ALICE Backpacks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter FrumpyWatkins
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FrumpyWatkins

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I was looking into getting an ALICE pack. Does anyone have experience using this backpacking "system"? How much do the Medium packs hold, stuff wise, not gallons (I find that to be a useless measurement)? Do they hold up well. I'm looking into the ALICE packs because they are available on the cheap at surplus shops.
 
Backpacks?

alice isn't too bad, if a little heavy for it's size. For my money, alice works fine, though right now I am on an ex swiss army pack that is roughly the same size as a medium alice, but without any pockets. In the alice I could fit:
-two full changes of clothes,
-3pr. socks & skivvies,
-small DOPP kit (soap, paste and brush, deod. etc.)
-a large coffee can with my mess gear in it. ( homemade alcohol stove, fuel, my cookpot and pot stand.) I modded the coffee can to have removable panels, so it doubles as the windscreen and container.
-two or three books.

My water hangs externally, and my bedroll is underthe bag.

If you travel heavy, go with the large alice though.
 
Backpacks?

I liked traveling with just a lil school bookbag. I went cross country. never underestimate how muhc stuff you can fit in those lil things.

only problem was securing my bed roll... but a lil rope and some thinking fixed that.
 
Backpacks?

I use a Kelty thru hikers backpack but that's only because I happened to have one. I'd say go with something cheaper. I only had one because of the boy scouts and I would by no means reccomend buying a $110 backpack when you can get one just as good, but a little smaller, for $30-$50.

also, can someone post links to alice's website (if they have one) and to granite gear's website (also if they have one.) I know that widerstand and rachel dirtyfeet are living, walking, traveling granite gear spokespeople and i'd love to check them out.
 
Backpacks?

granite gear does make some good gear... their compression sacks are very nice. I have had two compression sacks (for my sleeping bag) and both of them have ripped after a few months... nothing some floss and a flame couldn't fix but it was still disappointing. good thing I didn't pay the asking price :P i've seen the granite gear packs but I am very very picky. I have to have side access pockets or I will not even think about making the pack mine. Also a good sleeping bag access pocket on the bottom really makes a difference.
 
Backpacks?

I've learned that spending that much money on a pack just gets it stolen. not from personal experience but lots of people I know who have owned the nice ones have ended up with them jacked.
 
Backpacks?

Before leaving i got my mom to by me one of those nice hiking backpacks for christmas, and honestly its not necisarry. Where as its nice to cram a lot of food and books and stuff, what I have come to realize is that the less you carry the happier and healthier you will be :P No one wants to lug around a big old pack everywhere. It really comes down to what suits you best, my friend got his pack stolen in europe and he said it was the best thing that happened to him the whole trip.
 
Backpacks?

I feel you there. I used to travel with a big alice pack and ended up realizeing that 90% of the stuff in there I didn't use. I emptied it out a few tiem and found things I totally forgot I had.

and having that much stuff held me back from doing a lot of the exploring that I woulda loved to have done in some citys. my pack was just way too heavey to even think about wandering around town with it weighing me down. And BECAUSE i had so much stuff I was way more scared to leave it stashed some place because if it got stolen I woulda been out a lot of crap.... although it wa crap I didn't really need, it was still MY crap. hehe.

and I know it's great to have a book... but I never understood why people carried around 2-4 of them. those fuckers get heavey. I'd only carry one, read it as soon as I could, and pass it on. public libraries provided the rest.


oh, and NEVER underestimate th usefullness of the USPS. if your pack gets heavey... mail some of the shit back to wherever "home" could be and lighten your load. I end up collecting a lot of crap sometimes and mailing it off to someplace safe helps a lot.
 
Backpacks?

i have a large alice pack most people prefer medium ones so you dont carry more shit. i just like having six pockets on the outside rather than 3. Make sure to get one with a frame or your back will be fucked
 
Backpacks?

Although pricey (I think if I go to a local place I can get it for 90.) this CFP-90 pack looks pretty damn good.

http://tinyurl.com/2pqf2z

Post edited by: MattPist, at: 2007/03/12 17:08
 
Backpacks?

man, that last one looks HUGE. i'd probably end up tryin to pack a laptop, speakers, and a scanner into that. plus twice as many clothes as I need.

but hey, to each his own
 
Backpacks?

http://tinyurl.com/2ocyd4

this is what i travel with and it is my most prized possession i own. it's a lot bigger than most people say is needed but it has surved me faithfully for a long time and i tend to overpack/bring too much/have a heavy pack when i travel anyway. i wouldn't trade it for the world.

Post edited by: MattPist, at: 2007/03/12 17:09
 
Backpacks?

I think a good test of a traveler is when you can have a large pack but not fill it to high hell. Usually the bigger the vessel the more ya carry, like if you get a house you'll probably fill it with more shit than oyu'll ever need. So never a pack bigger than what ye truly need I say.
 
Backpacks?

It is a little much, but think of all the cases of brew it could carry.
 
Backpacks?

Mwa ha aha haaaaaaaa. When we begin to trust in the universe, everything we truly need will find us...

Post edited by: Crazycoon, at: 2007/03/12 10:59
 
I've got a medium, no frame, and molle straps. I found one of the best things to make it more comfortable, better balanced and more easily accessible is to get additional straps to lash your bedroll to the bottom of the pack as opposed to using the the two straps that come on the pack. Get the molle straps if you can also there only like 5 bucks off of ebay and they are about twice at thick, a lot more comfortable and have a sternum strap.
 
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