Brad, I sincerely believe that it may not work for you and your body, but my McHale SCMII has a wrap around Critical Mass hipbelt that works wonderfully well for me and a lot of others. In fact Dan uses it on all of his heavy duty CM packs because of its load carrying ability.
I agree, but McHale's system is very different than other full wrap belts out there. You adjust your lumbar pressure from the inside of the pack, fine tuning it for the weight of the load. It is not a belt just bolted to a frame as Brad might be referring to like the Kuiu.
Precisely.
But I'd still not get a McHale without the lumbar pad and two-piece belt.
Would add too, McHales one piece belt doesn't have the ridiculous rise in the rear either... you know the one that Kuiu and now Stone Glacier borrowed from Arcteryx... most bloody awful, painful belt I've ever used.
I'd go with a McHale over an MR, Kuiu, or Stone Glacier pack any day...
