Will my gear fit in the Golite Ion?

I think the Ion is too small for all that gear, unless you strap stuff to the outside, but the Ion has no straps.

I can only use my ion for day hikes or very minimal summer one nighters, no kitchen gear and very little food.

I'd guess you want something a little bigger.

Andy, my partner and I backpack all the time with her Ion and my old TNF pack. You won't get that lot in an Ion. I think you need around 30L and a mesh outside pocket for that kit plus food and water.

You should be fine with a Burn. You can fit a lot of stuff in it especially using the extension collar. Here's a photo of my Burn from a recent weekend trip on North Manitou. It is jammed but that is all the food for my wife and I plus a gear list very similar to the one you posted. I was also being lazy and it isn't packed very well.

I use the Golite ION and have a similar gear list. I use a tarp and a bivy instead of the shelter and ground cloth but I don't think that would amount to too much space difference.

I don't use an inflatable air pad. Instead I use a cut-down closed cell foam pad and roll it inside the pack. Then I stuff everything inside of it.

My guess is it will fit but you may need to strap water bottles to the front straps, which works very well. I typically use a 1.8L platypus and lay it on the top of everything else and zip the pack closed.

Because there are no outside pockets you need to be mindful of how you pack each morning. Snacks, meals, cooking gear, and rain coat need to be close to the top of the pack. I cut off the hip belt and don't use the sternum strap so getting the pack on and off is very fast. I thought I would miss outside pockets but I don't. I think you could definitely get your gear in a BURN. Good luck!

To get a basic idea of the amount of cubic inches of volume you'll need, lay everything you would normally take with you on the floor. Everything that you would pack in a stuff sack, put it in one. Now, push the pile as compact as possible into a cube or rectangular prism. Take a tape measure and measure height, width,and depth. Multiply. Now you have a conservative number with which to know if your stuff would fit in a pack. It is conservative because your stuff on the floor isn't actually compressed like it would be in a pack, but that's good so that you don't buy too little space.

Another way to do it is to wrap it up like a burrito in a sleeping pad and then compress it with cord or a belt. Then just measure dimensions and multiply again.

Hope that helps!

-Evan

You'll be able to fit that into a Burn for sure. And if push came to shove and you had to stretch it with food for 5 days, you can always put your tent in the side pocket.

The Burn with extension collar is really tall.

I assume the Shangr-la is way smaller than a Tarptent DB. I have the same BA IAC, EB downlight jacket, rainjacket, pants, thermals etc, a snowpeak 1400 and a Katabatic quilt in the pic below (it's the same size as your Summerlite). BTW how do you like the WM bag?

w/3-4 days food, 3.5 litres of water, maps, and a bunch of other stuff that I probably didn't need (I was actually convinced to bring flip flops, what was I thinking). I could have fit the tent inside but it would have been a chore:

Also, you probably know this, but I use a 3 L platy, fill it to about 2-2.5 L, squeeze all the air out, cap on, and fold it in half to fit inside the top of my Burn. Works well.

If you have an ion, why don't you just sew some pockets (like the burn) onto it? I think you can get the mesh from Thru-hiker. They're super handy, then everything should fit for a weekend.

The Burn is a lot pricier though. If you added the outside pockets and used the trash compactor bag packing method, it might work in an ion, but everything would be compressed to hell. You might want to look at ZPacks too… not any cheaper or shorter wait time, but lighter and Joe is super nice.

I do not think it will fit unless you modify it.
Which is what I did and it barely fits.
As you can see I replaced the lid with a roll top and added Lycra for carrying water.

I just packed everything in my Jam2 and unfortuntally I think you guys are right, its not going to fit. I have the large Jam2 and with the expansion collar rolled all the way down, I think I have an extra 200-300 cubic inches to spare. Now my next question…What is the capacity of the Jam2 with the expansion collar all the way in the smallest position? The compactor clips on the bottom are also open to the large size. I am guessing I need a pack around 2,500 cubic inches. I don't really want to have to use the expansion collar. Any reccomnedations?

Zpacks Blast 26 for uber-light (though it's Cuben). Gossamer Gear miniposa or gorilla but it's not that much smaller than your jam2. ULA CDT.

Why wouldn't you want to use the extension collar?

I think I had the same thought at first when I bought the Burn, but it's not a problem at all. Quite a nice design and super svelte. One thing though, with pack design, make sure the top strap doesn't buckle over the front mesh pocket. That would be a pain.

One thing I might add about a smaller pack. If you had to carry significant amounts of water, or food for anything over 4+ days, I could do it in my Burn but it'd be a stretch.. for me. I personally would like to take a look at the ULA Ohm for winter, desert or extended fishing trips, but then you have the Jam2.

Not going to be lighter than some of your other mom and pop gear shop packs, but the peak is the smaller version of the jam. Stripped down you should be able to get it under a pound and a half. Also you can find them pretty cheap. I saw one on ebay for $69.

even w/ my modified Ion it would be very, very close, unmodified- I don’t think so

you can fit a fair amount of gear though w/ the diminutive Ion- this is my typical load-out (minus food/water)- I’ve done up to four days with it

i wouldnt worry about it unless you REALLY want to push the boundaries of UL

if the jam is comfortable and works … just use it and the compression straps

i mean 300 cu in is like 5 L … thats just space for spare food and water for the longer trips

course if ya got some moola burning a hole in yr pocket ;)

I agree with Eric. If the Jam works, stick with it. I used to stuff my overnighters into a 30L, but it always took careful packing prior to the trip, and I never seemed to be able to pack it the right way the morning after when I was in a hurry to break camp. Since then, I've just thrown everything into my Jam, and not have to worry about precision packing. If I were you, I'd get a smaller pack like an ion or burn with the mindset that it will be used as a small daypack. Perhaps your gear will get lighter/smaller to the point where you can pull off trips with it..that would be a great bonus.

if you want more info on the Ion, this a great thread put together w/ a bunch of links on the Ion

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=37578&skip_to_post=318508#318508