Thanks for all the responses. Great pictures muledeer! I love the second one with you all loaded up. I must say, you have got to have some tough feet. If I hiked 5 miles with pack boots on, I�d have hamburger for feet!
Well I did the smart thing and found a mountaineering shop locally and tried about everything on in the whole store. I started with the Ospreys and they just didn�t fit me. They did fit my wife and I got her one (how�s that for a 15th anniversary present :D). I am 6�2 207 with broad shoulders, monkey arms, and a 20 inch torso. The Ospreys we just too narrow. I tried on Lowe, Deuter, and finally a Gregory Z35. It was like a revelation!
The Gregory Z35 is a little heavier than the others but has much sturdier/wider straps, thick padding, and super ventilated. It really is kind of a tweener. It is really a heavy daypack or very light overnight pack with a little over 2000 cu ft of space @ 3lbs. The big thing is it fit like a glove and carried 20 lbs like it wasn�t there AND it sat right on my hips. It has two waist belt pockets that are actually usable for ammo, knives or flashlights�.other packs pockets were too small and dug into me when filled. Another bonus is the yoke design allows unobstructed shouldering of a rifle. Luckily the color �sahara bronze� is a nice low key goldish brown. I think Gregory would sell a lot of these in Cabelas if they slapped some camo on it.
Have you ever really wanted to like something, but just couldn�t fool yourself. The X2 was this for me. It is a very well built and sturdy pack but is just too small for me. Oh well, I�m going to put it in the classified and make sure the buyer understands it is for ~18 inch long torso and not much more. The quest for perfect gear goes on....
