Personal Information

• Name : Graham Blamey
• Age : 61
  
• Height : 1.82 m (6' 0")
  
• Weight : 75 kg (165 lb)
• Email : gg@higray.fsnet.co.uk
• County : Essex
• Country : UK
• Additional product related information
  
• Torso :  53.3 cm (21")
• Chest : 106.7 cm (42")
• Waist :  86.4 cm (34")

Backpacking background

I started serious walking about 23 years ago and backpacking a few years later. I have backpacked, with my wife Ginny, mainly in Europe and the UK. We have spent three weeks of each year for the last seven years, backpacking in the French/Spanish Pyrenees. We spend at least one day a week on long day-walks, and take a number of three- to four-day backpacking trips throughout the year. We also take part in several night and weekend orienteering events. Our backpacking style (tent, mid-weight packs, Therm-a-Rests etc.) although essentially traditional, is getting increasingly lighter as we explore the possibilities brought about by new materials and designs.

Product Information

Manufacturer	Gregory Mountain Products - California - USA
URL	http://www.gregorypacks.com/
Year of manufacture	2005
Country of origin	Not stated
MSRP	$139.00 US / £100.00 UK
Sizes available	S.   43 L / 2500 cu in    M.   48 L / 2700 cu in    L.    51 L / 2950 cu in
Recommended Loads	No recommended load weights are given on the website description of the pack as far as I can ascertain, but are listed on the hang tag that came with the pack @ 11-16 kg (25-35 lb)
Listed Weight of pack (from website)	S.    1.2 kg / 2 lb 9 oz M.    1.2 kg / 2 lb 12 oz L.     1.3 kg / 2 lb 14 oz
Weight of pack as Received	L.     1.34 kg / 2 lb 14.5 oz

Some features of the pack (taken from Gregory's website)

SUSPENSION FEATURES                         Wraptor™ Stabilizer, Internal Exo•Frame™, Sport harness, Gullwing™ waistbelt, Chimney ventilated backpanel

PACK FEATURES Top access, Large front and side mesh storage pockets, Silicone impregnated G 70 fabric, 210d HT nylon fabric reinforcements. Water resistant, Top pocket zipper, Mesh waistbelt pocket, Hydration sleeve and port, Dual ice axe loops and keepers.

The G-pack was shipped directly to me from Gregory's UK distributor, ESC-Outdoor. Gregory in the US sell only from retail outlets and this practice is being followed in the UK.

Anyone in the UK wanting to buy or try a G-pack should, in the first instance, check the Gregory website and follow the links from 'Dealer Locator' in the left side-bar .
The pack shipped with a five page hang-tag.   
 
For a more detailed description of the G-pack, see my INITIAL REPORT and FIELD REPORT

Long Term Test

Throughout the Long Term Test period, I've continued to use the G-pack as a day pack on weekly walks around the south east UK and on a couple of one-night trips looking for some overnight sites for a longer trip planned for the spring.

As a day pack, the G-pack really has more capacity than I normally need. Most times, what I carry disappears into the bottom of the pack and it takes on a 'pear' shape. I find this a bit uncomfortable, as most of the weight and bulk of the contents settles around my hip/lower back area. As the winter has progressed however and become decidedly colder, I've found that when I need to carry extra clothing like my down jacket or an extra fleece jacket I've packed these in first and the rest of my kit on top. This moved the weight up the pack a little and made it a more comfortable carry (see photo right). As a general day pack then, the G-pack is a little over-the-top for me. The only exception to this would be on a winter mountain day trip, when I would probably be carrying a light sleeping bag and a survival bivvy bag, as well as extra clothing, food and a small cooking set. I should point out here that the back system, harness and hip-belt remain comfortable whatever the load in the pack, it's just that the balance isn't quite right with lesser loads.

The Three Forests Way is a 62 mile (100 k) circular route, fairly near to where I live, that passes through the remnants of the three ancient hunting forests of Havering, Epping and Hatfield. Most of the route is on Public Rights of Way (footpaths and bridleways) through farmland, but we were fairly certain that if we could find two or three suitable bivouac sites, we could do the route over 3-4 days in the spring. On these two overnight trips, the G-pack really excelled. The weather was distinctly colder on these two outings; we had overnight temperatures down to -3 C (27 F) and, during the day, despite being bright and clear the temperature never rose above 5 C (41 F). Although it wasn't really necessary for these trips, I wanted to try the G-pack near to it's load capacity of 16 kg (35 lb), mainly to see how well it might deal with the usual sort of load I'd have for a two week spring/summer trip. Because the weather was colder I took my -5 C (23 F) sleeping bag, a full length Therm-a-Rest mat, my Hilleberg Nallo 2 tent and my down jacket. In addition to the normal items of food and cooking etc., I took some extra clothes, a small blanket for my dog and a couple of pouches of food for him. With a little creative packing everything went in the G-pack without any problems. There was more than enough room in the lid pocket for a Windstopper balaclava and gloves as well as the pack cover I'd taken from another pack. The dog's kit (food bowl, food and blanket) went into one side pocket comfortably and in the other side pocket was my 2 L (70 oz) Platypus Hoser (I still prefer to use this outer pocket instead of the inner sleeve). The large mesh front pocket took my Berghaus Paclite waterproof smock and over-trousers with a little room to spare and once I'd cinched down the compression strap hardly bulged at all.

All this (including the G-pack and a full Platypus) tipped the scale at 15.5 kg (34 lb) and volume-wise, once every strap had been tightened up, almost pushed the capacity to it's maximum. By using the floating lid, I was able to pack everything comfortably and then tighten all the compression straps and compress the load until it was really stable. There was a little volume to spare and I could have just fitted another fleece jacket in the main pack and a light fleece in the front mesh pocket.

On my hikes into and out from our selected sites the G-pack was really comfortable. It handled the increased load with ease and didn't seem to place any greater strain on my shoulders or lower back. I kept the hip belt fairly tight so that most of the load was transferred to my hips but even when there was some slippage of the belt and there was more weight coming through the shoulder straps it didn't feel uncomfortable. One thing I did notice was that I needed the shoulder straps pulled fairly tight, otherwise there was a slight tendency for the pack to hang away a bit and it felt as if there was a gap developing between my shoulders and the top of the pack. Using the sternum strap helped prevent this to a degree, but as I've already mentioned, the sternum strap feels a little tight on me, especially when I'm wearing several layers of clothing.

Conclusions

All-in-all I'm really pleased with the G-pack. I've every confidence that I'll be able to use it for extended three season trips and that it will replace my heavier, conventional backpacking sack for just about everything.

In my Initial Report I posed some questions, generally:

Is the pack comfortable?
FIELD REPORT# Most definitely. It's a very comfortable carry and adjusts and fits to my back well.
LONG TERM REPORT# It's still a very comfortable pack.
 
Is the padding on the harness and hip-belt sufficient for the heaviest load I might carry?
FR# The padding, which at first seems a little thin compared to heavier packs of this size, is so carefully made and distributed that there are no sharp or lumpy bits digging into my hips or shoulders.
LTR# There's been no change in the padding, no flattening or distortion and the padding is easily sufficient for the maximum load the pack is designed to carry.

Is it stable and can I make adjustments on the go, to counteract the different demands of the terrain?
FR# Generally yes, it feels quite 'back hugging', although it will take me a little while to get used to the Wraptor system when adjusting the shoulder straps.
LTR# The 'back hugging' nature of the G-pack means that it's really stable and I've not found any instances where the pack has moved or slid around on my back when I haven't wanted it to. I still occasionally pull the Wraptor strap the wrong way, but it's not a major hindrance and the sternum strap still feels a bit strained when I've a lot of layers on.

How easy is it to load and unload?
FR# In this respect, it's just a big bag and I have to be careful about where and how I pack things, but it's not a problem. I do miss the compartment system that I'm used to but hopefully it'll teach me to consider how I pack things.
LTR# I've learnt to pack the G-pack in the most convenient way, depending largely on what I'm doing and what the demands of the weather and terrain are, so in this respect, I haven't really had any problems.

How easy is it to reach items that may have migrated to the bottom of the pack?
FR# So far I've been careful to avoid this, although on one occasion my Petzl headtorch slid down below the larger items and I had to partially unload the pack to retrieve it. I think that's why it's important to put smaller items together in stuffsacks.
LTR# No change here. I've been careful not to pack anything too small in the main body of the pack, everything is grouped together into larger stuff sacks.

How useful are the lid, hip-belt and mesh pockets?
FR# The lid pocket is certainly useful, it's the only 'real' pocket apart from the main pack. It's fairly capacious and I think I'll be able to load a lot more into it than I have. The key clip inside it is also useful although it is quite deep in the pocket which means that a lot of the pocket has to be opened to reach it.
The mesh side pockets I found invaluable for stashing things; I preferred to have my hydration bladder here and it's good that they're quite deep. The big front mesh pocket I haven't really utilised yet but I'm sure I will as I load the pack nearer to its capacity and need the space.
LTR# I've now used all of the pockets in one way or another and they're all useful, largely depending upon the size of load. The side pockets especially, being quite deep and narrow, I've found useful for just dropping a knife or something small into without worrying that it's going to fall out.

If the mesh pockets aren't loaded or cinched down, will the surplus material be a liability and snag on passing branches?
FR# No problem there, the big front mesh pocket that I didn't use kept quite close to the pack once I'd tightened the compression strap on it.
LTR# Still no problems here. When the front mesh pocket isn't loaded it's possible to cinch it down almost flat and when there's anything in it, it's still possible to cinch it down so that it doesn't bulge too much. This is a very handy pocket that's unobtrusive, but there when I need it.

How durable is the pack material?
FR# So far so good. No signs of wear or tears on any parts (although I must confess that I haven't treated it as roughly as I might a heavier pack).
LTR# Still no signs of wear. All the straps take fairly hard pulling in their stride and none of the stitching or construction of the pack shows any sign of strain. I've not noticed any abrasions or scuff marks anywhere. Putting the pack down on muddy ground has sometimes made a mess of the base, but it wipes off the slick Silnylon easily without ingraining the fabric.

How weatherproof is the Silnylon and will I still need to carry a separate pack cover?
FR# So far this aspect hasn't been really tested. I put a pack cover in the top pocket just in case, but that was more for when I left the pack outside the tent at night. During the days that I've used the G-pack, no real rain has fallen on it.
LTR# On day walks, it's rained a few times on the G-pack but I haven't seen any leakage and the contents of the pack have never been wet.


Likes
Very light weight
Very roomy
Well made
Comfortable

Dislikes (mild)
Wraptor strap system takes a little getting used to
Sternum strap not long enough for me


I am grateful to BackpackGearTest and Gregory Mountain Products, for the opportunity to test this pack .