My pack has a couple features whose purpose and/or operation puzzle me.
First up is this tie-off, perhaps related to the gear loops at the bottom of the pack. Two things puzzle me about it: 1) how to "load" it, and 2) how to cinch it down.
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When I've seen gear loops in action for tools (like say an ice axe), I've seen people put the tool in the gear loop, handle down, turn it back up (so the head rests on the gear loop), and then buckle the handle (now pointing up) with some compression straps or some cord locks. This thing, well, taking the loop out of the little folded over piece of plastic, it's super hard to do. So I don't think it's designed to regularly go in/out of there. That leaves sliding the handle in from below, but if the handle is too long, you can't really do it, because the loop is holding the head in place vertically.
If you do get whatever in there (like a trekking pole), cinching it down seems to work by tugging on the knotted end of the shock cord. But this will give way unless you slide it (after tensioning) into the narrow slot to the side of the opening for it. That seems to work, but as this slot is narrow and pretty rigid; I'd think it would cause some wear and tear on the shock cord pretty quickly.
Second question regards a thin strip of webbing at the base of the side water bottle pockets.
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The webbing is not elastic, nor does it seem to hug or reinforce the water bottle pocket when the pocket has a bottle in it (at least a 1L - there's room for more). It's a little looser than that. I'm not sure what its function is. Hang some carabiners or something?
Third, and this is more applicable to packs generally: what is the function of the strap adjustment on the backside of the hip belt? Mine runs from the bottom corner of the pack body to underneath the hip belt pocket.
It seems to control how close that corner of the pack body is to the belt pocket, but why does it matter? Should you put your pack on with that strap loose, and then snug it up after you tighten the belt in front?