2012 Golite Jam

The Peak is retired as well as the Pinnacle is too. They will have the Jam only in three different sizes, 35L, 50L, and 70L. The Odyssey, Pursuit, and Litespeed were also discontinued. The Quest remains in a new design with 40L, 60L, and 80L. As for when these will be available, I have no idea. GoLite dropped all of their dealers and are selling their products on their own. They had cancelled all of our preseason orders that were going out to us.

I didn't get to check out the sizing as the girlfriend and I were on the way to dinner. I just saw the multiple packs when I was passing by the tack in the store, so not sure about sizing.

None of the new products are up online yet. They seem to have new stuff trickling into the factory stores now though (i.e. here in Fort Collins).

Robert, the Golite employee I spoke with on Mon. said the new line would be online by the end of the month (Feb). Take it for what it's worth.

I hope the new 35 liter Jam has a better hipbelt than the Peak its replacing. I think it would have worked well but the hipbelt just didn't fit well. David C has a whole discussion of hipbelts on his blog.
If Golite will make a peak sized pack with a better hipbelt and longer extension caller I think it would be a winner.

Peak sized bag really doesn't require a hipbelt.

Good ole GoLite goin' heavy… at least they still carry descent umbrellas.

Here is a link to the new 35L Jam:

http://www.shoebuy.com/golite-jam-35l-pack-medium/497882/1048774

According to the link the new Jam 35 has the "wishbone" hipbelt. This will be a huge improvement on the current one. Its hard to tell but the extension colar looks better too.
I want a hipbelt with anyload over 10 pounds. I know some people disagree, but it just doesn't work for me. So a dumpy hipbelt is a major strike against a pack for me.

The wishbone belt sounds awfully similar to the belt on my 2011 peak, its configuration under the pockets looks like a sideways "Y".

I for one am quite content with the 2011 Jam. I picked it up for $75 which was a steal for a modest introduction into Frameless packs. It is perfectly comfortable carrying < 20 lbs that I carry for 2-3 day trips. For the previous poster about comparison to the Talon 44. I have both. The Talon 44 simply has too many straps/buckles for my liking but it is a very comfortable pack as well and has a larger volume than the 2011 Jam and so would probably be my choice for weights in the 20-30 lb range but frankly don't see myself ever carrying that much weight anymore.

The Peak had many flaws, but it filled a niche.

The 40L peak with the removeable hipbelt has its uses. I'm so far happy with mine as a traveling (hotel, flying) pack which I can then do a reasonable walk. I'd not use it as a multi-day loaded pack though, the Jam having a comfier hipbelt.

I bought a Peak in USA and took it to UK and merged my kit camping kit to find I was not sure it would be a comfortable BPL so I did bike tour instead and then in USA bought a Peak again as I think its a good traveling/daysack and bought a Jam which is my intended primary BPL. That means, I own a spare Peak, never used. If the Peak is discontinued then might a selling price increase? :))

Just got a large 50L 2012 Jam in the mail. 31 oz exactly. The most noticeable difference is a new hipbelt, quite a bit wider and just bigger than the 2011. Nice big pockets on it, too. Golite has certainly trimmed some weight elsewhere to further improve the harness and still keep the weight the same as last year.

Good cases can be made on either side for the utility of load lifters on a pack this size, but given that the large still has a true torso length (center of belt to strap attachments) of 18.5", the load lifters will make it fit longer torsos much better.

I expect removing middleman will be cancelled out by other cost pressures so Jam 2012 will be $150 + postage.

If they are really intelligent, they'd offer free return postage so folks can buy say 2 packs and return whichever they don't like, most items won't be returned and it just makes for a lower risk purchase for the buyer.

Dang…I love both my Jam and Pinnacle, 2007. Or 2008…not sure, they were the season before the hip belt pockets. Anyway, whenever these packs fall apart, I will look at MLD or ULA. I use them for travel, backpacking, canoeing, you name it.

Golite is having an identity crisis.

"Good cases can be made on either side for the utility of load lifters on a pack this size, but given that the large still has a true torso length (center of belt to strap attachments) of 18.5", the load lifters will make it fit longer torsos much better."

I don't see how. Load lifters must be attached to a frame – not a flimsy piece of foam to be effective.

I'll throw up some photos of the pack this evening.

The load lifters on the new Jam aren't even attached to the foam sheet. Just fabric. This has been the case with the Pinnacle since that pack was introduced.

Load lifters do the same job(s) with a totally frameless pack as they do with a burly internal frame. Obviously in the former case they (along with all the other suspension components) rely on good packing to function to their potential.

In any case, the Jam has been at the top of the heap w/r/t frameless pack load carrying for quite some time. It will be interesting to see if the load lifters and (more especially) new hipbelt increase that ability yet again. Or if the potential of the enclosed framesheet (the 2012 feels identical to the 2011) is already maxed out.

I'm very interested in this pack David, awaiting your impressions. My beloved original Jam is starting to show signs of wear after 4 years of regular use…A shoulder strap is beginning to tear from the body and there's an abrasion hole starting on a bottom corner.

I might be interested in this as a replacement. A little more capacity/weight handling ability wouldn't be a bad thing.

Oh no, the load lifters will not do the same thing. What they do on a frameless pack is simply bring the pack close to the upper back as you are only pulling on fabric. If attached to a frame / stays, you are able to increase the load transfer to the hips.

I think the biggest issue with the Jam is the weight. The HMG packs are lighter, just as robust, and carry better. The new Granite Gear Crown apparently weighs 2lb, 2oz and has a framesheet, not to mention some other goodies not present on the Jam.

I agree with David here – Why not just go with a granite gear crown? It is comparable in weight with the framesheet in and lighter without.

I love Golite's stuff, don't get me wrong, but just don't see the point of all the weight increases. They might as well add a frame.

I like the look of the Crown but I serious doubt it will have the durablity of the Jam.

I'd encourage everyone to go back and read Will's data from the frameless SOTMR. Just because a pack has a "frame" does not mean it carries weight better (assuming both fit without complication) than one without.

Pure conjecture; nothing to back it up.

"I'd encourage everyone to go back and read Will's data from the frameless SOTMR. Just because a pack has a "frame" does not mean it carries weight better (assuming both fit without complication) than one without."

I've read Will's SOTMR many times, but since the granite gear Crown wasn't available it is obviously a moot point. Most of the "framed" packs tested aren't representative of the crown either. Just because the Jam carried as well as some UL "framed" packs does not mean it carries as well as the GG pack or other packs not tested, nor that it does for every situation (carrying a bear canister for example).

I understand that as UL backpackers we're generally evangelists of frameless packs, but why go through all the muss and fuss of having to carefully pack a frameless pack when a lightweight framed pack provides the same carrying comfort without the headache?

"Pure conjecture; nothing to back it up"

Actually David I'm pretty sure the stats said the body of the pack was made of "70 denier cordora(spelling?) which would be pretty light. Looks like a nice pack so I hope I'm wrong.

@Luke: from GG's website, it looks like 100D Ripstop for the packbag, and 210D Cordura for the bottom and reinforced areas.

here is the pricing for the new Golite packs from the golite direct stores

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/2323/img20120220172114.jpg

$89 for the Jam 35
$99 for the Jam 50
$109 for the Jam 70

this is at the Golite direct store in fort collins.