A little mixed up

By Brock Ranked #1338 - Luggage September 8, 2009

I bought this pack and used it for a 6 week trip through Italy and Greece this last summer. As far as the quality goes, it was absolutely incredible, but what else would you expect from Eagle Creek. However, in my opinion, this pack rides the line between a expedition pack and luggage a little too much. By that I mean its neither one or the other, so it doesn't function as well as one or the other. If you wanted to be carrying it on your back, it was heavy completely packed down, and when you added the day pack clipped onto it it was almost too top heavy to handle. Combine that with the really hot and humid Italian and Greek summer weather and you've just got too much on your plate. You do have the option to clip the daypack on your front, which helps a lot.

The daypack is really nice to have, unless you are bringing a laptop along with you, which I did. I know its my fault for having a 17" macbook but the daypack was just about an inch too small to fit it into it. The only option I had was to try and squeeze it into the small outer flap pock that is against your back when wearing the pack. It also left the laptop exposed which turned out to be a pain. Since the main pack is too large for carry-on, there really was no other option for the laptop. Also, if you are a photographer and plan to take a DSLR and an extra lense or two, you really don't have much room in the daypack to work with. Your only real option would be to pack another pack to use while walking around at your destinations.

If by chance you got sick of carrying the entire rig on your back, too bad because you just had to keep carrying it. There really isn't any other option, like wheels, to take the strain off if you got tired, or let you stop sweating for that matter.

View Details: Eagle Creek Thrive 90L Pack

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