Backpacks, again

[severian]

Recently I've seen ALICE backpacks on surplus and Army Navy websites. Seems they would be very good for lf gear. There much less excpensive than the Lowe Trekker bags. Anybody use an ALICE backpack?
Jack

[Steve Smith]

What a good idea. For those of us in the UK, have a look here:

http://www.army.co.uk/prodtype.asp?P...ageHistory=cat

I think I will buy one of the smaller ones.

Steve.

[viewfinder]

I use an ex British Army 80 ltr 'bergan' without the side pouches. It was £25 from a Gov.surplus outlet. It is just deep enough to carry a folded tripod not longer than 24" inside....in the centre of the bag inside a cardboard tube...other equipement is either side of the tube in snap top plastic 'lunch boxes'....the boxes are lined with high density foam from a sleeping mat,.....film is in a box with reflecting foam lining cut from car windscreen solar shield. The whole bag/pack is impact resistant and completely waterproof. The lid of the bag contains a German Army poncho and 7x35 glasses.

The whole pack is excellent and many times better and cheaper than the purpose made photo packs,...also, no body knows that you are carrying photo gear.

[Tom Hoskinson]

Just received my new Gregory Z pack. 54 liter capacity and weighs 1.5 Kg empty.

http://www.gregorypacks.com/prod.php?ID=50

I've loaded it up with my full 8x10 kit and will try it out in the local mountains tomorrow.

[raucousimages]

For 6 years and hundreds of miles I humped ALICE and ALICE II packs with 23rd Marines. They can be very uncomfortable compared to a civilian pack but they will carry a very heavy load and take a hell of a beating. They carry the load away from your back and high, this helps with cooling but it makes you "rear heavy" with a heavy load. Make sure the frame including the rivets are in good shape. The pack, belt, and straps can all be switched or repaired but the frame must be in good shape. I like the ALICE II. It is larger with 3 additional small pockets. Just the right size for a pair of socks, important for a grunt. Remember they are unpadded so you need to wrap everything. I still have one.

[wiseowl]

I currently use a Dell laptop backpack, not ideal but it carries enough kit. On the plus side the camera fits into the laptop area and keeps it separate from lens, holders etc. On the minus side there really isn't a good placde for the lenses to go, they end up wrapped up in the darkcloth.

I like the look of the army surplus backpacks and will investigate further.

And I think that "For 6 years and hundreds of miles I humped ALICE " deserves a schoolboy snigger, or at the very least an "ooh err missus!" ;-)

Cheers

Martin

[Kilgallb]

One of the best places to find a back pack is the mountain equipment Co-Op (MEC) in Canada. Actually the back packs are made in Vietnam and are of excellent quality.

I have been using a Brio 70 (70 litre) pack to hold a Calumet 4x5, a sack with my filters lenses and yes the all important survival gear. It is an internal frame pack and has a place for an ICE axe that works perfectly for a tripod.

When I shoot in the City or just off the highway I use 10 year old MEC pack my kid used to use as a book bag for school. MEC also repairs, free of charge all packs. They replaced a zipper on one pack after 10 years use.

Take a look at www.mec.ca. They are a mail order company and I cannot say enough about them.

[John Kasaian]

I used a large ALICE and it is an inexpensive alternative, but
1. It is top opening,and
2. There is no protection for your gear.
OTOH the large ALICE is LARGE. You can easily put in more (heavy) gear than you ought to carry(not a good idea!)

I carried an 8x10 'dorf in mine.

I lucked out an got a Lowe AW SuperTrekker on close out from Freestyle a few years ago(any color I wanted as long as its green---which I was used to after the ALICE) and its worked well for me. The F.64 also comes highly recommended for 8x10 cartin' around. For smaller formats like 5x7 I found a Jansport Equinox a great alternative. YMMV of course.

Chers!

[naturephoto1]

I had a custom made McHale panel loading internal frame pack made so that I can carry the camera equipment (up to my 4x5 Linhof Technikardan 45S) and lightweight backpacking equipment. I put camera bags into the pack. The pack was quite expensive, but was custom made to fit me. The McHale harness systems are some of the best and most comfortable in the business. My pack is a 5500 cu inch plus backpack is made out of combination of full Spectra fabric and 440 Hi tenacity nylon fabric. My pack was based on the following, but I had an additional side pocket added to carry water:

http://www.mchalepacks.com/packs/detail/CMSARC.htm

Rich

[MMfoto]

Here's another enthusiastic vote for Mchale & Co backpacks. I've had three, and you won't find another pack to ferry big loads in better comfort. Bought my first one ~11 years ago. Just got a used (my lucky day) panel loading pack kinda like this one: http://www.mchalepacks.com/ultraligh..._2_Bayonet.htm Perfect for photo-travel or whatever.

The harness system Dan created is absolutely brilliant. The load levelling straps run underneath and thus "bypass" the shoulder straps. This allows you to adjust one without effecting the other. You can snug the pack tight against your back while keeping 100% of the weight on your hips if you like. The hipbelts used in many of the packs are also unique in they are full wrap around like external frame packs. They ditribute weight evenly around your hips and BOLT to the very rigid frame.

I have no doubt these are the best packs made, worldwide.