Hip Belt REI Flash62

[Woodturner]

I started with a 1973 vintage Kelty Mountainer frame. The hip belt was pretty basic, two piece, no padding, and a camlock style buckle. Worked great.
A few packs later, I had a Gregory Baltro. I had a little trouble with the hip belt, but once I realized what I was doing wrong, everything was fine.
I decided that the Balto was too heavy, and bought a REI Flash 62. In preparation for a 100 mile trip on the AT next month, I have been taking full pack hikes several times a week at a local state park. At BEST, I can walk 200 yards before having to stop and tighten the &%#@#% hip belt. Is there some trick I don't know, or is it just a feature common to "Made in China" packs? Also, the right side gets twisted in the slide so full adjustment is impossible. This happens no matter how careful I am to avoid it.
This pack will do for the hike next month. However, there is an outside chance I may be able to make another thru-attempt in 2016. It will be 41 years since the last (unsuccessful) one. I don't want 5,000,000 steps broken up by 250,000 stops to cinch the hip belt.
Maybe Cuban Fiber is in my future.

[Starchild]

What I did is added 2 strap 'stays' to either end (the type where the strap has 2 placed to go through, a rectangle with a bar in the middle, all plastic, very simple). I had to temporally remove the REI buckles to thread this through part of the hip strap, then replace the buckle then thread it thru again on the tail end of the strap.

It solved the slipping totally. It made adjusting the belt much harder, but that type of adjustment is much rarer to need to do. It also limits how small you can make the hip belt and if you are close to it's limit their may not be room, for that you may be able to tie one buckle in place instead and just have one moble with the strap stay.

[hikeandbike5]

return it to rei. that's what their guarantee is for.

i have the flash45 and do not have any slippage. who knows, maybe yours is defective or something.

[SteelCut]

It could be the webbing is fed thru the buckets incorrectly. That could cause the slippage. I would go back to the REI and have them look at it. You can either return it or exchange it for another pack.

[Yankee15]

Return it.

[Woodturner]

Returned it this morning after I finally got so fed up with the right side getting twisted and the left slipping I couldn't stand it anymore.
The planned hike for next month will probably be made with the Baltro 65. It's heavy, but I have really cut down the weight on everything else so it should average out.
I will be asking pack questions in the near future. If I get to try my thru, I want to do it with a lighter pack

[nsherry61]

Heck, don't quit trying new packs. Get another one. You can always return it if it doesn't work, and you might find a treasure.
I think the Osprey Exos 58 would be an excellent alternative to the Flash. Great light bag you can pick up at the same REI you returned the other bag to. The Exos is slightly more expensive, slightly lighter, and way more awesome to load, carry, and use.

FYI: Problems you might read on Exos reviews from more than two years ago were fixed with a major pack upgrade two years ago.