Ultimate direction Fastpack 20

Thanks for the post, Serge! Looks like a pretty excellent pack for long day trips and overnights. Might have to give this one a shot, as 20L is a better overall fit for me than the SMD Flight 30.

I should preface this by saying that I haven't run a step, save to cross the street, in years. A number of years ago I suffered through much experimentation trying to find a pack which would work for 12+ hour runs, with the closest being the first gen Nathan vestpack. I did multiple Grand Canyon double crossings out of one, but that never worked very well (especially cramming in clothes to make it up to the North Rim in January). In short, I have a well entrenched interest in something like the Fastpack, though as of today its mostly academic.

So in spite of my contempt for the word "fastpack," I bought one last week. Mostly on the strength of the team who designed it, and the assumption that they'd do better than all previous 20+ liter vestpacks, which have all seemed at least a little halfassed.

Pure carpet testing indicates that my optimism was probably justified. This pack is a solid little number. The small details are quite impressive. For instance, the seam between the heavier bottom panel, stretch back pocket, and main front panel is tucked into the bottom of the stretch pocket, so that the interior of the main pocket is totally clean. Very nice. There's also about an inch of the side pockets built into the harness face, which makes said pockets both functionally larger and very easy to reach. Extra nice. I don't know if the seamless "infinknit" back/harness mesh is really necessary, but I do know that it seems like some very quality, durable, non-stretch mesh which should both hold up over time, not sag, and vent well enough to prevent chaffing. Lastly, the daisy chains are a very clever solution to the problem of making a light daisy which is strong enough to actually work. Once you drop below 3/8" webbing stitch retention becomes a limiting factor (rather than webbing or fabric strength), as there just isn't much real estate for bartacking. UDs solution is to the weave the cord which serves as the daisy through a webbing channel, tack the cord at points within the webbing, and sew the webbing into the whole seam. Smart. Come winter I'll see if skis can rip out that stitching eventually.

The silly stuff list is fairly small. Integral ice axe loops seems silly (just loop cord through said dasiy), and I've never found bungee retainers for said tools to be especially good. The user-right zippered bellows phone (?) pocket is just odd, but I suppose folks do like their phones.

In conclusion, packs are cool, and this is a good one.

I used the fastpack on a 23 mile day trip this past weekend and thought it performed pretty well overall.

Pros:

Compression is excellent

Stretch mesh pocket and side pockets are a welcome addition

Small zippered pocket on bottom of harness is great for stowing small things that are easy to lose (i.e. car key)

Stiffened rolltop/velcro closure works well

Cons:

Plastic end popped off of one of the bungee cords on the back when I was attaching a trekking pole at the trailhead. Bummer.

Not really a fan of the extra complexity of the upper right zippered pocket. I'd prefer another drawcord water bottle pocket myself.

Overall, I like it quite a bit. While I don't find it to be a huge leap forward, it does provide a stable ride along with a good feature set.

I received an email from UD announcing this pack, the very same day I received my Montane Dragon (also 20 liters)- not sure I would have changed my mind, but I do like the ample stretch pockets front/side of the UD model- definitely stoked that more companies are focusing some effort towards multi-day running/fastpacking :)