Contributions by Couch Potato (5)

I know you're thinking that this looks like a nice ultralight jacket. It's even lighter than that. No, even lighter. It breathes pretty well, but hey, it's a jacket. I got it in bright yellow/orange because black was too hot. I haven't tried it out in a more severe conditions (I'm planning to layer this over my base when the going gets tougher), but so far it's sweet. And did I mention that it's light and bright?

I've taken this all over the place and it's always served me well. It's quite bright (at least relative to an earlier headlamp I had), and is very small and compact. The only problem, also mentioned by someone else, is that switching between modes isn't the easiest thing to do. You have to cycle through modes to get to the dimness level/mode that you'd like everytime (or maybe I'm just not good at it). Still, minor complaint for a great light.

What can I say? It's totally sweet. Super light, it keeps me dry. The whole poncho thing was a little less than I had hoped: the zips come up about two-thirds to the arms (I had hoped they'd come up the whole way), and they provide adequate ventilation. The length is good - I tried this and the Arcteryx Alpha SL, which I found too short to cover my down vest (bad). This is perfect.

I should qualify this review by disclosing that this isn't the pack for me and I haven't used it on any serious hikes. That said, this is an awesome pack. It's basically a dry-bag with straps, but what straps they are! The suspension features this cool rotating thing that makes it very comfortable to wear (the Needle has something similar). Quibbles: The bottom of the pack is small and oddly-shaped. My sleeping bag doesn't fit nicely, and I had to put other things below it to fill it out. Because it's basically a dry-bag, it doesn't have any give, and it's hard to slide things around inside. I had a very hard time getting my bear canister packed. Overall, great pack. Not right for me. Also, really expensive, but if you're seriously considering it, that's probably not the deciding factor.

This pack fit fine and was comfortable, but it is amazingly heavy - an ounce heavier, in fact, than my much larger trekking pack. This might be fine for a larger pack, but these days, a pack of this size needs to be ultralight.

I dig this. It's soft, comfy and was easy to size. The placement of the main buckle strikes me as strange (it's way over on the side), but there's probably some reason for it. If I were going to do this again, I think I'd get a larger reservoir. That said, this is a perfect size for a quick run, and I can wear it with my weightvest.

I dig this. It's soft, comfy and was easy to size. The placement of the main buckle strikes me as strange (it's way over on the side), but there's probably some reason for it. If I were going to do this again, I think I'd get a larger reservoir. That said, this is a perfect size for a quick run, and I can wear it with my weightvest.

I bought these intending to wear them with a full pack, but haven't done that yet. I do wear a 40-lb weightvest two miles to work several days a week and they are holding that fine. My only real complaint is that my heel is loose, and I get some toe-crunch. I'm hoping that I can solve that by adding another hole up near the top, but a little toward my ankle. Will see. I also tried the later model, the 103. Did not like that as much as this one.

Title says it all. These were a driving factor in my decision to get the matching The North Face shoes. Once these are on, they're great. It's the getting on that's awkward. Not only are the clip things a bit difficult to manage, but the overall fit is quite tight and, well, just awkward. Still, I'm glad I got 'em.