Hands-On Pack Evaluation???

You might try the dealer locators on their web sites.

http://www.golite.com/dealers/dealerfinder.asp

http://www.productweb.com/wtb/m1/granitegear/globalFinder.cfm

http://www.gregorypacks.com/dealer.html

Triangulate :)

Oh well…I tried that in the past. It’s ok if you are willing to: 1. Search and travel 2. Not know if they will have all models or sizes in stock 3. Spend the time. The above reasons have proven to be negative enough to outweigh the benefit in the past. If there was one specialty store though…that might make the difference. Even if it meant traveling more than 100 miles…

Well, ProLiteGEAR says they have a retail shop in Bozeman, MT and they carry Golite and Gossamer Gear. Though with the price of plane tickets and gas these days, you might be better off just BUYING all of the packs you were planning on looking at.

well you just might need to breakdown and purchase the packs online. I live in San Jose and have the same dilema as you. Try ULA. Brian is a fair person when it comes to returns. Same goes for Gossamer Gear with Glen. Both are very reasonable. Granite Gear should not be that hard to find. Try Sunrise Mountaineering or closer to you, Marmot in Berkeley. I do know that Down Works in Santa Cruz sell Granite Gear too.

Do other companies demo packs like McHale Packs? That’s how I got mine. Works very well.

I would suggest stopping by Ken’s home. He’s got all sorts of packs including GG, ULA, etc. :-)

Alas, there is no one in the area carrying Gossamer Gear. Your only choice is to order a pack. Luckly GG has a good return policy. I have suggested to Nick at Downworks in Santa Cruz about carrying some GG items, but he wasn’t sure at the time that it would make sense. If you stop in there, indicate your interest. If three people walk in singing the same song it might be a movement.

The two best places I have found in the bay area to try on light weight packs is the Berkeley REI and Downworks in Santa Cruz.