Going from Traditional to Lightweight

[Alex Eriksson]

Tyler,

I saw your PM but figured I would put the info here for the good of viewing public. Hope you don't mind…

One word: "wow". The Exos is night and day different than my Arcteryx Atmos 50. It's even night and day compared to the three other packs that I tried all my gear in at REI. For reference I tested the Flash 60 not 45, Boreos Lost Mountain 60, and the Boreos Buttermilk. Obviously I'm testing the next size up if you will, in volume, compared to you. More on that in a second though.

But yes, the Exos is fantastic. I just loaded it up with everything I typically take, including 3L of water and food for a few days, and the suspension feels fantastic…in that I barely feel the load. The Exos's suspension would have to turn on me, court my girlfriend, and key my car, before I thought negatively of the trampoline. Total convert. Contrary to what you've read I would also argue that the weight transfer to my hips is the best so far for a couple very individual reasons: the torso length is spot on, and the fabric/foam used for the waist belt and straps is very nicely stretchy. To the former regarding fit, I measure 20" but much prefer my pack riding low on my hips to address some back problems. Regarding the latter, the hip belt in particular is extremely comfortable because of it's flexibility and the forward pulling straps that pull the top and bottom of the hip belt as you tighten. However, of note, the 58 has additional padding than the 46. Having tried on both, I'd definitely err on the size of the 58 for the additional padding and simply compress down the pack's volume.

And when it comes to volume, boy does the 58 work well for me! All of my things fit comfortable with plenty of room to include more food, or perhaps a slightly larger cook kit without fearing that I'll burst a seam. The aforementioned bear canister would fit fine in this pack, that's for sure. I just picked up a Fly Creek UL2 for solo trips but even with my larger tent (see below) for my girlfriend, dog, and I, everything fits quite comfortably. And I'm quite pleased that carrying smaller loads the over/under compression system works fantastically to bring the volume down. I'm really glad I didn't go with the 46 now because of the flexibility. This pack will cover 4 seasons if a person is even remotely paying attention to what they're doing.

Here's a quick gear list of what's going into it (the major stuff):

Exped Dreamwalker Syn 133 40* bag in Sea to Summit eVent compression bag (15L, about 8" around by 12" long)
** soon to be replaced by EE 20* Quilt which will pack a ton smaller and be a pound lighter
REI Quarter Dome T2+ tent w/footprint
** split into a pole bag, and a dry bags for body and fly (3L and 5L respectively)
Exped SynMat UL LW
Stoic 700ml Ti Pot with Caldera Cone Fusion inside
Exped inflatable pillow
Exped Schnozzel pumpbag with all my clothes (occupies maybe 7L of moldable space with air sucked out)
Outsak UL (the larger one) with 3 days of backpacking meals
Eddie Bauer Downlight jacket in stuff sack
Camelback 3L bladder (one without baffles so it's kind of a log)

In the two vertical pockets on the outside I have:
One pocket:
1/2 gallon ziploc with toiletries
couple compressed rolls of TP
poop trowel
Other pocket:
REI Taku WPB jacket (all 26oz of it, oof)
* soon to be replaced with 13oz alternative on order

Top lid is quite a bit roomier than I thought and easily fits all this plus room for a lot more:
Rab Cirrus wind shirt stuffsacked
Tikka 2 headlamp
Spork
Mechanix gloves

And the hip pouches have more room than I have stuff!

[Tyler Miller]

No worries on the reply here. That's a great review! What size (M or L) Exos 58 did you get?

I'm torn between this and the REI Flash 45. Part of me wants to get the Flash so I can slim my load down a little more, but I wonder if that's not realistic…especially in the winter.

[Jake D]

Welcome to the Exos club Alec ;) I agree with a lot of what you said.. lets you pack without being OCD and cramming.. even with 4-5 days of food for me and 12-13lb summer baseweight.

hip pockets are good for snacks and photocopy of map folded up.

my body didn't like the Flash in the store.. which is why you try them on :)

[Alex Eriksson]

I went with the size large.

[Tyler Miller]

My local REI doesn't have any in stock, but I'm planning on ordering a few to try on. Thanks again for the review! I'll report back with what I find.

Oh, and I ordered an EE 20* quilt! Stoked!

[Raquel Rascal]

Congrats on the EE, you will love it. And you are focusing on the Big 3 which is an excellent start.

I will give one warning with packs- If you have any back or shoulder problems a pack with a frame or pseudo-frame will take the pack weight off of your shoulders. The frameless packs are lighter…but can feel heavier if you have sensitive shoulders or back injuries.

[Tyler Miller]

Thanks! I'm excited about getting the EE quilt. I talked with Tim and got the 2013 version – the biggest improvement seemed to be the 5" baffles.

As for a pad, I just bought a LW Synmat UL 7 in gear swap. Stoked!

And with packs, I'm not looking for a frameless one right now. The two that I'll be testing out are the Osprey Exos 58 (and the 46) and a Granite Gear Crown VC 60. I ordered different sizes in each and had them shipped to my local REI to try on for size. Do I need to bring my gear with me to see how it all fits? Or do the weighted pillows suffice?

[Raquel Rascal]

I'm not sure about the weighted pillows, but I'm guessing the closer you can get it to reality, the easier it will be to make your decision.

Very jealous about the Granite Gear VC! That pack is on my short list, but I can't seem to find one anywhere to try.

Have fun.

[Joe Clement]

Am I the only person in the world who found the Exos 46 and 58 to be incredibly uncomfortable? I guess I am. All I wanted to add, and I hope I didn't miss it, is someetimes your hip will hurt if you overinflate a pad. I inflate mine just enough to keep my hip off the ground.

[Erik Dietz]

Hi Tyler,

I know this seems obvious but try everything you buy, one at a time. I made the mistake thinking that because I read all the reviews and asked questions that the gear that works for most would also work for me. In some cases it did but in a lot of others it didn't. Buy a new pack, load up your gear and go on an overnight. Get a new sleeping bag and spend the night in your backyard. Bring one new thing with you each time and see if you like it. Take notes. Buy your first chunk of gear from REI (I know it's not ultralight) but you can return it no questions asked if you hate it.

Ex: When I first started lightening my pack I purchased a foam pad from GG and it was ok at first but after two nights my hips were super sore. Then I bought a neoair, shortened it, and used it for 10 nights. It was better then the foam pad but I didn't like the way my legs dropped off the pad and the 20" width was a killer. So I eventually just bit the bullet and purchased a full length neoair and took the weight penalty. Lessons learned: I'm a side sleeper, I thrash a lot at night, my hip bones stick out a bit, I like to sleep comfortably and the extra ounces are worth it to me.

I learned a lot by listening to what others had to say but mostly from trying new gear out every time I hike. I hope my rambling helps a little.

Erik

[Alex Eriksson]

I've been there with the overinflated pad. I realized that a few trips ago that if I schnozzel my SynMat UL with the requisite 3 bags, then top it off with 3 instead of 2 breaths, I'll likely wake up in the middle of the night with a super painful hip. I've also found this to be the case at home so who knows maybe I have some physiological thing. So provided I don't overinflate my pad and, when I sleep on my slide, rotate my hips another 10 degrees or so towards sleeping on my stomach, it relieves enough pressure to not be a problem.

One more piece of advice on the Exos: I've found that the shape of the bag's main compartment towards the bottom lends itself towards better packing if your stuff is in less structured stuff sacks. I pack all my clothes in my Schnozzel pump bag and then punch and mould it into a shape that contours better into the pack. Just now I switched my sleeping bag out of its usual cylindrical compression sack into a simple roll-top dry bag, sat/knelt on it, and then jammed the whole thing into the bottom of the pack with much better results. The bottom of the bag especially, because (and this will make sense once you see it in person) has sort of wings, it's not just a simple cylinder or cone stitched to a frame, that curve and conform around the lower frame and as a result you could easily have some dead-space there, as I did, with a standard compression sack. On the plus side, my tent poles and sleeping pad nestle down perfectly into that space in the pack body with the aforementioned switch to a roll-top stuffsack.

Anyhow, best of luck with the packs! I would definitely try them out with your actual gear if at all possible. I ruled out a couple packs because they just didn't hold the gear well based on its' shapes and sizes.

[Raquel Rascal]

I didn't know about this issue! Thank you gentleman. I was getting a sore hip with my Synmat UL.

I *heart* BPL. :)

[Tyler Miller]

Thanks for all the tips! Knowing not to inflate the pad to the max is a good one to know. And I'll check out the Exos in detail before making a decision.

It'll be a few weeks before all of my gear is collected and ready for a trip. Once I get to actually use it all, I'll report back.

In the mean time, how reliable are SteriPens? I picked up a Traveler Mini for pretty cheap, but not sure if I'll keep it. I like the idea of how quick is purifies water, but I'm also eyeing the Sawyer Squeeze bag system – no need to filter the water first.

[Alex Eriksson]

I just went on a trip with my Sawyer for the first time and it made a stark raving evangelist out of me. Between the weight, the thoroughness of the filtration, ease of use, and general convenience of the setup, it's by far the best $40 I've spent on any equipment. I doubt my MSR Sweetwater will ever get used, and my Aquamira will be relegated to backup in case something breaks down with the Sawyer (which I'm mitigating by using Evernew 2L bags). Here's what I had to say in my trip report located here about the Sawyer…

4. Sawyer Squeeze Wins (aka "This Water Tastes Like The Good Water at Your White Friends' House with the Fancy Fridge")

It made a believer out of myself (first trip with it) and 4 other people. We were filtering spring water sourced streams in a canyon with delight. Literal, unabashed, "this tastes like Brita water!" delight. The sources weren't cloudy so no idea how it would do with that, but it did a fantastic job filtering water we probably didn't need to filter despite having hard-to-fill bags and retaining enough water inside the filter, even after being shaken and blown through, to soak through my cargo pants pocket and dribble down on my ankle in 35 degree weather.

So yeah, it's an awesome piece of gear. Get one cheap on Amazon, order an Evernew bag from Traildesigns.com, and if you have a camelbak (or even if you don't) I would suggest getting the little adapter so you can rig up a piece of tubing to the outlet and quick-connect to the camelbak (or just use the tubing full time as a more convenient filler hose like I did with individual canteens).

[Nick Gatel]

When I was a "Traditional" backpacker, filters didn't exist. A filter would be additional weight to my traditional kit.

:)

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

" The more you read on BPL, the less you'll spend. Enjoy the experience."

Uuuhhmm, I think you mean: "the more you read on BPL, the more you will spend"

Lol

[Steve Clark]

lol I agree, the more you read on bpl, the more you spend!!

[Bryan A]

everyone has great advice on how to get your base weight less and when I read most of the posts a common theme is they keeping buying a new pack or a new sleeping bag every year because they realize they can go smaller and lighter.

I have a thought that works for me. I attempt to buy the best item I can find for each of the different pieces of gear I am working on. I know that seems daunting some times when you see what a 30 degree down quilt costs that weighs under a pound though it will be less than buying cheaper sleeping bags only to buy another one the following year.

If you buy what you believe the best gear for each of the categories that you will use for a 8 lb base weight you will eventually get there for a lot less money than those that get their by buying 4 packs, three sleeping bags, and so.

If you buy the stuff that you really want you will use it for years and I find that the best way to be able to keep working on different aspects of my kit to get it lighter.

One last thing Osprey Hornet 46 is at REI for packs and it is 24 oz.

[Tyler Miller]

Thanks for your thoughts Bryan. I think you are spot on with what you said. However, my goal isn't to get an 8 lb base weight. As nice as that would be, it would take me a few years before I could afford the best, lightest gear in each category. I think the biggest factor controlling this is how much money someone can put down at the time. Sure, if you can wait, it's worth saving…but in my situation it really would take a few years to save the money for all of that gear. I'm happy to get down to a 12 or 13 lb. base weight.

But like I said, you are exactly right in terms of getting the most bang for your buck.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Update:
-Bought a scale – 11 lbs. max, 1/10 oz. measurement.
-Shelter in progress
-Bivy complete! 8 oz.
-Heading down to my hometown (Wilmington, NC) in the coming weeks to take a short road trip to Southport, NC where I'll visit Matthew at Elemental Horizons to try on my pack…probably the Kalais.
-Waiting on my Enlightened Equipment 20* long/regular RevelationX to arrive (hopefully in the next week or two)
-Marmot wind jacket on it's way from STP for cheap! Specs say 5 oz.
-Got my trail shoes for cheap! Montrail Masochists (and Smartwoold PhD running socks)
-Bought an Exped Synmat UL 7 on the gear swap (and schnozzel pump bag from REI)
-JC Penny Down Puffy acquired! $15 and 10 oz!
-Bought an Optimus Crux Terra HE Weekend kit. I'll get a solo pot in the near future.

Next:
-Sawyer squeeze, once REI gives me my dividend check
-Platypus bladders (or Evernew)
-other small odds and ends

This isn't exhaustive. Once everything is acquired, I'll do a final weigh in.

[Author]

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