Introduction
The YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L (~18 oz / 510 g, MSRP $200) is a light and modular fastpacking pack that can accommodate heavier loads for short distances if need be. It is reasonably priced, aesthetically pleasing, and multi-functional.
Highlights
- unique hybrid fastpacking harness
- light at 16.6 oz (471 g) without sternum strap or hip belt or 19.8 oz (561 g) with padded hip belt and sternum strap
- modular design with a removable padded or webbing hip belt for fastpacking and occasional bigger loads
- durable materials/construction
- aesthetically appealing look
- very reasonably priced at $200
Review Rating: Highly Recommended
I am giving the YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L pack a Highly Recommended rating because, like many other frameless packs, it is small, light, well made, and durable, but the modularity of the removable padded hip belt and exceptional comfort of the hybrid fastpacking harness set it apart from others in its category. It was designed with the utilitarian, somewhat ultralight hiker in mind, someone who may need to carry heavy loads on occasion but who likes to move fast when possible. My experience in the field bears this out. The design of YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L (particularly the hybrid fastpacking harness) successfully addresses the problems it sets out to solve.
Where to Buy
- You can purchase the YAR.gear 38L Mountain Drifter directly from the manufacturer here.
Review Context
It has been a slow journey getting my overall pack weight to a point where using a YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L would actually be feasible. It’s just so hard to admit to myself that I can’t actually read five books in three days, but I’m getting there, usually only carrying one book now.
For this reason, I often use larger framed packs. More recently, however, I have been using a Mountain Laurel Designs Exodus DCF 55L, getting used to the concept of a frameless pack. I knew that using the YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L meant I would have to dial in my system even more. It forced me to leave things behind. All this is to say I don’t have many years of experience with packs in the ultralight frameless category, but I hope that this makes my testing appeal to others who are considering the shift from framed packs or the luxuries of carrying books to the world of moving fast – and what it takes to make that shift and how a quality pack can facilitate it.
Truth be told, I do have a desire to move fast, especially when alone. I enjoy 25-mile (40 km) days, and I wouldn’t mind doing more of them. The YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L should help me down that road.
This is a Performance Review based on extensive backcountry use in a variety of use-cases. Read more about our types of reviews here.
Features
- hybrid fastpacking harness
- several external storage pockets
- removable padded or webbing hip belt
- roll-top closure
- durable materials/construction
- modular design for fastpacking and occasional bigger loads
- reasonable price at $200
Specifications
- dark gray/black X-Pac VX21 RS pack body (other options available including 2.92 oz Dyneema Composite Fabric hybrid and Liteskin
- The tag that came with mine said 19.5 in (50 cm), but usually, they are one of two sizes:
- 17 in (43 cm) torso fits 16 – 18 in (41 – 46 cm)
- 19 in (48 cm) torso fits 18 – 20 in (46 – 51 cm)
- 16.6 oz (471 g) measured without sternum strap or hip belt, 17.2 oz (488 g) measured with sternum strap but without padded hip belt, and 19.8 oz (561 g) measured with padded hip belt and sternum strap
- sternum strap alone weights 0.6 oz (17 g)
- webbing hip belt alone weighs 1.5 oz (43 g)
- padded hip belt alone weighs 2.6 oz (74 g)
- G-hook top closure
- 210D Dyneema Composite Fabric grid-stop padded S-shaped/fastpacking hybrid shoulder straps
- 210D Dyneema Composite Fabric grid-stop side pockets
- Dyneema Composite Fabric mesh bottom pocket
- Dyneema Composite Fabric mesh front pocket
- removable sternum strap
- removable hip-belt (padded version optional)
- 30L (1831 ci) interior, 2L (122 ci) side pockets, 4L (244 ci) stretch mesh pocket, 2L (122 ci) bottom pocket
- 32 in tall x 11 in wide x 5 in deep (81 x 28 x 13 cm)
Product Category Overview
The YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L falls into the ever-growing fastpacking category. As far as I know, there is no official definition for fastpacking. But generally, it refers to backpacking at an increased pace and lowered weight in order to cover a lot of miles very quickly. Because it tends to occasionally cross over with trail running, some fastpacking packs have either vest-style or hybrid vest-style/fastpacking harnesses while others have traditional s-shaped shoulder straps. If you’ve ever tried running with your fully loaded, 60L, framed backpack you know that it’s pretty awful. Vest-style or hybrid vest-style/fastpacking harnesses keep the load secured to your torso to eliminate the uncomfortable bounce experienced when attempting to run while wearing a regular pack with a regular harness.
Because I own and have used the Mountain Laurel Designs Exodus quite a lot, I will be comparing these packs a bit, mindful of the obvious size and harness differences. Another pack in this category that I will be comparing the YAR.gear to is the Mountainsmith Zerk 40 which Andrew Marshall reviewed in 2019, and another is the Pa’Lante Packs V2 which Mark Wetherington is reviewing (forthcoming). There are many others I could compare but which I don’t have direct or even indirect experience with including the Nashville Packs Cutaway (review forthcoming), the Mountain Laurel Designs Hell 27L, the Six Moon Designs Flight 40 FKT, the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 40, the Superior Wilderness Designs Superior 35, and the Nunatak Liten 35 (by allmansright) among others.
Some packs in this list have vest-style harnesses and some have traditional s-shaped straps. I’m comparing the Mountain Drifter 38 to both because it overlaps both these categories.
Performance Assessment
Description of Field Testing
My first trip with the YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L backpack was in the Mazatzal Wilderness of central Arizona in mid-March. I carried five days of food but finished the 52-mile, on-trail, off-trail, and bushwhacking trip in three days. I had one fairly heavy water haul on the first day of this trip, but otherwise, my pack was pretty light. My trip in the Mazatzal Wilderness saw heinous bushwhacking through manzanita, catclaw mesquite, juniper, and many other gnarly plants.
My second trip with this pack was in Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah in mid-April. I carried four days of food, although I finished this 48-mile trip in three days, as well. I had one major water haul on this trip, carrying five liters across deep sand and slickrock for about 12 miles (19 km).
Late May through July I also used this pack on several one-nighters in the Uinta Mountains of northern Utah. None of these trips saw big water hauls or bushwhacking. My overall pack weight stayed low, and I was able to run on some occasions.
How Many User-Days?
11 days backpacking and an additional 13 days day-hiking and trail running. One day mountain biking.
List of Performance Criteria
- durability
- hybrid Fast-Packing Harness
- hipbelt
- fit and Comfort/ How does it carry?
- capacity
- pockets/Storage
- weight
- finish Quality/ Aesthetics
Durability/ Fabric Technology
The YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L tested is made from Xpac VX21 RS. This is pretty much the same as the VX21 fabric folks may be familiar with, with the addition of a ripstop grid in the face fabric. I’ve used both the non-ripstop and ripstop versions and I don’t know if I’ve used either enough to be able to judge any huge difference in durability, but I will say I put the Mountain Drifter through some intense bushwhacking.
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Discussion
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Companion forum thread to: YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L Review
The YAR.gear Mountain Drifter 38L (~18 oz / 510 g, MSRP $200) is a light and modular fastpacking pack that can accommodate heavier loads for short distances if need be.
Ben,
Thank you for the detailed and thorough review. I had a question about the water bottle pockets – you mention in particular that they are big enough to take 2L bottles, which is great – this caught my attention.
The question is: can you access the contents of the pockets easily without taking the pack off? That is something I am looking for in my next light pack.
Thanks,
Bill
Yes I think you can get to a hard sided bottle like a smart water bottle without taking the pack off, but soft bottles are a challenge.
its a toss up between this one, SWD or UD pack for me…. can’t decide….
Thank you for the review, love the look of the harness! Two questions:
How do you think the harness would fit on a female upper body? Often they are designed for male chests and don’t really fit for women – but this design looks just too nice to not have it available for us….
Second: I think the fabric type VX21 RS doesn’t exist – it’s either VX21 (with the elevated X pattern being the Ripstop component) or V21 RS (with a less elevated, square and smaller Ripstop pattern) which I personally think is the more long-living option since the elevated X patterns tend to wear down quicker. I think Yar Gear had made Drifters in both fabric types at some point but currently the standard fabric is VX21. Might be interesting to read up on that again and correct it
Their website still says VX21RS on one of the Mtn Drifters (the one that’s currently sold out) and regular VX21 on the other, so yeah maybe they use both. Here’s the spec sheet on the two, maybe that helps. If it’s really true that the RS is more durable, I’d hope they keep using it. I will say I prefer the soft hand, and it has at least the appearance of being more durable with the ripstop. I could also see it being possible that the ripstop creates stronger seams but I don’t build packs so I won’t say that with certainty.
I’m waiting on a response now about how it fits female bodies. Will post as soon as I hear from Adam. Fingers crossed that it works for everyone and I apologize for not attempting to figure this out in the review as it’s extremely important. Huge oversight on my part. Thanks for asking about it.
Thank you for the reply Ben and thanks for checking about the harness :) very curious about that!
<p style=”text-align: left;”>You’re right, there seems to be two versions of tbe pack fabric going around – and indeed the soft touch X-pac has a really nice feel to it. I did make a bunch of MYOG X-Pac packs and I have found no difference between how the RS vs. the VX fabric hold the seams – it’s just that the slightly elevated X pattern tends to wear down a bit quicker than the more flat RS version. On the other hand I could see how the X pattern could be better in terms of tear resistance since the reinforcements are thicker (but spaced further apart). But they are still both super durable and pretty bomb proof materials so either of the choices are absolutely great backpack fabrics!</p>
From Adam: “About 25-30% of my customers are women and I haven’t had any packs sent back or any complaints about the fit. When I started making packs I found 3 women and three men all different sizes all experienced hikers to test things out. I knew I only wanted to make one maybe two sizes of straps so I really spent a lot of time working on the shape/length to be as universal as possible.”
Ben,
What made you go with Yar instead of SWD or UD?
Are we talking about the superior 35 and the fastpack 40?
Yes or even the 30L version
If I actually had to choose between the three I’m not sure which I would choose. UD obviously most running vesty which is great but it’s heaviest and has zippers which I don’t like. That one would be out for me. Basically, everything SWD makes is great so I’m sure you couldn’t go wrong there. That removable padded hipbelt looks awesome. Traditional harness there. Loadlifter thing going on. Yar has the hybrid harness. SWD has all those things just mentioned and uses recycled polyester which I can get behind. All depends on what you value most I suppose. I didn’t actually have to make the choice because I was sent the Yar to review. I can’t land on a choice given the hypothetical, sorry, haha.
No worries, I’m tossing between Yar and SWD and sounds like can’t go wrong with either!
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