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SMD Swift Series Backpacks


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  • #3827673
    Mati J
    BPL Member

    @matiranger

    Locale: Southern California

    I am a fat guy. No way around it or rather its a longer way around me than a skinny guy. I’m 5’1″ (1.8 m) and 230 lbs (that’d be 1.4 stones to you Brits or 104 k to the rest of the world).  Finding a backpack (or clothes) for the weight challenged is hard. I looked for two things, hip belts for a big waist that actually cover the iliac crest at their widest and, if they have pockets, they need to be far enough forward so I can reach them. Second, and the thing that was hardest to find, a shoulder harness that didn’t live in the nether regions of my arm pits. The issue for the latter was my unfortunate chest size, around 44″/112 cm (Question to the foresters among us, how do you calculate DBH when the tree is roughly rectangular, like my body?). After a very long and frustrating process I landed on Six Moon Design’s Swift X (they also make a budget-friendly option-the Swift V.). https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/products/swift-x-ultralight-backpack. This is why I chose it.

     

    • It is indescribably comfortable and stable when choosing what they call the flight vest harness option. Opting for the flight vest gives you six points of attachment to the pack which is why it nests so well on one’s back. (Though it is a bit fiddly to put on.) Take a look at the SMD video about fitting the vest harness: https://youtu.be/RIPfzwWy-nU?feature=shared
    • It is relatively light for a 50L framed pack with a load capacity of 35 lbs at 2.5 lbs with the flight vest. (The frame and hip-belt can be removed for a loss of 10 lbs capacity).
    • The X version is more expensive because of the bomb proof material it uses, LiteSkin LS21 or EPX200. (I have the former because that’s what they had when I detoured to their lair on the outskirts of Portland, OR on my way to B.C.). I live in the land of very pointy things, and people for that matter, i.e. the desert), so taking a weight penalty in exchange for a more robust material was desirable.
    • The hip-belt fits. It sits exactly where it needs to be (SMD recommends the bottom of the hip-belt just above the iliac crest). Once I had it right I no longer experienced a hip-belt that found its way around my round belly only to dangle loosely and forlornly below it.
    • The vest style harness is miraculous (but it needs some major improvements)! As I mentioned in a previous post, I found that regular straps, whether straight or J-shaped, regular or extended, always found their way into my armpits. This vest style harness, which also sports a J-shaped configuration, does not do that and that, my fellow backpackers, is a wonderful thing.

    There are some drawbacks.

    • Putting aside the fact the an internal hydration sleeve and port are questionable on this type of pack, the sleeve itself is unusable in my opinion.

    • The side pockets, despite a bit of a slant, are not reachable.
    • The sleeves for bottles on the vest rest too high so it’s hard to put a bottle back in even when it’s somewhat full, and they’re a little uncomfortable with a filled 700ml SmartWater or Fiji container.
    • As much as I love this vest harness, I don’t love the pockets. Let me rephrase that, they drive me crazy. Too many. Too complicated. Too little utility. TOO MANY DECISIONS! It also, probably, makes the flight vest too heavy.

    Finally, I reached out to SMD. I sent a critique to them. In addition to the critique, I asked them to explain what all the pockets, pouches, and secret passages on the flight vest harness were for, what hydration reservoirs would work in the provided hydration sleeve, and, finally, what bottles they’d recommend for the bottle sleeves on the vest harness. After initial responses from the sales rep (who is awesome), I’ve heard nothing. So, because I suspect many of you gram counting UL acolytes are OCD inclined like myself, I want answers to these questions or it’ll continue to bother me every time I put the Swift X on (it’s hell being me)! Please respond with your experiences using the Swift X. And, for the grace of whatever gods you worship, post pictures of that damn vest strap fully loaded if you opted for one. I’m begging you, therapy’s expensive!

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