Unisex Design...Not For Everyone

By Big Papa Ranked #152 - Daypacks - Technical December 22, 2010

Ok, so I bought a GoLite Jam last week, men's version in medium, loaded it up with my weekend backpacking setup, 10.8 lbs total, including food and water, and took it out for a 5-mile dayhike. It felt great. Thinking that I really didn't need a 50L bag, and that I could shave some weight and size, I exchanged it for the GoLite Peak. Yes, I know, why try to fix what's not broken.

So I put the same gear in the Peak and threw it on. It immediately felt uncomfortable; it was just not sitting on me correctly. I made numerous adjustments, but it just didn't work, which I attribute to the unisex design. I think the design places the shoulder straps too close together for my build, which puts pressure on the wrong part of my neck and traps. The frameless pack, even packed correctly, doesn't transfer the weight to the waist quite like a framed pack does, and the waistbelt on the Peak is not really designed to support it, either, it is more of a daypack waistbelt, as evidenced by the capability to remove it altogether. So all the weight hung from the wrong part of my shoulders, making for a bad situation.

I returned the Peak for a Jam this evening, loaded it up, and put it back on. It felt better right away; I am looking forward to taking it out on my next multi-night trip. Until then, I will be using it on all my training dayhikes. The weight penalty is only four ounces, and I get the flexibility of the larger (50L vs 36L) bag. The comPACKktor sytem allows me to use the Jam for everything from short dayhikes to weeklong treks and beyond.

All told, I think the Peak is a great pack for dayhikes (and beyond if you're a lightweight backpacker), if you have the correct build for it, but I just don't, so I'm sticking with the Jam...

View Details: GoLite Peak Backpack - 2318cu in

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