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So looking at a few Osprey packs going to be used for work and camping with the family. I work for the National parks at Big Bend park part of my job is to hike the trails two times a week trail can be 1 mile round trip to 14 miles or more. This pack is also going to carry my medical gear what I'm allowed to carry now and what I will carry when I get my EMT. This is also going to be my search and rescue pack its going to be used for just about everything. What I'm wanting to know is how large of a pack do you really need? I'm looking at the Aether AG packs 85,70,60 liter packs one thing I do like is that they have a day pack on them also.
So price is not an issue only $40 between the smallest and largest pack. Issue is this I do not want a pack that is so big that it looks sloppy if its not full but also want a size that can carry what I need. Not sure how this pack looks half full or with a little in it maybe someone can help or give advice on that to me. Yet I do not want to go to small I know I'm the person who on camping trips carries most of the gear a lot of the time the wife throws her stuff in my pack. The 50L Kelty Redwing my wife has is OK for weekend car camping think i need more then that! So like to hear your advice!
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That's a tough call and depends heavily on the location, season, and activities. Being SAR, you'll likely have a heavier and bulkier load. Remember that for packs, don't just focus on their capacity, focus on the comfort range for actual weight. I love my ULA Circuit pack which is my three-season backpacking bag, but I have to take care not to exceed the weight limits (about 30-35 pounds) or the comfort level really starts to drop. I don't like floppy packs and I don't like hanging a ton of stuff on the outside of my pack...which means I have more than a few packs
Functional compression is key to keeping a larger pack from flopping around when not fully loaded and not too many do this very well.
I'm seriously looking at Seek Outside packs solely because I want a pack that is relatively light, but can haul heavier loads (most of their packs are rated to over 100 pounds). They do have an external frame, but the beauty is that you can switch out a larger pack for a smaller pack on the same frame, but even the mid-sized packs compress quite well. Expensive, but an option I'm seriously considering as we plan to do some backpacking next year where we'll have to carry bear canisters for food and potentially carry more water (more water weight).
How large of a pack you need depends on your gear, length of trip (without resupply) and how much water you need to actually carry on-board. Can you get anyplace that has these packs in stock where you can load up with your gear and have them fitted properly? I have an Atmos 65 I picked up at a significant discount, but really don't care for the pack too much. I use it as a loaner pack for those without lightweight gear and who have mostly used crappy backpacks...all of them have loved it. Again, watch pack capacity verse their weight capacity. Even with a large capacity (80+liters), some packs limit weight to 50 pounds which really ends up making your pack floppy from a smaller load or extremely uncomfortable with a heavier load.
For me, 65 liters is a large pack. My base-weight fluctuates between 12-15 pounds and for a summer 8-12-day trip (100-150 miles), my full pack weight (with 2-3 liter of water, 7-8 days of food, and fuel) is rarely more than 30 pounds. Still, if you haul any significant amount of water, your pack weight will easily creep to 50-60 pounds. Food choices, and shelter types can also add a lot of extra weight. Ideally, I would want a ~65 liter pack, some optional add-on pouches for more capacity during colder seasons; large water bottle side pockets (ULA pockets are awesome). A frame/suspension that would be comfortable with weights up to 60-70 pounds, a decent, expandable storm collar, but still enough compression to minimize a load down to 35 liters without being "floppy". A tall order, but Seek Outside is about as close as a I can get right now...
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