$139 Waterproof Backpack vs $310 Waterproof Backpack

paola Dixie here today I want to talk to you about the three ful gear x-pac backpack and my thoughts on how it compares to the hyper light Mountain Gear Southwest 2400 both used on the Camino Frances for over 500 miles a summer well my sister and I were prepping to hike the Camino de Santiago we were trying to decide what packs we were gonna take she settled in on HMG Southwest 2400 and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get the cheaper option that was somewhat comparable to the Southwest 2400 and go with the three ful gear X pack backpack the HMG pack Montana used is actually just a smaller watt version of the pack that I started with on the PCT now I want to go ahead and get this out of the way completely neither of these companies know I am doing this comparison slash review on these packs I am not sponsored by either of them and I purchased both of these packs myself with my money first things first the price difference in these packs is about 170 dollars when I purchased the three ful gear pack it cost me one hundred and thirty-nine dollars I got it on Aliexpress and the price does vary the HMG pack I got for three hundred and ten dollars on their website now depending on whether you get the white or black version the black version is a little more expensive but these two packs we used we're looking at 139 versus 310 another thing to keep in mind is where you're ordering from the three ful gear pack is going to come from China so depending on where you're located it might take a little bit longer to get to you then say if you're in the United States and you order the HMG pack which HMG is located in the US now let's cover the basics of each pack the three ful gear pack is made from x-pac material now I had intended to order the UHMWPE pack and they're available right there together on Aliexpress and I just got confused as I was ordering or didn't pay enough attention in order the xpac instead I didn't have enough time to correct my mistake and order the other pack so I just went with X pack because it's still a waterproof material in the pack is also marketed as a waterproof pack the reason I wanted the UHMWPE version of the three ful gear pack is because Dyneema which is what the Hyperlight Mountain gear pack is made out of is a UHMWPE fabric and that just means ultra high molecular weight polyethylene and it's just a synthetic fiber don't let your eyes glaze over or get too in-depth with this and the x-pac material instead of being a synthetic fiber it's just several layers that are laminated together so it is a different material but I figured they were comparable enough considering they're both waterproof I was a little worried that the x-pac material would be flimsier and not a stiff so it would be kind of a pain and flop over while I was trying to load everything in my pack but it wasn't like that at all it was still rigid enough the claimed weight of the three ful gear pack is twenty nine point three ounces that's just the bare minimum there actually is some fine print in that which I'll talk about later and the capacity is 35 liters the claims wait for the HMG pack is thirty point oh eight ounces and a capacity of 40 liters both packs come in various sizes small medium large and then the hyper light Mountain gear pack has option also of tall I decided to weigh the actual weight of each pack both packs are medium although they do have slightly different sizing ranges and the three ful gear pack is twenty-eight point two five ounces and the HMG pack weighed out at twenty nine point nine ounces so these are pretty comparable to the claimed weights of course sizing of your pack will probably affect the actual weight a little bit the three ful pack has a detachable hip belt which actually comes in two different sizes I didn't notice the option for the sizing I wasn't prompted for that when I ordered my pack but obviously there must be some way to request that and then HMG pack just comes with a standard hip belt for whatever size you order and it is stitched in both packs have a roll top closure the three ful pack closes a little bit differently both of the clasps are on top of the pack where the HMG pack as a closure that goes on either side of the pack and then across the top and another thing that's a little different is HMG pack has velcro on the top area on the roll down where the three ful pack does not have any velcro for frame slash support the three ful pack is frameless but they suggest that you use some sort of sit pad and actually has little elastic bands on the inside where you can put a sit pad just to add a little more stability to the pack I use the one that I got from my gossamer gear Mariposa I'm sure you could order something different but this is where it could cost you a little extra for this pack and also add a couple more ounces in weight with the sit pad is thirty point five ounces so it will vary a little bit depending on what sit pad you decide to use if you use one at all and HMG pack has a removable aluminum stays now let's talk about all of the bells and whistles both of these packs have a large outside pocket which to me is important I like putting my rain gear back there and other things that I want quick access to the three ful gear pack has a mesh pocket while the HMG pack has a solid pocket if you prefer mesh HMG does have a version of this pack with a mesh pocket both packs have a pocket on either side which I call a cup holder the three ful gear pack is not elastic on that cup holder or at least at first it doesn't appear to be but you can actually cinch it up with an elastic cord which then allows it to be elastic but I found that leaving those loose made it easier to get things in and out so this gives you versatility the HMG pack has your typical elastic pockets which are nice if you don't want to have to worry about something popping out easily or turning over and something falling out of your pocket both packs have to adjustment straps on either sides of the packs help adjust and fit things to the pack how you prefer the three ful gear pack had a nice little feature that I really liked and that is an elastic cord on the outside of the large mesh pocket I think it's convenient for being able to hang dry clothing or for whatever else you want to or attached to your pack the HMG pack does not have the elastic cord but you could still use some of the other straps to hang dry clothing if you wanted to both packs have gear loops the three ful gear pack has two smaller loops on either side on the bottom of the large pocket and the HMG pack has one located in the center on the bottom of the pocket as far as shoulder straps go the three ful gear shoulder straps seem to be a little wider and they have load lifters attached to them which if you like to fine-tune things those are nice to have both of the shoulder straps on the three ful gear and the HMG pack seemed to be comparably padded the hip belt on the three ful gear pack seems to be wider and much more cushioned in my opinion than HMG pack 3 ful gear hip belt pockets seem to have more capacity but I think both of them are adequate for having snacks and a cell phone and I would definitely say that the three ful gear packs back panel is superior in comfort because it has some cushioning there and also has a space in the cushioning to I assume promote airflow Montana didn't complain about having a sweaty back but if you are prone to sweating then you might appreciate the added air flow model of the three ful G pack compared to the hm g pack which just has the solid panel of Dyneema some of you may remember that I had issues with my hm g pack rubbing my back on the Pacific Crest Trail Montana didn't have any issues with the pack rubbing her back so either it's improved or it was never gonna cause her issues anyway because sometimes one pack might work wonderfully for one person and then the same pack might not work at all for another person that's just the way it goes with gear for hydration both packs have a hydration port if you prefer to use the bladder with the little hose and bite valve we actually did use that on both of these packs on this trip HMG pack has a pocket if you like to put your water bladder in a pocket on the inside where the three ful gear pack does not have that hydration pocket I did notice a little loop with some velcro on it on the inside of the pack I guess maybe that could be for attaching some sort of bladder I typically just throw my water bladder in on top of the rest of my gear I don't use those pockets but if that's a deal-breaker for you the three ful gear pack does not have a pocket specifically for a water bladder now let's talk about performance both of these packs did great on the Camino as far as durability goes I can't see any significant wear tear on either of these packs and I would say that they still have miles and miles and miles to go on and again this is after 500 plus miles of using them every single day the only thing I found to be annoying about the three ful gear pack or something that I was displeased with was the chest strap it is made out of straight-up ribbon like you're fixing to put a ribbon in your hair to go cheer at a football game on Friday night not like a thick good durable nylon strap it is made out of ribbon so I was a little worried that it was gonna fray and tear up thankfully and surprisingly it did not now because it's made of ribbon and is kind of slick to the touch I guess it slipped a little bit so I kept finding myself having to adjust that not a huge deal but just something that was a little annoying because how many seconds of the day did I spend readjusting the chest strap so if I was to use it again in the future I would probably replace or rig up some type of different chest strap the HMG chest strap is definitely superior in quality and it also has a whistle on it which I feel like a lot of gear companies do you incorporate an emergency whistle on the chest strap because it's conveniently located however the three ful gear pack does not have a whistle on it so just something to keep in mind you might want to have one separately if you get that pack now what Santa said that the only thing that got on her nerves or was annoying a little bit was the velcro on the closure area of the HMG pack so it's because she's OCD so if you're an OCD person and having to close velcro just perfectly and have everything all lined up is gonna be a struggle for you then you might want to think about that because that's something that she spent a lot of time doing I think when she would open it she would just have to close it perfectly so for me that wouldn't be a problem I guess I'm kind of a sloppy person so I would just put it together half her and roll it down and be done now waterproofness let's talk about that for a second one of the things that I really like about HMG Peck is it comes already seam sealed all of the waterproof packs that i've ordered in the past have already been seam sealed like the HMG pack is so I didn't really think about it and I noticed that my pack was getting more wet on the inside than Montana's pack and at first I thought oh just because it's a cheap pack and it's not performing well and they claimed it's waterproof and it's really not but I think that the issue was I didn't think about the seam sealing and after we were already on trail I realized that it was not seam sealed so I really didn't get to test the waterproofness like I would have preferred to Montana's pack did stay completely dry on the inside she didn't have any issues it wasn't an issue for me that the pack was leaking whether the material was leaking or if it was in fact seeping in from the seams because I do use redundancies with waterproofing I always use a pack liner of some sort both of the hikes I went on this summer I used a gossamer gear pack liner they come in a pack of two for five dollars it's convenient lightweight and and fits to the packs well so that's what we used and then I always put everything else in Ziploc bags so I never trust that a pack is going to be waterproof anyway even if it's advertised that way because it could get punctured or have abrasion and just wear down the waterproofing so anyway I would suggest using redundancies but if you're going to get the ex pack pack and that's something that's important to you'd have it seemed sealed that's something that you're gonna have to do on your own so that might add extra cost and a little bit amount of extra weight to the claimed weight of this pack that was a huge rookie mistake so that's something to look out for if you do order a three ful gear X pack pack another thing to consider when buying a pack is the warranty the three ful gear pack I couldn't find any manufacturer's warranty but they do have a 35 day buyer protection at least on Aliexpress so if something didn't come in right you could always return it the HMG pack has a one-year manufacturer's warranty in summary a you think that this was a pretty cool experiment getting to see how BOCES these pecs performed side by side and I do sync to the three ful gear x-pac backpack is a good pack to use especially for folks who are just getting into backpacking and might not want to spend three hundred plus dollars on a top-of-the-line lightweight backpack so it'd be a good option and honestly I'd use it again in the future but just those main pointers about it's not going to be truly waterproof unless you seem seal it yourself and then also it's probably going to be a little bit heavier than the claimed weight on the website because of adding the sit pad and the seam sealing if you prefer to do so just make sure you know what you're getting if you decide to order one of these packs because it's a bit misleading or confusing how they're listed together on the website and it doesn't help that most of it isn't in English I hope that this information is useful and if you have any questions on either of these packs please feel free to leave those in the comments below thank you so much for watching if you're not subscribed be sure to do that before you go and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 115,700

Rating: 4.9341822 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic, Camino, Hyperlite, 3f UL, dyneema, xpac

Id: 39HE1GHu0iA

Length: 14min 32sec (872 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 04 2019