No he absolutely didn't state a preference for an internal... I'm agreeing with you! I got that wrong. Somehow I got that lodged in my noggin, likely based on this statement: "My desire is for volume to haul camp in, lightweight, compresses down nicely for day pack (hunting)."
As to individual preferences, it's undoubtedly true to a point. But I am amazed that you don't like the Bora, yet somehow like the Aether. My experience is so completely opposite I'm a bit baffled. If there ever was a crummier, more flexible frame for a pack than the Aether, I've not experienced it! I found it uncomfortable (and sagging), to the point of painful at 35lbs, let alone 85 lbs. Yet the Bora has been great for me up to 100 lbs.
Still, I'd generally take a external over an internal... but only if its one on the list you made, or is a Dana Terraframe. The Dana external is in a class all by itself, and remains, to me, the very pinnacle of external design.
But the stuff on Kevin's site looks pretty promising to me...
