Black Diamond

Distance 15L Backpack

Such a versatile pack!

I use this pack for bikepacking, car-to-car mountain missions, trail running in the high alpine, and ski touring. BD knocked another one out of the park with it. And it definitely carries more than one would expect for a 15L bag and does it super well.

Black Diamond did a great job providing a high-capacity, rugged, yet comfortable running vest. I feel like they rushed the design by taking the Blitz pack and strapping the vest onto it because the construction and design detail quality lacks in certain areas on the vest; this produces some uncomfortable wear and friction. Overall, a great design and I look forward to seeing them improve the vest portion.

Best day pack for serious hikes

Tight to the body, just big enough to carry what you need. Used this pack all over the northeast this past summer and never had an issue. Have used a ton of traditional day packs over the years but this one is my new favorite.

Very versitile- use running, quick ski tours, commutes, etc. Only drawback is the pockets in front are a bit small for most 500ml soft flasks.

Great pack for longer light trail running and hiking adventures.

Plenty of space, lightweight, and useful pockets on the shoulder straps.

The devil is in the details

Familiarity:

I returned this product before using it

Size Bought:

L

Weight:

183

On the plus side, this pack feels solidly made. The hiking pole compartments are nice. It is a very niche product that is probably great for a few people, but there are a lot of details that could be improved. For example: - The main closure system is kind of weird. As someone already mentioned, it leaves a long strap dangling, but more importantly, the outer shell material that folds over the inner bag from the back is very stiff, and has a sharp fold/crease in that is kind of awkward and ugly looking. This won't be an issue if you always fill the bag to the brim. - The strap for the main bag closure is difficult to adjust and constructed out of a stretchy material for no apparent reason. - There are adjustment straps on the sides of the "waist belt". This is a waste of space where more pockets could have gone (like on my Ultimate Direction running pack). - The front soft flask pockets are the *lower* pockets on the front (at least my UD flasks don't fit in the upper pockets), which means you have to take the flasks out of the pockets to drink from them. It will also be very hard to fit anything into the upper front pockets behind the flasks. - There are no straps to secure the soft flasks, so they may fall out or sag inside the pockets. - Pockets, in general... Not enough of them. - There is no dedicated hole to route the hose from your water bladder, so you have to route it through the main hole of the main compartment. - No secure way to hang the bladder inside its compartment. - The biggest problem I have is that when you fill the pack up, it is not very comfortable. I am questioning whether the concept of this pack even makes sense. At least, I would not want to run with that much bulk/weight that high. I think once you get to needing 15L of capacity, a more traditional pack may just work better. None of these are showstoppers, but I decided to return it.

Need a woman specific model

Myself and several other lady friends used the 15L to run the TMB last summer hut to hut over 8 days. We found when loaded the backpack just didn't sit right. No matter how we adjusted the cords the sides gapped oddly. For myself, a DD the front didn't fit as well as I'd have liked either. I've used and loved the 8L but when fully loaded the 15L just didn't hang well on a woman's body despite getting the correct "size" per the charts. When compared to other friends who had other brands, they had much more comfortable fits. We did however love the side pockets for the poles (or baguettes).

Great Fit and Functionality, but Not Durable

This pack fits great and has functional storage. I've taken many packs through the Tetons and never have acquired tears in them. I took my first BD Distance 15 pack for a summit in the Tetons and discovered a hole afterwards. I bought another pack hoping it was just a product defect. I took the next BD Distance 15 pack out for another summit in the Tetons and the same problem happened! Pretty disappointed with its durability because it feels like it’d be able to endure abrasions and that's what it's marketed for. The BD water bottles are difficult to find, so the Camelbak 17oz quick stow flasks are pretty similar to them and work well.

The ultimate peak bagging bag

Perfect for fast, light, and safe peak bagging. Im 5'8"/155 and medium fit me perfect right out of the box. Pocket layout is intuitive and you can easily tell BD put a lot of thought intk the small details on this bag. Its a crusher. Sad to say that one of the stitched loops on the sternum straps busted. Will be an easy fix but oh well

Perfect Quality to weight ration

For commute and for trail running this bag is amazing. It doesn't have the structure and rigidity of a true commute bag like a fastpack 20 from Ultimate Direction, but that makes it lighter and for me it is a good tradeoff. Usually I don't even need to pack consciously and every fits and feels comfortable. I even once had a hoodie, a pair of shoes, extra clothing (shorts and T-shirts) and my lunch and it went smoothly. I only wish it came with bottles as the distance 4 does.