Glenn, I'm glad to see you're still really into gear! My wife says she can't imagine anyone as in to gear as I am. I'm glad to be among good company here!

Granite Gear's fit has become much more refined over the years. They've also got a complete line of really nice day packs (Glacier Series) with real waist belts and much better colors (only the model name and brand is screen printed). As mentioned earlier the Leopard series and Nimbus Trace Access packs are some of the best multi-day lightweight packs on the market, IMO. Granite Gear's focus is still function. Everything revolves around it being comfortable and durable first and foremost. Everything else is a distant second.

As many would attest to, pack design has seen little innovation over the years. To be fair, backpacks do not lend themselves to being overly complicated. This isn't to say manufacturers have tried. I've seen some real bad designs (early Mountain Hardware load bearing packs) that were just too much.

However what I'm seeing (and hopefully seeing going away) is trendy screen printing in many of the new pack designs with little else in terms of innovation. I think it's a travesty to imagine that someone would buy a pack simply based on it's screen printing image, or worse, it looks cool on the pack wall. I've seen packs from several manufacturers, not just Osprey, which have the whole front and back of the pack covered in screen printing! I can only surmise that the reason is to take advantage of the customer's mis-understanding of what is most important in buying a pack. I know many people who have succumbed to this draw, but who later are disappointed with their purchase. Now if the person buys a heavily screen printed pack, not because of the screen printing, but because they've determined it fits them and their needs the best, then fine. But when folks are being manipulated because of 'shelf appeal', or they put more importance in the look of the pack over it's function/durability, then I have an issue with that. I believe that happens more often than not...

My previous comments were based on a candid conversation at the OR Show with someone on the inside of a certain pack manufacturer and was told point blank that their #1 mission was to have the best looking pack on the wall. In essence this person told me that they didn't use 100% cordura on all of the materials due to the expense that was required to make their packs look good (which included the expense of screen printing) and to stay competitive price wise. In other words, their focus was first shelf appeal and then function/durability.

I didn't show it then, but I was kind of disgusted with this premise. This has festered inside me to this day. And the sad thing is most are buying packs based on look vs function/durability.

I asked one of my the best pack dealers in my territory (who is a huge Osprey dealer) what they personally use. None of his employees, including himself, carries an Osprey for multi-day trips. This shop does carry a variety of other packs including Granite Gear, Arc Teryx, Chilo, Hyperlite, Crux, and others. I asked him which pack he carries and owns, and he told me a Granite Gear. However, you would think it would be easy to sell packs to him, but that is not the case. Why, because what he sells is shelf appeal and he knows he and his staff don't have to work as hard selling these packs (namely Osprey). With the resources Osprey has, can you imagine what they could design if their total focus was function and durability? One can only dream (yes, I've seen, and tried on with weight, their new designs for 2015 and my first impression is it has an immense amount of shelf-appeal...however, I would never carry one of these new packs on a multi-day trip knowing what other packs are out there...they seem very delicate and once the tension of the back panel material wears out, then the whole concept of the pack fails).

I'm also bugged with packs that have excessive seams just for the sake of shelf appeal. If a seam is needed for a certain function then so be it. But when they are put there just to create a design or add a different color of fabric then what's the point (i.e. Deuter)?

In my opinion these are two small examples of how pack design has let everyone down. We should demand more through our purchasing power...