Okay boys, I'm finally ditching my Mystery Ranch packs and preparing to pull a trip with a Seek Outside Brooks pack at 7,400 cubic inches. Any other users of Seek Outside?

This is an external frame pack and considerably lighter than my usual MR G7000 pack at 8 lbs 4 ozs. The old G series MR packs had poorly designed hipbelts with the side belt padding inside two hard plastic "wing" stiffeners. Once the padding is depressed enough these hard plastic edges end up digging into my hip flesh. So here I am with a new pack.


Here is the Brooks pack in test mode with some test items on the back including my tent and a couple Thermarests.


This pic shows how bulky items can be lashed to the pack for a typical winter trip. A typical trip for me is around 20 days and so the need for a 7,400 cubic inch pack. Ultralighters should turn away.


One neat thing is the pack has this bottom "shelf" with straps to hold whatever you want to put on the bottom like a tent.


Here are the bottom straps in action---with straps long enough to hold several bulky items.


The outside pocket is a removable daypack called the Merlin which easily lashed onto the back of the pack. It has minimal shoulder straps to become a daypack when you need it for dayhikes from camp.


This pack uses these attachment buckles called Gatekeepers---and they replace all the standard Quick Release/Side Release buckles used on most packs.