New packs on Katabatic Gear website

[Chris Shiflett]

I have an Onni and will be taking it on a weekend trip in the Indian Peaks Wilderness (Pawnee-Buchanan loop). I’ll be sure to take pictures.

I’m also loaning out my Artemis for this trip, so I can compare and contrast.

I think the big question everyone has is how do these new packs stand up to a solar eclipse.

[Ben B]

Hi Chris, did the Onni handle the eclipse trip well? Which version did you get?

[Andy Berner]

My knik v40 arrived today.  Very well built as all of katabatic’s products are.  The magnetic closer seems fine.  Not super strong, but enough strength to serve its purpose.  I like it. The hip belt is detachable which is nice.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

I sent mine back today. Not a good fit and I thought the pockets were floppy with a single Smartwater bottle. Also I didn’t care for the placement of the hipbelt up high on the back rather than low like on a Kumo or Burn.

Really nice construction and the fabric seems ideal.

[Ben B]

Matthew, which model and material did you have?

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Knik V40

[Lee W]

I see a couple of people here ordered the 50l Omni a few months back. Any feedback???

Looks really good on paper and in pictures, curious how it does out in the real world.

Section Hiker review didn’t seem to like the load carrying capacity of the 65l version, but seemed to think that loads under 30#s would be better, which is what I would probably be carrying in the Omni 50.

[Philip Tschersich]

Maybe I have missed it somewhere (along with the search engines), but has anyone actually put one of these Onnis through the wringer? I have seen a review or two online, but there is surprisingly little info posted here.

[J-L]

I bought an Onni 65L in Liteskin a couple months ago. I’ve only put about 150 miles on it so far, but I like it. Here are some thoughts I can offer on it:

• Carries 30-35 lbs quite well. I can honestly say I forget about the pack when wearing it. On an 8-day trip, I did little more than re-tighten the hipbelt each time when putting it on. I think I adjusted the load lifters once on day 7
• The shoulder straps are excellent, blows HMG’s away
• No package damage so far, but the Liteskin fabric does feel a little thinner than what I was expecting. It should be fine for on-trail usage and small amounts of bush-whacking
• Pack came in 0.4 oz under spec
• Easily holds a Bearikade Expedition
• The frame sheet feels stiffer than the frame sheet in my older Artemis, and the main stay in the Onni is taller. The frame sheet is actually sewn in directly to the pack and cannot be removed
• The main stay came poorly shaped. It took several trials to get it bent right for me
• I actually really like the magnetic closure for the roll top
• The pack bottom is flat, so it actually doesn’t fall over
• The side pockets are a little floppy. They are okay with some shock-cord I rigged up. They have shock-cord in channels on the pockets now, but the fabric is stiff enough that it’s not very effective IMO
• The hipbelt pockets aren’t that big. Why doesn’t Katabatic Gear make removable solid fabric hipbelt pockets?

I kind of want to get a 50L Onni in V40 to have a very durable smaller volume pack for when the big bear canister isn’t required. That said, the V40 fabric is probably overkill for me. Maybe I should try their 70D fabric option? I know Katabatic Gear is careful with their fabric selections, but I think they could replace all 3 of their pack fabric offerings with Dyneema-X Grid which would offer reasonable weight and reasonable durability.

[Philip Tschersich]

Thank you for the feedback. I have a pair of HMG 2400 packs that are getting pretty long in the tooth and I’m wondering if I want to just replace them with the same or try something different. Can I ask you what size (S, M, L) you have, and what the actual measurement from the bottom of the back panel (the lower edge of the hip belt) to the upper shoulder strap attachment point is and also what the distance the load lifter attachment point is? Is the ‘liteskin’ basically cuben fiber with some sort of face fabric? Is the pack seam sealed in any way? Does the pack use 1 or 2 aluminum stays? Are the belt pockets smaller than the rather tiny HMG pockets?

Cheers

[J-L]

I have a size Medium. From the bottom of the hipbelt to the load lifter attachment points, it is 21”-21.25”. The top of the shoulder strap attachment point is sewn at about 18”, but the shoulder straps on the pack are meant to wrap up a little bit and then go over your shoulder. The load lifters are pretty effective due to the rigidity of the backpanel. The pack uses a single stay.

I don’t know about the current HMG hipbelt pockets, but the Onni’s seem bigger than the old HMG ones. I guess the Onni’s are large, in the sense that they run for almost the whole hipbelt length, but I just wish they had a little more volume.

I’m pretty sure Katabatic Gear’s Liteskin Fabric is this LS07 (not related to Cuben Fiber): https://ripstopbytheroll.com/products/liteskin-ls07

The pack is not seam-sealed, and the bottom is actually 500D Cordura. I like the Cordura bottom, because one problem I had with my old HMG pack is that water would just pool at the bottom.

[Paul S.]

LiteSkin is very durable.  One tester in particular abused his Onni thoroughly on the Te Araroa trail with no damage whatsoever.

The pack is not seam-sealed, and the bottom is actually 500D Cordura. I like the Cordura bottom, because one problem I had with my old HMG pack is that water would just pool at the bottom.

The Codura is PU treated so it’s waterproof as well. Water will pool at the bottom but can still leak out the seams.

My only complaint with the pack is the lack of daisy-chains on the shoulder straps.  The two shock cord attachment points are not as versatile as attachment points every few inches.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Seems the hipbelt pockets are optional…which is nice. I’d prefer my own. I’m still yet to see a pack with built in hip belt pockets that I like.

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