2016 Seekoutside Divide 4500 Review

Did you consider the olive color when ordering the pack? I was set on ordering it for color preference and extra durability until the Massdrop came out. Now saving a few ounces and a few dollars has me on the fence. Thanks

Got mine today. Beautiful. I think it ticks all the right boxes for me. Thanks again Brian.

I have the Evolution pack frame and I had Luke’s Ultralight make two pockets with slightly longer tabs to fit over the waist belt hip section – this has worked very well for me.

This is what I use for waist belt pockets on all my packs:

http://lukesultralite.com/ultralite-accessory-pouch-2

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the stock version did not easily fit over the waist belt padding, so I had Luke make two with slightly longer waist tabs which allowed the pockets to fit on the waist belt.  I had two on my pack last hunting season and they held up through multiple days of bushwhacking on Afognak and Kodiak islands.

It’s only a rumour but somewhere I found that SO is (thinkin of) designing its own hipbelt pockets. This is nothing more than a rumour currently and only SO knows more about it.

A few notes on frame height for people thinking about getting a Divide:

If your torso length is 19″ or shorter, the standard 24″ frame will be fine for just about any load a backpacker would carry.  BGoode’s photos on the first page show this well.

If you’re in the 19-22″ range, you could go one of two directions.  If you’ll keep loads on the lighter side of 30 pounds most of the time, and/or don’t use load lifters very aggressively, the stock frame should be fine.  If you’ll be carrying heavier stuff regularly, hunting with it, or have a strong preference for getting all of the weight off your shoulder, I’d recommend getting 2″ extensions, and possibly cutting them down.  Reference this photo of me with a heavy, awkward load.  In that photo I have extensions cut down to 1.25 inches, for a total frame height of 25.25″.  This gives me (21″ torso) decent lift at heavy weights, and doesn’t place the side pockets too high.  I’ll be running the pack at this height for everything this year.

If you got a really long torso (>22″) I’d recommend getting a Unaweep and 4″ extensions, and doing the above mod to give you a ~27″ frame height.  Or get the Revolution frame, Fortress bag, and run it at up to 28″ for massive loads.