Out-of-the-box thinking – Has Anyone Seen the Kelty PK 50 Packs?

I saw them at REI, played with them there at the store, watched the backcountry.com's video review of them.

Seems ok.

Semi modular / compartmentalized into different sections.

My only concern is it'll work with all their "trail logic" branded items. but how well would it integrate into a current system

a square tent bag and square air mattress bag work well with the pack, but i roll up my tent and pad, not quite sure how that would work.

Interesting indeed though.

Pretty nifty! I just watched this video, it gives a pretty nice overview. I bet it would work fine with non-square items, and a lot of my stuff could easily be repackaged into a square format. That might not be a bad idea even for standard packs. Squares pack a lot more efficiently than cylinders.

I like it a lot. From the video, my assumption is that everything is waterproof. "We got rid of all the zippers because that is where water gets in."

It definitely feels like having no zippers is a marketing thing; no reason not to have them on the hipbelt and the inside lid pocket. But whatever- on the "clothing cube" and the top + bottom, a roll-top closure is clean and fresh. I like it a LOT, especially the continuous compartment through the entire bag.

More marketing; a mesh tent bag does not dry a tent. You still need to hang it. Nice try, Kelty!

I'm feeling schizophrenic. I'm slightly angered by some of the marketing ploys they're using here BUT, I think this pack is super clean, super smart, and reasonably priced. I liked their stargazer tent a few months ago, and I like this too.

I like it in general also. It's a little heavy, but not bad considering what it is. I like the large "clothing" bag that you can take with you in the tent. I like the place to store your tent. I agree that not having zippers on the hip belt pockets is silly marketing hype, but otherwise it's nice.

I've never seen or used one in person, but it at least seems like an over-engineered gimmick. Really a solution searching for a problem, IMO. That's a lot of pack weight for the actual useable space you get. And all your food has to be right up against your back, which could potentially spell trouble with any hard sided containers, hard food items, etc. poking you.

Also, unless the whole thing is seam sealed and waterproof, then the separate roll top compartment things are a total waste. You'd have to waterproof each one of those individually with a separate liner (certainly the sleeping bag and the clothing compartments would need this at the very least).

Nice to see a company trying something new, but I'm just not seeing anything compelling here.

I'll pass.

I agree that some of it is too gimmicky (or "marketing"), but what intrigued me about this was that it gave me a different perspective on how someone might build a different type of backpack. Most manufacturers use the standard "main compartment + pockets mounted on the main body/hipbelt" model, and this is a whole different idea.

Yes, others have done "new takes" on backpacks with UL external frames + separate packbags that can be swapped out, but those are very expensive, and I'm not sure I want to drop over half a grand on a pack that I've never tried…

The reason I posted this was that — for the first time — I saw a new product and thought: wow, this may not be quite right as they made it, but it sure gives me some interesting ideas if I ever get the courage to make a MYOG pack!

"unless the whole thing is seam sealed and waterproof, then the separate roll top compartment things are a total waste. You'd have to waterproof each one of those individually with a separate liner"

IF, my friends, if.

It may be waterproof; I don't know. If it is, well, that's neat.

I kinda dig it. Nice to see some evolution in pack design and organization. Now if they they just made it out of Cuben Fiber…

A link would be nice

Kelty PK50

I suspect that PK is an abbreviation for Petaurillus kinlochii.

Malaysian Flying Squirrel?

I like it – seems well thought out and practical. However, I, too, question how comfortable it would be to store the cook kit and food right up against one's back.

Still, nothing like a spiffy new thingamjigger to make my perfectly adequate thingamajigger seem so outdated.

Valerie,
I read your last post and thought about this pack a little more, and I'm now reconsidering a few things…

While I still have no interest in this particular pack due to all the reasons I mentioned above, I might have jumped the gun a little bit in saying that it is a solution looking for a problem.

As I see it now, the problem is one that I run into every trip I'm out– accessibility to the right gear at the right time without having to unpack and repack your stuff over and over again.

I think this little Kelty pack is at least trying to address this problem in a different way than has been done before, and for that, I commend it.

I like the idea of separating gear with the use of vertical columns of fabric instead of the usual "horizontal logs" of gear stacked on top of one another.

I find that I still don't quite love the way I have to pack food (usually right on top of my sleeping bag and clothes (which are contained in a waterproof liner sack. The weight of the food is a little higher than I like it, and if I need to access any of my packed clothes during the day (especially for warmth) I have to take the food out. It's not ideal.

Forgetting this Kelty pack for a second, it would be interesting to see a pack where one could easily pack a sleeping bag loosely stuffed with clothes on top of it in a vertically separated partition right next to the back (adding to the padding of the back panel). Then food could be stored in the outer vertical partition, with lunch food right on top for easy access during the day. I'd then want one small internal pocket for valuables (wallet, phone, etc…) and rarely used small items (first-aid, repair kit, etc…) and toiletries.

Everything else could be stored in dedicated pockets on the outside of the pack with a similar layout to the Gossamer Gear Mariposa (tent/tarp + stakes in outside mesh back pocket, water bottles in lower side pockets, cook kit in upper side pocket, umbrella + tent poles + miscellaneous items in long side pocket, small and frequently used personal items in hipbelt pockets.

The entire pack could be hung at night without having to unpack the food each day (I'd bring a plastic cover from the drycleaners to draper over the pack at night so the padding wouldn't get soaked if it rained)

This kind of setup would rock in my opinion, at least in terms of accessibility. It would be interesting to see how the pack loading would go and how the weight distribution would feel. I don't know if it would work well, but it at least sounds good on paper.

this seems to be more of a rethinking of stuff sacks than a rethinking of a pack.

Then again, maybe it's just an external frame with some funny attachment points and funky square pockets–this is Kelty after all.

I'm Rethinking thinking about this.

Yeah, that's what caught my attention — that by seeing Kelty take a more radical approach to a backpack, it started my OWN creative processes working!

It sounds like Derek is now on this creative path with me, LOL!

I'm liking the flat-against-the-spine sleeping bag pocket idea. If that could be removed easily, it could come in the tent/tarp with you (same principal as Kelty espoused).

Now imagine more improvements, and the whole thing made of cuben hybrid… :^D

When will I get the courage to design my own pack — it just seems so impossibly scary and complicated — even more so I if used one of these radical designs…

I'm liking the flat-against-the-spine sleeping bag pocket idea. If that could be removed easily, it could come in the tent/tarp with you (same principal as Kelty espoused).

For me, the only things that really need to be waterproofed in my pack are my sleeping bag and my clothes. If you made a dedicated waterproof roll-top stuff sack in the exact shape of the "flat-against-the-spine sleeping bag pocket" (i.e. long, wide and thin), then this whole bag could be taken out of the pack at night and kept in the shelter while the rest of the pack was bear hung.

The real trick here, it seems to me, is designing this compartment so that you could effectively slip this specially shaped waterproof stuff sack back into the pack without having to take out any of the food. I'm not sure exactly how this would be achieved (maybe a slightly rigid plastic divider?), but if it worked it would be great. I'd have to deal with packing and unpacking food much less, and my clothes would always be accessible to me throughout the day without having to take anything else out of the pack, but they would always be kept watertight in the interim.

I think efficiency is one of those things that we undervalue a little bit when thinking about pack weight, but having things super dialed in on the trail is worth its weight in gold when you are tired, dirty, and hungry and just don't want to deal with any hassles.