Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting The Paradox Pack Thread

Your comment was rude, disrespectful and uncalled for as well as demonstrating an obvious animus to those who choose to buy gear such as this pack.

I merely replied in kind and quite mildly, but, I ...just was saying what I thought....

Your other remarks simply reinforce the impression of you that I got from your first and I am not interested in a pizzing match with you here.

Two points, though, one is I do not wear glasses to look at others and I do not "look down" on anyone.

The next is that I currently own and use several large packs, three of the Dana Design "Terraframe" models, two complete Mystery Ranch NICE rigs and a MR "Deluxe", a discontinued model of some 3800 cu.in. that is my favourite "day pack". I have a few small "rucks" as well, SO, for ME, while I could easily afford the very reasonable cost of a Paradox Pack as offered here, at age 67, I cannot justify buying another pack with $$$$ I could use for GAS to travel throughout BC to fish and hunt.

Maybe, you might think about how you initiated this discussion and consider other ways of expressing your opinions here? Most of us who post here tend to treat one another with respect and courtesy and we actually come to be friends as a result.

I am not the "ultimate" backpacker, by any means and am now so old I can barely remember how to put my pack on my ancient, trembling carcass, but, I backpacked very heavy loads, daily,for several months every year for many years as a part of my chosen employment. I LEARNED from this that your pack is, with your boots, the two MOST crucial items of your gear and spending major $$$$ on these to get them EXACTLY right is money well spent.

Capiche?

GWL,

No offence taken. If your beliefs are never challenged you can never grow.

I do believe that you are missing the point of the pack system a bit. It starts at $299. The Eberles, Badlands, and Horn Hunters of the world start at $325 and range up. Our Evo/Base Talon at $329 when paired with a drybag of your choice WILL give you much better comfort and performance as well as being lighter than those asian made big box store packs.

That setup is upgradeable over time with different packbags, and we intend for this pack to be great at hunting, not just western hunting. I grew up in the east hunting whitetails, turkeys, and predators. I also love hunting the west. So, we intend to roll out packbag options over time that make the Evo platform as good for treestanding whitetails as it is for hauling a critter off a mountain.

By making this pack versatile enough that it is your go-to for every purpose we hope to create tremendous value for people, because it is something they use ALL the time, not just once or twice a year.

Can one attach their existing Kifaru bags to this frame? The Cargo panel?

It looks like a great AND less expensive alternative

alukban,

We offer excellent support for our products, but we cannot offer support for other manufacturers' products.

That said, the Evo will compress and securely carry nearly anything.

I have the full length, forest green packbag from the third of the once "cutting edge" Synergy Works packs I bought in the mid-1970s and I wore the suspension on this out, but, patched the bag and saved it.

I had it on my Bullpac for a couple of years and all I did was just use the heavyduty, black cableties to attach it and then covered these with cut to fit strips of black hockey tape...a rather commonplace item here in Canada.

This, worked very well and I may well install it on one of my two Dana Terraframes, as I find this the easiest way of hauling large, odd-shaped and heavy loads of anything on my back.

I see no reason why some experimentation with your Kifaru bag and the EVO and some ties, extra straps, etc, would not work out for you. I often have modded my gear, even some very costly stuff to meet MY specific needs and I always save every buckle, split ring, straps, pockets and so forth from every old pack I ever use up and toss as you never know when one can be useful in mods to another item.

May be in trouble with the wife on this one, but I went for the intro deal camo and all. It costs more than my rifle, so I have high hopes for the thing. I have now upgraded my spotting scope, boots, binoculars, backpack, and hell even the rifle. When I got my first elk last year some guy said I would never be the same. I guess I didn't know he meant financially. Oh well, I will have it all forever I hope and still haven't spent as much as one guided hunt would cost.

Hiking LeConte in October with my oldest daughter and hope to report on pack then.

HD

There will be a tester in Texas. Evo plus basic talon headed my way and to CO in Nov.

I have been looking for about 9 months trying to learn as much about packs as I can, since I am new to pack hunting or backpacking in general. Personally think its a great design after looking a dozens of packs. There is some really good ideas put into this pack. Really like the weight and the torture tests. Only thing I see is that I think it is over priced, not saying its not worth that at this point. Just there isn't enough info out there or people that have the packs for a while to be almost in the roughly almost at same price range as MR, Kifaru, or other high end packs. From a first time buyers stance its hard to spend $600 dollars on a pack in general. With there no one out there that has used it for a complete hunting season or two. I think that its a great pack, but its going to be hard for the first time buyers to go with a pack with no true test of time.

Hi Shrek

We understand your comments. I think there are a couple misconceptions however. The $600.00 special includes a fully functioning daypack, with it's own harness. If you look at prices of a comparable camelback or Ultimate Direction pack those are $100 - $150 on their own so there is a lot of value built in. With the $600 configuration, you have a daypack, a compression hauler and a fully functioning expedition sized pack. Our base price, with a basic Talon (non daypack) is $329.00. The $329.00 system will function fine with a $40.00 sea to summit dry bag as a backpacking pack. In addition, the $329.00 setup includes a lot of features and functionality that may not be included elsewhere. Compression is built in, a load sling is built in, as well as an inter changeable compression panel. As was stated before, a Badlands OX with a packbag is 499.00 and an Eberlestock is close to $400. If you included a daypack with either, you would be in the same range.

So is there a "shelf" on the bottom of the frame for a dry bag/meat/whatever to sit on, or it it held by compression only? I can't really tell from the pictures on the site. I'm liking the idea of an Evo and day Talon with a dry bag, but I don't know that I'd want to not have a meat shelf to support loads.

Yes, there is a meat shelf.

Thanks Scott. Hopefully you'll put some good photos of it in your test write-up.

Kevin...

Let me ask this... Is it cheaper in black and gray instead of the camo?

I should tell you the story about the overlayed Mossy Oak Break-Up plywood sometime. What a [bleep] show

Yep, I'd also like to see how the meat shelf works. In the photos so far it looks like a fabric type shelf that folds against the pack frame or let's down in place. I don't like metal or frame material meat shelves, and prefer to diamond hitch them onto the frame and save carrying the weight and extension of the shelf. But I'm in a minority and a real meat shelf will sell better to most folks.

If I were still doing a lot of backpacking as part of my job plus a lot more for personal reasons, the value is there. In reality I have to admit that I do less real backpack hunting as I age and am not sure whether or not to spring for the basic frame, which is what I want. Keep testing and reporting and I will ponder this a bit more! I have two backpack hunts planned for this Fall with more that will be impromptu or day packs of meat (I expect!).

We shot some video yesterday of the compression, Talon, and load shelf. I will get it uploaded in a couple days when I get home.

RockChucker, I am very interested in one of your frames for possibly packing meat this fall, will it handle a big moose hindquarter in the 125+ range? I would also like to have a pack to carry on it that would hold enough food/snacks, knives, a spotter/tripod, rain gear, first aid kit and camera for day. Which pack would you recommend?

I have a decent supply of dry bags and can use them for now but would probably want to get a pack down the road.

AMH,

I tested it with 119 lbs, and Kevin tested with 130. I can do 150+ when I get home if that'll help, but I'm confident the pack will handle it.

Are you backpack hunting for moose? Or wanting a pack that you can day hunt with that can also get a quarter?

On packbags- the 6300 is massive. I will probably run a 4300 for most trips. Really the Day Talon will hold most of what you need, and a 35L dry bag would hold the rest. Kevin and I did a bit of brainstorming yesterday on the exact question you ask and he came up with something that I'm pretty excited about. We will flesh it out a bit over the next few weeks.

For right now, i'll just be needing the frame and something to carry all my hunting gear plus some food/snack type stuff as I day hunt away from camp. For moose I generally hunt off my wheeler but there might come a time when I will need to pack a moose to the wheeler and I want to be prepared for it.

Not back pack hunting for moose, that's a bit more than I care to take on.

And I plan on doing a backpack hunt or 2 next year and this will give me a jump on things.

The Day Talon will hold most of the day items on it's own, but it somewhat depends on weather. For instance in warmer weather I have done a 16 mile day with a ton of elevation with just the Day Talon, but if I'm forced to carry a puffy and rain gear or tarp, it probably is not enough. The Gateway front pack will carry water, snacks, gloves, hat and range finder. The Day Talon can hold a normal size spotter, but the tripod might be an issue, depending on it's size. I've used the Day Talon for most summer hikes and peak bagging trips, but as the weather transitions to cooler temps, I will probably start using the Gateway with the Day Talon. My tripod for most stuff is really small so it's not an issue for me. With a big tripod and spotter I probably need to include the frame.