Pack recommendations 30L, tall torso

I’m a big fan of the Cilogear 30L pack– it’s a very simple pack. I have a 21″ torso and with the long shoulder straps it fits me well.

It’s a little bigger than you want at 38L, but the ZPacks Nero is my go-to pack if I’m out for just a weekend.  At 11.5 ounces with a webbing belt it’s tough to beat.

I’ve tried the Pa’lante V2 and while really liking its features with an ultralight 30°F load (including double-walled, silpoly Yama MountainGear Cirriform 1 packed up) w/1 to 2 liters of water,  the hidden webbing belt didn’t do it for me when carrying 4 liters of water.  Also it’s black and only like that color for my winter packs (like my black ripstop ZB from Zimmerbuilt .. still going strong).  First world problems…

So I switched to the Lite AF 35L in Ultra200x with add on padded hipbelt.  That was better and really like the cord option to strap a foam piece against the back.  Thinking about a 30L as the 35 has too much unused space.

I’ve read good things about the 27L Flatiron from Redpaw with compact enough gear (20°F long can an 20°F long Katabatic quilt/bivi-based system w/tarp) and met a long distance hiking using a MLD Hell pack 27L (think the latter had a rolled up 1/8 thinpad sticking out of one pocket like a yoga mat but didn’t ask his gear).

Of course I think the volumes will be a tad higher with taller packs, but that’s just trivial in my book.

I looked at the Nashville Cutsway thats getting popular but think it only has a regular mesh back pouch; I prefer dyneema mesh due to the blowdowns and obstacles I’ve been running into YMMV.  Same with the sub-Nero, Nero, etc.. Of course I’ve seen a few hikers with those Z-packs packs in the California desert, so they’re happy.  Probably depends on the ride fully loaded (out west that could mean 4-6 liters of water).