ALICE Backpacks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter FrumpyWatkins
  • Start date Start date
I love my alice pack.. it's actually got plenty room for me. I could fit my sleeping bag in the top flap on the inside and have room for all my gear and about 3 days of food. For the water I'd just carry a jug or jam a few smaller containers in. My friend gave me a badass hip pack for backpacking. It's like a hardcore fannypack. This worked well because it fit right under where the alice pack stopped and would put some of the weight from the pack on my hips since it was resting right on the hip pack. With those two it was sweet because I could undo the hip pack if I needed to but still have pretty good movement with it on. When I take off again I'll probably use that same combo, it worked really well for me.

Oh yeah, tid bit of info. ALICE is actually an acronym, didn't know that, just looked it up.

It stands for:
United States Army, Technical Manual All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment
 
My pack is well, im not sure the technical name, but its army issued and small/medium. its a great pack, but i put it on in a hurry last week and the metal on the strap fucking bit me and left a fat bruise. fucker. fucker-pack.
 
for those who carry alice packs here's a really good site if you want to mod out your pack, the only draw back might be that you have to send them your pack. but here's the site www.tacticaltailor.com. they will sew on more pockets on the outside, you can have a storm flap added to it, they will re-enforce the stress points in case you want to use a frame with it and they have improved straps and you can have them put molle panels on the the sides, plus a lot of other cool add ons. if you go to the site scroll down to the ruck sack mods section for all the cool add ons.
 
i got a hickers backpack
its got a frame that comedown and hold my sleeping bag,
my tarp fits in the back between the frame and the bag
its waterproof, and..
i got it for 2 bucks at the sal :D

i got a pretty rad fannypack too!
which is great for stealin shit cuz its right there
 
Backpacks?

I have an EMS 4500 ST. My friend kicked it down to me a few years ago. It's an old school backpackers pack, but it's pretty comfortable even after walking with it all day. I think it's around 70 ~ 90 litres.
 
Backpacks?

I went around with a large alice and I wouldn't do it again. I got it real cheap and it fits a shit load of stuff but if its comfort your looking for, dont rely on the military. I didn't put a frame on mine because it was more expensive and I didn't want the thing to just bust 3 weeks later after throwing it off a train. the good thing is that the part where the frame fits into makes a nice handle for throwing your bag up onto a boxcar or something. With the bag being large, it came with 6 pocket insted of 3. but the extra three pockets don't have draw strings on em, and as a result I have lost shit out of them even though they were closed. also you can only access and alice from the top, so ya gotta pull everything out of your bag if ya need something burried at the bottom. REI has these things called "yard sells" about every three months or so. Its where they resell used and/or sightly damaged goods. say a zipper was busted or something along those lines. and being as it is...they sell all the shit dirt cheap. i got myself a Gregory Baltoro 70 Pack for $125. that bag usually goes for $230. and the only thing that was wrong with it was that it was "used". only thing is ya gotta be a member. its like 20 bucks, but if ya have a mailing address then every year they send you a check for 20% of how much ever you spent at REI that year. so the membership basically pays for itself
 
Backpacks?

I got a large size ALICE pack that treats me well. I guess I've never tried anything better but I've never had any problems with it. Its been thrown off many a train and the color hasn't even faded on it.
 
Backpacks?

i use a regular backpack from jansport then a tote for 0.97 to a dollar or find myself a messenger bag for books and etc. I will buy a pack like an ALICE when I get someone hand me a couple hundred bucks, but til then I'll stick to being light and simple
 
Dont you guys have chinese/unbranded/mass-made hiking back packs knock-outs at walmart or something, like from 30 to 50 bucks, that are super cheap and actually not horrendous, thats all i will ever use. look at my one new at the pic time in my profile, held well enough during the mini croatian excursion.
 
hey guys been a long time since i posted on here but i've been reading a couple threads and thought i'd post a couple things about the alice pack. they are pretty much bomb proof and although a lot of people think they're too heavy i've never noticed. i'll post a couple vids here of uses for the frame which can be removed and used to carry other stuff and a way to make the frame more modular.

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I couldn't imagine one any more versatile. I've had my medium for twelve years now and I'm still finding new ingenious shit about it!!! It's hard to out-think the military.
 
I have used my medium alice for years now.
And it is durable as all hell.
I have found that anything bigger just mean more shit to carry around.
I have a pretty nice 0" sleeping bag and one change of pants,6 pair socks,3 t shrits.a camera,a mp3 player,my thermals,and my winter coat"which attaches to the top easily".
I also have rrom for some train food and a book or two.
So for the money and durability you cant go wrong.
 
Backpacks?

Cush said:
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.
Click to expand...
alice's website,- lol, ALICE is a military acronym that stands for all-purpose lightweight individual carrying equipment. It was replaced starting in 1997 with the MOLLE (modular lightweight load carrying equipment) gear that the u.s. military currently uses.
 
i recently bought a medium ALICE pack on ebay for $38, and its great!! plenty of room, and not too bulky. suits my needs perfectly.
 
I bought a used ALICE pack from a guy in ATL for ten bucks with a frame. works great, plenty room and I can beat the hell out of it. Throw it all around, and it holds up great.
 
I bought an large external frame alice pack (sans frame) from the local surplus store. i hang out there a lot so they give me pretty dope discounts, so that's half the advice i have to offer.
anyways, frames are expensive, and internal frame or frameless alice packs tend to be more expensive, in my case prohibitively so, so i just bought a large one, and did some modifications to it to give it a messenger bag-style cross strap. it carries just like a messenger bag, with weight divided evenly between the back, shoulder, and chest. if anyone's interested, i can put up some pictures/guidelines. a couple friends of mine keep saying i'm gonna be paying for it in a year or so, but for right now i'm just dismissing them as naysayers. LIVEFASTDIEYOUNGGGGG
in retrospect, i probably would have bought a medium pack, since i'm never on the road for more than 7-10 days at a time, and i have so much extra space after a compression sleeping bag sack, 2-3 changes of clothes, 2 books, and some cooking gear, that its actually fucking up my weight distribution a little.
 
I was stoked to get mine but I hate it! its heavy and hurts my back even with just a little in it, though im sure it would feel better if I got a frame, you think?
 
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