You're right, of course. I tend to obsess a bit over every little detail. I'm afflicted with what I think of as Gear Refinement Syndrome, or maybe Gear Refinement Disorder at times. That's a subject for another post, I suppose. I keep being drawn back to the pack design I've used before rather than trying something new.

The velcro seems unnecessary and I can see that it would snag on things. I would think just something to stiffen it a little would work as well.

Your comment about "how we want our packs to look" reminded me that although looks shouldn't matter, they creep into our decisions. I suspect that's the reason why external pockets have disappeared from packs.