Long term use/durability:

I grew enamored of the ease of access of this pack.  As long as I could remember what I put into which stuff sack, I had it made.  Access through the long two-zippered opening worked very well for my style and I relished being able to sneak items through both the top and bottom ends of the zippered area, it was like I had two tops!  I really liked the multiple retaining systems which helped keep the load snug when I was just doing a day hike.  The only real weirdness was the side pockets which sometimes ran afoul of the side compression straps.  I found ways to put items in the pockets that worked well (such as my ground tarp) but they aren't the best side pockets I've ever seen.  They are made of the Durastretch material and I found that small objects seemed to be squeezed out of the pocket over time.  That is, they migrate up towards the top of the pocket.  I think the pockets could be taller and thus be more useful.

I've used my pack for a seat, it's been crammed into the car, peed on by the cat, suffered through endless amounts of Texas dust and it still looks great!  The black Durastretch panels tend to have dirt grind in instead of shaking off like the nylon does, so they aren't quite as black or sharp-looking as before, but functionally everything is fine.  The zippers never clogged or snagged and the only real damage happened when I closed the truck bed on the cord lock retainer for the lid pocket and smashed it to bits.

The big rain cloud for me with this pack was the hydration tube portal.  It is too small and caused me to have to fill my water bladder by removing it from the pack.  Surprisingly, this was easier than I expected but that was only because I had all my gear in little bags so it was easy to remove the bags and then put them back when I was done.   The pack could use some lashing tabs, but on the other hand it did tend to make me think small and light and I found I could use some of the outer compression straps across the front of the bag to hold items.