Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Gear to drool over: The Sub 60 Fast Pack

Matthew Kirk, the hiking maven who completed the Applichian trail in record time is apparently offering a version of his pack for sale. Being a bag and gear guy, I can't help but love it. Some features of note:

  • Of course it's ultralight hiker's dream, supporting 0 to 25L worth of gear. That's right, it's still useful with almost no gear in it at all, acting as a hydration vest.
  • It's battle tested over 4000 miles. This isn't just some arm-chair designer's idea of what might work.
  • It uses a number of unique features, like a vest style fit, bandolier storage, waist belt access.
  • The pack assembly is also unique, leveraging items like heavy duty twist ties, which allow for a custom fit without having to actually sew anything.

At $90, I don't have a need strong enough to justify a purchase. But as a project that shows how feasible it is to get your custom design into the hands of the public, it's downright impressive.

Here's a video overview of the pack:

The only thing the pack won't do is schedule time in your calendar to get out and go backpacking. Unfortunately, that's the feature I need the most!

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:05 PM

    Completely with on on the "schedule time for backpacking" feature. So hard to do that one!
    -Eric

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  2. Glad I'm not the only one!

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  3. Just received the pack in the mail. I'm really impressed with all the pieces, the mesh is far, far better than I was expecting, I can definitely see how he got so many miles out of one pack! The workmanship is outstanding...whoever Matt got to sew these up for him did a perfect job, I literally can't fault a single stitch. I'm putting mine together tonight when I get home from work.

    Getting a pack in the mail in literally an A4 cardboard sleeve is just incredible...

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  4. Adam -

    Thanks for sharing. You'll have to let me know how the pack performs after you've had a chance to get an outing with it. Sounds really promising.

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