BackpackGearTest.org - Dana Designs T4000 Owner Review by Judd Slivka

Dana Design T4000 Internal Frame Pack

Name: Judd Slivka
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Height: 5’8” (1.73 m)
Weight: 190 lb (86 kg)
Email address:desertsherpa AT yahooDOTcom
City, State, Country: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Date:7/5/04
Backpacking Background: I’ve backpacked sporadically for the last five or so years, mostly day-hiking. In the last 10 months, I’ve gotten much more serious about it and have been hiking through Arizona’s Central Highlands region. That’s a lot of cactus to walk into. Because of the relative lack of running water in the desert, most of my camps are dry camps. I try and minimize weight where I can. I’m by no means fanatical about shaving weight, but I do try and take it into account.

Product Info:
Manufacturer: Dana Designs https://www.danadesigns.com
Listed weight: 4 lb, 10 oz. (2.1 kg)
Actual weight: 5 lb, 1 oz. (2.3 kg)
Listed volume: 4,440 cubic inches/72 L (medium-large)
Price: $199 US MSRP

Product Description
Dana Design’s T4000 is a top-loading internal frame pack. It’s based on Dana’s Bridger model, which is much larger and seems to have fewer fun pockets (like the very useful utility zip pockets on the hip belt). As part of its “Trail” series, Dana has taken packs like the Bridger and “distilled” them (their word, not mine) into a more value-based pack.

The guy at the hiking store told me that means “good entry-level pack.”

The pack has a fairly good size main compartment (29 inch x 11 inch/74 cm x 28 cm fully extended) that includes a bottom loading compartment large enough to fit a 20-degree F (-7 C) Slumberjack and a full-size Therm-a-Rest PackLite. The bottom compartment is separated from the upper portion by a piece of heavy-duty poly fabric that has about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) of room on either side of it. The main compartment is configured like a duffle bag, with a drawstring/lock spindrift collar, and then another drawstring/lock collar to further weatherproof the main compartment.

The pack front features Dana’s signature “Shov-It” exterior pocket, with daisy chain loops running its length. The exterior of the “Shov-It” has two very un-Danalike zippered compartments. The hip belt features two zippered utility pockets and two elastic-topped wand pockets, which are deep enough for a full widemouth Nalgene.

The top has a removable lid, advertised by Dana as a “Hip Lid” which can be used, somehow, as a removable hip belt. As a pack lid, it’s exceptional with a small zippered pocket -- ideal for keys, wallet, etc. -- on the top of it and a larger lid pocket that zippers towards the wearer’s head.

The pack body is made of ripstop. The straps are standard weight nylon webbing, the quick release buckles are typical of those you’d find on a typical backpack.

The framesheet is thick and foamy, and sharp objects don’t poke through. The shoulder straps are amply padded, but don’t wick sweat very well, and, if adjusted wrong, rub my neck a little bit. The hipbelt is very well padded and designed to fit the hip bone into a void between two rows of padding. As long as I adjusted it correctly, it was an excellent fit.

The pack uses nine compression straps to center and maintain the load. The most important one is the one that runs from the top of the “Shov-It” over the collar and fastens just behind the haul loop. That’s the one that stabilizes the center load. Other compression straps include one on either side of the “Shov-It” that compresses the sides, two on the sleeping bag compartment and two physically attached to each side of the “Shov-It,” one which compresses the shoulder level packload, the other that theoretically stabilizes the head-level load while fastening the lid cover to the rest of the pack.

Pack suspension is a derivative of Dana’s various Arc series suspensions, though somewhat heavier. It works on the principal of “the closer your pack is to your body, the happier you’ll be.” As such, there are your basic sternum strap and shoulder straps, but also trim straps on each hip and each shoulder.

Pack Performance
Testing conditions: 1) White Tank Mountains Regional Park, Maricopa County, Ariz. (terrain: mid-level desert, rocky scrub land, wash with dry waterfalls); 2) Mazatal Wilderness Area, Tonto National Forest, Yavapai County, Ariz. (terrain: 2,500-foot (760 m) desert to 5,000-foot (1,520 m) scrub pine, rocky, brushy); 3) Cave Creek Ranger District, Tonto National Forest, Maricopa County, Ariz. (terrain: mid-level desert to transitional zone, rocky, brushy).

Narrative: It takes a lot of fidgeting and adjusting to get the T4000 to fit right, but once I got it figured out (trying to get the sequence of straps I needed to pull right is half the battle) the pack feels great.

On two hikes I took the T4000 on, I had total weights of under 35 lb (16 kg), and I felt like the weight wasn’t even there. It was on my body, but I couldn’t discern where. The pack’s suspension system transfers weight very efficiently. When I took the pack through the Mazatals, with no water in sight and carrying seven liters (7 qts) of water in addition to the five I normally carry, the pack weight went up to 51 lb (23 kg). It didn’t feel as bad as I thought it would, but I could tell the pack was on me.

The pack is voluminous inside, though like most top-loaders, it’s a black hole. Dana has tried to mitigate this by putting a zipper the length of one side of the main compartment, but it’s still tough to find stuff. Even with the 51-lb (23 kg) load, though, I still had plenty of room and the lid was tied down pretty far.

The extra pockets on the “Shov-It” are a nice touch. I used them for the tent poles and stakes, my headlamp, the random etcetera we all carry. There’s no shortage of space in here, even for a three-day hike. But as high as the main compartment can go, I don’t think it would be hard to put too much in this pack to hike comfortably.

Through lots of hiking, I’ve only had one problem with the pack’s fit, and that’s the shoulder pads seem to bunch on me, towards my neck. If I’m not careful, I’ll get a little bit of rubbing, and the ripstop/fleecey stuff they use on the shoulder pads gives me a little chafing. Nothing too bad, though, and it’s really a matter of wearing a higher-collared shirt.

The framesheet is nice and thick, so nothing poked me in the back. However, like all internal-frame packs, this one has sweat problems. There’s not much of an air channel between my back and the framesheet, so it gets really wet. The “it” here refers to both the framesheet and my back. I partially mitigated the problem by wearing a shirt that wicks, but the framesheet still was pretty damp. Hazard of the frame type, I guess.

Two of the hikes I did with the pack required extensive clambering in dry creek beds. There was a lot of pack-to-rock contact, and though there are a couple of bruises on the pack where it slid too hard against a rock face, the pack hasn’t ripped, torn or showed stress.

The only complaint I have actually comes from my hiking partner, who wears the same pack. I include it here since I was there. Apparently, the pocket on his pack that holds the central vertical framestay is a little too short. When the pack load goes above 30 lb (14 kg), the top of the framestay pops out of its little nylon webbing/Velcro pocket. And it has an immediate effect on the way the packload is distributed, making it heavier. I tried his pack and walked with it, and I could feel an immediate difference in the way my working pack and his failing pack carried.

I have one other tiny complaint. The removable lid is beyond my mechanical reasoning. It uses a couple tension buckles to stay on – quick-release would be nicer – and I can’t figure out how to secure it on top securely when it’s got a heavy load in it. Twice, when I was carrying my basic lid load (spare batteries, two oranges, medical kit) and had the lid unsecured to the pack front, the webbing buckles let go and the lid fell to the ground.

Summary
I love this pack. There are a couple design elements I’d fix – the lid, the framestay issue my neighbor has encountered – but all in all, I think it’s an excellent pack, especially for the $200 price tag.

What I liked
The suspension system, with loads less than 40 lb (18 kg)
Lots of easy-access pockets
Rugged construction

What I didn’t
Buckle configuration of the lid
Lack of any designed air channel for the framesheet

Reviews > Packs > Internal and External Framed Backpacks > Dana Designs T4000 > Owner Review by Judd Slivka

Reviews > Packs > Internal and External Framed Backpacks > Dana Designs T4000 > Owner Review by Judd Slivka