Six Moon Designs Essence Feedback

Drew,

Check out PJ’s reader review and follow the link near the bottom to a thread with more info.

Robert

I’ve used the Essence for 4 overnighters in the Sierra on snow in the last month, and I love it. It is comfortable, convenient, and versatile. The hip belt pockets are wonderful. The pack has swallowed suprising amounts of gear as I tested different combinations of tent or bivy, one or two pads, and up to two mummys for testing. I made the back cord longer for holding either a large pad or snowshoes. Snowclaw fits beautifully under the back flap. Only real irritation so far is the usual issue of getting into the top pocket when the pack is on the ground in camp with the strap side on the ground, so I will add an additional zipper to the back of the pocket soon.
Great pack!

I used the Essence for 5 nights this spring in the NC mountains. I was very happy with it. I use a full length 20″x70″ 2″ thick pad, which isn’t ultralight, but fit well in the pack and was very comfy as a pack frame. Frankly I wish the Essence was a little bigger, so I could fit more puffies into it, but with a little study I had no problem with 13lbs base weight, 5lbs food, and on occasion 6lbs of water – 23 pounds max weight I carried up to dry ridge camps. I found it very comfortable, I did add my own sternum strap. With my pad I could get a majority of weight on my hips when I wanted for a break. The waist pockets are great, I put my heaviest gear there. I think they could be bigger. My lunar solo fit along with a liter soda bottle in the large mesh pocket. With study and practice a lot of little things fit into the top pocket, but I agree with above that a zip on the back would be better. I couldn’t really reach the front zip while hiking.
I give it two thumbs up. The weight savings from a 13oz pack was a revelation.

Drew, my pad above is inflatable. The inflation valve fits neatly through the hydration port so you could inflate the pad for more stiffness after packing if you wanted.

I produce rivers of back sweat when backpacking and as a result have stuck to packs with some sort of moisture management fabric on the back panel. For those of you who have used the Essence pack – how does the back panel manage sweat? Does the fabric help or hinder (SBS) Sweaty Back Syndrome?

The fabric doesn’t help with sweat dissipation. When I wore an old Duofold polyprolylene shirt the back got wet. With a Capilene Silkweight, though, it wasn’t too bad.