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HMG: 3400
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Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Gear (General) › HMG: 3400
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Jul 25, 2015 at 1:39 pm #1331060
I bought a HMG 3400 windrider pack. The pack preforms great. My only complaint is the hip belt pockets. I have looked at Zpacks, Gossamer Gear and Zimmerbuilt pockets. I think the gossamer gear pockets would fit the best. Does anybody have a suggestion on what pockets would work best to put over the top of the pockets on the pack?
Thanks
EricJul 25, 2015 at 3:05 pm #2216979I have a similar HMG pack and came to the same conclusion about the belt pockets. I just bought a zpacks belt pocket in dyneema, partially because I wanted to compare it with the cuben ones I had, and partially because I wanted it to match (haha) the dyneema of the HMG pack, which it does perfectly.
The standard zpacks attachment method doesn't quite work with the HMG belt, so I'll probably use some shock cord instead of the mini cord locks with the tiny cord (??) routed through them. The elastic band on the back of the pocket works fine, though. I'll get some pics up soon.
Jul 25, 2015 at 3:20 pm #2216981I felt the same way about the tiny pockets of my 3400 Southwest pack. I contacted HMG about this, and how so many of us thought they needed to put larger pockets on their hip belts. His response was that they would then need to completely redesign the hip belt to accommodate this (what?). I went with Gossamer Gear's pockets, size small I think. I just use one, to hold my small camera. I needed to secure it the bottom of the shoulder strap to keep it from trying to escape, but this works well now. The other side can be a small HMG pocket, to hold my DEET, hand sanitizer, and Chapstick, which I seldom need to access while the pack is on.
Jul 25, 2015 at 3:36 pm #2216982Drew,
I look forward to the pics
Thanks
EricJul 25, 2015 at 5:06 pm #2216991I have an ice pack with the pocketless hipbelt, i was able to attach zimmerbuilt pockets and they work great because of the amount of attachment points on the pockets. The straps on the back and the clips on each side, i tried the gossamer pocket before this config and they didn't work at all. I'll post pictures this evening.
Jul 25, 2015 at 6:53 pm #2217005Khoa,
Thanks
EricJul 25, 2015 at 8:35 pm #2217029Yeah, HMG pockets are pretty anemic.
Chapstick? Fine.
Map? Folded up small- fine.
Granola bar- slight struggle but workable.
Compact camera…? Forget it.
Just order your pack without HMG pockets. Most aftermarket pockets will require modifications. I like to sew velcro straps to the back of my pockets and thread those behind the Molle or other attachment points on the pack's hipbelt. My next ones will probably be Zpacks Dyneema (which I know I will have to do some sewing on), though my past modifications of Granite Gear pockets worked well. GG's stock attachment system is kinda weak.
Jul 26, 2015 at 9:50 pm #2217198As a Sunday evening micro-project I decided to quickly and simply attach this zpacks dyneema hipbelt pocket and get some photos as promised. I used some black shock cord I had to make a couple loops, one on either side of the flat shock cord that is sewn to the middle of the pocket by zpacks:
Front of pocket
Back of pocket – I looped the shockcord through the same loops where the cordlock thingies are
Here's the pocket slipped over the hipbelt for easy removal as well in case the weather gets bad (my camera and photo will be in here primarily)
The pocket is quite generous with respect to volume. This is a Sony a6000, which is a very large compact camera (oxymoron?)/medium sized mirrorless
Standard HMG pocket on the right side. This could be a much better pocket if it was stretch woven or just simply bigger. It's really only good for a few small items. I can juuuust squeeze my iphone 6+ in, but it might bend..
Here's the pocket with the a6000 inside. Seems to hold well and doesn't twist or sag due to not being sewn on the hipbelt. Still plenty of room for a wallet, phone, or several smaller items.
Lastly, the pocket empty. The standard pocket is behind the zpacks one, and could be used for a wallet or something that doesn't need to be accessed often, but still needs to be packed; perhaps car keys, photo ID, money, repair kit, etc.
Hope this helps out! The zpacks pocket is VERY well made from what I can tell, has a PU coating inside, and is taped over any sewn on items, so it should be very very water resistant. If you get an HMG pack, it will match perfectly as it looks identical to the HMG x grid dyneema.
Jul 26, 2015 at 9:59 pm #2217199I have the same backpack from HMG and found the pockets were way to small, so I cut them off and used Zpacks pockets. I love how big Zpacks hipbelt pockets are and they work great and no modification needed other than cutting the pockets off.
Jul 27, 2015 at 8:27 am #2217244"I have the same backpack from HMG and found the pockets were way to small, so I cut them off and used Zpacks pockets. I love how big Zpacks hipbelt pockets are and they work great and no modification needed other than cutting the pockets off."
I thought about cutting them off, but IMO it doesn't make sense for an HMG pack. You're only saving a few grams by doing that and possibly hurting resale, and HMG stuff isn't really SUL. They're really nice pockets, just too small for my camera.
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