SWD Long Haul 50 Review

[Adam G]

I’ve had this backpack for around 2 years. I bought it to be versatile pack. I wanted something waterproof for snowshoeing, something rugged for rock scrambling, and something for a few days overnight. Generally, it works well for all of these, but overall, I am disappointed in the pack.

I made a few changes

1. Replace the bungee compression with buckles. I wanted this so I could attach things onto the pack such as snowshoes. They added that for a reasonable cost, and it works great
2. Replace the ice axe bungee cords on the bottom with grossgrain. Added for no charge!
3. Top pocket
4. Sleeping bag straps. For snowshoeing, I often bring a fairly large pad for two people to sit on.

The good
First of all, the customer service was excellent. I wanted to make some custom changes to the pack. They were super accommodating and phenomenal to work with.

The pack carries quite well. You could load 25-30 lbs and it would carry reasonably well. I once found a full sized camp chair abandoned and I carried it out. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but I was super surprised that it managed at all.

The bungees overlying the front pocket have these little connectors for easy attachment and release. I’ve never seen that before. It’s brilliant, and I’ve never had them break.

A lot of people ask where I got the pack and compliment it. It’s a good looking pack.

The bad
My biggest problem is that the hardware is just flimsy.

1. The water bladder hang loop broke on the third time I used it. The plastic just broke. It has a single and small hang loop. I ended up finding a metal caribiner and using that.
2. The bladder port is way too far down on the pack. It’s hard to thread the hose into it, and the tube commonly gets kinked because of the angle. I often have to stop, put down the pack, and repack it just to get the hose flowing again.
3. The load lifters and shoulder strap adjusters are really small. They are super hard to adjust and often feel stuck, especially when it’s cold. At times, I’ve had to take the pack off to adjust them. They’re very challenging to adjust with mittens on. I’ve never had that issue with other packs
4. The bungee used to tighten the side pockets broke after a few months of use. I had to replace it with heavier bungee.
5. The ice axe loops near the top simply do not hold the ice axe. A little bump and the axe is just flopping everywhere. This happened several times, and I almost lost the axe once. That is unacceptable because I go places where an axe is crucial. I now run the axe into the side buckles I had installed, and it holds well.
6. The top pocket has a dual zipper. There is a space between the zippers, and water just leaks in when it’s raining. There’s no point in having a waterproof zipper if there is a hole for water to get in. I ended up sewing in a flap on the side and permanently trapping a zipper under it, so the hole is covered by a flap

Overall, I was really disappointed with the pack. I’ve owned several packs in the packs, and they all had their little annoyances, but the Long Haul has too many that actually degrade my hiking experience.

[Author]

Posts