Ula cdt vs mld exodus

I just picked up a CDT. I’ve only got a few miles on it (trip got cut short when a scout’s sleeping bag fell off a cliff into the lake 🙄) but it carries well in the high teens.

I got mine with a removable 1” hipbelt and Ohm compression. The CDT is smaller than I anticipated. It’s a little larger than a GG Kumo but not much more. I suppose you could compress it to daypack size with the Ohm compression mod I got but honestly I like my $25 REI Flash 18 for dayhiking so I doubt I’ll try that.

I’ll post more about the CDT and another new pack I just got once I have more miles with them. Stay tuned.

How much weight does the belt mod save? Do you like just a regular webbing belt to keep it from bouncing?

On my scale, the pack is 517g with belt & 483 w/o belt. I don’t know what it would weigh with the stock hipbelt.

I dislike full hipbelts with wings and padding around my abdomen unless I’m going to be carrying heavy weight in which case I probably don’t want a frameless pack. I like to go without any hipbelt up to the high teens at which point I will start using the belt although I wear it down around where my pants belt goes. I get some load transfer although it’s not the same as I get with a Catalyst/Circuit carrying 35#.

I’ve carried frameless packs with hipbelts down by my pants in the low 20s range… maybe 22 pounds? I’m sure I could push it a little farther…

I’m usually at about 18 to 22 pounds when I leave the trailhead with my Conduit. It carries fine. The recent trend is to cut off the hipbelt, but I find that the hipbelt does help. I can tell the difference between having it tight and loose.

I do feel like I want a hip belt, it would be nice to have a removable one but it seems only $$$ packs have decent removable ones.