Hyperlite Mountain Gear Inc.

Nice stuff you have on your site. I really like that Echo 1 shelter system.

Nice looking pack. Reasonably priced too (for cuben…)

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the feedback. Its been a long road of building samples and prototypes and conducting lots and lots of field testing from the summits of the white mountains to the beaches of Maine during several nor'easter to get to this point. Not to mention the dozen guys on the Pct and At who are carrying our packs and shelters. Hats of to them.

Thanks for checking us out.

I love the modular shelter systems. Pricing seems a bit on the high side based on other cuben shelters but if you start offering colors I may be out a large chunk of change anyway.

Just noticed the link on your homepage to your pack is bad. :-)

I like the backpack as well. It looks promising. Do you have a picture of the stays?

Chris,
thanks for the link heads up. its fixed now. If i were to do a color what color would you like to see.

Jeffrey, Here is a picture of the stays. They are 1" wide and 1/4" thick. We are debating on going with aluminum stays that are 1/2" wide and a half oz lighter. There are large minimums on the stays so it is something we want to test first before we commit to changing over.

I've gone quite fond of the leafy green. It's stealthy during Summer, easy to locate in snow, and cheery during storms.

Very very nice products…..not to be a pain in the rear. Pics in color would be nice. Just a small thing. Hey your products look fantastic!!! Nice web design too!! Good luck!

Hey Chris,

I will talk to Chris at Cubic and see what we can do. We spent a lot of time going back in forth working on developing the fabric for the pack and we are continuing to work with them to develop fabrics. He is however on vacation for the week. One issue i could see is the floor material for the insert. We use a thicker version than the Ct2k08 for our floors. Would a black or white floor, which we have in stock be ok.

ken,

thanks for checking us out. As far as the pictures, we had to push hard to get the product line and website up and running for not to miss the summer season. Keep checking in, things are always changing.

Hi Mike,

Floor color is less important. If I had to choose, I'd go with black. Shows less dirt. :-) Also, if it matters, I'm personally more interested in the Echo 2. It's actually very similar to my current duo tarp/bug combo but more modular and the cuben would pitch a lot tauter. Oh how I love a taut pitch.

-chris

Looks like some very interesting gear.

Hmmmmmmmm………

Very nice shelters, Mike. Something to be proud of indeed! Without doing hours of research, the designs appear to have some unique characteristics. Plus, they're uber-light.

Wish I had an extra (large) lump of cash. I'd be trying out the Echo 1 or 2.

Doug, if you need a place to divert some of your gear, just give a holler!

Travis, Part of the beauty of the system is that you can piece it together. All our tarps are built the same way, therefore you can purchase a tarp and when you get a little more cash you can get the Beak to create an awesome 12oz shelter. Need a little more protection, then add the Insert.

A couple questions on the ECHO II. I see how the Beak protects the front opening on the tarp, but how is the rear opening protected? It almost looks like the back on the net tent is Cuben, but the white Cuben with white background does not give a lot of contrast.

Does the weight of the ECHO II include the required stakes? If not, how much does that add?

Thanks for the info.

Very nice gear. Both the shelters and the pack. The pack is making me look twice…

One niggle… it really would be nice to have much bigger images. I want to see the full effect of the materials and design. Things like pictures of stitching would be nice, too. Knowing the stitching is good inspires confidence.

Miguel,

I'd be happy to supply you with any kind of pictures you would like. Just let me know

Brian,

Yes, the back panel of the Insert is made out of Cuben Fiber. If you are only using the Tarp and Beak there is enough room to sleep closer to the front and keep your feet protected. Like camping with any tarp choosing your campsite wisely is hugely important.

HMG does offer a couple of stake packages you can check out on the website under Poles and Stakes. Our lightest is 144 grams (3.92 oz.) per set of 12. We do recommend using the 9" spikes. They give you the most versatility depending on ground conditions.

As far as the contrast of the pictures, we are going to update them to more of a field shot. We live and we learn.

Great campsites are always found, never made

Very nice Pack, i almost placed an order.
But i am living in Hong Kong, the cheapest shipping costs to Hong Kong is $82.97 by UPS!!!

Can you provide some other cheaper shipping methods?

Vincent

The best way to ship overseas is via USPS (the U.S. Postal Service). Much cheaper! UPS is just plain, all out ridiculous.

Lau Chi Man Vincent,

Looks like Priority Mail International through the USPS is $33.75

Very nice gear. I like the thinking behind your line of shelters.

Other than waterproofness (which is a big plus), is there a reason to prefer a nylon/cuben sandwich over using one layer of (presumably thicker) nylon? I'm just mulling over how your pack compares to existing UL framed packs like the GossamerGear Gorilla & ULA Ohm. The big difference seems to be the material, as weight, volume and features are all pretty comparable.

BTW, the Gossamer Gear LT4 (3.5oz ea) and TiGoat poles (3.4oz ea) are the lightest trekking poles available AFAIK rather than the Komperdell poles (6.9oz ea).

Hey Dan,

"Is there a reason to prefer a nylon/cuben sandwich over using one layer of (presumably thicker) nylon?"

Let me start out by saying we have tested and talked to a lot of people who have been using ultralight packs and the biggest issue that most of these packs have is that they fall apart either at the shoulder pad seam or at the hip belt seam or the fabrics are just to light for any kind of long term use. HMG loves a challenge, it's one of the reasons we do what we do in the outdoors. Given that, we set out to make the lightest most durable ultralight pack available. We built a ton of packs out of all kinds of materials and did everything we could to bring them to the point of failure. Once we know something failed we can start reinforcing, look at it again and reinforce some more if necessary. This is where the cuben comes in. The spectra fibers in the fabrics we use really add a tremendous amount of strength with out all the weight. We have tried making packs out of regular old cuben fiber but the weights of cuben needed to make a durable pack makes the pack very stiff and boardy, not to mention a little unsightly in my eyes. So what we have done was to use a lighter weight cuben fiber along with a light weight nylon to make a super strong fabric that is supple enough as well as strong enough to hold up to what ever you can throw at it. Not to mention the layer of Cuben makes the fabric truly 100% waterproof which was a real advantage in our eyes and I have always disliked carrying a pack cover. Now for the nylon, it is soft while still adding a great protective barrier to the cuben as well as decreasing the potential for perforation or the postage stamp syndrome as we like to call it, which is what happens to cuben fiber when you throw a whole bunch of needle holes in one spot, ie bartacking.

There is a large learning curve and expense when working with these new laminates and composites and the team at HMG is on the forefront of developing the processes and techniques to manufacturing and working with these high tech products.

When we first started looking into the world of packs we were looking into using a pure woven spectra fabric for its strength and low weight. However, at a price of $50-75 per yard it was just too expensive, still only comes in white and isn't waterproof. This woven/cuben hybrid isn't really new, its been around for a few years we were just persistent and patience, and worked with the manufacturer to create a hybrid that is not only strong, light weight and waterproof but soft enough to make a pack out of and we can get this hybrid in colors, as you will see in in the next pack we launch. Given the cost of some of these materials, we want our products to last. There are reasons why 1000denier nylon packs are still around after 20 or 30 years of use, but there are also reasons why these materials are being used less and less in the pack industry; they are just down right too heavy. We feel that given the technology of today and what we know from the past we should be able to build a pack that is the best of both worlds, light, durable, waterproof, and supple. Try it out….we really believe you'll like it!

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your explain for the fabric you uses.

When will you launch your next pack? I really dont like the pack in white color. And may i know what colors will you have?

Vincent