pack padding

[Pickleodeon]

I was looking at a pack at the outfitter, and it had a lot of padding, too much actually, but I have a lowe alpine pack now that has a good amount of padding and fits pretty comfortably, but I dont have anything to compare to. The guy at the store told me padding is bad and makes it fit worse, he showed me an Osprey aura pack, which seemed pretty nice, not so padded. (I shouldnt judge, but the guy didn't look like a hiker, ie he was pretty big and had some of his own natural padding, and is not female so how can he know what women need in padding?) Ladies, ideas?

[Marta]

I tend to favor very light packs that don't have much padding of their own. (ULA and Gossamer Gear are my favorites.) The lighter the load, the less you will need the padding, anyway. 75% of the stuff I'm carrying is soft. I make sure that's the stuff that's against my back. Other than that, it's important that your clothes are not of a rough, chafing material. For instance, if you have a problem with chafing over your hip bones, try to make sure your shirt and shorts are silky over those spots.

[Blissful]

I used a Lowes for the first part of my hike, way overloaded with padding which amounted to tons of weight. The gregory I use now has much less, but since I carry less, I find I dont need the padding as much.

[Bearpaw88]

I used a Mountainsmith Auspex, Womans lightweight pack for 824 miles. (They no longer make this pack)

I tend to like a well padded hip belt. For this pack I had to add more padding because I lost so much weight. I don't think more padding is a bad thing, like the outfitter suggested, but it can add more weight.

Whatever feels comfortable.

Next time I buy a pack I will take it on a 3 day hike to see how it feels. If there are problems I'll return it. Nothing sucks more than having to buy a new pack when your in the middle of a long distance hike. Osprey Auspex has gotten great reviews from woman I have met.

[BookBurner]

Not a lady here, but for what it's worth from the other side of the gender fence, a lot of padding generally means a heavier pack. My old Gregory pack was cushioned liked a sofa but it weighed 6 pounds empty! Lighter packs that were less padded ultimately were much more comfortable.

[skinny minnie]

i have the aura... as a skinny person, i like the thinner hip belt just fine, it fits really snugly which is great (and I love the zipped pockets on it) but the straps are not the most comfortable I've experienced. i end up having sore collar bones pretty often. I also have a black diamond pack which is really barebones and super light - it is more comfortable strap wise but the again, i never use that for heavy duty multiple overnights.

[River Runner]

Padding adds a lot of weight to the pack that isn't necessary for the most part.