All,

Anybody have any experience good or bad with Mystery Ranch backpacks?

Thanks

I've seen them mentioned on here several times as gtg.

I have a crew cab, well built and comfortable.  A little heavy, and expensive.  But will probably be the last backpack I buy.  Add in the load cells and it does exactly what I need it do.  Modular, reconfigurable, and expandable.

GTG.  Heavier than similar packs, but tougher in the same regards.  It is Dana from the old Dana Design backpacking company.  Talked to him a bit once, he is a nice guy too!

I have a Crew Cab & a 3 Day Assault, MR makes some of the best packs you can buy, customer service is 2nd to none. They are gtg.

I have an ASAP and its awesome, i use it as a daypack. They are expensive but haven't had any issues out of mine and i give it hell.

I have the ASAP.  It's a slightly smaller version of the 3 day assault.  I love the thing.

I also have two of the Camelback versions of the 3 day assault.  Same design but the fit and finish is better on the Mystery Ranch.

I swear by my 3-day assault. I have hiked well over a thousand trail miles, travelled throughout CONUS, carried onto numerous flights and backpacked around south america.

The MR packs are a little bit heavy for their volume, but totally bullet proof construction. The suspension is comfortable, and I am more comfy with my MR 3-day and 45lb's than one of my other backpacker oriented packs and a sub 30lb load.

I would go up a size though, get more volume for a similat weight.

I have several, 1 issued and went and bought a 3 day assault in black for travel. Tough, well designed, COMFORTABLE, durable and long lasting. Tried and true.

I used my 3DAP my last tour in A'Stan...it was perfect for the short but frequent travels I did.  My son wanted to steal it, but I ponied up for his B-Day and his coyote brown version will last him quite a while.  Solid packs, can take a serious beating and truly enough to last you 72-hours.  We take these packs for our primitive/stealth camping trips.



ROCK6

If considering a mystery ranch pack... Do it. I also have a big sky, not pictured

I have an Overload and it is a beast. As mentioned they are heavy, but will  last your lifetime. Now if the daypack lid in multicam would just come back in stock.

Thanks for all the replies!

IMO they are the best in the industry in this type of product along with eberlestock. The versions we had when I was on AD were issued to snipers. They were normally carried in our GMVs in afg with the rifle stored in the ruck, along with all associated gear. A friend uses a mystery to hike-in hunts in Alaska, he swears by it. Another used a Eberlestock in SF where he halo jumped his SR25 in it.

Nothing but good things to say about my 3DAP

They go back to the origins of Dana Designs.    

Among many other brands(Gregory, Osprey, TNF, Arc Teryx) I used to have an original US made Dana Designs Alpine (5000 ci") made entirely in their Overkill material (1000 codura). Backpacked with it for years and years. Doing several week-long solo trips, bushwacking thru scrub/briars, above treeline at 12k alt, etc. Still was in perfect shape when I finally sold it to a friend. The only drawback was it was heavy at 7+lbs. My newest 60L(3661ci") Granite Gear ("Crown 60") pack is only 2lb 2oz and actually has a few more features. Thats a huge diff in weight that I can't ignore. Hell, thats almost one of my ARs in weight savings. Technology marches on I guess..I did love that Dana Designs tho. Great heavy duty pack.  

Fwiw, the new pack from a previous trip. I'm packing it again this morning, since I'm leaving in a few hours for a 3-day solo backpacking trip in the NC mtns.  

Been looking at a Granite Gear for my ultralight outdoor pursuits. They make great packs, and I could have the pack, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, for the same weight as JUST my 3DAP.

However You would wreck a Granite gear blaze AC 60 from use and the Mystery Ranch bag would be just getting broken in.  I wouldn't want to carry a 50lb load with the GG suspension!!

Thread hijack,  have you had the opportunity to compare your Granite Gear with the foam back panel to a modern "suspended"/mesh back panel?  I have looked at that pack before but I am wondering how that plays out on a hot summer day.  I wonder if perhaps for the deep south the suspended back panel is worth the weight.



To be fair I think these packs have very different purposes.  You shouldn't be at 50 lb. on most lightweight packs and most people have no business carrying 50 lb. for backpacking.  Modern lightweight (not "ultralight") gear is not intended to go toe to toe with cargo handling equipment and win but much of it is thorn and rock surface resistant.  Anyone who has truly toasted a modern backpack from use and not neglect has my respect.

I do a lot of UL hiking and camping. Solo i'm happy to keep my gross loadout around 25lb's including food and water; it's only when my girlfriend comes along, and i'm trying to accomodate her inexperience that my loadout aproaches 50lb's.

However a 25lb backpackers load would easily hit the 50lb mark if you added a rifle and some ammo and a medical kit, crossing over into the "shtf" arena.

My point is that while the MR 3DAP is definitely overkill for ultralight backpacking, it will be right at home in a SHTF, or hunting excursion. The Granitw gear bags will excel at the UL pursuits, but maybe be underwhelming, or even subpar for the task when serious load carrage becomes necesity.

I did a 500 mile Appalachian trail hike, took a month, virginia to New York. The whole thing is 2000 miles and a 3-4 month journey. Many "thru-hikers" I had met, had about 1000 miles of trail down and were either about to retire their starting packs, or would soon be receiving a new replacement. The Osprey, Deuter, REI packs all seemed to blow out around 1000 trail miles or 60 days of rough hiking.

Years later and thousands of miles later my 3DAP is still chugging along.