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Owner Review - Granite Gear Air
Compressor Stuff Sack
Biographical information
| Name |
Shane Bryan |
| Age |
35 |
| Gender |
Male |
| Height |
5 ft, 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Weight |
175 lbs (79 kg) |
| Email
address |
mirage(AT)peak(dot)org |
WebSite
|
http://www.peak.org/~webdawg
|
| City,
State, Country |
Corvallis, Oregon, USA |
Date
Published
|
April 2, 2004 |
| Backpacking
Background |
I grew up hiking
short trips in the Catskills and Adirondacks with Boy Scouts and
friends. In college I spent a little over a week in the
Adirondacks with a LaVida outdoor experience. Most of the hiking
I have done has been on weekend or over nights with external frame
packs. I spent some time on the Saranac Lakes as well. Now
I do my hiking on the Oregon Coast and Cascade ranges, usually late
spring - fall. In the fall of 2003 I began my introduction to
light/ultra light gear and principles. I hope to begin section
hiking the PCT this year. |
|
Product information
| Manufacturer |
Granite Gear |
| Year
of manufacture |
2004
|
| URL |
http://www.granitegear.com/ |
| Listed
weight |
3.4 oz (96 g) for the Medium size |
| Weight
as delivered |
3.7 oz (105 g) for the Medium size |
MSRP
|
$26.00 USD
|
| Product
description |
(From
Manufacturer Web Site)
” The newest compression stuffsack from Granite Gear. It’s our answer
for the ultralight packer who wants to save weight by compressing gear
and carrying a smaller pack. If you’re familiar with our Rock Solid
compression stuffsacks, you know we’ve been making the best packing
systems since our beginning in 1986. If you think about it, these
stuffsacks need to handle a lot of stress, and it’s no easy feat to
shave ounces, but that’s exactly what we’ve done.
- 30-D Sil Cordura Nylon Rip-Stop Body for strength without
weight
- 210 denier lid and arches are beefy where it’s needed
- Micro Cord and Cordlock
- Hypalon Grommet sewn in so it won’t pull out
- Fully Finished - No raw edges to fray, no sloppy stitching
to fail”
|
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Field information
-
Location or
locations where the test was conducted:
- Mary’s Peak, Oregon. Late March, 2004
-
Description of
location (geography, terrain,
elevation, etc.)
- Mary’s Peak is the highest peak in the Oregon Coast Range, with
an elevation of 4097 ft (1249 m) The trail followed on this trip
is known as the “North Ridge Trail” and it climbs from 1804 ft (550 m)
at the end of Woods Creek Rd to Mary’s Peak Rd. at 3733 ft (1138
m). The terrain is forested with a mixture of old and new growth
fir and oak with dense fern undergrowth.
-
Weather
conditions (temperature, precipitation,
etc.)
- Mary’s Peak trip was late March with overnight lows dipping to
low 30s F (around 0 C) and highs in the mid 40s F (6 - 8 C). Rain
was falling as the hike began at 1pm PST. The rain continued
throughout the hike and turned to snow by 2:30 pm (at roughly 2800 ft
(853 m) elevation). There was snow on the trail from about 2500
ft (762 m) on up.
Description
of trip while testing:
I bought the Granite Gear Air Compressor stuff
sack only 3 days before
this trip to hold my home made down quilt I had recently completed and
was heading out to test with my hammock. My pack was lined with a
trash bag to protect the general contents, but I wanted a waterproof
stuff sack to add additional protection for my down quilt.
 The quilt being used
in this stuff sack measures 54 x 84 in (137 x 213
cm) and is filled with 11 oz (312 g) of 750 fill power down. I
bought the medium sized stuff sack which measures 8 x 18.5 in (20.32 x
46.99 cm)
 The quilt
fit easily into the stuff sack. When I began to place
the compressor top (black round piece at the end of the compression
straps) over the draw cord end, I did find it awkward to untangle the
straps and get it positioned and ready for cinching down.
Compression was simple and achieved by alternately tightening straps on
opposite sides of the stuff sack, a few inches at a time, until I had
tightened them as far as they could go. In the case of this test,
that was to the point where there was no more strap left to
tighten. This leads me to believe that possibly the next smaller
size would also work for this quilt, but there was by no means any
slack or looseness to the compressed package so it is probably just
about right.
 The
compressed size of the quilt and stuff sack was 9 x 10 in (22.9 x
25.4 cm) which equates to a 30% reduction in volume from the original,
uncompressed package.
Once compressed the stuff sack and quilt were placed in the bottom of
the pack with all my other gear around and above it.
We hiked for 2-3 hours in the rain and snow to about 3000 ft (914 m)
before we had to make a tough decision to turn around and forfeit the
overnight trip. This was due to reasons not pertinent to this
report and I will preserve the reputation of those involved. The
only net effect on this report is one less un-packing and stuffing of
the sack with my quilt. Never the less, I have since made up for
it in other trips and personal tests of its use.
Summary
My Granite Gear Air Compressor Stuff Sack has met my
expectations. Since the trip to Mary’s Peak, I have noted that
the strap across the bottom of the stuff sack, that has the Granite
Gear logo sewn onto it, is separating at the seam where it joins the
bottom Cordura. This appears to be a stress related failure and
was noticed after about 8-10 uses. Possibly I am a bit over
zealous in my compression, but since this is not a structural component
it does not appear that it will ever cause catastrophic failure of the
stuff sack.
Things I like:
- Light weight
- Good compression capability and mechanism
- Use of white fabric that is so translucent it is easy to identify
the contents.
Things to improve or change:
- Improve construction of bottom strap, or remove completely.
Not needed for function.
- Bottom and top ought to be lined with same Silicon Impregnated
Nylon Ripstop to ensure water resistance.
- Attach compression top to the draw cord hem to help prevent
entanglement.
Read more reviews of Granite Gear gear
Read more gear reviews by Shane Bryan
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