Time for a new daypack

I've been very happy with the Deuter Gogo daypack – it seems to be nearly perfect for everything that I want to do with it.  Therefore, the best solution for its replacement would be to buy a new one, exactly the same.  Unfortunately, in our consumer world, having a good product is no reason to keep manufacturing it, so the Deuter Gogo is now discontinued and there is no close replacement in Deuter’s product range.  This means that I have to go on the search for another pack that fulfils the same purpose.

So what is that purpose – what do I use a daypack for?  Broadly, I use it to carry around whatever I may need during the course of a single day, but not usually for things that I will need for an overnight trip, hence the term ‘daypack’.  There are three main purposes that I want my day pack to be able to fulfil:

Day bushwalking: to carry first aid, food, water, clothing for changing condition such as heat, cold, and rain, and my camera,

Urban exploration: to carry a smaller and less exacting version of the things I carry for day bushwalking,

Luggage: as an auxiliary bag, including as a carry-on bag. 

To achieve these functions I want my daypack to have these features:

A capacity of around 25 litres: not much less, and only maybe a little more.  (Certainly not too big to be carry-on luggage on an aeroplane.)  A pack should be as small as possible to reduce weight and volume, but a pack that is too small is a frustration as you will, at times, have to work out what you will have to leave behind if you have too much to fit into it.

Strong material: full-on bushwalking packs get only irregular use, and so can be made from light-weight material to keep the weight down.  For a few hundred grams more a pack made of tougher material will fare much better with continuous daily use, and with time spent going in and out of luggage holds and overhead lockers. 

A ventilated back: to reduce sweatiness on my back.  Even in quite cold weather my back can gets terribly sweaty and ventilation is a big help.  The best setup is a suspended mesh that completely separates the body of you pack from your back, allowing excellent airflow.  If a pack is to be used predominately for bushwalking this is definitely the best setup; however it increases the bulk and complexity of the pack and makes it prone to getting caught up with things.

The next best option is channelled open-cell foam covered with mesh; the channel is along your spine to allow air to move through.  This setup is a good compromise for more general use.

A waist band: a waist band is a good idea if you're pack is heavy; say, more than 3-4 kilograms. A waistband transfers some of the pack's weight to your hips, lightening the load on your shoulders.  A waistband also helps to stop the pack from swinging from side to side, especially if your scrambling or climbing anywhere.

The best waistband to achieve this is a broad padded waistband.  Again, if a pack is to be used predominately for bushwalking this is definitely the best setup; however a broad padded waistband gets in the way when its not being used and is prone to getting tangled with other things when you pack is in overhead lockers in an aeroplane or in the hold of a bus.  The alternative is a simple webbing (plain strap) waistband.  These can usually be shortened and clipped up under the daypack, or even removed completely to keep it out of the way when you are not using it.

External water bottle pockets: easy access to a water bottle without digging around in the interior of your pack is very convenient.  The downside is that the water bottle can easily be lost or stolen from the external pocket.  I nearly lost my water bottle when a friend gave me a lift to the airport in Belfast and it slipped out of the external pocket while my daypack was on the floor behind the front seats of the car.  Fortunately, a travel companion who was meeting up with me later was able to bring it on.

Storage pockets: having too many storage pockets in a day pack is a nuisance, as you have to search through them all when you are looking for something.  I like three storage pockets, one full-width pocket to keep my 11.5 inch laptop to the back of the pack and separated from the other pack contents, one external pocket for quick-access items such as tissues and lip screen, and one internal pocket near the top of the pack to keep my camera away from the other pack contents, quickly accessible, but still safely within the pack.  I don't like a separate, padded sleeve (a compartment with it's own external zip) for the laptop as it takes up too much room when the laptop isn't in the pack, which it usually isn't unless I'm travelling.

A key hook: I usually have keys to carry: accommodation keys, keys for my main bag, and occasionally car keys.  Keys easily drop to the bottom of the pack or find their way out of the pack when something else is being removed.  An attached snap-lock key hook ensures that keys stay safe and easy to find.  The key hook is best located in the external pocket.

After online research and examining many day packs in several different shops I came to the conclusion that there was no pack on the market that entirely met my specification.  This is frustrating because I know that such a pack that 95% met my requirements existed in the recent past (my Deuter Gogo), and yet the whole industry doesn’t make a daypack just like that now as far as I can find out.

So what day pack did I get?  My best match to my criteria was a Kathmandu Trail Head daypack.  This pack is comfortable to wear, strong, and fulfils nearly all of my requirements. This is it:

Here’s the back of it:

You can see the channelled open-cell-foam mesh-covered back and straps, and the webbing waistband.

I’m generally very happy with this pack; it's very comfortable to wear even with 7-8 kilograms in it; but it’s not perfect and it could so easily have been. 

Its greatest downfall is that the interior pocket is halfway down the inside of the pack, rather than near the top.  This means that it is hard to access it when I’m carrying more that a minimal amount of stuff in the pack.  If I’m not taking much stuff with me on a walk I’ll put it in my pockets and leave the pack behind; so I never take the daypack out nearly empty, and consequently the internal pocket is never very accessible. 

Other less important downfalls are that both the interior and exterior pockets are quite small; the external water bottle holders are made of stiff non-stretch material that pushes a water bottle into the side of the pack and reduces the interior space (however, the water bottle holders are quite secure as they have retaining straps).  A key hook is provided, but it is in the poorly-accessible inner pocket, so it’s not easy to get to when you need it.

This pack is also a little heavier (960 grams) than my old Deuter Gogo (590 grams), but as that is the result of tougher construction material I don’t mind.  Of course, 370 grams makes little difference when the pack is commonly loaded up to 5 - 8 kilograms, but when you are on the weight limit for carry-on luggage a few hundred grams can be important – that’s 370 grams of something that you can’t take.     

Here’s my new daypack in action, at Barrow lookout in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney:

My daypack before my last one was also a Kathmandu pack – an 18 litre Gluon pack similar to this one.  While that pack had no external water bottle pockets and was a little small at times, it did have well-positioned and good-sized interior and exterior pockets and an accessible key hook, qualities that my new Kathmandu pack doesn’t have, as well as few other good design features.  I’m amazed at how companies so often de-evolve their products!

If you enjoyed this blog post, you can find related posts under these headings:

Bushwalking, Practical

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