Biophiliac
I haven't heard of duct tape repairs being required on an MR, and have a hard time believing it would happen...unless somebody punched a carbide tip from their hiking pole through it or something like that.Originally Posted by BCrams
I guess folks will always find new ways to rip or punch holes in things, but the MR material seems pretty durable to me.
"If you want to hunt beasts you don't see every day,
You have to go places quite out-of-the-way.
You have to go places no others can get to,
You have to get cold and you have to get wet, too."
- Dr. Seuss
HuntingBC Champ
Read it in alpine's post. Just merely stated it was humourous reading about it. That was a first hearing about duct tape and MR in the same sentence.
The Peoples Champ
I witnessed it first hand , there was multple MR's up there with mulitiple duct tape patches. They all agreed they were great packs but found they werent as durable as they had thought. Not cutting the MR's down just stating a fact after 1-2 season of guiding they had alot of duct tape on them.
Biophiliac
I am not gonna argue with you about it because you saw what you saw, I am just saying it seems odd that there'd be multiples of the same problem in one spot when it never seems to come up as an issue.
What you saw...was it stitches/seams pulling, or abrasion/wear, or cuts from something sharp?
"If you want to hunt beasts you don't see every day,
You have to go places quite out-of-the-way.
You have to go places no others can get to,
You have to get cold and you have to get wet, too."
- Dr. Seuss
Senior Member
It makes sense that a MR pack would have some duct tape patches on it in comparo to a Barneys. I could see this especially on the bottom of the bag where it would contact the ground when being taken on and off. With the barneys wouldnt the external part of the frame come in contact with the ground first therefore protecting the bottom. I also dont think you would ever see a patch on the bottom of a Tatonka external frame either for just this reason.I dont think it spells out that one has supperior materials just the inherit differences in pack designs.
Just my 02 cents from looking at pics, i dont own any of these packs
fuzzy
HuntingBC Champ
Kind of surprised too, given MR's customer service regarding repairs.
I blew a zipper out of one of the pockets on the waistbelt this fall, and when I called about it they were fairly surprised. Haven't sent it back yet, as I'm still using it fairly regularly. They did offer to put a spare waistbelt in the mail though for when I was ready to ship it.
Watch your 6
I had a porcupine eat a nice hole in my MR a couple seasons ago...definitely could of used some duct tape.
Sent it to MR when I got home and explained what happend, they GLADLY (for free)repaired it and sent a few stickers back with it too
"One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted..." Jose Ortega y Gasset
HuntingBC Champ
I think it's important to note, you are describing professional use of the pack. 1 or 2 seasons guiding can be a lot of wear and tear, much moreso than the guy doing 1 or 2 backpack hunts a year.I witnessed it first hand , there was multple MR's up there with mulitiple duct tape patches. They all agreed they were great packs but found they werent as durable as they had thought. Not cutting the MR's down just stating a fact after 1-2 season of guiding they had alot of duct tape on them.
I kind of doubt it was the stitching that would split, it's triple stitched. But I don't doubt for a second that the bag material could tear, if caught on rocks, or maybe being packed on the back of a horse, who knows.
Carl
Don't Go Ninja'n Nobody, Don't Need Ninja'n!
It is not difficult to have holes made in packcloth, whether this is packcloth, cordura 500 or cordura 1000 due to some situations. I broke and essentially wore out three CampTrails frame packs from 1968 to 1973 and had holes appear in the packbags from abrasive wear inside Greyhound baggage compartments and the cabin bulkhead of the old "Northland Prince"; one such incident happened between Nelson and Taghum, five miles and on a brandnew CampTrails Horizon, the top of the line at that time.
Campfires also can and do make spark holes in backpacks and tentage, this is not a new issue and has nothing to do with the quality of the pack/tent or whatever. I know of guys who ruined high dollar down expedition parkas and sleeping bags shelled with nylon by leaving them too close to the campfire....wine after skiing may have contributed.....
Shit happens and even the finest gear will sometimes break, but, I will, after 33 years of hard use of Dana's packs still recommend them as being the consistently best heavyduty packs I have used. I just wish they could/would use a "bayonet" system and "full Dyneema" as Dan McHale does and on a NICE combo,this would be "perfect", IMHO.
Somebody asked about "The Loadsling", I have one, have carried a weighed 90+ lbs. on my very early Gen 1 NICE frame with it and, for compact, heavy loads, I will take this over any external frame I have ever carried, my Dana Terraframes, included.
For humping a bone-in Elk quarter, a Moose is too much for my damaged right leg at this age, I would prefer a Barney's or similar frame...just much easier to attach an awkward/bulky load the way I like to.
HuntingBC Champ
Very true.....I've seen and communicated with guides from Alaska where the Barney is used for 3 seasons or more guiding and the packs were still holding their own with all that use from guiding / packing sheep early season to packing caribou / moose later.
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