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I haven't tried a SG but have heard good things about them and they are the lightest by a little bit I think but I have both an EXO Mountain and a Kifaru. I 100% prefer the Kifaru over the EXO for 2 reasons. 1, I find the shoulders too narrow on the EXO and can't get it to fit/ride quite right. 2, I found the EXO bag harder/more awkward to get stuff in and out of and while they offer "different bags" they are all the same shape and design just different volumes.

Long story short, I'd say Kifaru would be my buy once cry once pack.

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Lots of great advice and some more thinking to do! I've been leaning towards Kifaru and think I may go that route. BeanMan, I appreciate the offer, but Palisade is a little far to go to try out a pack, although if I find myself that way doing some scouting, I may have to look you up!

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Any of the top-end brands would serve you well for a long time, but I'd be more concerned with making sure a particular style of pack fit me best, and then pick one of the top brands that makes a pack of that style.

For example, I used a Kifaru LH Guide for quite a while, and it never really worked very well for me. It has the wing-style hip belt, and I didn't realize that style wasn't ideal for my body type until I tried on a SO Paradox, with its full wrap hip belt. As soon as I put that thing on it immediately fit like a glove. Packs that fit well help you bear a load with less strain, and the load feels lighter. Heavy loads always suck, but they suck less with a pack that fits your body properly.

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Originally Posted by AKPENDUDE
I cant believe that horror story about stone glacier packs, in fact Im just going to call bullshit on it unless it was one of their very early prototypes. Ive had 100+ lbs in my SG pack and it was excellent. I also have a kifaru thats very nice but it is big, heavy and overbuilt.

Kifaru makes great stuff and the advantages are that its durable and you can basically set up the pack any way you want (pockets, bottle holders etc) but all that comes at the price of weight.



Oh man, you're right. It was as though he was carrying clouds and fairy dust down the mountain, a truly wonderful time for him.

Maybe I'm taking this wrong because it's the internet and all, but remain calm. It's merely an observation of one pack's performance, on one trip. I'll let the OP go where the evidence leads and make his own decision. Just providing some asked for perspective.

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Originally Posted by The_Yetti
Lots of great advice and some more thinking to do! I've been leaning towards Kifaru and think I may go that route. BeanMan, I appreciate the offer, but Palisade is a little far to go to try out a pack, although if I find myself that way doing some scouting, I may have to look you up!


I hear you Yetti, for my part I try very hard not to go east of the continental divide.

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I love my Stone Glacier pack!

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Originally Posted by BeanMan
Originally Posted by The_Yetti
Lots of great advice and some more thinking to do! I've been leaning towards Kifaru and think I may go that route. BeanMan, I appreciate the offer, but Palisade is a little far to go to try out a pack, although if I find myself that way doing some scouting, I may have to look you up!


I hear you Yetti, for my part I try very hard not to go east of the continental divide.


I don't blame you , would much rather be on your side!

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The best piece of gear I’ve ever bought is a McHale critical mass pack. Custom fit and made of dyneema fabric (not dyneema blend). I’ve been backpack hunting since 2003 every year for stonesheep with other backpack hunts mixed in as well and I think this pack is great. I bought it in 2011. Before that I had Kifaru Longhunter, and before that a Serratus and Camptrails external frame. The Kifaru was a great pack but just didn’t fit my body shape very well. The McHale Critical Mass was a big improvement and although it’s expensive, it was worth every penny for me. My brother watched my lack of pack related suffering for a few years until he finally sold his Barney’s pack and ordered a McHale and loves his as well.

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Originally Posted by The_Yetti
Lots of great advice and some more thinking to do! I've been leaning towards Kifaru and think I may go that route. BeanMan, I appreciate the offer, but Palisade is a little far to go to try out a pack, although if I find myself that way doing some scouting, I may have to look you up!


Yetti, I'm on the south side of Denver. I have 2 Kifaru G2 packs. If you want to check them out, maybe load one up and take it for a spin, let me know. Heck, they'd probably do the same at their shop come to think of it.



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Originally Posted by Jordan Smith
Any of the top-end brands would serve you well for a long time, but I'd be more concerned with making sure a particular style of pack fit me best, and then pick one of the top brands that makes a pack of that style.

For example, I used a Kifaru LH Guide for quite a while, and it never really worked very well for me. It has the wing-style hip belt, and I didn't realize that style wasn't ideal for my body type until I tried on a SO Paradox, with its full wrap hip belt. As soon as I put that thing on it immediately fit like a glove. Packs that fit well help you bear a load with less strain, and the load feels lighter. Heavy loads always suck, but they suck less with a pack that fits your body properly.


This^^^^^
Buying a pack on-line has its disadvantages, proper fit to your build is the main one...I bought this AlpsoutdoorZ Extreme pack before elk season thinking it would be the cats meow. After using it while scouting for several days and 10 miles. I found it would start to hurt really bad across both shoulders at the 2 mile marker hiking into the same area. Tried adjusting straps each time, but same pains. Went back to my Badlands SuperDay pack for the season. Too, bad, I really liked the features the new pack offered. 😎

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I've tried Exo, SG, Kifaru and Mystery Ranch........still have the SG Evo 40/56........Kifaru was a close second.......best of luck!

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Originally Posted by smokepole
Originally Posted by The_Yetti
Lots of great advice and some more thinking to do! I've been leaning towards Kifaru and think I may go that route. BeanMan, I appreciate the offer, but Palisade is a little far to go to try out a pack, although if I find myself that way doing some scouting, I may have to look you up!


Yetti, I'm on the south side of Denver. I have 2 Kifaru G2 packs. If you want to check them out, maybe load one up and take it for a spin, let me know. Heck, they'd probably do the same at their shop come to think of it.



I may take you up on that. I may take a day off to go up to Kifaru to check out their packs. My work hours are the same as their open hours.

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Originally Posted by Jordan Smith
Any of the top-end brands would serve you well for a long time, but I'd be more concerned with making sure a particular style of pack fit me best, and then pick one of the top brands that makes a pack of that style.

For example, I used a Kifaru LH Guide for quite a while, and it never really worked very well for me. It has the wing-style hip belt, and I didn't realize that style wasn't ideal for my body type until I tried on a SO Paradox, with its full wrap hip belt. As soon as I put that thing on it immediately fit like a glove. Packs that fit well help you bear a load with less strain, and the load feels lighter. Heavy loads always suck, but they suck less with a pack that fits your body properly.



Same experience for me. My Longhunter Guide never fit my slim build very well. The Mckale Critical Mass harness system has a one piece wide hip belt that has two waist straps and buckles. Able to get a very nice fit all the way around my hips. Most comfortable pack I’ve ever worn and built for heavy mountaineering loads. Lots of custom features to choose from as well.
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I used a Kifaru Mtn Warrior on a UL duplex this year, could probably go the rest of my life with that one and be happy.

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I have used Kifaru, Granite Gear, Stone Glacier and Seek outside packs. I wore out the Kifaru pack and the Granite Gear pack is a little heavy. The last couple of years I've been mostly using the Seek Outside pack and it has worked very well. But that said this fall on a whim I decided to try out the Stone Glacier pack and bought the minimalist. And at first I loved it. Way more compact and carried a moderate load better than the Seek Outside. But then we put elk on them and I hate to say it but the Stone Glacier failed. Like someone else who posted earlier, I too had the swaying thing going on - and could not get up without help. The pack is just too narrow, and there is no side to side lateral support. The stone Glacier was unstable with a heavy load (we are talking around 130 pounds). That said I think it is a GREAT deer hunting pack and good with loads up to say 110 pounds. But for elk and truly bad loads I think I'll stick with the Seek Outside. Patrick

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Originally Posted by mod7rem
The best piece of gear I’ve ever bought is a McHale critical mass pack. Custom fit and made of dyneema fabric (not dyneema blend). I’ve been backpack hunting since 2003 every year for stonesheep with other backpack hunts mixed in as well and I think this pack is great. I bought it in 2011. Before that I had Kifaru Longhunter, and before that a Serratus and Camptrails external frame. The Kifaru was a great pack but just didn’t fit my body shape very well. The McHale Critical Mass was a big improvement and although it’s expensive, it was worth every penny for me. My brother watched my lack of pack related suffering for a few years until he finally sold his Barney’s pack and ordered a McHale and loves his as well.


Yeti said he wanted to cry once, not sob for a week!

You are correct though, McHale packs are very good, as they should be for what you pay. I have a CMII also and it set me back $1k when I bought it, but more comfortable than any other pack I've had, including Kifaru. The same pack today would probably be close to $1400.


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as said before, order them all- load them up and try them around the house- one will jump out at you which works best; send the others back

the "good" packs are all good; fit, just like in quality footwear, is king

this goes a long ways in preventing the "crying multiple time" multiple times syndrome smile

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Besides the functionality, features and ability to adjust torso length , proper fitting of the pack when loaded is paramount to a comfort haul.

Those *little straps and buckles* are critical to know how they affect the pack ride. Experiment.


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Originally Posted by SBTCO
Originally Posted by mod7rem
The best piece of gear I’ve ever bought is a McHale critical mass pack. Custom fit and made of dyneema fabric (not dyneema blend). I’ve been backpack hunting since 2003 every year for stonesheep with other backpack hunts mixed in as well and I think this pack is great. I bought it in 2011. Before that I had Kifaru Longhunter, and before that a Serratus and Camptrails external frame. The Kifaru was a great pack but just didn’t fit my body shape very well. The McHale Critical Mass was a big improvement and although it’s expensive, it was worth every penny for me. My brother watched my lack of pack related suffering for a few years until he finally sold his Barney’s pack and ordered a McHale and loves his as well.


Yeti said he wanted to cry once, not sob for a week!

You are correct though, McHale packs are very good, as they should be for what you pay. I have a CMII also and it set me back $1k when I bought it, but more comfortable than any other pack I've had, including Kifaru. The same pack today would probably be close to $1400.



LOL, ya it’s a painfully steep price tag. Mine in 2011 with the full Dyneema fabric cost me over $1700 CDN. My brother didn’t go for the Dyneema so I think his was around $1300 CDN a few years later. I definitely would hate to be without it now.

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Originally Posted by The_Yetti
Originally Posted by smokepole
Originally Posted by The_Yetti
Lots of great advice and some more thinking to do! I've been leaning towards Kifaru and think I may go that route. BeanMan, I appreciate the offer, but Palisade is a little far to go to try out a pack, although if I find myself that way doing some scouting, I may have to look you up!


Yetti, I'm on the south side of Denver. I have 2 Kifaru G2 packs. If you want to check them out, maybe load one up and take it for a spin, let me know. Heck, they'd probably do the same at their shop come to think of it.



I may take you up on that. I may take a day off to go up to Kifaru to check out their packs. My work hours are the same as their open hours.


Just let me know, my work schedule is pretty flexible, I'm home a couple days a week and weekends of course.



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