Ursack: Black or white?

I have the older S-29 in white and a hiking parter who uses the newer black.  They added nice tracers to the new ones which reflect headlamps well, but I seem to find my white one easier the next morning – at least it’s easier for me to spot it through the trees. Same deal with looking inside it. It does show dirt more, but send it through the wash once a season and it comes out looking near new.

Might be worth considering the 14L Adotec?  It’s white, 1.8 oz lighter than the XL Ursack, has waterproof fabric so doesn’t absorb ~ 7 oz of water weight like the Ursack, it better fits an Opsak and its shape is easier to pack when full.  The Ursack ropes are easier to tie.

I use both, and prefer the Adotec but its still early days with it and haven’t had mice or chipmunks attack it yet.

I have a personal policy that no backpacking gear should ever be black.  Can’t see in it, can’t see it in your pack, can’t see it in your tent, can’t see it when you drop it on forest duff, and the sun warms it too much.

The ursack almighty is a light tan inside, not sure about the major

I have  an older white Ursack.  Like much of my gear, I put small strips of reflective tape on it for finding it in the dark.

Both my ursacks have reflective fiber woven into the cinch ropes.  They’re highly visible and I can spot my bag 200′ away at night no problem with my headlight on low

The Ursack Almighty has a light yellowish liner. It’s so thick I don’t think it would let light through even if it was white.

Xlent points all – thank you!    David & any who’ve used the Adotek, very enticing its tech mojo, only…the flat, thin tie cord…looks like that could be a real   bear ;-)    to untie with cold fingers in the morning. Is that true? I multi-knot my S-29 Ursack tight to a tree, but am able to untie it without much trouble, not further abrading my sometimes raw fingers .

Oh, and I notice on the BPL link to cottage industry this week that the 25% off listed is not listed on the Ursack website.

– Ken

Mudjester, you got that right.  Untying at 2C is more difficult than the Ursack.  I resorted to using my teeth and heard fibers tear in the cord so switched to a quick release figure 8 that’ll still withstand a bear but unties by pulling on the end of the cord.  That works well if the branch allows enough cord slack.

Will it need to be cut off or separated with pliers if a bear yanks on it? Dunno, hope to not find out.

The figure 8 knot is more complicated to tie than the Ursack’s too.  Getting a clean cord lay when reaching up over a branch sometimes takes a few attempts.

All the other benefits has me reach for it over the Ursack but it would be a much better bag with the Ursack’s cord.

The choice of that flat cord is a head scratcher.

3 more days with the adotec, one with ~ a couple inches rain while it hung.  No more than a teaspoon of water inside the bag, where the ursack would have been full of water. It took on no water weight since it’s dyneema.

The cord is fraying at the edges a bit which raises question marks about long term reliability, we’ll see