I agree with you guys. Sorry about the incorrect grammar in my post, I was at lunch and about to run out of time, but you understood what I really meant. I agree very much with feature creep. Also, people are looking maybe for what's new this year. Funny, someone comes up with a "feature" and they have to give it a name. Golite has the compactor (sic) system, which is just straps to compress the pack. Fly by wire on Honda cars and motorcycles. For me, makes for more indecision on whose gear is better or will work better in actual conditions. With the economy, more time to think.

I have heard that two of the cottage industry companies had gear failures last Spring at the start of the PCT season. One guy was busy at AKPCTWXYZ , sewing straps back on packs. I agree, folks use gear far beyond what they were intended to do. Me, my Golite Gust was meant to haul 30 lbs. I have had an estimated 37 lbs. in it and when not that much weight, stuffed with puffy gear. Where I was going with packs for instance, ULA seems to be at a comfort level already I guess and Golite, for one, is increasing the weight of their packs, since ULA gets high marks with their packs already, but I was hoping for something lighter. Reading reviews, they all have their supporters and detractors.