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Testing Location Overview:
The hiking environment of the south-west of Western Australia
allows for hiking and backpacking from coastal plains to forest.
Elevation ranges from 0 to 585 metres (0 to 1,920 feet). Within this
region, I hike in varying
conditions from forestry roads, to sandy tracks to single-purpose
walking
trails, to rock hopping, to beach walking to completely off-track
walking
through open and dense country.
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Weather Conditions:
During the summer period, daytime
temperatures average 30° C (86° F), whereas from March through to
December the daytime average temperatures range from 15° C to 26° C
(59° F to 79° F). During the
autumn, winter, and spring periods the normal weather pattern is fairly
wet with frequent heavy rainstorms evident. It does not normally snow
in
Western Australia.
According to The Times Atlas of the World
(Concise Edition - Revised 1997)
our weather is described as being "Mediterranean - rainy climates with
mild
winters, coolest month above 0° C (32° F), but below 18° C (64° F);
warmest
month above 10° C (50° F)." The atlas depicts the coastal area north of
Los Angeles as having the same climate.
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Field Experience
My use of the Carrix has been in combination with my
Macpac Cascade backpack
(85 litres / 5200 cu in). On two weekend backpacks the load carried was
well within the 20 kg (44 lb) load limit suggested by Carrix. I estimate
the load carried was around 14 to 16 kg (31 lb to 35 lb) on both
backpacks. On the three day backpack I carried up to 30 kg (66 lb) on it.
This is above the maximum recommend load of 20 kg (44 lb). That said, It
should be noted that the wheel fitted to the Carrix is rated up to 75 kg
(165 lb). Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to use the
Carrix with the special Carrix bag, which appears to be shaped for the
Carrix.
I have used the Carrix on three walks, two weekend
backpacks and a three day backpack, specifically
undertaken with the purpose of testing the functionality of the Carrix. I
know my fellow editors at
BackpackGearTest.org are going to cringe at what, on the face of it,
may appear to be limited experience with the item, however, hopefully it
will become clear that I have what I consider to be more than sufficient
experience to comment on the Carrix and its function. But I digress, first
some detail on the Carrix and its configuration.
Please note that the following
photos were taken at home. The photos are
provided to give a pictorial overview of the Carrix and how it is
configured. The Carrix is NOT set-up for a backpack trip, thus the harness
is not adjusted nor is the pack securely mounted. The pack just contains
some pillows to fill it out.
Carrix pack carrying platform
According to Carrix, the Carrix "has been designed and
shaped specifically to carry your bag on your bush or track walk." To this
end the Carrix has a platform made of a nylon material (see photo above).
The platform measures 64 cm (25 in) in length, 36 cm (14 in) wide at the
top end and 21 cm (8 in) at the bottom end.
 The
pack carrying platform is mounted on aluminium poles connected to the
wheel assembly. On my version of the Carrix I have the optional 10 cm
(4 in) roller wheel mounted in line with and to the front of the main
wheel to facilitate the crossing of bigger obstructions, such as logs.
The poles that the walker holds on to can be broken in
two parts to allow for the breaking down of the Carrix for storage,
transport or carrying purposes. The re-connection of the poles is a
very straight forward process of joining the two sections and then
tensioning the retaining strap. See picture below.
Rear wheel with optional leading wheel
The underside of the Carrix
Carrix frame joint
The Carrix is then connected to the walker via a webbing
harness arrangement, somewhat similar to a pack harness, but of course not
designed to carry any significant weight. The following set of photos illustrate
the harness system (note it is not adjusted properly, just placed on the
model for illustrative purposes).
 
Front and rear harness arrangement and hand grip
setup
For storage and transit purposes, the Carrix can be easily
broken down to a relatively compact configuration. Broken down for
storage, the Carrix measures approximately 80 cm (31.5 in) by 24 cm (9.5
in).
Carrix collapsed for transport or storage
One final comment. With a pack attached to the Carrix, the
Carrix and pack can be easily carried using the pack's own harness should
a portage be necessary. As I have not actually had to use this feature no
further comment is made on its functionality, rather it is just
highlighted for interests sake. In the photo below the Carrix is still
fully assembled. It is possible to partially disassemble the frame to
reduce the height of the Carrix in this configuration.
Ben demonstrates the carrying of the Carrix
Enough of what the Carrix looks like. How does it perform?
As I indicated earlier I have used the Carrix on three weekend backpacks, all on
track. However, on one weekender some obstacles in the form of logs were
encountered. These logs were of a size which I could comfortably step
over. The third weekender, was a bushwalk on a soft sand surface where the
Carrix was loaded up with approximately 30 kg (66 lb) of weight. On the
other two backpacks the load was within the 14 kg to 16 kg range (31 lb
to 35 lb).
I have found, that once I have the Carrix loaded
properly (that is the pack on the Carrix in the right position so that
Carrix is balanced), it pulls very well. I have found that it is easy to go
over obstacles. I have easily pulled it over logs which were at a height
comfortable for stepping over, I have pulled it up hill and down dale, on
single walk tracks, on wider forestry roads, on surfaces ranging from pea
gravel to soft sand (the latter with the 30 kg (66 lb) load). In all
situations, once the Carrix is balanced, it is easy to pull along. I
find that the weight of the load is transferred to the Carrix and its
wheel, taking a significant load off my back. I have found the harness
system supportive and that even on steep inclines and declines no
significant evidence of the Carrix either pushing me forward or pulling me
back was noted. When balanced it is sweet, I have no doubts about that.
I found the 10 cm (4 in) roller wheel mounted in line
with and to the front of the main wheel to be a godsend. When I first saw
the Carrix I was dubious about the effectiveness of this wheel and the
Carrix's ability to climb over obstacles. Well my doubts were quickly
dispelled. This little roller wheel was amazing. A simple shift of my
hands down the Carrix's arms or poles to the second set of hand grips, a
little lift, and the Carrix would be up and over whatever obstacle was in
the way on the track.
When the Carrix is setup properly and balanced, the
harness takes the load on the body, the Carrix arms rest besides one's
body and all that is required is a light touch on the handles to gently
balance the Carrix. In this situation it is just great to get walking, the
harness firms up against the body, the hands rest on the handles of the
Carrix and no pulling of the Carrix by the arms is required. This is great
walking and my back appreciates it!
Carrix make the claim in this regard that "as most of the load rests on the wheel, making for perfect load
distribution, Carrix goes everywhere you want it to go, without weighing
you down. With less strain on your back and legs, you save energy and
enjoy your walk more." My personal experience bears this out, well,
in respect of the claim that it does go "everywhere you want it to go,
without weighing you down." I also noticed that the Carrix did shift
the weight bearing from my back and my legs. I found this to be
significant.
I also experienced no evidence of discomfort with the
fit of the Carrix harness, even when pulling the Carrix with a flat tyre!
Okay, the Carrix is good once it is up and going. The
significant problem for me is getting it up and going. This was a problem
on all three backpacks when the Carrix was used and appeared to be a
problem irrespective of the load weight carried. This balance problem,
along with getting a flat tyre on a three day backpack on a coastal plain
in warm to hot weather (average of 30 C (86 F) without tree cover) brought
my use of the Carrix to an end. I reached the conclusion that whilst the
Carrix was sweet once it was going, getting going was at times a very
painful experience.
The problem was getting the Carrix to balance! That is
getting the pack centred on the platform in the precise position so that
the Carrix would not tilt to the left or right and then keeping it there!
If the Carrix was not balanced the sweet pulling experience described
above, would for me, become a very frustrating and painful experience.
The joy of the walk would be gone. On the last backpack, I estimated that
myself and some of my fellow walkers spent at least an hour of walk time
trying to get the Carrix balanced. This involved repeated stops to try and
move the pack on the Carrix, to try and tighten the straps to ensure the
pack did not move and thus again upset the balance.
The problem with the balance would also be exacerbated whenever I stopped
say for morning tea and needed to take the Carrix
off. Such actions would inevitably lead to the pack shifting position and
the Carrix once again being out of kilter. I suspect this is caused
by two things in my case. First is the physical size of the Cascade pack
which overhung the side of the pack platform. The shape of the platform
means a portion of the pack is without support. The second or further
contributing factor, in my experience is the way the pack is secured to
the pack. Two straps with a tensioning buckle (like a hip-belt
buckle) are fixed to the underside of the Carrix. One strap goes
over the pack from top to bottom securing the pack's movement down and up
the platform. A second strap of the same configuration goes left to right
around the pack, in an attempt to secure the pack to the platform and
restrict its sideways
movement. Two additional loose straps were provided to be
used, I assumed, in assisting to secure the pack left to right. The size
of the pack, combined with the shape of the pack platform and no means of
tensioning the pack down at the outer edges meant the pack could easily
shift, upsetting the balance of the Carrix. All that said, as I indicated
early, once the pack was in a good position, the Carrix would balance and
pull sweetly. I did learn, however, to put the Carrix down very carefully
whenever it was necessary, because any tilting to either side, quickly
upset the balance and the whole saga of getting the balance right would be
repeated.
I raised this issue with the Australian distributor and
his response was to send me a DVD which turned out to be basically a promo
of the Carrix, which was not at all helpful in understanding if I was
mounting the pack correctly or not. However, the interesting thing was that in the promo it
appears that a pack designed or shaped to suit the Carrix was used. I was
not able to ascertain if such a pack was readily available. I do wonder if
such a pack, shaped for the Carrix would make using it much more pleasant,
i.e., get the balance right.
My second significant concern with the Carrix was that
it was shipped with a pneumatic tyre! By the third backpack, walking
on sand mind you, the tyre decided to deflate. So now I had a flat
tyre, a Carrix which would not balance properly, a 30 kg (66 lb)
load, a hot day, sand, no tree cover and a lot of frustrated walkers (14). As it turned out,
one of the group members became quite ill and had to be evacuated. This gave
me an opportunity to send the Carrix home and I reverted to carrying the
pack. The Carrix never saw action with me again. I must question the
logic of supplying the Carrix with a pneumatic tyre and making the hard
tyre optional.
In summary, if the issues of balance could be resolved
(maybe a double wheel, wider platform for the pack, ships with a pack
actually designed for the Carrix) and the standard tyre was not a
pneumatic tyre then the Carrix would be something that I would seriously
consider using on my track walks. However, as it stands, the Carrix, in my
experience, is not a viable addition to my gear closet.
I thank Carrix and Frame Fashions for the opportunity
to experience using the Carrix.
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