35L Ultralight Pack for $30 – First Impressions

[Tom D.]

"So I'm looking at the stitching on these packs and from the little bit I can see it doesn't look very robust"

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The stitching doesn't look as robust or of the quality of my GG packs. The seams are a single straight stitch with a nylon ribbon reinforcement. The exception is the shoulder straps, which were heavily stitched at the shoulder point (almost over stitched IMO) to the point where I had to cut the straps themselves as close to the anchor point as possible in order to move them for my torso length.

Along the lines of what you are saying, quality control is a concern with these and I doubt that they have great QC. Whenever I get a pack, I always look for any fraying or loose stitches and secure them, sometimes just using a dab of Gorilla super glue to anchor it and keep the fray from from spreading. I didn't have to do any with this one, but anyone buying one would be wise to go through it. Again, its not top of the line stitching, but it appears to be as strong as that of my son's daypack that he used to carry 10-15 lbs of books to high school the whole year, often tossing it to the ground as soon as he got home. I don't have any concerns about it lasting for extended hikes, especially at the total pack weights that UL backpackers carry in a 30L pack.

[Jeff Jeff]

It took me about 5 years for mine to start to come apart, but it's still going.

[Mitchell Ebbott]

I just saw somebody link to this thread from Reddit and realized I hadn’t updated it or answered questions.

I’m no longer using the pack. Nick was right—the stitching isn’t very good quality, and the extension collar and top pocket started to rip not too long after I got it. I was stuffing it pretty tight, but it still should have been able to handle it. I fixed that and reinforced all the other seams that I could get to with my sewing machine, so it’s working OK now, but I’ve replaced it with a Zimmerbuilt Quickstep. My wife uses this pack occasionally as a daypack, it’s a better fit for her.

So… if you have a short torso and you’re able to reinforce the stitching, I say go for it. But if you can spend a little more, you can get a much better pack.

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