Review by Rowe Rowe:

this pack is overall a good quality pack. It has tons of pockets and loops to hook many things on. I have walkies, knives, shoes and much more dangling from mine.

It’s lightweight and the pack has lots of customization options. If you are a large person (6′ 0″ and up) this pack can conform to you!

I like the options, including the sleeping bag pouch. My sleeping bag barely fit though…It was a challenge to stuff my bag and get it zipped, let me tell you! Afterwards, I was able to place a tent, 4 days of food and clothes, a stove, lantern, pillow, pad, cups, walkies and so much more. Fully loaded for a summer hike kept me

Review by D. Heuer:

I will qualify this review by saying that I am not an expert backpacker. I got this pack for a three-day trip in the Smoky Mountains. We started out the trip on a rainy day. The built in rain cover worked really well, although it was not big enough to cover the pack AND a sleeping pad I had attached to the outside of the pack. As a result, my sleeping bag, which was at the bottom of my pack, the region left partially exposed, did get a little damp. It actually didn’t get as wet as I’d expected, though … it was pouring that first day. Had I been a bit more experienced a backpacker, I would have put my sleeping bag in a waterproof bag. All this to say that the rain cover works well for the bag, but won’t necessarily accommodate extra things attached to the outside.

The bag has a compartment in the lower section for a sleeping bag. I was eager to try this out (to avoid unpacking my entire bag every night), however, my sleeping bag did not fit through the opening. It is not a super-compact sleeping bag, but it’s also not bulky. The compartment was able to be opened to the rest of the pack, though and I simply put the sleeping bag in from the top (as it turned out, I had to unpack almost my entire pack each night anyway to get food and a change of clothes).

The bag is set up to be used with a hydration bladder (although it doesn’t come with one). I was able to get one before my trip and was really pleased with the way it worked. The pouch for the bladder is inside the pack, so does require unpacking (or rearranging) to remove or replace the bladder, but as I said above, I was doing that each night anyway. It easily accommodated the 3-liter bladder I got, and it was nice to have water so easily accessible while hiking.

The only other thing I have to comment on are the external pockets. It has two mesh pockets on either side, and one on the lower back side of the pack. It also has two enclosed pockets on either side and one on the top of the pack. The mesh side pockets were too small to hold a Nalgene bottle (that would have been nice). I also think a couple extra pockets (or larger pockets) higher up on the sides would have been nice for more quick access options.

Overall, I thought this pack was great, especially for the price. It did very well for me on my trip of 3 days / 2 nights. I would definitely recommend it for someone like me who wants an affordable, reliable pack for occasional trips.

Review by Robert M. Ruzanski:

This pack is built very well and has a ton of storage space!! Doesn’t have a internal frame but it does have a plastic support that goes up the back of the pack to keep in rigid. Very comfortable back padding and straps.

Review by Peter Mwangi.:

Very large enough for my camping and hiking activities. The colours are magnificient and i just love looking at it.

Review by Randy Hillyard:

I got my pack in today and the first thing I did was inspect it from top to bottom. Everything seems to be well made, well stiched, and very durable. It has alot of pockets, extra tie downs for add on’s, and the waist/shoulder straps seem to be well padded.

It did not specify in the description, but it does have a place to put a water bladder with an exit hole for the tube.

As in other reviews one complaint was stiff zippers, but I found the zippers to open easily, they are large zippers with cord attached, the only difficulty I had was with the zipper on the bottom section and it wasn’t the zipper that caused the problem, but the flap that covered it, however I found this to be a problem on all of the packs I have looked at.

I looked at alot of packs at many different stores. Prior to finding this pack, I was about to spend 0 for one the same size, it did carry a life time warranty, however no more than I paid for this pack, I can afford to replace it if it gets damaged beyond repair.

I originally gave this pack a good review, however I used my pack for the first time this past weekend and the quality of this pack is horrible…on the very first day of the hike a zipper broke, and the belt fastener of the waist band broke. On the second day i was securing my sleeping bag and the strap broke, so i had to finish my hike without a waist strap and i had to tie my sleeping bag onto my pack. I am currently trying to find out how to contact the company so i can see about getting my money back.

Review by C. Wood:

There are a lot of better packs on the market and if you’re going on an extended hike, you might want to purchase something more expensive. However, for a short hike, and for the money, this is an excellent pack. As another reviewer mentioned, the zippers are surprisingly stiff, but I haven’t found that to be a problem, just an annoyance. The design is a little lacking in how the weight is distributed across the shoulders and back, which means that you need to be a little more careful in the way you pack (heaviest items on bottom), but my pack weighs 55 lbs, and I can carry it fine. Also, the internal frame is covered with a poorly designed vinyl flap inside the main storage compartment. As I use the pack I often accidentally stuff items inside the frame pocket by mistake. It’s not a big deal, because the items aren’t irretrievable, it just means that sometimes I wonder where something went, only to discover that it’s inside the frame pocket. But for this price … I honestly don’t care. This isn’t the best, but when considering the price and product, and comparing those factors to other packs, I can say that I’m honestly very happy with my purchase. I’m using one as a preparedness bug-out-bag, and I think this is a great value.

Review by John Doe:

This is a nice pack with lots of features. Great for beginners and how can you beat the price? Wow. I should have noted from the other reviewer, that this pack is *small* (he could not get it to fit and he was 6’2″). While capicity is very large, and lots of attachment options exist, the frame is set up for very small people. I am 5’10″ and set the pack to the very largest frame setting and still had serious pain carrying the pack when full (45lbs). This pack is truly a woman’s or more likely a youth sized pack. On the smallest settings it fits my [...]son perfectly – so I am keeping it for him.

Review by B. Holmes:

I take about one 3 week packpack trip a year. I recently used this for a 3 week stint in SE Asia. It was actually a little bigger than I’d like but it was rather inexpensive for the type of backpack so I gave it a try. Unless you are going to a cold place, you shouldn’t need more than 55L. My friend bought the Teton 55L off Amazon and I rather liked it, so I’m buying that one next. I was going to originally get that but Amazon’s prices seem to change quite a bit on these backpacks. One week it was , next , next .

PROS:

-It’s big. I went there using only about 60% of the capacity. I ended up buying a lot more stuff than I usually do just because I knew I had the space.

-The materials are very good quality. For the price, I was very surprised. I’d guess it would be around 0-0 if I saw it in the store for the first time.

-Sleeping bag compartment, pretty easy access.

CONS:

-It’s HEAVY. I would put it at 6 pounds empty. I was rather irritated when I picked it up. It’s the heaviest backpack I’ve ever picked up.

-The design is really poor. The number of straps and plastic snaps is beyond insane. Not only that, most of the straps are over twice the length you need it to be, even for a large person. There are several I had no clue what they did, like the bottom ones. There are both loops and straps on the bottom of it for an unknown reason. This all adds a ton of weight. In fact, I spent about 3 hours clipping off all the straps and buckles I didn’t need or figure out what the purpose was. I also removed the huge, oversized hip pads/straps. I then used industrial glue to redo the straps. I removed nearly 3 pounds from it.

-The 10+ refers to the top being used as a hip bag, there’s a rather large, heavy buckle in the top part that you use to strap around your waist. Not only is it awkward to wear, it’s the dorkiest looking thing. I’d put it on par with duct-tape and a large zip-lock freezer baggie.

-Water bottle holders are too short, my water kept falling out. I ended up just carrying it in my hand.

-The rain cover in the top is pointless to me. more weight I got rid of. It’d help if you are in a downpour but who treks when it’s raining that heavy. Maybe if you’re in the woods and can’t get decent shelter…or you want to use it to make a temp shelter… For light rain, the material is semi-water resistant. I just sprayed some water-proofer on it before I left and voila, zero weight water resistant.

-The side pockets are useless. I like the ones that actually are compartments. These are just folds that expand out. I could only stick a couple folded shirts in them.

-Material is high quality, however it’s also very heavy again adding to the weight

-The top is only held on by plastic buckles, the kind that easily come un-done when check-in’d at the airport. I used metals clasps to secure them for flight. If they come undone, I could easily imagine your contents being dumped all over the tarmac.

-The main compartment’s height/width ratio is not good. It’s basically a long slender tube. It’d be better to have the widget and depth increased and have it a few inches shorter like most others.

-The main straps that go over the shoulder, which supports the entire bag are nearly ripped apart and I didn’t have much weight in it. It can easily be fixed with ‘gorilla glue’ which I used on other parts as well. There’s only a line of stitching on each strap supporting the entire weight. For the most critical, stressed stitch…spend the extra penny to make it more secure.

SUMMARY:

Good for the price. I might suggest it if you are mountain backpacking and are more interested in getting something decent for a cheap price but for backpack traveling, there are a lot better options, even in the -0 range.

Review by Robert:

I’m one who think that good things shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. This pack has some very nice features that the 0.00+ packs have. Bellows pockets. Plenty of room for the sleeping bag, bunches of space, easy zippers, a rain cover and is fully adjustable in all the right places.

Cons: It’s a bit heavy at 5.5lbs ..but I’ve seen quite a few of the more expensive packs at the same weight. Also the bottle pockets aren’t easy to reach with the pack on and loaded …can be done but not easy.

I’ve paid more and had fewer features than this pack. Not a bad buy at all …now I’m off to the Cascades for a good season of testing!

Fall Update:

After a summer backpacking around the Washington Wilderness areas, I would still have to say that this pack was a good buy. Plenty of room and easy to get to everything. So much room! Although a summer of backpacking sure helped point out the bad parts, two of them mainly: The back is heavy and it doesn’t completely sit on your back well. The contour allows air to the back which is nice but it is as if the lumbar support is off a bit ..a little to low mainly.

At the same time, the pros outweighed the cons enough so that I didn’t go back to my old pack which is *much* lighter with better padding and I used this pack through the whole 2006 season.

Review by Wonk Girl:

I took this pack on safari and basically kicked the crap out of it. It was great. Enough pockets to keep your stuff separate, but not so many that you couldn’t remember where you put things. Very comfortable, and easy to reach the straps to adjust the pack. I carried water separately, so I can’t comment on the other reviewer’s issue with the water pockets.

Review by Tyler T. Kutz:

I bought this backpack for a two day hike in the Superstition Mountains (Arizona). I was very pleased with the product but couldn’t help but be annoyed with some of its features.

The Good:

It’s HUGE! I was able to fit my share of the equipment and my sleeping bag INSIDE the backpack (and my sleeping bag is fairly large).

It’s comfortable. Obviously lugging 50+ pounds up a mountain is hard, but this pack certainly helps out. A layer of padding is put in front of the frame to make it more comfortable on your back. The waist strap is also padded (make sure that strap is pulled tight!)

The Bad:

It has one large compartment, and four very small ones. Much of your gear will be thrown into one large space, making it difficult to retrieve a single item (unless it’s on top).

The aforementioned main compartment does not have a zipper. It has a drawstring that will partially conceal the inside, and then the “flap” folds over the top. The flap has an elastic edge that stretches around the pack. The only problem is that unless the pack is stuffed full the elastic has nothing to stretch over, which leaves the inside unprotected. The top flap then buckles to the body of the pack.

The zippers are hard to open.

All in all, a good pack, especially for such a good price. I’m sure you could get a better product, but only if you’re willing to fork over a lot more money.

Review by R. Schueler:

I was a little skeptical becuase of how inexpensive it was (compared to other bags that seemed to be just like it), but I lugged it around Europe for 3 weeks and it worked great. Someone else mentioned the zippers were a little hard to zip, and they are, but I found that to be a very minor flaw. My traveling companion also got the same bag and liked his, too.

Review by C. Holmes:

Why is this pack so inexpensive? I thought I was buying this because it looked like a decent pack for the price but I really didn’t expect so much. Most quality packs are well over 0 and some even approach 0 for this kind of quality. I was so blown away with the quality construction and all the “extras” that I’m still a little speechless. What’s the catch? I dare say this is the best experience I’ve ever had buying anything online and I buy quite a bit. So if you are wondering if you should buy the Scout3400 backpack by TETON Sports, take my word for it, you’ll be incredibly pleased. I can’t say enough about how much pack this is for the money. If 6 stars could be given, this one would get it.

Review by Srinivasan Venkataramani:

I took this bag to Mt. Whitney – hiked up to Trail camp with it and back. I think that’s quite a beating for a bag like that.

Pros:

- Cost. Probably the best deal for

- Quite sturdy and the sleeping bag compatment helps with packing the bag even better.

- Lots of pockets

- Good lower back support

- Strong back support buckle/clip

- Quality synthetic fabric should last forever.

- Compact. Keeps the load together very well.

Cons:

- The clips/buckles are not good quality plastic. The chest attachment slipped out of place on the very first trip. Granted, my bag was like 40 lb and I was putting it to test at that weight in that terrain, by placing a good portion of the weight on the chest but that’s what these bags are supposed to do.

- 3500 cu.in is good but for longer trips 4500-5500 is nicer.

- Middle, upper back support is good but not as good as other bags that have a strong aluminium frame on the back.

Overall, it’s a great product for the price. If you are going to DEPEND on it, meaning that if it broke, you’d be stranded in the middle of a long hiking trip, then I don’t feel confident enough on this bag. I’d pay the extra money to get something that will give me the peace of mind of not breaking at all. Unfortunately, such bags are easily at least 2-3 times the cost of this bag. For expeditions, not too heavy loads, camping trips, etc. where you have a vehicle you can place this bag or have a backup option (store close by to buy a replacement as a worst case scenario), I think this is awesome.

Review by Curt Daniels:

I read the earlier review about the sleeping bag pocket being too small, but bought this backpack anyway. Sure enough, you weren’t lying! As soon as I took the backpack out of the box, I grabbed my sleeping bag and tried to stuff it in there. After about 5 minutes of jockying it around, I did manage to BARELY get the thing zipped up. However, the sleeping bag I used is my summer bag. If I tried to stuff my winter bag in there, with bivy sack and stuff sack, there’s no way it would all fit. This can be a problem if you’re intending on doing a legitimate backpacking trip in high altitudes with cold weather. All this being said, I’m in the Army and I take a different approach to this issue than most civilian hikers probably do. In my opinion, you don’t need to have your sleeping bag available for quick access. The only time you use it is at night, when you’ll have time to dig in your bag and get it anyway. Since the sleeping bag pocket is too small, just throw your sleeping bag in the big compartment…this compartment is large enough to easily hold a winter bag. Use the sleeping bag compartment for more important items that you might actually need to access quickly (medical kit, rain gear, flashlight, signaling device, GPS, knife, etc.) Therefore, problem solved. No need to return the bag.

Another negative I saw mentioned in a previous review is all the excess straps that hang loose. Not a problem…just get some 100mph tape and tie it all down. Too easy.

The rest of the pack seems to be quality. The material seems durable and there is a good deal of padding along the back and straps for a comfortable fit. Everything is adjustable so you won’t have any problems getting this backpack to fit all shapes and sizes of hikers. It also has a quickly accessible rain cover which will definitely come in handy during those suprise thunderstorms.

All in all, this pack seems to be pretty reasonable for the price you pay. I’m going to Colorado for a 3 day hike soon and will be taking this pack with me. I’ll update this review upon return to let you know how it holds up in the elements.

Review by A. PRESING:

This is my initial review on the bag. I will add a followup review after a 3 day backpacking trip next weekend.

Pros: (Quite a few, generally happy with initial inspection)

Lots of adjustments

A decent number of pockets and options for storage(example would be a mesh velcro pocket on the face of the bag good for maps, energy bars, etc.)

Straps seem to be of decent overall quality, and there is what looks like a sleeping bag/sleeping pad strap near the bottom of the bag. There is also two straps on the very top of the bag that seem like they could be used to strap something down. Nice to have the option to securely strap some gear to the outside of the bag.

2 Mesh water bottle pockets on either side, couldn’t tell by the product description or pictures but they are there! Phew.

Bright Yellow Rain Cover is located in a nifty pocket at the very bottom of the bag, nice feature.

A few loops on the outside for strapping things down.

Holds up to a 3 liter bladder with an exit whole and clips to keep in reach.

Seems to be of Durable build and quality. Field tests soon.

Cons: (Only one real con for me, two cons if you are taller)

Sleeping bag compartment is SMALL, well actually its initially more of an issue with it’s opening. I have a decently small winter bag that I can’t fit in when its in it’s stuff sack, at all. If I take the bag out of the stuff sack and stuff it into the compartment, it just BARELY fits, nice to know that it could though. For me, I will most likely use the straps on the outside of the bag to hold my sleeping bag, I have hooked it up and it seems to work pretty well(Almost like it was made to hold a sleeping bag). 4000ci is not that much room for a winter backpacking trip so having my sleeping bag on the outside will create a decent amount of space for say my clothes, sleeping pad, and cooking gear in the sleeping bag compartment. If you are someone who must have a sleeping bag compartment, this will work for summer camping but a winter sleeping bag will be very tough to fit in, the one and only con for me but big enough to deter some people. If you are someone who doesn’t mind sticking the sleeping bag on the outside where it would work out just fine in the bag’s straps, then this con is not that much of an issue.

Not for TALL people. This bag seems to fit me ok but I am not a very big guy. I’m about 5’9 – 5’10 and it is a close fit. I think it will work just perfectly for me but if you are above 6 ft or anything, beware(then again I am pretty new to backpacking and this is MY first pack).

Overall:

In the end, I bought this smaller bag over the cheaper and larger cuscus bags because of the many reviews those had with cheap build quality. They get a lot of space with their big bag but have a lot of issues with bag quality. I sacrificed some space for quality and extra features. I am a little disappointed by the small backpack compartment but if I have my pack on the outside, this bag should work quite perfectly. I’d say for summer camping this bag is Perfect and for winter camping, if you can stick your sleeping bag on the outside, this bag is near-perfect. I will do an update in about a week after I give this bag a good hard test.

4/5 stars for not being 100% “perfect” but an overall good bag.

UPDATE:

Went for my November 3 day backpacking trip and this bag performed perfectly. Was comfortable and carried all of my gear with ease. I was able to pack up everything and more. The pack worked as good as I hoped it would and with the sleeping bag in the straps on the outside, it was a non-issue. No complaints, no problems, this bag is awesome. Great deal. Love it.

Review by Parkakat:

This pack has thick fabric and looks tough. But looks can be deceiving. The stitching along the back inside walls popped when I used it as checked baggage on a two-hop flight.

The popped seams are visible from the outside. When I looked inside, I found that the reinforcement tape over the seams was not properly aligned, and one of the two rows of stitches was not on the reinforcement tape. So one row of fairly weak thread is all that is holding these two seams together. The whole back wall could come open if they fail.

There are lots of roomy pockets. But all the pockets have only one zipper pull. This means that if the zipper fails, the pockets will be useless. It also mean there is not one pocket that can be locked on the pack.

Beyond that, the design is good, and the pack is reasonably comfortable. But if you are doing any serious hiking or traveling, equipment failure could spell disaster.

This pack is good for light use, lightly packed for short trips or hikes. If you are going to use it for anything else, inspect the seams closely on arrival, and test it out with a full load before venturing out.

Review by poprocksuicide:

This is a very good deal. I looked at packs for almost a month before resting on this one. Tough construction and rain resistant, I’ve had no problems in my last four backpacks. All straps are adjustable and comfortable. I gave this five stars because the price is so extremely cheap for a great pack.

Review by 1000Books:

I had a bag that was closer to 2300ci. After pre-packing, I realized that I wanted a far larger bag for my 10 day trek through China. This completely fit the bill and is a fraction of the price of similar bags. It is well made for the most part. The only thing I had a problem with is the strap that goes across the chest. It is not attached in such a manner that it can be removed(which some people like). As a result, it’s easy to lose this piece. Not a really big deal.

As far as convenience of compartments, the main compartment is generally one large bag, though next to the framing, there is a place to put flat items such as books or a lap top. The top compartment is gigantic and is great for items you need quickly.

There are tons of places to hang things. The side compartments are large enough to fit a towel(wet or dry), or shoes.

The bottom compartment is quite large and can fit things that must be separated.

I adore this bag and became a walking advertisement for it through China. It can hold a lot of stuff and you will most likely need to check this bag if using in the U.S. Outside of the US, it’s no problem to bring aboard – so long as you do not over pack, it will fit in the overhead compartment. If you know you’re going on a large trip, you may want to get the rain bag which usually is great for keeping the water out, but is particularly handy when checking the bag, as it will save you the trouble of securing all of the fasteners (so they don’t get caught in the conveyor belt).

Some people have written that they feel this bag is too small if you are taller than a certain size, please be aware that I actually think the opposite is true. If you are too short, you may have a slightly tough time, as the bag is really long. I am 5’6″ and had to massively adjust the bag in order to keep it on right. There are actually adjusters that (are not obvious) will allow you to adjust the manner placing of the shoulder straps.

It’s an amazing bag for anyone to use while trekking through the wild parts. I can not say enough good things about it. So long as you are fine to check your bag in at the airport, you should definitely feel confident purchasing this bag.

Review by DDK:

was reluctant to order this initially due to the high postage but after research on pricing decided to go for it. am really glad i did. it arrived within 3 days and far surpasses my expectations for the price of the bag. has an easily removable small aluminum frame for extra support, lots of clips and supports for carrying a large load (it is a BIG bag). worth much more than the cost even combined with the postage! thanks!