A neighbor is cleaning out his garage, and he asked me if I was interested in buying any of his old backpacks. He has two Kelty external frame packs that are 15-20 years old, and they're both in pretty great condition. I was thinking about just buying both, but I'm trying really hard to not be a hoarder. I would like an external frame pack just to have around, especially for camping with the family.
One is a Kelty Super Tioga from the mid-90's (looks like the one in this picture). I believe it has 4900 cubic inches of space. The other one is a Kelty Trekker from the early 2000's, the exact model pictured in this link.
For those of you familiar with these packs, is there anything that would make one better than another? Both are in the size range I want and both fit. The Trekker is about five years younger. The frames are different, though. I don't have a picture of the Tioga frame, but it is less of a straight H shape compared to the Trekker.
It's interesting to me that Kelty stopped making the "radial" frame for the Tioga, and even their recent 5500 cu in Tioga used the H frame found on the old and new Trekkers. I would imagine the choice to eliminate the radial frames was all about dollars and cents.
So yeah... if anyone has any input or knows anything about the history behind these models, please let me know!