Klymit motion 35 pack

I talked my buddy into getting one for his wife when Massdrop had them for this price. She likes it a lot. The only thing she didn’t like was the compression strap going over the water bottle pockets. I cut them and sewed them into small loops that she now uses as trekking pole holders. With that mod, she loves the pack. I have put it on and find it comfortable but haven’t hiked with it myself.

Hike Lighter KLYMIT MOTION 35 Review

BPL Review

BPL Thread KLYMIT MOTION 35 PACK — BIG FLAW

I picked one up from klymit.com at price of $59.95 delivered.  I bought partly because I could use a pack of this size and because I wanted to check out the airbeam suspension, which is what MLD offers as suspension upgrade for its packs.

I haven’t done any hikes with it yet, but the suspension does seem quite good, pack is comfortable and there’s excellent transfer of weight to hips.  (I know some people say frameless packs can be comfortable to 20 or even 25 pounds.  Not for me.  And in any case it’s not like there’s some magical weight at which frameless packs switch from comfortable to uncomfortable.  The comfort of frameless packs for me degrades linearly as load gets above 8 or 9 pounds.)

As far as aesthetics and overall quality of the pack, I would say it’s okay but certainly not up to standards of, say, MLD.  I’ve confirmed I like the suspension, so may end up ordering an MLD Burn or Prophet with it at some point.

The hikelighter review is a bit overenthusiastic about the pack, and it bears noting that (I think) John has moved on to one of the SMD packs, which has no airbeam.  By same token, I think most of the negative reports are overblown, in particular the “big flaw” thing about airbeam being too large is not a big deal.  I have s/m size, so plenty of extra pad in the pocket, but it folds over okay.  If you don’t like it there are fairly easy DIY ways to shorten the airbeam.

Hoosier: That is a great mod and much better use of the strap.

Link: Thanks for the links.I had seen Abelas review,but didn’t take to much stalk in it due to all the mods he made.

Herbert:  Thanks for the reply.I have a granite gear vc 60 with air beam suspension and I love the way the pack carries for me.Hope you get to get out there and try the pack out.

thanks all it helps with my decision.   Cheers Kona

I own a Klymit 35 pack myself and scooped it off of the Massdrop a few months ago. I modified my pack by reducing the length of the air suspension system. Out of the box the system is about 3 inches too long requiring you to fold it and hold it down with the velcro. Klymit claims that this causes an arch in the back pad that draws weight to your hips but I couldn’t feel it working when I had the pack completely full because the gear is up against the pad. MLD has instructions on its site under the Klymit airbeam suspension. All you need is an exacto knife and an iron. I got it on the first try. Plus it doesn’t hurt that I was able to shave a half ounce of weight. I also added Zpacks hip belt which fits perfectly.

@jturner140 how did you modify the side compressions into trekking pole holders? I am super interested in this seeing how I was considering buying trekking pole holder from zpacks and adding them on. I would much rather put the side straps to use!

Well, I did my best to draw up real quick how I modded. Take a look and don’t hesitate to let me know if it’s not clear. If I had the pack in hand I would take a photo of it but my friends live out of town.

Pre Mod:

Post Mod:

Good lord I just realized how horrible my grammar was in those photos. Anyways…The key is to cut off at the bottom 2.5″ from where it’s sewn to the pack. Then when you fold it back over (make sure you carefully burn the end with a lighter without catching your pack on fire) make sure the raw edge meets the point where it’s sew to the pack so it’s completely doubled over. The diameter of a typical pole is 2″ down the tip and the next step in the pole tip (where the basket would go) is 2.5″ so you want to end up with a 2.25″ loop. The mid point where the D-ring is is pretty straightforward. Just run the strap through the D-ring and come back about an inch the sew the two together. It’s then ATTACHED to the D-ring and you still have the compression buckle at the top point of the strap so you can still compress the pack minus the very bottom portion where the bottle pockets are.

Thank you for the details. I have the Black Diamond Ergo Corks for trekking poles which aren’t super collapsable so I need to see if that will pose an issue.

@tgeebus, keep in mind that the top of the pole can go under the top strap with the clip so even taller poles will work, they might just stick up a ways above the top of the pack.

. . . . I also added Zpacks hip belt which fits perfectly.

What does this mean?  You cut off the stock hipbelt and sewed something else on?  Or are you just talking about the ZPacks Multi-pack?  Or something else?

I actually have the older model that came without a hipbelt. My mistake for not mentioning that!