Hi Everyone!<br><br>Before I start my question, I'll just begin by saying I'm new here and appreciate the chance to join you guys.<br><br>I was wondering what you recommend for daysacks and rucksacks etc. Maybe you carry a small waist bag or shoulder bag during the day and a more serious sack for day trips in the sticks ? What brands do you recommend and why ?<br><br>Maybe you could split it in to 3 catagories:<br>1. daily bag?<br>2. weekend hike?<br>3. a weeks adventure?<br><br>I personally use mostly Lowe Alpine stuff and also Karrimor Hotsacks.<br><br>Thanks for all your views.<br><br>PS. This is what a website should be like ! Great stuff.

Welcome Vincent! Choosing brands is about as personal as knives. Suffice it to say any well known brand is light years beyond the wooden packboards in my older books. One phenomenon I've noticed; if you have unused space something heavy,expensive and usually uneccesary will make it's way in there.My current rucksack is a Swedish Surplus for all of $8. I've been concentrating on the actual gear insde ( sometimes a grubby looking container attracts less attention also). Most of my daily carry disappears into pockets and a neck lanyard.

From the way you pose your question, I suspect you will end up like me - with enough old bags to open a Backpack Museum. It's OK - they can be recycled into many different uses.<br><br>In general, I like a large waist bag for daily carry. Others probably go for a pack with about 2000 cu in.<br><br>For longer trips, or day trips with more gear, look for somethin in about 3500-4000 cu in.<br><br>For the week long trip, you wnat at least 4500-5500 cu in, and pay a lot of attention to the suspension.<br><br>There are numerous brands out there, and quite a few of them are very good. Fit and engineering become more critical with the larger bags which will carry more weight. Buy what works for you.<br><br>Don't be misled by the gadgetry that festooons many models - extra straps, pockets, and so on. These just add weight and complexity. Remember that you can add and subtract fixtures, since you are dealing mostly with easily alterable fabric.<br><br>All in all, I prefer a top loading bag, internal frame pack in anything of any size

Personally, I'm a huge believer in the waist packs (fanny packs) for whenever my load is small enough to fit in one, which is surprisingly frequent. I have several sizes on up to a "Mountain Smith" brand one that almost equals a small daypack. I find the load carries more comfortably, cooler and more conveniently than a daypack.

I just love daypacks, but I like them to be narrow so they won't interfere with arm movement. A sleeker pack just feels better to me. When you are scrambling through brush they don't slow you down.<br><br> Blue Diamond makes a couple of very nice examples for traveling light and fast. I believe my smallest is called the "Bullit pack" and the next larger is called the "Zippo" if memory serves me right. They are favorites of mine.<br><br> I have an Eagle Creek "Guide pack" which may be discontinued now. It is a larger daypack that has an internal frame and fits my long torso. I carrys bigger loads very well. I have to carry water for my dogs, as in the desert I never rely on springs and I question the quality of other sources. This one does it extremely well. A good pack can make a certain weight feel lighter and will carry it more comfortable.<br><br>I suggest trying the packs with weight. Most stores will do this for you. Packs are a very personal item. Good luck.

I like lowe alpine for my longer trips, Jansport day packs ( very simple ones, almost no weight, yet holds alot) and a side pouch ( probably ammo pouch) for survival gear, and a small space blanket. if its a real long trip i make my dad carry me and my gear ; )

I know what you mean. I currently use a Karrimor Hotrock daysack which has no side pockets at all. They are supposed to be for Alpine use but I find it ideal for scrambling through tight spaces or trees etc. They are really tough pieces of kit too, mine is already about 8 years old and still going strong.<br><br>With regards fanny/bum bags etc I have just picked up a North Face shoulder bag which is pretty compact and can hold most of my daily kit. Cost me 200 baht (Thai currency) which is about $5 I think. Originality is high suspect, but it does the job.<br><br>Thanks for your thoughts on this topic.

For around town, short trips to Forest Preserves, out-of-town drives, etc. I use an inexpensive "day pack" about the size of a large book pack. It has some "permanent residents" in terms of equipment. Also a scrap of closed-cell sleeping pad cut to fit the inside between my back and the contents. (ALL my packs have a "sit-pad" in/on them, and I use them) It has room to stuff my raingear and/or lightweight jacket in it if I'm not wearing it.<br><br>Depending on the local and the potential weather, I use a Kelty SlickRock internal Frame (no pockets) for day trips and short (over-nighters and weekenders). The volume varies easily and it is effortless to carry if the load is not heavy. I no longer do extended technical rock climbing, so a larger internal frame is not a pressing thing with me now a days.<br><br>Anything extended or involving heavy loads, I use my very old Camp Trails Freighter frame with the original "Moose Bag" (not the current one) on it. When I leave basecamp, I carry that as a day pack. An old friend, it has jumped out of airplanes with me and been in some very interesting places. It's older than my kids, and the nylon, sadly, is going to have to be replaced. A few years ago I replaced the suspension stuff with the Tech 5 stuff and like it even more (sure would have liked that when I was packing in gasoline-powered pumps and the like). If I could only have one, this is it. (Yes, I've even climbed with it - many times). YMMV... packs are personal. My boys prefer some rather large Jansport internals, but it is certain that they are not going to hold up as well as the Kelty. The Jansports do NOT fit me correctly, no matter what. My Kelty and Camp Trails packs are sized correctly for me. Advice on trying things in the store with weight is good. Renting gear before you buy it is even better, if that is available to you. Borrowing? Hehehe - I would never loan out my packs. You get attached to the ones that work for you...<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom Ayers

If you are using karrimor and lowe alpine I think it is better that you stick on with them. Lowe makes excellent waist bags,( now specially for carrying vulnerable photo equipment) and karrimor is a brand which had lots of contrubition into the bag-pack history. All karrimors I know and have used are triple stiched. They have been officially used by the SAS. I used to have a Condor (90 lts, discontinued) which was 15 years old when it came to me, I had used it and now passed it onto someone else who is still using it on rough jobs. I now use a Vaude Terkum 90 with all the high-tech stuff on it and I regret I gave my karrimor to someone else.<br><br>I use a Lowe-Alpine waist bag for my daily carry. I have been using it for more than 6 years by now and I am fond of it. The 2 inch straps make it easy to carry and after all the hard days it had been through it still resists water. <br><br>It is also important not to attract too much attention with your equipment when you are travelling around. I do not prefer bright colors and also tape the excess length of straps etc so they do not catch attention. I travelled a lot in North Africa and South Eroupe and I remember to have rolled my pack in dust in Morocco when I found my equipment to be cleaner than the environment

For a daily bag I have a fanny pack (TexSport I believe) that I picked up on clearance. I don't take trips over extraordinary remote or rough terrain, so it suits me fine. It's a decent size bag that holds my PSK items (I haven't built the packed tin yet - that's a winter project) and a lunch. There's an outside zipper pocket where I store a small first aid kit, including band aids, mole skin and scissors (the most frequently used items). And two straps on the bottom that holds an ace bandage (I have bad knees). I have replaced the ace bandage with a rolled up windbreaker or poncho if the weather warrant either apparel.<br><br>There are two side pockets for water bottles and two small pouches in the waistband. I don't put anything thick in them for comfort reasons, nor anything that I might want to get at quickly because they're not easy to get into when the strap is snug around the waist. I have some extra money, meds (in tiny plastic baggies) & Fizzies. <br><br>Fizzies were an Alka Seltzer type tablet that carbonates and flavors water. It's fun to pop one into a water bottle on a hot afternoon after hiking few miles and enjoy a root beer on the trail! Unfortunately, the guys who restarted the business have closed their doors so now I'll have to guard my supply.<br><br>The fanny pack also has a nylon strap loop in the center attached to the waist. A small feature, but it's nice to tote the pack around when not wearing it.<br><br>My biggest complaint is the plastic buckle broke. I've replaced it with a buckle from a work belt from Ace Hardware, but it's a bit too big and I'm sure there's a better buckle out there waiting for me to find.<br><br>My main pack is a GuideGear (Sportmans Guide house label) internal frame pack. It works for the type of camping I do and I have not really tried it backpacking yet (only 2 miles on one occasion). It's an internal frame pack and I haven't even bent the aluminum stays yet. I have instructions, I'm just a little inexperienced and nervous about doing it. I have instructions and will give it a go this winter.<br><br>BTW, I'm about half way done building a pop can alcohol stove (instructions from a link here in an earlier thread). My fanny pack will have enough room for it so I can add hot meals to my luncheon menu<br>