View Full Version : Golite Dawn
Anyone have experience with a Golite Dawn? Its on sale at my local outfitter for 55 bucks instead of normal price of 79. The website says its for peak bagging and day hikes and has max weight 20 lbs. Wonderin if anyone has thru-hiked or backpacked at all with it. Also anyone have experience with the breeze? Thanks
Anyone have experience with a Golite Dawn? Its on sale at my local outfitter for 55 bucks instead of normal price of 79. The website says its for peak bagging and day hikes and has max weight 20 lbs. Wonderin if anyone has thru-hiked or backpacked at all with it. Also anyone have experience with the breeze? Thanks
Last month I was passing through NJ and stopped at Campmor. The GoLite Dawn was $65 and I bought one. Haven't used it yet, but it was the 20-lb limit that intrigued me.
I'm making a bit of switch to ultra-light this year and having a pack that will take no more than 20 pounds will be of benefit to me, forcing some changes. I've done almost all my hiking in the Whites in NH and am used to carrying big loads, even day hikes.
I want to be able to take three-day trips with the Go-Lite. Twenty pounds for everything. Whether this will work of not, well, we'll see.....
Tom
I have been using the breeze for about a year now and have been really happy with it. I cary a base weight of 10-12 pounds (3-season hiking) so I'm usually under or right at the recommended 20 total pounds this pack recommends once I add food and water. I like not having the hipbelt but to each their own as I know many people who do not feel comfortable without it.
Tn Bandit
12-28-2003, 17:52
I use it for day hikes and it works well but wouldn’t think it would be good thru-hiking.
IndianaDave
12-12-2004, 15:06
HeyHikers,
I'm using a modified GoLite Dawn: Added padding to the hip belt and cut off everything that I felt unecessary. Weighs 420 grams on the nose.
My 'core' is 9 1/2 pounds and feel 10 pounds of h2o and food is just right.
I planning an AT ThruHike with it.
Check out Roy.Robinson's latest AT ThruHike pix and I believe you'll see Roy pack'in a modified Dawn.
IndianaDave
Golite Dawn is on sale here for 39 bucks.
http://www.northernmountain.com/ultralight.asp
I bought one a month or so ago and have used it for a couple of short overnighters. I like it, but can only use it for selected trips, as the volume of it restricts me. If I'm sleeping on the ground and hiking in an area that has frequent water available, I could use it for a trip of up to 4 days. Usually though I am hammocking, and then I have a bulk problem. I don't know if I could easily attach my foam pads to the outside or crossways under the top compression strap. Anyway for 39 bucks I like it!
stephanie
I bought the breeze a few weeks ago. Last Sunday I wore it around the house with 18 pounds in it for about 3 hours. In the first 10 minutes I knew I needed a sturnum strap. Looked around the house and saw that the strap on my camelbak slips right off. I put it on the breeze and I love it. That afternoon I went walking in the woods around my house. I was hoping to do a day hike with it today but I have a bad head cold. Maybe next weekend. :)
tlbj6142
12-12-2004, 21:42
I've looked at the Dawn (on-line) several times, but have never purchased one. I'm not a real fan of the single drawstring closure on the top. I don't use a pack cover, so I'd like to minimze the pathways for water to enter. Maybe if the pack is not so full you can roll the top down a bit and hold the "roll" in place with the over the top compression strap.
The back is all sil-nylon (I had to call GoLite to figure this out as there aren't any pics of the back). I'm not sure I want SilNylon against my sweaty base layer all day long. Might not prove to be an issue, but it doens't "sound" comfortable.
I currently own an '02 Salomon Raid 300 (30L, ~1800ci) pack, which I have used on a recent 4 day trip without volume/space concerns. However the shoulder straps on the Raid are a bit narrow (they are probalby more narrow than those on the Dawn) resulting in some discomfort on heavier loads (15#-20#). It does have a hipbelt which helps.
But I often wonder how comfortable the shoulder straps are on the Dawn. Are they wide enought to distribute the load? Does the hipbelt actually help with load distribution or just it just keep the pack from bouncing around?
However, at $39 you can't go wrong. If nothing else it will make a good winter day pack. If it does prove to work, you got a heck of a deal. Probably cost you more than $39 in materials to make a Dawn.
If you get one, let us know how it turns out.
I just looked at my Dawn, and the shoulder straps are 2.5 inches across, which seems about the same as those on my other two packs, a Kelty Flight and a GoLite Trek. They are very lightly padded, but I find them quite comfortable.
Using the hipbelt, does result in weight transfer for me. I however am a somewhat overweight female with a convenient "butt shelf" LOL for my pack to ride on when I use a waistbelt. I can loosen the shoulder straps and the pack does not sag down. I don't know if my experience with how the pack rides would hold true for leaner individuals. Also it has no load lifters, which usually I find necessary in a pack, but for some reason do not need in this one. I do wish the hipbelt were wider..it is only 1 inch wide, making me skeptical of its weight transference capabilities for narrower people. I found it comfortable on my last trip and was carrying at least 20 lbs as I had a gallon of water (desert area). However another caveat is that I only hiked about 7 miles in one day.
stephanie
I used the Dawn on fast & light trips for around a year. The Dawn would be too small for me on a thru-hike. The longest trip I have used it on was a three day summer fastpack. The shoulder pads are thin, but they are reasonably wide and suprising comfortable with light loads. The hip strap is moderately effective at getting weight off the shoulders. I found the Dawn very comfortable up to around 17lb at which point comfort falls off rapidly. At 22lb I find this pack quite uncomfortable. I found this pack very sweaty since the back is sil-nylon without any padding or wicking fabric. The simple draw-string top might be an issue for some people, say when facing rain... but this wasn't an issue because I was using a poncho.
What to say about the Breeze. It's of the first commercially produced ultra-light packs. It's more durable than some of the other ultra-light packs on the market. Personally, I don't understand why this pack is so popular. People talk about it being so light that they often carry it on a single shoulder. My response is that any pack which is less than 20 lb can be carried on a single shoulder, and that a pack which is more comfortable over a single shoulder means that the shoulder strap design sucks. I was so disappointed with this pack I returned it to the store I purchased it from.
What do I use today? A Granite Gear Vapor Trail. I can use it for 2200-3200cu/in loads (a larger effective range than the Dawn). I love it with 17lb, and am happy at 30lb. It's worth an extra pound over the Dawn.
I'm really craving a Vapor Trail. There is one place selling for 69 dollars (found using Froogle) but only a "short" size. I was a millimeter from ordering it but held off. I went to REI the other day and they only had one Vapor Trail, and it also was a size "short". I always thought I had a short torso, but it seemed too small. I really need to have someone who knows what they are doing measure my torso (should have asked at REI I guess). Wish I could find a regular size for 69 bucks! I reall y liked the looks of the pack other than the ridiculously long extension collar..I mean really what were they thinking LOL!
stephanie
tlbj6142
12-13-2004, 11:26
I just looked at my Dawn, and the shoulder straps are 2.5 inches acrossThat's good to know. Those on my Salomon Raid 300 are barely 2" across.
What's the size capacity on a Dawn. I know when I hiked with the Breeze (Springer to Front Royal, where I switched it for a Vapor Trail) my biggest problem wasn't weight, but fitting all my food in it when I resupplied. No matter how light your gear is, it still takes up space, and I found myself constantly going into the extension collar on the Breeze. My sleeping bag is pretty small (Marmot Hydrogen) but it still took up half the Breeze on its own, in its stuff sack. I kept my HH (and just a tarp, when I carried that) in the outer mesh pocket, because it wouldn't have fit inside the pack. Just something to think about.
Haiku.
tlbj6142
12-13-2004, 11:50
Personally, I don't understand why this pack is so popular.'cause everyone secretly wants to be like Ray. One shoulder strap and all.
Excluding the Ray worshipers, the UL backpacking community seems to have gone through a couple of phases. Initially (say 2-3 years ago), everyone was about every gram. Almost stupid like. All in hopes of out "Jardine'ing" Jardine.
Lately I've noticed most folks realize that while a 4.5# basewieght is great on paper, it sucks in one way or another. As such, folks have started adding weight pack into their loads. Comfy packs (like the vapor trail), larger tarps, bug netting (gasp! I thought we were suppose to just "think" the bugs away), toothpaste, camera, etc. This seems to have brought the "normal" UL pack weight up to 8-10#.
Recently, I think folks are concentrating more on food and water issues. 2# per day is a lot of food for someone on a 3-5 day hike. Even if you are doing 25+ miles per day. 18-22oz seems to be a more resonable number (for a non-thruhiker).
Better water management has also come up more often. Instead of filling up that bladder with 2L at each stop. Why not slam 1L at the break and carry the other 1L in a bottle?
While there are folks that still push the weight limits (like the "other" RJ, Ryan Jordan), they are much more "comfortable" due to new gear, techniques, etc. than the 5# baseweight hikers of yesteryear.
I personally think we'll see quite a few more mainstream folks drop their baseweight below 15# in the coming years. As materials get lighter and stronger.
I got the Breeze and like it. I keep my water,fuel,rain gear and hammoc in the outside mesh pockets. Ive only used it for weekends so far but it has been just what I was looking for. I'm making the jump to ultra lite and am choseing gear tho fit the size and weight restrictions. Am hoping to do a section this summer with it if vacation time and finances all work out.