Reviewer Information

• Name: Cora Shea
• Age: 24
• Gender: Female
• Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
• Weight: 150 lb (70 kg)
• Email address: cahhmc "at" yahoo "dot" com
• Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
• Date: September 28, 2004

Basic Product Information

• Year of Manufacture: 2004
• URL: http://www.gregorypacks.com/
• Listed weight: 5 lb 4 oz (2.4 kg)
• Weight as delivered:
  • Removable top lid alone: 5 oz (140 g)
  • Body alone: 5 lb 5 oz (2.4 kg)
  • Total pack: 5 lb 10 oz (2.55 kg)
• Advertised Capacity: 3650 cu in (60 L)
• Size: Medium frame, Medium hipbelt, Medium harness
• My waist and torso: Waist 31 in (80 cm), Torso approximately 19 in (48 cm)
• I used a Gregory Fit-O-Matic to obtain a correct fit before choosing my size

The Deva is advertised as a women-specific weekend pack. The pack tags bill the maximum comfortable weight load to be 40 lbs (18 kg). The main body is ripstop, and the bottom and back are a thick rubbery Shelter-Rite fabric. The suspension system consists of a metal stay, an hourglass-shaped piece of plastic, and adjustable and comfortable padded shoulder and hip straps.

This report covers long term use, care, and maintenance from May to September 2004. For field testing performed during March to May, 2004, please see my Field Report. For more general product information, more visual details, more reporting on appearance, structure, and items that can be tested and commented on without field testing, please see my Initial Report.

Long Term Testing

My packing included the average shell and fleece clothing, food, water, pots and a stove, sleeping bag, and smaller amenities such as a compass and toothbrush. Outside, I would strap my compact foam sleeping pad and tarp. On one trip, I packed the body and poles of a compact two-man tent inside the Deva, but this stretched its capacity nearly to the maximum. I do not overpack, but I do not have the most ultra compact and light gear either. With that in mind, I would usually have a little room left over with a standard three-day summer load -- enough for an additional day of food, an insulated jacket, or a similar sized item. These standard loads made for very comfortable trips. The only slightly uncomfortable part of the Deva continued to be the rather stiff and thin back padding; otherwise, the padding was adequate and comfortable.

The best part about the Deva is that the load handling and stability advertised turned out to be spot on. At less than 40 lbs (18 kg), the Deva carried like a dream. Above 40 lbs (18 kg) when tested in earlier season, my shoulders and neck ached after the trip. And the Deva stuck to my back like glue. I felt very comfortable off trail when swaying and hopping and bouncing. Three of the four additional trips were mostly off trail and lighter summer trips, and the Deva would have been my pack of choice regardless of my reviewing it.

I still ran into problems with the adaptability of the Deva. It is a super-stable basic backpacking pack, and only that. I never found a good way to strap long things on the side, so no fishing rods or pickets came with me on the Deva trips. After the weather got cooler, I found great difficulty in cramming my warmer sleeping bag in through the small half-moon sleeping bag zipper. It took me a full five minutes of cramming and wedging the sleeping bag on the last trip I used the Deva on, and after that I just switched packs. For reference, my stuffed summer bag measures 8 x 15 in / 20 x 38 cm, and my fall and early winter bag measures 9 x 16 in / 23 x 41 cm. Additionally, I discovered early on that the ice axe attachment made the spike poke out a good distance if anything was loaded in the middle pocket. Additionally, the Deva limited my destinations because I really could not conveniently pack a bear cannister into it.

Overall, however, the Deva has served me well. Once I got over the fact that I could not push the pack into climbing and mountaineering very well because of its gear-strapping options, I had a marvelous three additional trips (the fourth trip was when I discovered that my warmer sleeping bag was too much of a pain to pack). The shoulder straps move with my body, the hip belt and back pad stick well, and overall the pack has adapted from day-trip use all the way up to the advertised 40 lbs (18 kg) and felt great everywhere in the spectrum.

Long Term Use Comments

Durability

Overall, the Deva has been quite durable. It took all snagging, throwing, crunching, and stuffing in stride. Additionally, the fabric sheds dirt and grime amazingly well. If it were not that the pack has some dirt collected on the inside and some heavy scuffing on the base of the pack, I would think it was still new.

Unfortunately, the Shelter-Rite bottom has not quite kept up with the rest of the pack. Admittedly, I am a butt-slider, but the black rubbery fabric on the bottom shows some scuffing. In addition, the folded areas of the fabric are already showing some white threads poking through the black rubber on the fold lines. Below is a picture showing one of the folds near the hip belt attachment with two arrows showing the worn Shelter-Rite near the ladder-lock buckle. The big rubber mesh pad which rests against the back of the pelvis of the wearer also has some of the rubber worn away, which is marked by the single arrow. I apologize for the dark picture, but the Shelter-Rite is so reflective that any flash made the whole area seem white.

The scuffing, however, seems to be only cosmetic. The exposed threads have not worn through, and there is a lot of rubber still to be worn away before anything serious springs a leak. Additionally, it seems that the scuffing is due more to the strain of the fold rather than any abrasion caused by me since the parts of the pack which take the brunt of butt-sliding abuse are not worn away at all, and are merely scratched up a bit.

Care and Maintenance

The Deva has needed very little care. The body fabric, as I mentioned above, seems to literally repel dirt, and so I merely shake the pack out and let it dry after each trip. This really has been all the care it has needed. The Deva straps remain easy to slide and adjust on the trail, the zippers remain smooth and as easy to use as any water-resistant zipper, and overall even my obsessive tendencies have found very little to shake off or brush at the end of a trip.

Summary

Overall, the Deva is a great summer weekend pack. It has lots of trouble with oddly shaped items like ice axes and bear cannisters, but for basic backpacking on and off trail I have never used a more stable and well-built pack.

• Upsides for me:
  
  • Super athletic and stable
  • Canted water bottle pocket is secure and handy
  • Hip and shoulder padding is very comfortable

• Downsides for me:
  
  • Ice axe attachment does not work well
  • Sleeping bag compartment entry zipper is too small
  • Not quite enough padding for my vertebrae
  • Hard to strap things on the side of the pack

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Reviews > Packs > Internal and External Framed Backpacks > Gregory Deva > Cora Hussey > Long Term Report