Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Arcteryx Altra 75 Review (here ya go Tim)...

Back in May 2010 I bought an Arcteryx Altra 75 (size Tall), based partly on the glowing reviews in Backpacker Magazine. I was absolutely seduced by the idea of a lighter pack that carried as well as the Arcteryx Bora line.

Received the pack, got the stays bent to my back, and took it on an overnight BP with a relatively light load (35+ lbs). By the first mile I knew things were amiss... started feeling a deep gouging from the top of the wrap-around hipbelt. No worries, only another 6 miles to go to my destination, how bad could it get?

Apparently a LOT worse!

Reached my destination in the worst discomfort in 36 years of backpacking, including 1970's externals! Had a hole rubbed in my back from the top of the wrap-around hipbelt (actually had a bleeding sore at the end of the trip from the belt). Decided to re-examine the stays to see if they were still in the shape I had bent them in before the trip. They were. Re-bent them to a more gradual curve hoping that would alleviate some of the rubbing from the hipbelt. It didn't.

The other negative is the webbing on the hipbelt slipped constantly and needed constant tightening. Honestly, my thinking was WTF! you have GOT TO BE KIDDING... Arcteryx... a Co. that has been making packs for years and this is what they come up with?

My other thought was the BP Magazine reviewer is short on experience or, more graciously, found a pack that fit his particular physique perfectly... all bodies are not the same.

All-in-all a singularly chitty pack for my back. YMMV of course.

Aside, REI graciously took the pack back. Honestly I was embarrassed to do so, but I've never been more aggravated with a piece of gear. Been an REI member 36 years and this is the first return I've ever made.

The positive side of the pack is that its features are mostly well thought out. Materials (aside from slipping nylon on the belt) are excellent.

If this pack had a lumbar pad and belt running beneath the lumbar (like the Bora) rather than the full encircling belt, Arcteryx would have really had something. I haven't used a full encircling hipbelt since the early/mid 1980's... I'd forgotten how loathsome they are. There's a reason the smart makers moved away from them 25+ years ago (especially on larger packs).

Other positives, Arcteryx ripped-off the Mystery Ranch top lid design quite nicely. It's a good lid. The harness was quite comfortable. The lower pockets were very useful and a better design IMO than those on the Bora line. The hard plastic "noggin nook" works well. The "horseshoe" zipper access, while another interesting design, is totally useless for me. I prefer a "bloody great sack" and prefer no zipper accesses. Unlike the many dumbed-down packs around today with stays that are not removable, the Altra has FL stays that can be custom fit to one's spine... for my curvy noodle that's essential.

Bottom line, I'd still own the pack if it had a lumbar pad/hiblet arrangement ala Bora and Arcteryx needs to pay attention to the webbing quality on its belts... a slipping belt is a ZERO.

Big, rambling post but hope it helps anyone thinking Altra.

The Pack:



The Problem:



At least the views were good:

Thanks for posting, Brad.
Makes me glad I am going with the Bora 80 instead!

I must admit that I am surprised that Arc'Teryx would take such a step backwards with this Altra pack as the Bora(from my own limited experience and most everything I have read) was a home run??

I dunno Tim. Arcteryx has definitely gotten trendier and trendier with some of its design. Makes one wonder whether a new crop of designers that have forgotten some of the hard won lessons about design have cropped up and are running the show.

I dunno.

I do know the Bora is a wonderfully comfortable pack! It's got some nits I could pick about, but in the grand scheme not too bad.

I was lucky enough that the top-of-the-hipbelt-digging-into-your-back issue became apparent to me after about five minutes wearing the Altra around the local (Seattle) REI. I thereby avoided the impending buyer's remorse.

On the bright side, I tried on the Mammut Heron Light 65, loved it and am now very happy with my big pack.

That was a good catch... I wore it quite a bit at the house with weight and didn't find it bad til I hit the trail.

If a pack can't handle 35lbs, you know it really sucks. Hell, I'm packing around 60lbs in my Sitka 45 bivy when I walk the dog without any discomfort, and I think that pack sucks.

Yeah Calvin, and it's not that the pack frame can't handle it, it's the wrap around belt that made it a bummer...

Brad,

Please educate me,... What do you mean by "wrap around" hip belt?
Thanks.

Foxtrot, the above Altra (where is says "The Offender") is a full "wrap around" belt... it doesn't run behind a thick lumbar pad or die into the sides of the pack separating it into two pieces.

Below is the Arcteryx Bora hipbelt... notice it plunges behind the lumbar pad... for all intents and purposes it's a two piece belt that is incorporated into a beefy lumbar pad.

Got it, thanks for taking the time to explain.

Brad that bora looks way to clean?? ha

That was a pic snapped when it was relatively new

I'll get it very dirty this summer

Brad,
The Bora has arrived?!?

Now joins my wife's Bora!

And the rest of the packs...

Sheesh, and I thought I was a gear-head!

They're multiplying in the closet...

Classic!
That happens in my gun safe sometimes, also.

I'm a pack looney

We need a newsletter and hats for that club on this forum!

Still glad I bought a IBLE pack for $165 or so off Ebay....

http://www.olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_gear_ilbe_usmc.php