We Don't Need No Stinkin' Backpacks

I must confess.  I have a thing for bags.  I like them.  They're extremely useful.  They can be stylish.  And you can personalize them and make them fun.  I have a bunch of them.  Notice I didn't say too many.  I'm always out for a good bag.  I have an armoire full of them.  I've got quite the array of bags.  I've got canvas bags.  I've got leather bags.  I've got bags for work.  I've got bags for play.  If I need a bag, I'm sure I have one to fill the bill.  My wife says she doesn't understand why I think bags are cool.  She has like 2 purses.  I have at least 10 backpacks.  And that's not counting the messenger backs, laptop bags, and others still.

Like I said, I have lots of bags, including all those backpacks that I claim as mine.  I have also bought my wife another 3 or 4 backpacks because I think she needs them, because bags are cool.  Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I'm going to talk about a couple of my favorite backpacks.  For today, I'm going to just scratch the surface on those two and one other.

First backpack to talk about is my Saddleback Square Pocket backpack, aka The Tank.  No, seriously, the company calls this backpack The Tank.  It's certainly built like one.  If I had to have one backpack and no other, this would be a serious contender.  It's HUGE!  It's built to last.  You could probably fit a small car and a week's worth of luggage into this backpack.  The pic below doesn't do justice to how big this pack is. 

​Mine is in carbon black.  That just means it's a kind of a flat back color and not shiny like the one in the pic.  The only downside to this pack is that it's so big and heavy.  I think I weighed it once at just over 7 pounds empty.  I once used it hiking through a national park in SE Utah.  My back was soaking wet by the end of the trail, and my shoulders were especially sore.  I decided that night that I needed a lighter backpack for the next day.   

Two things I like about this bag.  The leather on it is thiiiiick.  Seriously, I could drag this thing behind the FJ and it'd just be scratched up.  It would still be totally usable.  Second is that it has no less than 8 D-rings on it.  I love clipping and attaching things to my backpacks, and those D-rings come in especially useful.    I don't think I could wear this bag out if I tried.  Despite its weight, this is one of my favorite bags.  And, at over $500, it was definitely the most expensive (but totally worth it imho).

The next backpack to talk about is my Outdoor Products backpack.  I have no idea the model.  They don't make this one anymore, and I've long since forgotten the name.  I was on the hunt for camping gear a while back at the local Walmart, saw it, and went back the next day to buy it.  It's been a trooper.  Well made.  Very economical at I think $30 when I got it.  I've got probably 150 miles on this one.  3 liter water bladder capacity.  Multiple pockets.  Rain cover (that I've had to use a couple of times).  This is one of the ones that I'll talk about more later.

Full disclosure.  After I had it about 6 months, one of the zippers failed.  I looked at it closely and realized it looked like it might be a manufacturer defect.  I contacted the company, and they quickly got me fixed up with no hassle.  They already weren't making it anymore, so they gave me credit towards another pack.  I added some to that credit and bought my wife a pack for some stuff she was doing.  Great customer service!  I liked the pack so well that I ended up figuring out how to fix it on my own, and I've continued to use it.

You'll see that I swapped out the zipper pulls to add some color and added some grimlocks on it.  I'm always adding stuff to my packs to personalize them and make them what I want.  This has been a great pack.

Last pack to talk about today is my current daypack.  It's the Teton Sports 1500 backpack, and, for me, it's about the perfect pack.  When I was researching it before I bought it, a lot of folks were complaining about various aspects of it.  I thought then, and think now, that those folks were just complaining.  It's a great bag.  Still pretty economical at $60.  I've got almost 100 miles on this one so far.

Like the previous pack, it can handle a 3 liter water bladder.  It's got pockets everywhere...5 zippered pockets.  One on the front.  One on each side.  And two in the lid.  Two mesh pockets on the side.  The big main compartment.  Straps everywhere.  Loops for trekking poles.  A rain cover.  In my humble opinion. this is the best daypack made.  In fact, I like it so well that they make an almost identical pack that's 45 liters.  I got it for short backpacking and camping trips. 

Since I got this pack, I've picked up several Teton Sports items, and have been impressed with all of them.  From packs to tents to cots, it all looks good.  I've got packs and a tent.  So far, they all work as advertised, and they're economical.  Not quite as inexpensive as the Outdoor Products packs, but definitely less than what you're going to get someplace like REI.  I've been told that Teton makes "budget" gear.  My experience has been that their gear is just as good as the REI stuff I have, it just doesn't cost as much.  So, if "budget" means good-quality-low-cost I'll take it every day over good-quality-high-cost.  Teton makes good stuff.  And this bag is no exception.

I've got a couple of others that I really like...like the one that attaches to a gig bag...but I use these three probably more than any of the others right now.  In later posts, I'll take the two day packs, and talk about them in a little more detail.  So what's your favorite backpack?  These are three of mine. ​