Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Kelty Red Cloud 110L

Anyone using this pack? Could you give some feedback on the pro's and con's?

thanks.

Wow nobody huh? Well it looks like a decent pack to use for a 3-4 day trip, and at 130.00 on sale I think its going to be mine!

I have a Kelty Coyote, which is in the same family I believe, perhaps a little smaller than the Red Cloud. It has an adjustable torso length. For whatever reason even though I'm fairly tall (6'2") I seem to have a relatively short torso at around 18". I cannot get the Coyote to hold the length it is set at with any load of consequence. After a few miles, the belt and shoulder straps keep getting farther and farther apart.
After using it a couple of times and being disatisfied, I found a used Dana Design Terraplane on Ebay. It is a very comfortable pack.
I don't hate the Kelty and will probably keep it if for no other reason than my daughter can use it when she's a little older. I doubt I'll use it any longer.

I looked at the Red Cloud when I bought the Coyote a few years ago. I've never used a Red Cloud and so, I'm not sure this info is even useful to you.

I suppose it would depend on what you intend to use it for, how heavy the loads you intend to carry, whether you plan to pack meat, etc.
For the money, a used Dana Terraplane is a pretty good pack in my opinion. I feel it is head and shoulders above the Kelty. Taking the time to keep monitoring Ebay can produce one in good condition for not much more than you mention the Kelty sells for.
But there are guys on here with FAR more experience and knowledge than me. In fact, they steered me toward the Terraplane.

Is this just for hiking? Or humping out a buck?

If you don't want to spend Kifaru money, the best carrying pack out their is a Dana frame pack. I paid $115 for one and $80 for another, and they weigh about what that Kelty weighs, but of course, you'll have to do some searching.

Sometimes a G1 Kifaru Longhunter comes up fairly reasonalby, say $250 or so. Nothing carries as well as those packs that I've tried, and they'll haul all you can carry. Hill People Gear has made all sorts of gear to pimp them out and cut weight, IE, a "compression panel" pouch and straps that allow you to carry most of your load in a Big River Dry Bag.

I haven't used one. I looked at one real hard. I don't know if my response is qualified or not. You decide:

I looked one over in the store and decide "no." It doesn't look to me like it'll handle meat very well, even less like it'll handle meat + camping gear well, and for just backpacking, it's a lot bigger than I want: 55-65L is about all I want before I switch to an external frame pack.

Tom

New ones have been redesigned. $130 price point is excellent. They are specifically made for loads up to 130lbs. They handle 70lbs handily. There are more comfortable packs out there. But the Redcloud 110l is a great pack to start with.

Sincerely,
Thomas

That is my main concern, it handling meat.

I'm very much on the fence about it. Maybe a Horn Hunters full curl system or a Tenzing tz6000 would be better options for 3-5 day back country backpack hunts.

I like the load shelf on the horn hunters and the Tenzing has a ventilated meat compartment. They are both about the same price so that's a wash. But as of now those are the ones I'm considering.

I guess I could always buy both and return one. I do like the fact that the HH is made in the USA. The Tenzing is made in china I believe. The HH is very modular too. Looks like it could work as a day pack/or backcountry pack all in one system.