I've been using this pack for years now. It's a perfect size for mountain bike rides. I can carry any tools I may need on the trail. The reservoir comes with me everywhere. It's large enough for a long ride and fits great in my overnight pack for longer trips.

I bought an '05 Blowfish for a Yosemite trip and it has been pulling ski duty ever since. But it is getting old so I've been looking around for the hot spare. Verdict is an '11 Blowfish. (Don't like the '10 color options)

I only ski with the Blowfish "closed" and would never consider otherwise. When I go down I go down hard. Even so the 720ci is more than enough to carry multi-tool, med/sewing kit, 50' rescue cord, power bars, spare hat, spare gloves and such. You get the pict. And here is where it earns 5stars. When it's time to hike to the top, or get back to the resort after going to far, I open it up and have room to stow my outer layers. No strapping to the outside where snow can collect with this design.

What makes this a great ski pack is the low profile and lack of straps. Straps dangle and chair lifts love to take them for a ride. Plus the blowfish has individually sewed back pads. No snow to collect in a big mesh pocket while tumbling in deep powder. And that also allowed my to remove the middle pads for more comfort on the pew like chair lifts. A must do ski modification.

All in all I like the '05 model over the '10. But compared to the other models out there (including Osprey, NF and REI) it is still my winner.

Hope this helped...

This is pretty comfortable and versatile, and reasonably light weight for the size. But it is a bit limited on features.

1) uses expansion zipper instead of compression straps -- compression straps are more versatile

2) no outside straps/flaps for carrying a helmet, armor etc. No mesh bag either.

3) The bladder and hose is kind of annoying to install in and out of the pack.

I've been using this pack mainly for mountain biking and occasionally longer trail runs. I like it overall, but would never use the expandable zipper (it has plenty of storage for my needs without it). I tried once when I wanted to carry some elbow armor and it just became unruly on my back. Since the pack is relatively narrow, expanding it moves most of the weight away from your back making it awkward for balancing on a bike and i would imaging the same if you were walking. Overall I use this regularly and would definitely recommend to a friend.

I use it for mountainbiking and long-distance trail running in the mountains and it's equally good for both. I usually switched the 3L bag with a 2L one when running and hiking. It's easily adjusted and have enough small pockets inside for all your small tools, phones etc.