ZPacks Blast help

zpac

This is a detachable padded cuben hipbelt for use with a Zero (large). It feels comfortable and carries well w/ under 20lbs. It's made of 0.48oz cuben with strips of 0.61oz for reinforcement. The padding is 3/8" ccf, the same stuff that is used on the shoulder straps only white.

Good luck in choosing your new pack.

Andrew,

You did an excellent job with the detachable padded belt. Kudos. It looks awesome.

I got my Zpacks Zero med + options today. My first impression is really favorable. I'm not sure why (maybe it's the low prices), but I didn't think Zpacks made gear this nice. It's extremely well sewn and well reinforced with clever design touches everywhere.

The weight of this pack came in a 4.96oz (4.5oz was the estimated weight at Zpacks.com). This pack is a charmingly small size in the same vein as the MLD Burn and GoLite Ion. With winter here, I'm not sure I'll be able to use a pack this small very often until spring hits. It will make a fine summit pack for winter mountaineering trips.

The only nitpick that I've noticed so far is that the closure system for the main pack limits ingress/egress into the center pocket. To add or remove anything of reasonable size, you need to undo the closure for the main bag. This kinda dampens one of the main advantages of this pocket (convenience) but I guess it does add a little security to the pockets contents. It's possible I'll be able to come up with a work-around.

Regarding the size of this pack, the size Medium is probably right for hikers looking for 2-3 season pack for 1-3 nights who:

1) Use a relatively compact down quilt/sleeping bag (ie. 30F rated 800fp)
2) Use a tarp or compact single wall shelter
3) Use a small (sub 1 liter) pot

If you resemble the above criteria and the rest of your gearlist is generally compact and in accordance with UL techniques, then the medium is probably a good fit for you for 1-3 night trips. If you don't meet one of the above criteria then you'll likely want to opt for the size large which is quite a bit bigger (2000ci vs. 1400ci). The size small could work for some SUL'ers with extremely compact gearlists, but I think even in that situation I'd opt for the medium to have a little more room to either carry more food or clothes. Right now I could probably do 2-3 nights of summer hiking in this pack, but only 1 night of spring/fall camping where I need to bring some extra clothes.

Zpacks Zero Medium with ski boots for scale:

I'm diggin the Olive Drab color…nice and stealthy:

Detail Shot of shoulder strap attachment. A second layer of thick cuben is sewn to the inside and then the shoulder straps are sewn thru both layers:

Quite a compact pack. I'm 5'11":

Yes that is a 50" TV:

Dan,

Thanks for sharing the pictures and the description of your pack. I never imagined the olive color would be attractive. but it's a very nice color. I like it enough to rethink my order from the leaf green to the olive color.

I like that size too.

Dan, that olive drab looks great. I was wondering about how that color would turn out. . . and the medium seems perfect for a 3 day weekend trip. Very nice. Thanx for posting the photos, much appreciated.

W wiwb, I'm glad you like the detachable hipbelt. With all of this input you've got lots to consider.

btw, just wondering what that long clear cylinder is in the side pocket? (an ul didgeridoo?)

sweet aquarium! Looks like you have an algae bloom going on though.

Haha sorry, I love the pack man…thanks for the thorough rundown.

Before all this UL backpacking stuff, I was a huge planted-tank fan. Like 60 gallon, co2/fertilizer injected, more plants than fish type deal

The 'long clear cylinder' is my 4 piece UL fishing rod in it's case (florescent lighting tube).

Yeah the algae seem to love my tank….and I should clean it more often. It's definitely due for one. About 2 years ago I went to the aquarium and thought it was super cool so the next day my wife and I grabbed a tank. Needless to say, the enthusiasm waned a bit. I'll probably just post up for free on Craigslist one day.

Regarding color, yeah personally I like olive drab cuben over leaf green. It's a more subtle, natural color. I've got some leaf green stuff and it's a nice color too, but I find it a bit bright and intense for larger items. It's better in smaller doses (ie. stuff sacks). I like either color better than white. If some side-by-side pics of leaf green and olive drab would help then let me know.

So, according to Joe, the medium Zero is a Blast 20 sans pockets. When you added the pockets back, you essentially recreated the Blast 20 (likely sans a few options). What else did you add?

"If some side-by-side pics of leaf green and olive drab would help then let me know."

I would appreciate it. Even though lighting, monitors, and all that throw it off, it would be interesting to see a side-by-side shot.

If you can, Thanks.

"When you added the pockets back, you essentially recreated the Blast 20 (likely sans a few options). What else did you add?"

In addition to the size medium Zero pack, I added:
– Two side water bottle pockets
– 1" x 40" non-padded hipbelt
– Mesh Center Pocket

The goal here was simplicity & lightweight, while maintaining enough functionality. I wasn't comfortable going all the way to a simple sack like the plain Zero or a Golite Ion.

The cost was $130 and it weighs 4.96oz. The Blast 20 is more expensive ($175) and heavier (6.8oz) because it includes a lot more features:
– Padded hipbelt
– Haul Loop
– Daisy Chains
– Sternum Strap
– 20 Attachment Points (for shockcord etc)
– Top Strap
– Upper side strap

I'm happy to have foregone most of these features for the sake of simplicity (and lightweight). The only ones I might miss are the sternum strap (depending on how it carries) and the upper side straps (good for securing tall items in the side pockets like my fishing rod, hiking poles etc. Both of these features could have been added to the Zero for 0.3oz and $8-9 each.

Here's two pictures showing black (1.2oz), olive drab (1.5oz), leaf green (0.51oz & 1.5oz) and white (0.74oz) cuben. In the first picture, the two examples of leaf green look fairly different because the sack is quite used (crinkled/creased) and the other stuff is brand new (shiny). As cuben gets used it gets more creases in it and it becomes duller. In the second picture I didn't use a flash so the two leaf greens look more similar. I think the colors in the second photo are more accurate to real life.

Joe has 1.2oz black cuben in stock and that would make a great backpack choice also. It would be a smidge lighter while still quite durable.

When evaluating which size to select the weight, and cost, of a pack will typically play a role in that decision. Oddly enough, the difference in weight, and price, between a Blast 20 vs. Blast 26 is negligible.

My question is this. If the Blast 26 is too large for a typical day hike, can it easily be rolled up (and tucked in?) to eliminate the excess space? If so, there's no reason I can think of not to err on the side of extra volume. If, however, the Blast 26 can not be compressed easily then that could be an important factor.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I might be mistaken but it seems as though some of the sizes mentioned in this post aren't in accordance with the zpacks website.

For instance W wiwb, you mention that the Blast 20 is 1400 cubic inches and the Blast 26 is 2000, while on the website it says the Blast 20 is 2000 and the 26 is 2600.

Also, Dan Durston, you refer to the medium zero as being 1400 and the large as being 2000, where as now the small is listed as 1400, the medium is 2000, and the large is 2600.

I'm thinking perhaps Joe has since changed the sizing or something, but I'm trying to figure out what size I want to get, and I really like using all the pictures you guys have provided for reference. I am in the ultralight range, but nowhere near super ultralight. Even so, it seems as though my hammock, underquilt, topquilt and nano puff barely take up more than a third of my Exos 34. I'm thinking a 2600ci bag would be overkill for most trips I do, but it's a tough call between the other two sizes mentioned.

Anyways, any insight into whether there has been a change and what sizes are shown in the pictures would be really appreciated! Thanks!

Good question. It took me a while to figure it out but it seems Zpacks has changed their sizes, or more actually they changed the names of the sizes. It seems that instead of going from small to XL, it now goes from XS to large.

I looked up my paypal receipt and it says that I ordered a medium that is 1500ci. I think that 1500ci is a slight typo and it should say 1400ci, since that is what a Blast 20 is without the pockets and because that is the number is wrote previously. In any case, it's not 2000ci. I also measured my pack and it seems more in line with the new 'small' size than the new 'medium'. So to be clear, my pack is likely 1400ci. It might be 1500ci but it's not 2000ci. This was called the medium and now it's called a small.

That's a huge help! Your photos were the ones I was most concerned about as well, as that seems like an optimal size, at least in regards to fit. Thanks again!

Finally pulled the trigger and ordered a Blast 26 in olive drab. I kept vascillating between a Zero with a detachable belt or a Blast with a padded one. In the end, I decided that a small Zero, with few add-ons, could also be in my future.

Two shoulder pouches were also ordered to use for water and help counterbalance the weight carried in the pack.

I want to thank everyone who posted on this thread for your thoughtful and insightful help. It was an enormous help.

I'll post a picture of it here when it arrives.

Nice…you're going to like this pack.

I will say with regards to my Zero, that I do wish that it had a sternum strap. The pack bag of my Zero has a fairly narrow width to it which is nice, but this also means that the shoulder straps are sewn quite close together to the pack bag. So my shoulders are much further apart than where the shoulder straps are sewn to the pack. This means that when the pack is worn, the shoulder straps are angling out and they naturally want to slip off my shoulders. This is less pronounced with a full load, but it would still seem much more secure with a sternum strap. I'm either going to whip up something myself, or send it in to Zpacks to get one added.