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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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Extendable packs usually gain space vertically, but this isn't ideal. Not only can the pack become unwieldly tall, but any gear stowed at the base is then even more difficult to access. The Flex Capacitor rucksack solves both these problems. Rather than extending upwards, it uses a double fold of material on the front and a series of cinch cords to expand or contract the circumference of the pack, …

Granite Gear: Crown2 vs BlazeHow do you decide between two award winning packs with seemingly similar stats?The Crown2 and the Blaze are both 60L multi-day backpacks and at first glance they appear to be the same. They have similar features and use similar materials so it can be a little confusing trying to work out which pack is best for you. However, once you can identify the differences they ap …

Six Moon Design Fusion RucksacksSix Moon Designs have slightly re-designed the Fusion Packs and they are expected to become available at the end of September - we will be stocking the new vesions as soon as they become available. In the meantime here are a few reviews to wet your appetite! If you'd like to be notified when they come in just use the Contact Us page to let us know. The Six Moon Des …

Carry Less. Do More.Engineered for endurance, performance and comfort. Montane's Rucksack range allows you to choose from a wide selection of lightweight backpacks, vest packs and waist packs designed for hiking, trail running, trekking and climbing. From your daily commute to long distance trail run, there's plenty of options from Montane to store and transport your kit safely.TrailblazerTrailbla …

Granite Gear Blaze wins Backpacker Magazine Gold AwardBackpacker Magazine has awarded the Granite Gear Blaze 60 multi-day backpack with the Editor's Choice award for 2019. The Editor's Choice is a Gold Award, which recognises that the Blaze 60 is an update of Granite Gear's original Blaze AC 60, which won Backpacker's Editor's Choice award in 2011. A three pound backpack that comfortably carries 5 …

Out of all the items we have reviewed from this season, the Trailblazer has been the most difficult to make a decision on. There is so much we liked, a few areas we disliked, and in between a variety of design elements we had not seen featured before that left us confused as to what we thought of them! It’s easy to say that the Trailblazer isn’t your usual pack and combines elements from …