Gear of the Year: Backpack

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Gear of the Year
Backpacks


	(Nigel COx)

Dana Design Raid Z $200
WHY IT RULES: Dana eliminates the standard pack bag, while accommodating every weeklong-trip necessity. Imagine the skeleton of a pack: a back panel incorporating a superlight framesheet and two fiberglass rods, plus a front panel with two long pockets and a big mesh pouch. In between, there's space to sandwich a hydration bladder and nearly any size drybag (a 50-liter version is included), where most of your gear will go. Dump the drybag and you're left with an 800-cubic-inch daypack that weighs just two pounds 14 ounces. » The Raid Z carries extraordinarily well despite its wispy, cutout-center hipbelt: Two parallel strips of thin mesh padding are connected by a rigid plastic bridge, beautifully cupping the hips and carrying 40 pounds comfortably. » It's exceptionally stable. A valve lets you bleed air out of the drybag—compressing and easing your load—or inflate it for flotation or a pillow. On the trail, a tug of the shoulder lift straps activates those Delrin rods, pulling the bag onto your back, pet monkey style, as snug as you wish. » Bottom compression straps secure a pad and tent. HMMM...The hipbelt's plastic bridge created a pressure point on my sides above my iliac crest.

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