the weather was mostly sunny with some overcast days and occasional rain showers.

Experiences with the Starlite:
My long-term experiences with the Starlite began with its use as a carry-on bag on my way to South Africa via Israel. For this first trip I carefully removed the harness and stowed it in my other checked bag, leaving the Starlite with little that could snag or otherwise get caught as it got tossed around before and after the flight. When I arrived in South Africa, I carefully examined the Starlite to ensure that no damage had been done to the pack. I was pleased to note that not only was the pack undamaged, but that my hat, which I had inadvertently left in the right pocket of the pack, was still there! Good to know that the elastic on those pockets is strong...
Over the course of my three months in South Africa the Starlite got tossed around, squashed, and banged up quite a bit, but it managed to pull through in fine form. In fact, overall the bag is still in great shape: despite my concerns, the shoulder strap seams have held up for the past 6 months, and the 420 Dernier Pack Cloth is certainly more durable than I originally thought. In fact, the seams on the shoulder straps, which I mentioned being concerned about in my Field Report, also held up quite well over the course of my trip.
The exception to the pack's overall good shape is the left shoulder strap clip, which somehow managed to break toward the end of the trip. I'm not quite sure when this happened, as the last week I was in South Africa was spent so much in transit that I wasn't able to catch the exact moment or cause of the break. However, at some point during that last week of travel, the clip broke in half, rendering it impossible to adjust the pack for torso length or wear it properly as a backpack. (The shoulder strap is still connected to the pack via the load lifter straps, however). The clip broke in such a way that it snapped into two parts, one of which must have fallen when the break occurred. The remaining part of the clip held the strap together long enough that I did not notice the break until actually carrying the pack for several hundred meters: at that point it became clear to me that something was wrong, and upon inspection I realized that the shoulder strap was no longer connected to the pack. Luckily for me, this occurred at the end of my trip, which meant that there was little interference with my use and testing of the Starlite!

Over the course of the past 6 months I've found that the comfort level of the Starlite varies considerably depending on pack weight. While using the Starlite as a daypack (usually carrying a load under 20 lb - 9 kg) I found it extremely comfortable, even if, as mentioned in my Field Report, using the pack for less than an overnight trip was usually overkill size-wise. With more than this in the pack, however, I noticed a tendency for the weight to shift to my shoulders, and I was constantly adjusting the load lifters. I discussed this issue in the Field Report, at that point speculating that it may have been a problem with how I was carrying the pack or with my build rather than with the pack itself. However, approximately one month before the end of the testing period I received an email from Ron Moak at Six Moon Designs, asking me to return the pack to him for adjustments to the load lifters. After Ron explained that there was a flaw in the pack design, I realized that the problem actually did have to do with the Starlite - to be precise, the problem I had was that the load lifter straps were slipping and thus had to be constantly re-adjusted.

Although the pack itself had problems, I have to say I was extremely pleased by the quality of customer service offered by Ron and Six Moon Designs. After hearing about the pack's problems from other users, Ron contacted me personally to request that I send him the pack to be fixed and returned to me. Unfortunately because I was in South Africa I was unable to send it; however, I was pleased to note the attention given to Six Moon Design product customers (and testers!).

Conclusions:
My overall impression of the Starlite, despite the problems with the load lifter straps, is definitely a positive one. Although there was a significant design flaw in the Starlite, I understand that at this point it has been fixed (and I'm sure the straps on my particular pack would have been fixed as well had I been able to send the pack back to Ron for repairs from South Africa). Furthermore, with the exception of this problem, I've found the Starlite to be a well-designed, sturdy, lightweight backpacking pack with ample (but not too much) room for equipment. I plan on contacting Ron as soon as possible to have my pack repaired and updated, at which point I will continue to use it as an integral part of my backpacking gear.

Thank you to Six Moon Designs and to Backpackgeartest for letting me participate in this test.

Read more reviews of Six Moon Designs gear
Read more gear reviews by Karen Ross

Long Term Report

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