ULA Circuit vs. ULA Ohm (Help me decide!)

Figure the volume of your gear, it doesn't have to be exact but it will give you an idea of what you're working with and what you need, both summer and winter loads. I use a 1600 ci pack for summer and 3000 ci for winter, that includes 4 days food and water. The 3000 is probably a bit bigger than I need and quite a bit heavier, but I like the pack. Weight is definately a factor, but volume determines what size pack you wear.

Determining the right pack between two close contenders is difficult without trying them out in person.

The best advice I can give is that you order them both, since they are both ULA packs. You'll need to pay a little extra postage to send one of them back, but $10 or so to ensure you get the right pack is a small price to pay.

Once you have both packs in front of you, and can fill them up and try them on, the choice will likely become pretty obvious. Short of doing that you are just "guessing" as to the best one for you. You might get lucky, but why not make certain. If you find a pack that is just right for you you'll keep it a long time and it will be a few extra $ well spent.

Anyway that's my 2c. I had a similar problem trying to work out whether the Circuit was an appropriate size for me. Unfortunately I'm in Australia so ordering two packs wasn't such a good option. I've now got an Exos 46 on the way. If it doesn't work out I have at least got a good deal on it and should be able to resell without losing too much. But if I lived in the USA I would have got both the Exos and a Circuit and compared them directly.

I have both packs, and if I was forced to choose only one of the two, I'd go with the Circuit. Its more versatile, with the larger volume and ability to handle heavier loads.

Thanks for everyone's comments. I think in the end I will probably just end up ordering both and sending one back. Michael, could you comment on the compression system on the circuit when you are not carrying a full load?

In fairness I haven't done this very often, but on a couple of occasions I've used my Circuit for day hikes from a base camp. I'm typically carry lunch, snacks, water and raingear for me and the kids. The Circuit is certainly well under capacity and I've had no issues with it. I loosely stuff the rain gear to help take up the volume and use the compression straps to keep things reasonably tight. I've also used this for light overnighters where I was well under capacity and it carried great on those occasions.

For me the big choice between the Ohm and the Circuit was what pad do you use? I've converted almost exclusively to hammock camping and use an underquilt. When I go to the ground I use a BA IAC pad. Neither of these options likely work as well for padding or load transfer in the Ohm.

"But with the Ohm I worry I might not be able to fit all my gear + food/water for a 4-5 day trip. Also the hip belt on the Circuit looks much more comfortable."

Hi Chris,

I own both packs and can testify that the Circuit hip belt is definitely more comfortable, but there is a weight penalty.
I just returned from a 9 day trip in the Upper Kern/Great Western Divide region of the Sierra using the Ohm and am in the process of writing up trip and gear reviews. At this point I can tell you that you should be able to fit basic gear at 12# plus 4-5 days of food into the Ohm with little difficulty. I went in with a base weight of 13#(I still use a filter and love my ID Hot Socks), and 10 days of food at 1# 6 oz/day. It all fit, albeit a bit snugly. Including 4.25# of water on the initial section of the Shepherd Pass trail, I carried a maximum weight of just over 30#. The hip belt was uncomfortable, but tolerable and the pack had a tendency to sag a bit, but I was carrying 5# over its maximum design weight, so that was my problem, not the pack's. I would say that if you don't exceed 25# total weight, quite reasonable for a 4-5 day trip, you will do just fine with the Ohm. If you intend to stretch it out a bit, you might want to move up to the Circuit. Either way you can't go wrong. They're both great packs.

Hi Chris,

I bought both the ohm and the circuit from ULA and tested them both out. Here is what I posted in a past thread about my findings. Hope you find it helpful.

"
I have had an ohm and a circuit for about 2 weeks now. I have worn them around the house and taken them for a few trail hikes as I tried to determine which of them I would keep.

As for the basics. I have a 23.5-24" torso, I am 6'1" and weigh more than I should (260). I ordered a large Circuit with a large hipbelt and a large conduit with both hipbelt pockets.

Here are my observations. Obviously, your results may vary. Please note that this is the same feedback that I have sent to Casey at ULA. She was very helpful in getting me information and allowing me the freedom to order both and pick which one to keep.

Reasons I chose the Ohm:
-The compression on the Ohm seems to work VERY well, keeping the load from shifting internally. The compression on the Circuit is partially done through the rear bungie over the back mesh pocket. The Ohm compression is much simpler and doesn't get in the way of me accessing the rear pocket.
-The rear mesh stretch pocket on the Ohm works very well and keeps things from shifting around.
-I like the solid fabric side pockets on the Ohm. They seem to hold my water bottles in place better and would have less chance of catching on vegetation. I noticed on the Circuit that unless I cinched down hard on the bungie on the side pockets, the water bottles slipped out when I was bending over to tie shoes.
-I really like the simplicity of the draw string packbag closure on the Ohm. I have a homemade drybag style pack currently and I have gotten tired of the hassle. I certainly found the Circuit closure better than my homemade pack, but I still found myself far more excited about the simplicity of the Ohm. The drybag closure certainly helps stabilize the top load in the pack, but I found that the over the top strap on the Ohm helps greatly in keeping the load from shifting up there.
-The extra weight on the Circuit was well spent on the suspension. I put the same 30 pound load in both of them and was impressed with how well the Circuit handled the load. I had one issue with the Circuit hipbelt though, the stiffer foam backing on the hipbelt was bugging my hips. I figure that this would get better over time, but I was still concerned about it.
– The hipbelt pockets on the Circuit work very well and are far easier to access than the Ohms. Since the Ohm's hipbelt pockets are not stitched onto the hipbelt and are placed farther back, it seems to take two hands to unzip the pocket, unlike the one handed operation on the Circuit. I may end up only using the right hand side hipbelt pocket on the Ohm since I found it easier to get into for me than the left pocket.
-I definitely found the Ohm's hipbelt and load transfer to be less comfortable than the Circuit. But I also found the Ohm's hipbelt to be comfortable enough and adequate, even though the Circuit is far superior in this arena. The spartan hipbelt on the Ohm transfers less weight to the hips and more to the shoulders, but I figure that will be OK with me as I already go out for week long trips with less than 30 pounds. I continue to push and expect my week long 3-season starting weight to drop to 25 pounds this season.

If ULA made a slightly beefier hipbelt on the Ohm, I would not have pondered this decision so long, but in the end, the simplicity of the Ohm was far more important to me than the extra comfort I would get from the Circuit's suspension. Hopefully I will still feel this way after I put some miles on the pack.

I hope this helps anyone who is still pondering the two.
"

also, here is a link to a long thread that covered this subject.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=19894

I can’t comment on the Circuit, but I did give the Ohm a spin around my apt. for a couple weeks. This consisted of loading it up with my gear and wearing if for a couple hours a night (much to the chagrin of my girlfriend as I stood watching tv wearing a backpack).

I think the Circuit will be too big for your gear. If not immediately, then certainly when you get it dialed in. In the same way people will always spend right up to their level of income, backpackers will always find a way to fill the space in their packs, whether they need the gear or not. Go with the smaller pack, force yourself to make choices. The Ohm has plenty of space.

That said, I found the hipbelt of the Ohm to be not completely comfortable. The Circuit hipbelt looks like it would be much moreso.

So now I will be the person who answers the question, “Should I buy pack A or pack B?” why not consider pack C?

I ended up getting a Gossamer Gear Gorilla. Smaller volume than the Ohm, but still more than I need for a 4 day trip. Here’s my gear list for a 4 day trip last August. All this would have also fit comfortably in an Ohm as well.

I like the suspension of the Ohm better than that of the Gorilla. I felt it transfered the weight a bit better. However, the hip belt on the Gorilla more than made up for it. The Ohm belt just dug into my stomach passed where the wings ended.

Plenty of other people don’t seem to have this problem.

It seems the Circuit hip belt would not have this issue, but, it comes with a weight penatly and all that extra space. You could fill a lot of the volume using your sleeping bag though.

I went through the same debate as well. I ended up getting the ohm as I already have a larger pack that weighs about 3lbs.

I finished the JMT Sept. 5th and used the Ohm for this trip.

To give you an idea of the volume…

My packing system was a 30inch piece of 3/8 foam coiled inside the pack. My 15 degree down bag was stuffed into the pack with no stuff sack. Bearikade Weekender on top of the bag. Small Neoair folded and stuffed alongside the bearikade on one side, rain jacket stuffed down the other side. 10 liter Stuffsack with extra clothes on top of the bearikade along with cook-kit and a few other items. I still had some room in the extension collar with this gear. Base weight before camera gear was 13lbs.

I decided to bring my 3lb tripod last minute as well ;) Strapped it to one side under the compression system and kept my water on the other side.

My max load after re-supply was probably 35lbs which was a little much for the pack. I don't have much of a rear-end to hold the pack up so I did have to shift it up every so often to take some weight off my shoulders and adjust the hip belt and shoulder straps throughout the days until my food load lightened up. A patch of grippy fabric at the base of the backpanel would help for my body type.

The pack was very comfortable for the majority of the trip. I wouldn't say the strain on my shoulders was more than with other packs on long trips I have done. My shoulders may be less sensitive to this than others. I would say a max load of 30 lbs is right for this pack.

see below

Hi Chris,

I had a 2008 Circuit, size Medium with a small waistbelt. I have a 30 inch waist, and it was fine. I really liked the pack, but eventually sold it for a few reasons.

With a total weight of -20 lbs including food and water for four days, I could never fill the pack, and the weight wasn't beng distributed well for me. I found it difficult to use the compression straps to try manage the weight better.

Also, the medium pack was too big (I have a 18 inch back), but now they make a small for 2009, which would have been much better.

My gear has reduced with experience/ time, and now I use a 35 (+5) liter pack for my four/ five night trips above tree line (a Grivel, if you are interested).

Everything else about the pack is great, it is well made and handled the load well- but it was too big in volume with inefficient compression for my load, for me.

I tried allowing everything to loft, but found I was getting blown about too much on the ridgeline by the wind with such a high volume pack on my back (there's not much of me).

Mini Gear list: Rab Top Bag, Stephensons Warmlite DAM, Golite Shangri-La 3, canister stove, some extra clothes and not much else.

I would buy an Ohm, but am waiting to see if ULA will make it in a small size- they say there is a list of people who want one, so maybe next year.

I hope this helps a bit.

cheers,
fred

I have been using the ULA Circuit for almost 3 years now and have been very happy with it. on my last trip the Carbon loop seemed to let go and punched through the bottom of the pack and into my backside! I removed the carbon loop and put it in the front pocket for the rest of the trip without sacrifing how the pack carried. My friend has the same pack but newer version and his seems to have a bit of a better design. I haved used this pack for everything from simple summer overnighters to extended trips for 3 days and have never had an issues with comfort/fit/load balancing.

my only complaint in design is the front mesh pocket. It is very tight to the pack when its loaded and hard to fit some larger items into it.

Where you are planning on going out for a few days at a time I would highly recommend the Circuit. Great pack for the money.

addition to my last comment: i typically carry a base weight of 7-8 lbs and with food and water I end up around 15-18 lbs based on how many nights out. This pack load is great. I am considering going with something smaller since my gear has started to dwindle to minimalist levels so if you get the Ohm I would love to hear your thougts on it.

You probably do need to try them both on and see what you think. That's the only way to really know if one's more comfortable! In terms of volume, if your base weight were around 10 pounds I'd imagine the Ohm would be plenty big enough. I just returned from a 13 day trip with a pack that filled out to about 45 liters, vs. the 60 liters or so of the Ohm; my base weight is about 10 pounds. Depends a bit on individual gear, of course. But I'd think either pack would be more than adequate for 4-5 days.

Thanks for everyone's great insight. Does anyone with a 30-28 inch waist have experience with the medium size Ohm hipbelt? I have tried to get a reference point with the bags that I am using… My Atmos 50 is a small and says it holds 2800 Cubic inches. My girlfriends pack is a Gregory Jade 50 and holds around 3050 Cubic Inches. In both of the packs the curvature of the frames make packing a little more cumbersome. Its hard to get a good comparison when I can't find breakdowns of the main compartments/side pockets/ front pocket/ etc… on the Atmos or Gregory. I have found that I can probably fit 4 -5 days on the verge of comfort in the Jade 50. I will likely just order both. Now I am just concerned about size… like I said my torso (according to the two places I got it measured at) is 18-18.5. According to the website the medium is the accurate size for me. Can anyone contest that this information is accurate? Thanks everyone.

I have used both. I would agree with Brad – up to 25lbs, the Ohm will feel as good or better than the Circuit. At that weight, there is more than enough load transfer. Over about 25lbs, the Circuit will start to feel better primarily due to the wider belt until the low 30's at which the Circuit will start to sag a bit.

Torso size is definitely a medium…

I have used the Circuit on an overnight hike and found it compacted down well. Other features I like are the hip belt pockets, the shockcord on the back, the way the pack closes,* the tighteners on top of the outside pockets so that they close. The volume is only 300 cu in. greater than the Ohm, less than that of one side pocket.

*The collar can be rolled down as far as you want and then snapped closed with straps coming up from below.

I own the Ohm and the Catalyst.
The Ohm is very comfortable up to 25 lbs but not over.
The Catalyst takes over from there.

In the post just above Lapsley's, I referred to having used the Circuit. I used the Conduit, not the Circuit. So, my comments refer to the Conduit, size Medium.