I've had a tester here since early September. Unfortunately, we had a project at work go horribly wrong, and I got stuck working. My vacation in the middle of September, I was flat on my ass sick with pneumonia. I spent the last 4 days of that vacation bowhunting rutting antelope in eastern MT. (it didn't totally suck)
I played with the pack quite a bit, and took it for several walks around the neighborhood after work. Right away, I loved the bag on this thing (I think I've got the 7000" monster in Xpack, with a Talon Day) I've never been a fan of packs that require excessive accesorization to get the cubes needed. Nor have I been a fan of bags with zippers into the main compartment, or sleeping bag access points (I've never needed a sleeping bag in a hurry) The fact that it's waterproof could be a huge advantage for me. Springtime in NW Montana is wet and rainy. I love the fact that the bag is big, and bombproof. Also, after taking Kevin and Wes (Big W) advice, I just threw a bunch of [bleep] in there loose and let the compression system do it's job. I'm starting to like that approach, it saves time, and distributes a load better than my current "[bleep] with everything and compress it all in Sea to Summit dry sacks, then stuff those in a pack and compress the whole over engineered pile of [bleep]" method. The layout of the bag works well with KevinT system. It's big inch, but taller and wider, with about a 7" thickness. It's layout just lends itself to good compression on loose loads.
The compression on the Day Talon is the best I've seen on a pack, and it's simple. Two things really impress me here... One, I'm a bowhunter. This thing packs a 60" recurve with a bowquiver on it like it was engineered too. It also packs the Bowtech Assassin I have here with equal ability. Also, us stickburners are going to love the long pocket the Day Talon has. I can pack an EdT cylinder stove in it and not worry about the compression of the pack turning it into something that would look like what Millbillies do to beer cans when they're done with them.
The belt.... Holy [bleep]. That thing just works, and it's comfortable as hell. Even buddies I let try the pack on all make a point to comment on it. It really is the best I've ever encountered. You can put 100 Lbs of sand in this pack and do jumping jacks and it won't slip (yes, I did...)
My only bitch about the pack was the harness. No matter what I did, it bit me pretty good up front. Even with loads of 50 Lbs, it wasn't fun for me. Kevin got me Version 3.0 harness a couple weeks ago, and I got to take the pack for a lap around the Ghetto today.... It's 100% better with the newest harness. Not quite perfect, but given the rest of the packs attributes, it's liveable. I haven't tested the new harness with a load under 50 Lbs. My 3-4 day trips almost never go over 40 anymore, and an overnighter seldom over 35. I'm betting if I had 100 Lbs of meat and horns in it, I wouldn't give a [bleep] about the harness
It's a damn good pack, and I know it's going to get better. I have no affiliation with Seek Outside or Paradox Packworks other than the fact that I've gotten to know Kevin and Angie over the years as both a customer and BHA member.
