I purchased this pack about a month ago to replace a 14-year-old Lowe Alpine Contour Mountain 40. This was an emotional purchase .... the day pack I was replacing had been with me on countless journeys spanning 3 continents and it performed like a champ. Until the waterproof lining rather suddently started to dry rot and shed itself all over anything I put in it. Okay, so it wasn't that emotional, but you get the point.
I spied the Fulcrum 35 pack earlier the summer when shopping for a new multi-day rig (The North Face Primero 85 ultimately beat out the Gregory Whitney 95 and hasn't disappointed, but that is another review for another time). The clever duffel like design caught my eye, but I wasn't in the market for a day pack at the time. When my Lowe gave up, I started shopping around but was drawn to the Fulcrum, based on both the interesting design, the specs and the asthetics.
The pack itself is VERY well constructed. In a matter of a month I've had it on a weeklong excursion to Mexico and a very wet and muddy Austin City Limits Festival weekend.
Mexico:
- it lugged a rain jacket, two hard back novels, I decent sized LowePro camera bag with Nikon D5000, extra lenses and other camera kit, along with various other items.
- Because there were planes, taxies, buses, walking, etc., I really appreciated the ability to stash the hip belt inside the pack. Nifty.
- I'm fairly large (6' 3") and, although slim in form factor, the shoulder straps had ample adjustability and the padding was outstanding even for my broad shoulders. The foam back padding is excellent as well.
- The net pocket on the inside of the top loader flap is pretty spacious and, although easy to get to in a hurry, worked well to secure passport, phone, mp3 player, etc.
- Now to the most noticeable, strange, and handy feature --- the top to bottom duffel zip. When loading and unloading the pack fully, I found myself going the traditional route and top loading it. But when i needed my rain jacket during the daily Yucatan thunderstorm, I was easily able to unzip exterior and interior zippers and snatch it right out from the bottom with out unloading everything. It was also quite handy when customs was searching my stuff, they didn't have to unload it either.
ACL:
- as mentioned above, it was very wet. Every last thing in the pack stayed bone dry. It shed water like a champ, and although the main duffel zipper runs from top to bottom, the welding and taping keep the water where you want it --- outside.
- the two outer side pockets are easily accessible, but as stated in another review they BARELY fit a standard size nalgene bottle. So what does that really mean, you ask? Will it fit? Yes, absolutely. Can you slide a a piece of paper in beside it? Not a chance :) So the result is that a Nalgene bottle is hard to get in and out of one of those pockets with one hand while the pack is on. While I'm very impressed with this pack, that is the one flaw I can point to....another 1/2 inch of tolerance would have been perfect.
- for the first time I dropped a 100 oz. hydration bladder in it and it worked very well. note: there is an obvious pouch on the inside where you think it should go, but if you poke around you'll find a velcroed seam that hides a larger pocket where I believe the bladder is really supposed to go. a large bladder will fit in either place, but you'll need to open up the secret compartment to expose the drink tube exit port anyway, and that pouch will keep your goodies further isolated from any leakage, condensation, etc.
I feel I've written a novel, but this pack deserves it....it is solid and worth every penny. Plus, when I was shopping for it none of my local gear stores carried it and so I had to rely on a handful of user reviews to make my decision. I hope this review helps somebody else.
