Mountainsmith Phantom

After my TNF Voyager pack wore out, I decided I needed a new backpack. I wanted one that would be durable, comfortable, and big enough for all the junk I carry as a result of my forced bivy. I really wanted a spectra backpack, but there are very few companies that make one. Kelty does, but they are very expen$ive and I had had bad luck with Kelty pack in the past. I ordered a McHale daypack in spectra, which was sure to be ridiculously expensive. Due to our activities in the middle east, spectra is very hard to come by (bulletproof vests), and I have been waiting for about 1.5 years so far.

I noticed that Campmor was selling the Mountainsmith Phantom for $70 (it normally is $160). It is 3300 ci and weighs 3 lbs 3 oz (1.45 kg) and made of VX-21, which seems to be some kind of nylon laminated to some very thin steel wires in a grid pattern. It is claimed to be the 'best weight to strength ratio on the market', but it is quite unlikely to be as high performance as spectra. The pack is top loading with a removable lid with two pockets. There is the usual stuff like ice axe loops, side mesh pockets which can be used for water bottles, interior hydration pocket, side compression straps, waist belt, shoulder straps, sternum strap, a mesh rear pocket, and a bungee rear thing for storing oddly shaped things.

What is noteworthy are 2 bottom compression straps and the lid closure straps also act as compression straps. There are only 2 side compression straps (one per side) which isn't much, but with the bottom compression straps and the lid compression straps, things work out pretty well.

There is a plastic frame sheet, a single aluminum stay, and a perimeter plastic rod around the sheet which all work to make a reasonable light and strong internal frame.

I question the durability of the side mesh pockets since they use elastic. I have had lots of elastic things lose their elasticity, and there is no obvious way to replace the elastic without lots of sewing.

There are 'ski guide loops' which are two webbing loops on the bottom of the pack. The webbing is folded over and sewn for much of the length. I am not much of a ski person, but I really doubt there is any use for these ski guide loops. I suppose one might attach the ski's sideways on the bottom of the pack, but they will clearly not attach to the sides of the pack as skis are usually attached. I am tempted to remove them, as I can't think of anything they are good for. I called Mountainsmith and they agreed that the ski guide loops served no obvious purpose.

The pack is advertised as 'A lightweight versatile pack that exceeds the needs of any weekend backpacker' and 'This top-loading genius packs along a full weekend's worth of gear and has all the technical features needed to push limitations'. I question anyone going on a weekend backpack with this pack unless they are ultra light packers. A sleeping bag will fill up quite a bit of the pack. What is more odd is the lack crampon attachment points. If a pack has 2 ice axe loops, it is presumably suitable for crampons. (For those unfamiliar with crampons they are 12 point steel claws that attach to the bottom of hiking boots with straps. Since they are sharp, good at ripping packs, and are often covered in snow or wet, they are usually stored on the outside of a pack. It doesn't take much to attach them as they come with one or two straps per boot).

The side pockets are more handy than storing stuff inside the pack, but I can't reach their contents while the pack is one. Someone else can easily reach the contents. I am used to hiking with a water bottle holder on the waist belt, and these are far less useful. I suppose with the hydration pocket it is less important to quickly access a water bottle.

Speaking of the hydration pocket, there is no point of attachment at the top to secure the hydration bladder. I have a 100oz bladder, so it doesn't slip down, but a smaller one would likely slide to the bottom of the pocket. Also the two ports that the water tube goes through to reach the outside of the pack are situated quite high on the pack which needlessly makes the water tube shorter than it should be.

The shoulder straps and waist belt are reasonably wide and supportive. There are tensioners for the top of the pack to the shoulder straps as well as from the side of the pack to the waist belt. I found the waist belt to be too short, and I had to add an extension. I could certainly stand to lose weight, but no other backpack (except my 30 year old Wilderness Experience has a waist belt that is too small to use.

I was quite happy with the internal frame support. My The North Face Voyager pack though 2700 ci had only a piece of soft foam sewn into the pack as an internal frame. The Phantom carries weight much better. I think all packs of similar size should have some kind of internal support (unless you will only carry a very light load).

I don't know how durable the pack material will be. I suspect it will be slightly more abrasion resistant than other fabrics of similar weight. I will try to be careful with it. However since I do a fair amount of rock scrambling and rock climbing, that may be tough.

Overall, I highly recommend the pack. It is light, comfortable and supportive. I would add some crampon straps, lose the 'ski guide loops', and add a hook to the top of the hydration pocket. Unfortunately, I believe that the pack has been discontinued. Get one while they are still available.

After I used the pack 2 or 3 times, I noticed a tear starting on the fabric of the pack, near the intersection of the internal stays and the shoulder strap. It wasn't big, but it wasn't going to get any smaller. I also had some animal damage, where 2 straps were eaten through. I sent the pack back for repairs to Mountainsmith. I got the pack back today, and I was quite impressed by the quality of the repair. There is an inner and outer layer of fabric where the rip was, and it is sewn together. They un-sewed it, applied a reinforcing patch where the rip was, and another reinforcing patch on the other shoulder pad area for good measure. They re-sewed the two layers of material together. They also replaced the two straps that were eaten by animals. I don't consider animal damage to be warranty work, but my own fault. Hopefully the pack will hold up after these repairs. Though the pack is quite a bargain, it isn't a spectra pack. Spectra is significantly more abrasion resistant, which I believe is the major cause of pack failure. It is even more significantly expensive to make a pack from...

The North Face Voyager

I bought a The North Face Voyager (large). This is a large daypack, 2700 ci and 2 lbs 3 oz (it is now 2 lbs, 5.8 oz perhaps due to the TNF repair below). The internal frame consists of a sheet of soft foam sewed to the back of the pack. I have used this pack quite a bit. It doesn't have much support, so it is important to pack heavy loads very carefully. It is not very comfortable, but it isn't very uncomfortable either. After a few years of use (including some chimneying climbing) I wore a few holes through the pack. I took it on a backpack, and I noticed that a seam holding the heavy nylon bottom to the lighter main pack material had failed. I could have fixed it myself, but since the pack had a few holes, I decided to send it to TNF for repair. I included a note saying I would pay for the holes to be fixed, but that I considered the seam failing to be a warranty item. They repaired the seam, but did nothing about the holes. Their repair job was unimpressive. I could have done a job at least as good. I sent it back again, and I got the pack (about a month later), with a new panel where the holes were. They didn't charge me any money, which I thought was pretty nice. I was quite surprised to examine the pack and find they had simply sewn a big piece of nylon over the original pack side (still with holes). I could have done this. Not impressive. It has been a few years since, and the pack now has a dozen more holes. I am planning on getting a nice pack, but I haven't done so yet. The zipper on the lid failed, but I was able to fix it, by pinching the zipper slider. A reasonable pack, which is reasonably durable, but not very impressive.

The North Face Polar Circus pack, 1999

I bought a The North Face Polar Circus pack (large). This is a small daypack, 2400 ci and 1 lbs 15 oz. It is made of spectrum, which is nylon with spectra ripstop. It is not a coated material (likely due to the spectra fabric), so has an inner liner of a coated nylon. This is actually a good idea, because it can reduce abrasion damage to the pack. All the fittings on the pack are of light construction. The plastic clips that hold the top flap down are smaller and lighter than normal packs. The hip belt is unpadded.

TNF made two larger versions, the Jetstream 3000/3300ci and the Thin Air 4300/4600 ci. I think the bigger packs had a more substantial suspension.

The first time it was used, the nylon cover to the shoulder strap seam failed at the top of the shoulder strap. It seemed that the fabric 'margin' of that seam was zero. It has been returned for warranty service. The rest of the pack seems serviceable. The poor quality control is a bit of a concern. I used the pack a few more times (well under 50 miles since new) and it has developed two abrasion holes, one in the top compartment and one in the main body. I will send it in for warranty service again. The pack seems to break far too often. Perhaps that is why it was discontinued. The spectrum fabric isn't very abrasion resistant either. I fear it is mainly a marketing ploy.

After waiting a few weeks, I called TNF. It seems that the pack arrived Oct-14, and that I was supposed to have been contacted by Oct-20. Only nobody contacted me, either by phone, letter, or email. I asked why nobody contacted me, and they had no answer. I asked them when I would be getting the repaired pack back. They told me that the pack would be very difficult to repair. They said they didn't have a sewing machine that would handle the fabric. I think that they meant they couldn't fix the hole in the bottom of the pack without taking it apart. But what about the holes in the lid of the pack? Can they fix them? They didn't say either way. When I pressed them, they said that getting two holes in the pack in under 50 miles is considered normal wear and tear. If it is not covered under warranty, they are supposed to let me know how much it would cost to fix. They did offer me a discount on a new pack, but I am told they often do that, independent if the damage is covered under warranty. I told them I really wanted the pack fixed, and they basically said they wouldn't do it. They shipped the pack back to me.

I am quite disappointed by this. TNF has a great reputation both for innovation in backpacking gear for many years, as well as having great customer service, as I know from experience. This pack was a very expensive high-end pack ($145 in 1999 for a 2400 cubic inch pack), which was supposed to be made of very durable, light materials. It has proven to be have very poor durability, and what is worse is that TNF doesn't stand by their product. At worst case, they should have least quoted me a cost to repair the pack.

Needless to say, I won't be buying any TNF products. I considered replacing my pack with a new TNF Prophet pack. It is supposed to be made of several fabrics including dyneema (spectra). On their web page they state "Fabric 210D Cordura Dyneema, 840D Jr Ballistics, 420 HT nylon". What that really means is 210 denier Cordura nylon with 840 denier dyneema ripstop. I had to call their warranty department, and they had to look up exactly what the fabric was, because the description on the web is a bit vague. This fabric is similar to the fabric in the Polar Circus which has proven to be of very poor durability. It is interesting that TNF doesn't mention that the fabric is really ripstop, which is much cheaper than pure dyneema. Also of interest is CiloGear (one of the highest quality lightweight packs companies around) used to use 210 denier Cordura dyneema ripstop and switched to 500 denier Cordura dyneema ripstop to increase durability. They clearly name their fabric and have a paragraph explaining that the dyneema is used in the ripstop part only.

After using it to carry my lunch to work for a few months, the shoulder strap cover material pulled out from the edge of the shoulder strap. This is visible in the first picture, where the white foam of the shoulder strap is visible and the frayed black fabric has pulled out from the seam. This shows that the 'margin', that is the overlap between the two pieces of fabric is much too small. The bigger the margin is, the stronger the seam is. Different seams need different amounts of strength, but if a seam pulls out, clearly the margin is insufficient. This was the same issue that caused the nylon cover to the shoulder strap seam to fail the first time I used it. I could accpet sloppiness causing it to happen in one spot, but happening in two spots shows shoddy workmanship. Also visible in the first picture is my glued on nylon patch covering the abrasion hole that formed within the first few uses of the pack. TNF said they couldn't fix this. I am sure my fix isn't ideal, but it works well enough.

The second picture is a close up of the top where another abrasion hole formed within the first few uses of the pack. TNF said they couldn't fix this either. I used clear urethane adhesive tape, designed for patching nylon. The grid of white is the spectra ripstop of the fabric, The white in the middle of the shiny patch is the rip that I repaired. Not shown is the inside patch I made, using yellow nylon tape to match the yellow fabric. It seems that TNF doesn't know about urethane or nylon based adhesive repair tape. It is available at REI, Campmor, and other sources.

I am still in the market for a reasonable durable, light daypack. If anyone has any good ideas, let me know. I think that spectra or one of the dimension polyant fabrics is the way to go for durability. I have thought about the Kelty White Cloud, but the cost and uncertainty about quality are concerns... I heard their spectra packs are much higher quality than the rest of their packs...

Wilderness Experience daypack, 1974

Around 1974 or so, I bought a Wilderness Experience Klettersack from a small company called A-16. A-16 is now a major player in the retail and wholesale outdoor gear world in southern California. This pack is about 2200 ci. It is made of heavy duty nylon. It has leather reinforcing patches on the sides of the pack as well as the top, bottom, and rear of the pack, designed for attaching straps. This was before packs had plastic patches that did the same thing. The shoulder straps have minimal padding, and the hip belt is 1/2 inch wide nylon webbing with absolutely no padding. All of the connectors are metal, as this pack predates fastex. The hip belt strap shows some abrasion as does the straps used to secure the top of the pack, after many years of use with the metal clip.

I used this pack through Jr. High school, High school, and college to carry books. Usually 20 lbs or so. After college, I used it for hiking. The zipper failed, and a small hole developed in one corner (no doubt due to books). I wanted to send it back to Wilderness Experience, but they had gone out of business around that time. They have since reorganized and are back in business. I had these repaired around 1986 or so. Since then, the connection point between the shoulder straps (at the top) and the pack started coming undone. I sewed them back up. I used this pack every day, to carry stuff to and from work. This pack has clearly stood up to the test of time. The steel webbing fasteners are wearing the webbing, and some of the stitching holding on the leather strap tie-downs has failed. The leather is looking pretty worn. Not so bad for a pack around 23 years old. Highly recommended.

WildThings Icesac, @1996-2000 - For Sale

I bought a used Icesac. This is a technical climbing pack, of roughly 3200 ci. It doesn't have any frame, but there is a pretty robust foam back pad that can be removed if needed. It has two 'tool tubes' designed to carry ice axes and the like. Between them is a place to strap on crampons. Skis are designed to be strapped to the sides of the pack. There are gear loops on the hipbelt (which isn't removable unlike the newer icesac's). There are 3 compression straps on either side of the pack. The top lid has two compartments and is removable. The outside zipper is pretty small making access to the outside compartment a bit difficult. It secures via 2 buckles and some velcro. I don't really like the velcro attachment of the top lid.

The material of the pack is 820 denier laminated ballistic nylon with a very robust waterproofing coating on the inside. It looks like new on the inside. All of the straps, reinforcements, and the like are of very robust construction. The pack is clearly designed to take a beating. Compared to my Voyager pack of similar size, it is stronger and more useful, and seems to be of vastly superior design. Like many packs, the buckles are often sewn onto the pack, and if they break, they would be difficult to easily replace. The padding in the hipbelt and shoulder straps is quite minimal, and if I had a choice, I would increase it a bit. There is no good place to put a hydration sack, but I suppose it could be stuffed against the back pad, and there is a zipper to allow access to the back pad.

I was fixing a 1/2 inch long rip, and I removed the foam pad and turned the pack inside out. I was a bit surprised to find that the seam securing the bottom of the pad had completely failed. I could see all of the thread, but it had all come apart from the seam. It isn't a mission critical seam, but I was quite surprised, considering the robustness of the rest of the pack. There are also a few small places where the waterproofing isn't well attached to the pack, but only at the bottom of the pack. I think it is likely due to sharp things poking at it. All waterproofing does eventually wear out though. I also noticed 4 rips in the liner that contains the foam back pad. Not a critical location, but I repaired them anyway using SeamGrip, a great rip fixer. These rips are why I don't like really light weight fabric anywhere in a pack.

In April 2000 they were using 840 denier laminated ballistic nylon and the weight was 2lbs 14oz. In December 2000 they were using 840 denier laminated ballistic nylon and the weight was 3lbs 4oz. In 2002 they were using VX-21 fabric and the weight was 3lbs 4oz. In 2008 they were using VX-21 fabric and the weight was 2lbs 15oz. Clearly, they are a bit confused about the pack weight.

I repaired all the rips I could find, and the seam that failed. The pack is currently for sale. It is a very robust pack with lots of life left in it. I think it will last longer than the new WildThings Icesac with the lighter VX-21 fabric. This pack isn't for the folks that cut the ends off their toothbrushes to save weight, but for people that want a pack to last for years even if they abuse it.

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