After one year use of my Aether pro 75 i have come to the drastic conclusion: The carrying system is perfect for me, but the rest is absolutely not. I will take a scissor and cut of the sack and make a better one! The carrying system is the best i have had for my 50+ years of hiking. Biggest load this summer was 33 kgs plus a big camera connected to the carrying straps. No pain walking with this load. The backpack almost become a part of my body. The carrying system is perfect! But the rest is not. This "columbian egg" trying to combine a fully equipped backpack for longer trips with a stripped version for shorter/lighter trips doesn`t work well. In short: An extra top lid adds extra weight and trouble when packing. The side pockets are relative heavy compared to their practical function. The open one suits for, and works well to hold the waterbottle and the zip pocket at the oyher side is good for a lot of stuff. But theese functions do I need at any trip. So where to put this items when you strip off the side- and lid pockets? I very much miss the mesh pockets nearly all backpacks have. (So I made some pockets to connect as extra pocket. But they are not sewn to the sack, so they do not work perfect. But here comes my biggest dissapointment: The pockets and the pack can`t protect against the lightest rain! The top lid pocket and the side pocket with zip collects the rain water inside and is useless for any item you want to keep dry ( yes, i have lightweight waterproof bags inside) . Just by looking at the zippers, you understand why: ordinary zippers works like a sieve against water. Why not use more water resistant zippers? Of course its not a waterproof backpack, but I had hoped it could stand against a little rain without be soaking wet inside. Maybe I am spoiled after using waterproof backpacks and packs ( like sealine and overboard) on canoe adventures for a couple of decades. Every item thrown into the packpack is always dry. So I mean its time for the big backpack producers to go for waterproof backpacks. I see they are coming with smaller backpacks, but not the bigger ones. I wanted a lightweight water resistant, or best, a water proof backpack with a very good carrying system. But all the lightweight waterproof backpacks i have looked at do not have a very good carrying system. They are all to simple. And the ordinary backpacks is not made to use outside in rainy weather - they need to have a rain cover, which adds weight and blocks the access to items in the backpack, and I hate them. So I decided to dismantle my Osprey Aether pro 75, keep the carrying system and build a new waterproof pack. More to come :-)
After one year use of my Aether pro 75 i have come to the drastic conclusion: The carrying system is perfect for me, but the rest is absolutely not. I will take a scissor and cut of the sack and make a better one!
The carrying system is the best i have had for my 50+ years of hiking. Biggest load this summer was 33 kgs plus a big camera connected to the carrying straps. No pain walking with this load. The backpack almost become a part of my body. The carrying system is perfect!
But the rest is not. This "columbian egg" trying to combine a fully equipped backpack for longer trips with a stripped version for shorter/lighter trips doesn`t work well. In short: An extra top lid adds extra weight and trouble when packing. The side pockets are relative heavy compared to their practical function. The open one suits for, and works well to hold the waterbottle and the zip pocket at the oyher side is good for a lot of stuff. But theese functions do I need at any trip. So where to put this items when you strip off the side- and lid pockets? I very much miss the mesh pockets nearly all backpacks have. (So I made some pockets to connect as extra pocket. But they are not sewn to the sack, so they do not work perfect.
But here comes my biggest dissapointment: The pockets and the pack can`t protect against the lightest rain! The top lid pocket and the side pocket with zip collects the rain water inside and is useless for any item you want to keep dry ( yes, i have lightweight waterproof bags inside) . Just by looking at the zippers, you understand why: ordinary zippers works like a sieve against water. Why not use more water resistant zippers? Of course its not a waterproof backpack, but I had hoped it could stand against a little rain without be soaking wet inside. Maybe I am spoiled after using waterproof backpacks and packs ( like sealine and overboard) on canoe adventures for a couple of decades. Every item thrown into the packpack is always dry. So I mean its time for the big backpack producers to go for waterproof backpacks. I see they are coming with smaller backpacks, but not the bigger ones.
I wanted a lightweight water resistant, or best, a water proof backpack with a very good carrying system. But all the lightweight waterproof backpacks i have looked at do not have a very good carrying system. They are all to simple. And the ordinary backpacks is not made to use outside in rainy weather - they need to have a rain cover, which adds weight and blocks the access to items in the backpack, and I hate them. So I decided to dismantle my Osprey Aether pro 75, keep the carrying system and build a new waterproof pack. More to come :-)