New pack products

[soadmin]

From the custom shop. Cuben pack fabric, looks a little box to foam stuffing for photo

5800 CI comes in right around 3 lbs with talon on the UL frame

[soadmin]

From the custom shop. Cuben pack fabric, looks a little box to foam stuffing for photo

5800 CI comes in right around 3 lbs with talon on the UL frame

[ernda]

Almost afraid to ask what a cuben pack would cost.......

[soadmin]

It's not terrible. XPAC is not cheap. It's a tad more than our camo up charge but saves about 8 ounces vs vx21.

A 3 lb huge volume pack that carries big loads and honestly costs less than many of "high end" packs is a good thing. I saw someone post somewhere of an almost 9 lb pack they bought for almost $900 and I was confounded. Why ? To each his own

[ernda]

How "tough" or durable is the cuben you're using compared to xpac? Also, is it just as waterproof, assuming you are sewing the seams and not "welding" them, as some do when working with cuben?

[ktimm]

It is sewn and sealed. The sewn segment is edge bound so integrity of seams should be very very good. How our pack bags are designed to attach, the could be a lot of stress with a heavy load thus we feel more comfortable with the way we have built and tested them. A dry bag style cuben bag, that just compressed in I think could use taped construction very well.

As far as fabrics, I prefer the VX21, because it is a known entity. I have put significant time under it but it does weight more than the cuben or Tan 210 D. The Cuben, has a very similar feel to the XPAC, in that it is sort of stiff. It is also pretty smooth in texture, which helps with some types of abrasion (Note: Cordura has excellent abrasion resistance, but it's rough weave actually causes it to test worse in abrasion tests than a smoother fabric like VX42). The Cuben and the Tan 210 weigh very similar (Cuben is about 1.5 ounces lighter) and I suspect will perform about the same in most aspects. The primary difference is Cuben is stiffer, which to me has some appeal. I have grown use to the stiffness of XPAC, and a bag staying open when opened.

Fabric wear and tear is probably very user dependent. For reference, I took out and examined a very lightweight pack made from light fabric, that I had spent most of a year under, in a lot brush and for the most part it looked good and the only damage was more in exterior mesh etc. Both the Cuben and Tan 210 are far more robust.

[mule]

I have used a cuben dry bag and cuban tarp for my hammock setup for a couple of years. It is more puncture resistant but less abrasive resistant than silnylon. I notice that some of the cuben pack makers online, I won't mention names, but one of them is where I got my tarp, suggest that a pack may only make it through one year of heavy use. Things may be different now, but two years ago that was the way it was and I think it still is the case. I love cuben fiber. The dry bag I have is large and has taken quite a beating, but the tarp that is made of the same weight cuban has had to be repaired in three places due to abrasion and I don't even know how it happened. It appeared that something was drug across it at one time and there were multiple very small tears going perpendicular to the scrape. My cuben dry bag has been repaired twice for small cuts.

[soadmin]

I would agree with the assessment if cuben tent material is used in a pack bag. The cuben pack bag material is roughly 4 times the weight of most of the tent materials and I think will have much better longevity. How much longer under different uses, that is debatable but I would suspect much longer

[mule]

OH, That would be much better. I do love my cuben tarp.

[soadmin]

Paradox Unaweep ... Details will be coming in the next few days. Based on the same suspension. Most configurations 2.5 to 3 lbs with pack bag. Materials, xpac , cordura and spacer mesh. Flat out , the lightest , high load capable suspension available.

Stay tuned