I looked hard at them but ended up going with the Sawtooth because of the frame. They weigh the same and the Sawtooth gives me a more capacity. FWIW - I wish they should have kept the Pop up 18. If they had I'd probably own one of those also.
I've had a Pop Up 28 for couple of years and have been very happy with it's abilities. With it's slightly larger size, and frame enhancement, the 38 should be a terrific pack.
I just received a Sawtooth 45 yesterday. I have a Day Lid and pack cover coming today. I was wanting something just a bit larger, but on the Guide Lite MT frame. I really like the idea of the 270* zipper for access and the overall layout of the pack. The sale price I got it for was the whip cream and cherry. I have plenty of time to work the bugs and dial it in before Oct.
I bought an 18 last fall and find it the ideal day hunt bag. It has just enough capacity for day hunt needs, with the option of storing bulky layers and rain gear on the outside. I also found it quite comfortable packing out 1 or 2 deer at a time. I looked closely at the bigger pack but got the 18 for two reasons. First, the pop up was replacing my old standby crewcab on a nice frame. It's a rugged set up but the thing weighs like 8 lbs empty or somesuch. The whole point of the pop up for me was to cut weight. Secondly, I looked at the bag with a meat load and worried that having any big amount of weight in the bag while packing out a deer or 2, far away from my body would make things unstable. I nearly always hunt alone and in steep, wet country. The bigger bag looked like a blown knee or other complication waiting to happen as darkness came on, in brown bear country with a couple bloody bags of meat strapped to me and with no one around to help out. I'm glad I got the 18 when I did.
I’ve got one, but haven’t loaded it out or carried, yet. I got it for being able to carry bulky and odd shaped stuff fairly regularly, and be comfortable. Turkey and duck decoys, tripods, shooting sticks, turkey chair, heavy outer layers, marsh stool, ground blind, etc. I think it’s going to work well for that. I’d say that if you aren’t going to fill that slack space between the pack and frame often, than you’ll have some movement between the pack itself and the frame. Sure, you can cinch it down tight, by crossing the straps over, but maybe not with the pack section full of gear....but not sure yet. If you need the features of the pop up, it’ll probably be the cats meow. If you don’t, a regular day pack is probably better. As for size? I was nervous about not ordering the 28, because I was afraid the 38 would be too big. I’m glad I got the 38, for this use....enough space and not too bulky at all. It compresses really well, but the top of the main pack and lid extend if needed, and the outside pouch has dividers for a spotter and optics tripod, while not eating any internal space. I’d still like to try an 18, for a small, warmer season day pack, but they stopped making those. I’m eyeballing the mule, as it supposedly fits on the pop up, but I’m guessing it just cinches into the overload space?....in which case ANYTHING will fit in there, LOL
Has anyone traveled with a PopUp 28 or 38 as a carryon bag? Or are they too big?
I use my PU 28 as a carry on all the time. It meets airline size guidelines. I fill mine with boned frozen antelope or mule deer and it rides above me all the way home.
I believe the PU 38 is just a bit over the size limit. But have you seen the size of some of the bags that they let these people put in the overheads? I've never seen anyone challenged yet on a domestic flight