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Gregory Focal 58L Review - ''A robust carrying system, packed full of features and for a weight of 1.3kg''

Posted by Chris Futers on Aug 15, 2023

This year’s ‘The Great Outdoor Challenge’ (TGOC) allowed me to take the Gregory Focal 58L rucksack out into the Scottish Highlands, whilst I’d attempted to make it from Plockton in the West to Montrose on the East Coast. For the TGOC, most look for a pack size between 45 litres (minimalist, certainly compromises to be made on kit) to 70 litres (preparing for all eventualities with a few e …
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Big Agnes Prospector 50L Rucksack Review - "A triumph of a pack with loads of great features'

Posted by Trek Scotland on Jul 19, 2023

Big Agnes would not be a name that springs to mind when considering a proper expedition backpack. To be completely honest very similar to choosing footwear we often tend to stick to the brands we know are tried and tested. A backpack can be a very personal item and an ill-fitting pack that causes issues on route will inevitably ruin an otherwise enjoyable trip. To quickly skip to the e …
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Exped Lightning 60 Rucksack Review - “This really is a tough piece of kit with a low weight of just above 1kg for a 60-litre pack”

Posted by Trek Scotland on Apr 17, 2023

Exped’s Lightning 60 rucksack has recently been updated to be lighter and tougher, whilst importantly keeping its minimalist roots. We gave the Lightning 60 some heavy use in the Cairngorms and the Isle of Arran to see how it would fit into life for multi-day wild-camping in the late Scottish winter months. With a weight of 1180 grams and a high capacity of 60L, you’d expect the low w …
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Osprey Exos Pro 55 Review - “I was impressed by the capacity of the pack!”

Posted by Mark Richardson on Feb 23, 2023

Osprey’s Exos packs are best sellers; and for backpacking loads over say 15kg they are a good choice, offering a comfortable carry at a low weight. Typically weighing in at 1.3Kg there are lighter options for ultralight backpackers where the target weight is around a kilogram for a fully spec’d backpacking rucksack of between 50 and 60 litres capacity. A few years ago  Osprey p …
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Granite Gear Crown 3 Review - “An ideal pack for long distances without resupply”

Posted by Mark Richardson on Oct 18, 2022

A 60 litre rucksack with a decent harness and weighing around 1Kg is a key product for us, and in my experience Granite Gears ‘litres’ are a bit bigger than some other pack manufacturers, this manifests itself in the fact that the Crown 60 seems significantly bigger than some other 60 litre packs. I think this is because Granite Gear only count the main compartment when quoting the capa …
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Gregory Stout 60L Review - “We were very impressed with the overall build quality.”

Posted by Trek Scotland on Sep 15, 2022

The Stout 60L backpack from Gregory is a backpack built for multi-day trekking, well suited for our activities through winter and summer in the Cairngorms and Northwest Highlands. At a total weight of 1758 grams, including the rain cover, this is certainly not for those who scrutinise every gram. As with the previous Gregory packs we have used, the focus is more on comfort, …
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Mariposa 60 Rucksack Review - Ultralight Outdoor Gear

Posted by Andy Neil on Jul 29, 2022

I have been fortunate enough to hike almost 300 miles with this pack, I first took it out on The Great Outdoor challenge, a coast-to-coast crossing of Scotland, and also the Cleveland way, so it’s fair to say we are well acquainted. It’s American in design, rather than the more classic European style, so at first, it appears bulky as it has no compression straps, though you won’t notice …
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Gossamer Gear Gorilla 50 Rucksack Review - Ultralight Outdoor Gear

Posted by Danny Pearson on Jul 07, 2022

The Gorilla 40 rucksack has been in the Gossamer Gear line up for many years and had remained largely unchanged since 2015 but was updated for 2021. This has been the first opportunity to test the updated version, the Gorilla 50. There are several changes including: An increase in its capacity to 50 litres (without increasing weight, in fact we found Gorilla 50 to be slightly li …
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Granite Gear Perimeter 50 Rucksack Review - Trek Scotland

Posted by Trek Scotland on Jun 16, 2022

The  Perimeter 50 rucksack is a mid-weight pack with a ton of features including fine adjustments to back length, shoulder width, and hip sizing.  Granite Gear says, “Body Diversity, every person has a unique build, shape, and size. Your pack should fit accordingly.” Weighing in at 1500 grams may sound heavy compared to a lot of modern packs of a similar capacity. This …
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Montane Trailblazer LT Rucksack Review - Ultralight Outdoor Gear

Posted by Joel Brennan on Jun 06, 2022

I’ve used both the  20Litre and the 28Litre versions of Montane’s Trailblazer LT ultralight rucksacks and I am very impressed, considering their overall weight they pack an amazing amount of features and functionality and are remarkably comfortable thanks to the vest-pack type harness and generous hip fins. One of the key features is the bladder pocket which sits betwe …
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Gregory Focal 58 Review - '' I was hugely impressed by the side mesh pockets''

Posted by Mark Richardson on May 10, 2022

I used this pack on a three-day winter backpacking trip to the Lake District and was mightily impressed, Gregory don’t seem to have compromised at all which makes me wonder why all backpacking rucksacks don’t weigh in at 1.2kg or thereabouts. How much does it weigh? The sample pack I used had a medium back length and with all the optional components removed it weighed 1100 grams, but you …
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Gossamer Gear Mariposa 60 Review - Ultralight Outdoor Gear

May 05, 2022

Gossamer Gear’s Mariposa 60 is an amazing rucksack, there are three elements to it that make it so good; 1.It has a feature set designed by backpackers that actually work 2.It has a very comfortable harness system 3.It is extremely lightweight despite 1 and 2 above. Feature Set On a recent trip to Switzerland backpacking the Tour of the Matterhorn we took the Mariposa for a tes …
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