Mixed Emotions

By Travis Steele Ranked #243 - Backpacks January 17, 2011

This backpack is great, but I HAVE had issues. In agreeance with other reviewers is has awesome packcloth material, it is light, comfy, huge, adjustable, compressable and versatile.
However, one of the seams that held the brain (top pocket) together came apart and almost cost me all of my little gadgets one day. The brain is where I keep maps, snacks, headlamp, lighter and after following a trail of loot, my hiking partners told me to check my zippers, they were fine but the pack itself was coming apart!
I love this pack (and the price) so much I deceded to keep it and just sew it up. I did, and my seam stayed tight and the remainder of the factory seam was fine too...then another sewing point came apart, but this one was almost tragic.

I was on a week long trip in the Wind River Range and on day three the place where the shoulder strap comes down to meet with the hip belt totally blew out. Faced with carrying my 50+ lb load with one strap for another 20 miles, I decided to try to fix it using fishing line and a needle (I think an upholstery needle is one of the best emergency tools a backpacker can bring). Apart from it looking bad and taking up valuable time in the Winds, my repair worked well and the pack has done well since, I just wonder if I will have to fix the other strap the next time I have the pack loaded down again.
Take this review for what you will, I love the GoLite brand, but cannot ignore the issue this pack has created for me...twice. Golite has taken good care of me when dealing with the one other product issue I had, and would reccomend that people use their products. When I bought my odyssey, it was a brand new model, so maybe there was some issues with production, everyone else seems to have had great luck since then.

View Details: GoLite Odyssey Expedition Pack - 5500-5800 cu in

Helpful Votes: 0 Yes