Six Moon Design Fusion Redesigns

Much better. So muted. So much for white and popping out on shop walls like Ron spoke of when v1 came out.

I've always wondered about the Fusion and how well it handles the one-size-fits-all issue. I find it hard to believe that any pack could carry as well for a 6'5 guy as a 5'1 girl. I figure it'll either be way too long for the girl or too short for the guy. Also do the load lifters attach in different spots to adjust the angle?

I've been waiting for this pack. I almost bought a 1st gen. I hope they went with a lesser weight Robic. I think the 420 is overkill. Especially with UL crowd which is known to baby their gear. The only other thing is I wish the large outside pocket was 100% "strechy" material. Excuse my technical jargon. Not a deal breaker though. Either way, I'll probably pull the trigger when it comes out and hope it lives up to its load hauling hype for when my kids hike with me or I need to carry many days worth of food or water.

My worry too. In Europe, these 'one size fits all' harnesses are on probably 90% of the packs and, as far as I see, they just don't work. Maybe for short and medium back lengths but not for persons with a long back length. For me, the best proof of this is that some brands come with longer framed versions of some of their packs, aspecially for persons with long backs.

I have a first generation Fusion 50. It's not one size fits all – it has an adjustable back length for 3 sizes: small, medium, and large. I see the redesign added one more. There were also 2 yoke options: regular and small. I'm a woman and probably should have gotten the small. The regular seems to ride wide on my shoulders, but the pack has been really comfortable otherwise. The new women's yoke is a great idea. The redesigned pockets look good, but I wish there were more lash points for gear.

Cheers,
Peg

Peck,
it looks like any other pack with an adjustable back and I don't see you have to measure your back length before choosing which size of pack to take so I call that fully adjustable: one packsize for everyone, whether your back is long or short. I've seen packs with somewhat adjustable back lengths but always that means different pack sizes with the adjustable harnesspart for just a few inches to 'finetune' the fit.

If the Fusion works this way, the description of SMD is unclear.

Hi Peg,

There is women's size also.

>I have a first generation Fusion 50. It's not one size fits all – it has an adjustable back length for 3 sizes: small, medium, and large. I see the redesign added one more.

That's fine, but the frame is still the same length. So the frame must be long enough for a tall man, which probably means it's going to be too long for a short person. My main concern is about the angle of the load lifters. Are there multiple attachments for these to make sure they are always at the optimum angle?

The new side pockets look good. Amongst thru-hikers in 2014 the small side pockets were the main complaint.

The Outdoor Retailer report by Will Rietveld and Janet Reichl states that the new version will be around 2.5 and 3 lbs for the 50L and 65L respectively. That's pretty disappointing if that ends up being the case. I was really hoping they would get lighter.

I tried an adjustable torso pack but after literally hours of adjustment it was never quite as comfortable as a non adjustable that fit well. The load lifters had a lot to do with it. You could not adjust there location on the pack and there was no proper way to do a DIY relocation. What was frustrating was you could get almost to a good fit but you just knew you were compromising when you shouldn't be.

Those pockets stick out so much the mesh will be shredded off-trail. Not an issue for thru-hikers/the target market, I guess?

>> Those pockets stick out so much

My exact thoughts!

But then if the shelters sold by the pack maker are too big to fit inside the pack,
then I guess they have to provide external storage for the shelter on the pack. The
bottle pocket is one place…..

I don't know if that is the case here….I have no familiarity with SMD products.

I always wonder about the stretchy bottle pockets having shredded pockets scrambling/bushwacking.

Perhaps not a concern if one is confined to well maintained trails.

Like the look of the new version, but how it'll carry I don't know, same as the previous design? Any users of the previous design who can attest to how it handles loads? Not sure I like the look of the front pocket – I'd have thought you'd get more usable space from a squared-off shape, rather than the curved. I'd also prefer to see a much deeper front pocket along the lines of ZPacks, ULA, MLD etc. Anyway, still looks interesting and I hope the above poster is wrong about the weight: 3lbs for the 65L is surely a move away from lightweight by SMD. If that's the case I'd prefer a Catalyst.

Review here: http://www.tgomagazine.co.uk/gearreview/review-fusion-65-backpack-from-six-moons-design

Dave, I *think* that's a review for the older version of the Fusion. At least that's the one pictured and I couldn't find a date on the article.

That's a review of the "older" Fusion. I think the suspension on the updated Fusion is about the same. It looks like the fabric on the inside of the hipbelt and shoulder straps has changed. And SMD will be offering more harness sizes. But it should still carry about the same as the original design.

I just received the previous version of the Fusion 50. Overall, the pack seems great and actually the body of the pack seems huge to me but I know that enough people had complained about its small size on this version. The new 50L version has a 48L body vs 40L body boast year's version that I have. My biggest gripe about it is the front, exterior pocket. I'm only mentioning it in this thread because it looks exactly th same in the new version. This pocket is a joke. It so small. It's rounded at the bottom which a previous poster mentioned. It's very short and has plenty of room above and below to make this pocket almost double the size. The non stretch center panel is a bad idea because it restricts its expansion. I'm guessing they did this to anchor the over-the-top compression strap which I think they should've anchored it to the pack body. On my gorilla I put a lot in this pocket and I don't think I could fit half as much. I do think it's a great value though and really seem to like the pack otherwise