The best packs

railroadron

New member
Jan 31, 2012
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Anchorage Alaska
I tend to pack heavy because I like a few added luxuries in my travels and i want to know from you heavy packers which pack is best and what you find to be most durable. I prefer external frame packs because there s a place for the bedroll without having to unload things to dig it out. I have the cash to re outfit and need to keep upcoming winter in mind so who s better these days..kelty? Jansport?
 
The best external frame I have used is an Alice frame wiith the Molle straps and ruck. The Molle pack has a plastic frame that is find of fragile but the straps and stuff are super comfy. Im not familiar with non military external frame packs, but lots of good choices if you want internal.
 
The Alice packs are older and have an aluminum frame. The newer style Army rucks are the Molle or Molle2 they are great packs but the frames are kind of weak. I myself never broke one but some guys did. What guys are doing now is taking the old Alice frame and putting the Molle pack and straps on it. So you end up with a hybrid that is an awesome frame pack. It has tons of room and a dedicated bottom portion of the sleep system it will hold your bag and tent easy. You can load over 100lbs in it. Pretty cheap too at surplus stores. I will try to take some pics if you want.
 
The bed roll goes in that bottom pouch it unzips all the way. I have a bivy a sleeping bag and a hammock it has compression straps When its real cold I take a pad too and it all still fits.
 
I recently heard about a company called Flextrek that has an awesome pack. It is external frame and has enough room to hold just about anything you're willing to carry. It is now on my wish list.
 
oh..ok I see and undestand..man i dont know why I never considered army surplus ..shit..i ll save a shitload of cash. I ve never used military grade equip although it seems popular.. I m blown away by prices cause I m like prepared to spend 175 to 225 on a new pack
 
The medium alice is kind of small if you want to carry a sleeping system inside of your bag. The large may be more to your liking. There's lots of good bags on there in your price range. Speaking of drinking, I'm gonna head to the store now.

**sidenote for all of you 12% drinkers: I hear that shit is gonna disappear real soon.