Hi. I’m looking for a day hiking style (around 30-40 Liter) panel loader that has excellent weight transfer to hips, so that very little to none of the weight is on the shoulders. I will use this pack in a little over 2 months when I will lead a month long 8th grade trip that will involve a combination of city touring and day hikes. A panel loader is very helpful, so that I can more easily keep things easily accessible and organized. I’ll usually be carrying 15-25 pounds 6-8 hours a day. It needs to be long enough to have the hip belt at my hips (I’m 6″2 with a 20 inch torso).
In the past, I have used on this trip what is essentially a school bag with no problem (an REI one) that has a hip belt, but the weight transfer is pretty meaningless probably partially b/c of the torso size has the “hip belt” at my belly button. I want to avoid putting too much weight on my shoulders since in a kayaking accident I recently messed up my rotator cuff (tendonitis, inflamed muscles, possible partial tear of muscle) and the Orthopedist has recommended 6 more weeks of physical therapy and I’ve already done 3 weeks.
I’ll usually be carrying things like a large First Aid Kit, kids’ daily medicines, papers, 3 liter of water, extra layers, and sometimes sports equipment or gear for activities etc.
At this point, the closest thing that I’ve found is the Osprey Kestrel 32 and Stratos 34. They both seem to have some sort of a frame or backpanel that would hopefully lead to meaningful weight transfer to the hip belt. <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Does anyone have experience with these bags or do people have better ideas?</span> If I have to abandon the feature of panel loading for real weight transfer to hips, I will do this,
