GG Gorilla or SMD Fusion 50 with 25-30 lbs?

[Susan D]

I’m wondering if anyone has used Gorilla with 25-30 lbs day after day for a week or two, and if so, how it carried?  I know this is at the max. suggested weight, so I don’t imagine it will be comfortable.  Anyone have any experience with this?  Also, if any Gorilla users initially found the wide shoulder straps annoying, did you adjust after time?

I’ve only used the Gorilla for several overnight backpacking trips, but I used it travelling for a few weeks quite a while ago.  I really like the overall fit, but I don’t particularly like the wide straps.  I can’t remember if I got used to them or not on the travel, but they were annoying on the recent overnighters.

I have a Jam 50L I’ve never used.  This would be worse (more uncomfortable), right?  I don’t want to add the weight (or volume) of my usual pack (REI flash 62), but maybe I should.  I did just order an SMD Fusion 50 (2014 version) – does anyone have experience with this pack at that weight for a week or two or more?

[James Marco]

Susan, Yes. I have used the Gorilla twice for two weeks(15 days actually) each time and loaned it out once to a friend for another week(7 days.)

The overall impression was a good pack, more than capable of it’s max weight, BUT, it was too heavily padded.  This caused more problems than it is worth.

With previous iterations of GG packs, they always had wide shoulder straps (3.25-3.5″.) They supplied foam inserts that were usually “too short,” to fill the additional gear pockets in the shoulder straps. The foam padding slipped down so that only the fabric was on your shoulders. But, at 3.5″ wide, it didn’t matter. They were wide enough to  distribute the weight across your shoulder, not just on the padded portion. They did not “bounce” on padding The did not shift off your shoulders because of the bounce (and because they were narrow on your neck.) In short, they carried comfortably, WITHOUT PADDING. The straps were just 3.5″ wide doubled fabric, or, mesh & fabric. You sometimes saw complaints like yours about the wide shoulder straps biting into a few peoples necks. I have a thick muscular neck and never had that problem. Of course, I use a thicker, 3 or 5 layer pad in the pad keepers, too. This provides more distance between the strap mounts and my neck.

When they changed to the narrower 2.25-2.5″ straps with heavier padding, this caused my shoulders to take up more weight (bad, since I have some bad neck/vertebra problems.) It also caused this:

After 4 days the blisters were pretty bad. It was caused by two major things:

1. Too much padding on the hip belt. This meant it was always slipping down, putting weight on my shoulders. I cold not tighten it up enough to prevent this. Women may have less problem, though. I found generally, there was about 3/4″ of “give” to the hip belt.
2. Too narrow shoulder straps allowing the pack to bounce(too much padding) and shift back & forth(it would not anchor on my neck) across my back. Tightening the straps up just made the problem worse. Using the torso strap restricted my breathing through the mountains, I could not raise it high enough off my chest. I eventually removed it and used a bandana.

I only had 27 pounds at the start. I finished with 9.5 pounds in my pack, including some spare fuel, and food. The blisters started bothering me around the third day in a heavy rainstorm, by the end of the fourth they were popped and wet. I would say that the pack is good for <20 pounds as is.

Modified (by removing all the extra padding and replacing with 1/8″ foam) it is good well beyond the maximum weight they state.

 

[Lester Moore]

James, those blisters look nasty – never seen anything like that on a shoulder.

Susan, the shoulder straps on the 2016 GG Gorilla are 2-3/4″ wide at the shoulder tops. For 2016, GG updated the hip belt to make it stiffer – you can feel a layer of thin plastic inside the hip belt running from one pocket, across the back and to the other pocket. And the bottoms of the aluminum stay now channel directly into pockets on the back side of the hip belt.

With only a short hike with 28 lbs, the pack transfers nearly all the weight to the hips if desired. The frame holds stiff and did not bounce or buckle when hiking downhill or hopping up and down. So far everything on the Gorilla aside from the shoulder straps rates a solid A+ for my needs.

As for the Gorilla’s shoulder straps, it took a bit of trial and error to make them comfortably. At first, the outside edges were cutting into my shoulder slightly. By shifting the sternum strap up much higher than I normally do and adjusting its tension just right, the contour of the shoulder strap changes and the problem goes away. The shoulder straps do feel a bit thick and protruding if you swing your arms a lot (trekking pole users), but longer hikes will tell if this is a real issue or not. So far, with limited time on the back, the 2016 Gorilla is a solid A for comfort when the sternum strap is high enough.

FYI, the Med/Med Gorilla I received is heavier than GG’s website average specifications (which have not changed since Fall 2015). Mine has a 19 oz pack, 8.4 oz hip belt, 2.4 oz aluminum stay, and 2 oz back pad = 31.8 oz total weight, versus 26 ounces stated on the website.

You mentioned the REI Flash. While I like this pack (the 45 size) and it’s fairly comfortably, I’d have to give it a B- compared to the new Gorilla. Compared to the Gorilla, the Flash’s frame bounces and flexes noticeably under 25 lbs of weight. While the Flash still carries 25 lbs pretty well, the weight is centered further from the back – this pulls backward on the shoulder straps and applies more weight to the chest area than the Gorilla. As for shoulder straps, the Flash 45 has thinner, lighter and more form-fitting shoulder straps that fit perfectly on my frame regardless of sternum strap position or tension – they get a solid A+ for comfort in my book.

[Susan D]

Thanks heaps for the info, James.  Wow.  That looks extremely painful!  That would probably send me off the trail.

While I don’t have the latest version of the Gorilla (I got mine late 2014 from GG), it definitely has padding (thin, though) in the shoulder straps.  But they are wider than it sound like the new ones are (mine are 3″ to 3 1/4″ at widest).  The discomfort they caused was very slight compared to your blister situation!!  But, I don’t want to take any chance of having troubles like you did, so might have to leave it behind.  It’s a very tight fit for all my stuff anyway.

My problem is getting my base weight down for this trip, and my pack probably won’t go down below 20 lbs for the two weeks.  Frequent opportunities for resupply mean it will probably vary between 24-30 the entire time.  The REI Flash isn’t hugely comfortable and it’s way bigger than I need, but I might have to stick with it anyway, as it worked for similar weights on the JMT.  I’ll see how the Fusion feels when it arrives.

 

[Susan D]

Lester – wrote my last post before seeing yours.  Thanks for your input!!  I have an older version of the Gorilla.  The shoulders is where the straps cause pain, and you’re right – trekking poles probably caused this or made it worse, now that I think about it.  I just weighed it, and it comes in at 25.8 oz.  Might be closer to spec than yours because it is an older version?

My Flash 62 is whatever model REI sold in the winter of 2011/2012.  I’d give it a C+/B- overall, but that comes from back/hip belt fitting problems.  I do like its shoulder straps, and it does a decent job of keeping the weight off my shoulders (although it does bounce around, as you say).  It also weighs 48.7 oz and is BIG, and I have the problem of adding stuff at the last minute, or bringing extra food, if there is room.

[Don Burton]

I have both of these packs. I mostly use the Gorilla though as the Fusion is a loaner. I feel like the Gorilla is very comfortable up to 22 lbs. Between 25-30lbs is not miserable but definitely not ideal. Acceptable for a day or so but I wouldn’t want to carry it longer. The Fusion carries very well but I took quite a while to adjust the torso length and stay for it to feel good. The stay is the main thing. It was a process. Slide it out of the pack sleeve, adjust it to the curve of my back, re-insert into sleeve, try on the pack again and assess, repeat. I probably did this about 15 times. Make sure the pack is loaded when assessing.

[John Vance]

I just picked up the 2014 Fusion 50 mostly out of curiosity but haven’t had it out yet.  I was able to bend the stay without removing the pack and shape it to the curve of my back.  I was a bit surprised how easy it was actually.  I filled the pack with gear and then looked at the side view in the mirror, took it off and worked on the areas that needed work, put it back on and repeated the process until I was satisfied with the initial results.

I have been using an SMD Swift with no frame for the past five years and have really liked the way it carries.  The problem I have is when my load is small as the compression system isn’t able firm the pack up and it then hangs more from my shoulders.  Combine that with 5-6 liters of water and it doesn’t work as well.

I got the Fusion for warm weather trips where I need to carry more water than my typical liter.   Space is a bit tighter that I was expecting, even though I knew it was smaller than advertised.  The Swift is quite large for a 17oz pack and I can get 12 days of food and gear in it.  The Fusion 50 will be maxed out at 7- 8 days I estimate, unless I resort to peanut butter mixed with honey as a staple, and I wouldn’t even monkey with a bear canister in it.

The current Fusion 50 is some 10% larger than the 2014 which would alleviate this some.  In addition, I usually wear a 31-32 pant waist size and based on the specs ordered mine with the small belt.  I will need to send the belt back for a medium as the padded portion just barely comes to the edges of my hip bone.  Plenty of webbing just not enough padding.  Overall a very nice pack that should fit the bill and a deal at $100 shipped.

I borrowed a Gorilla for a week long desert trip with lots of water hauls and it wasn’t bad, but I do recall the bag collapsing somewhat and the shoulder straps bothered me a bit but no blisters.  Part of it was the thin cotton shirt I was wearing and wetting down for the 100+ temps.  Not my favorite trip but my hiking partner likes the desert now and again.  We have comprised on fall, winter or early spring for desert.

 

[Susan D]

Don and John, thanks for the input.

I’ll have to give the Fusion a try when it arrives, although I might need to exchange the waist belt too, based on your experience, John (I ordered a small).  I’ll try and get it out for some local day hikes with a loaded pack, ideally with all the stuff I’m planning to take, and see if I can tweak the stay.  I leave in three weeks, so I probably can’t give it a good multi-day test run, unfortunately.  I just got back from a few months’ road trip, where I’d hope to get more use out of the Gorilla than ended up happening.  But it seems clear that it probably isn’t a good choice for this trip.   Sounds like I should remove the Gorilla from the lineup.

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