PK 50 Thoughts

[bayoutrail]

Alright folks; opinions:
They've been out for nearly a year; the overall system seems great, but I'd like thoughts on the hub of the system itself: the PK50 pack from Kelty's Trailogic system. It's definitely not super UL but:
Has anyone used it? Do you like it/dislike it? Who what where why... All that stuff. Thanks in advance for the thoughts.

[Tuckahoe]

I bought the PK 50 back in February, and I love it.

I like that what Kelty designed was a "collection" with components that fit together, rather than a system dependent all components together. I think Kelty would be smart to design a lightweight 1 person tent in the 2lb range as part of the collection, because the 2 person, 4.5 pound tent is a bit much for a solo hiker.

As far as the pack itself, some of my random thoughts --

It was great at 20 pounds, and I think that 29-30 pounds is the upper limit of the pack's comfort.

Getting compression with roll top closures was a pretty good idea. I feel like I am really able to tighten tthings down.

I like the 35L main bag, and the 15L outer bag and that they clip together. In the main bag I carry my top and bottom quilt, cook kit, and food. In the tent pocket I carry my hammock and tarp. The outer bag's large pocket is my clothes bag, and the small top pocket is where I carry all the small things. At night I unclip the outer bag and stuff it with my air pillow for a very comfy sleep pillow. I use a bridge hammock, and I am able to secure the spreader bars inside the compression wings.

The outer pockets and the hip belt pockets are of a very elastic material. Holds water bottles pretty securely and the hip pockets can really be stretched for greater volume.

I made some small modifications to the pack. The rain cover, I think is a generic Kelty design and not specific to the pack, so I added a mitten hook and shock cord so that I can better secure the rain cover when put over the pack.

I sitiched a couple ribbon loops inside the compression wings and added in some s-biners to better secure my spreader bar bag. It would suck to have that bag somehow fall out without knowing it.

I added a third compression strap between the two original main compression straps.

I took these pictures of the bag back in May. I was able to also tuck my trekking poles into the compression wings and used the bag as carry-on on a train.
28871 28872

[bayoutrail]

I bought the PK 50 back in February, and I love it.

I like that what Kelty designed was a "collection" with components that fit together, rather than a system dependent all components together. I think Kelty would be smart to design a lightweight 1 person tent in the 2lb range as part of the collection, because the 2 person, 4.5 pound tent is a bit much for a solo hiker.

As far as the pack itself, some of my random thoughts --

It was great at 20 pounds, and I think that 29-30 pounds is the upper limit of the pack's comfort.

Getting compression with roll top closures was a pretty good idea. I feel like I am really able to tighten tthings down.

I like the 35L main bag, and the 15L outer bag and that they clip together. In the main bag I carry my top and bottom quilt, cook kit, and food. In the tent pocket I carry my hammock and tarp. The outer bag's large pocket is my clothes bag, and the small top pocket is where I carry all the small things. At night I unclip the outer bag and stuff it with my air pillow for a very comfy sleep pillow. I use a bridge hammock, and I am able to secure the spreader bars inside the compression wings.

The outer pockets and the hip belt pockets are of a very elastic material. Holds water bottles pretty securely and the hip pockets can really be stretched for greater volume.

I made some small modifications to the pack. The rain cover, I think is a generic Kelty design and not specific to the pack, so I added a mitten hook and shock cord so that I can better secure the rain cover when put over the pack.

I sitiched a couple ribbon loops inside the compression wings and added in some s-biners to better secure my spreader bar bag. It would suck to have that bag somehow fall out without knowing it.

I added a third compression strap between the two original main compression straps.

I took these pictures of the bag back in May. I was able to also tuck my trekking poles into the compression wings and used the bag as carry-on on a train.
28871 28872

Wow!!! Amazing! That's kind of what I wanted to see; real world usage!
The ONLY thing keeping me from getting one is the lack of methodology for trekking poles. I know the compression wings can handle them but I'm an avid osprey user... One such reason is the stow-on-the-go trekking pole system they implement on their packs... The last trip I went on my buddies were eyeing my trekking pole setup by the end of the trip, it's a not a necessity, but it's a great convenience. I've thought of trying to rig something up on other packs that don't have it.
But anyway, thanks for the info. This was great!


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