Packs: Mystery Ranch vs Kuiu Icon

[spear]

I've got a metcalf, your estimate sounds about right. I've had it loaded to 65lbs plus 7 lbs of rifle. Its comfortable at that weight, doesnt not feel like its pulling away or down at all, higher load lifters are WAAYYY better than the crew cab was. I\ll be taking this pack on 12 day sheep trip up the muskwa come August. The metcalf is a huge improvement over the crew cab in my mind, I took the lid of and emptied the pack out save water/snacks/spotter, it felt non existent and had zero movement when the compression straps were cinched down.
I would love to see MR come out with a spottig scope pocket similar to what the stone glacier pack has.

[KB90]

Got my 2013 Icon 7200 and Frame in the mail today!

First impressions are great, fit and feel are awesome. Going to load it right up and go for a hike tonight, I put about 40 pounds in it and walked around the house, love it so far.

[limit time]

Got my 2013 Icon 7200 and Frame in the mail today!

First impressions are great, fit and feel are awesome. Going to load it right up and go for a hike tonight, I put about 40 pounds in it and walked around the house, love it so far.

NICE! I like it, can you give a report on it?

[bcsteve]

NICE! I like it, can you give a report on it?

Sorry, you can't use "NICE" while referring to a Kuiu pack, it's a trademark of Mystery Ranch!

[ryanb]

I have a Kifaru Timberline. The non-bikini frame version. This is essentially the same pack as the DT1 without the interchangeable bags. This pack has done well packing some heavy loads in the year I have owned it. Very comfortable.


I will say that the stitching from the Kifaru factory was pretty marginal. I had 30% of spot stitches beginning to unravel after only one hunt. It had to go back to the factory for repair with a promise from Kifaru that they would reimburse my costs for shipping it back to them. I received the pack back, but no compensation for the shipping costs in any way.

The problem stitches were just doubled up on. Time will tell if the repairs last any length of time. I do honestly believe that they make a quality product, and that my pack was a Friday-afternoon-special. But I have heard of some stitching issues on some other's packs.

[todbartell]

Speaking from real world experience? Or what you've heard from the store?

just ribbin' my buddy KES...........carry on

[mod7rem]

One thing to consider is that regardless of quality, not all packs designs will work with all body types. One of my earlier packs was a camp trails external, and after doing some customizing it was fairly comfortable and carried some heavy loads but the durability and design features is very low. Another pack I have is a first Gen kifaru long hunter guide, and that pack is light, extremely tough and reliable, thoughtfully designed, but with loads over 65 lbs the waist belt and harness just doesn't work well with my body style no matter what adjustments I made. A few years ago I had a McHale critical mass pack built for myself and it works awesome with heavy loads on my body, has some features that other packs don't, is extremely tough and durable, but is more money than kifaru and mystery ranch. My best advice is figure out how much you're willing to spend then try and demo whichever brands you can that are the right size, because one of them is going to work better just based on your body shape alone.