Thursday, May 26, 2011

TETON Sports Explorer 4000 Internal Frame Backpack

This is my initial review on the bag. I will add a followup review after a 3 day backpacking trip next weekend.

Pros: (Quite a few, generally happy with initial inspection)
Lots of adjustments
A decent number of pockets and options for storage(example would be a mesh velcro pocket on the face of the bag good for maps, energy bars, etc.)
Straps seem to be of decent overall quality, and there is what looks like a sleeping bag/sleeping pad strap near the bottom of the bag. There is also two straps on the very top of the bag that seem like they could be used to strap something down. Nice to have the option to securely strap some gear to the outside of the bag.
2 Mesh water bottle pockets on either side, couldn't tell by the product description or pictures but they are there! Phew.
Bright Yellow Rain Cover is located in a nifty pocket at the very bottom of the bag, nice feature.
A few loops on the outside for strapping things down.
Holds up to a 3 liter bladder with an exit whole and clips to keep in reach.
Seems to be of Durable build and quality. Field tests soon.

Cons: (Only one real con for me, two cons if you are taller)
Sleeping bag compartment is SMALL, well actually its initially more of an issue with it's opening. I have a decently small winter bag that I can't fit in when its in it's stuff sack, at all. If I take the bag out of the stuff sack and stuff it into the compartment, it just BARELY fits, nice to know that it could though. For me, I will most likely use the straps on the outside of the bag to hold my sleeping bag, I have hooked it up and it seems to work pretty well(Almost like it was made to hold a sleeping bag). 4000ci is not that much room for a winter backpacking trip so having my sleeping bag on the outside will create a decent amount of space for say my clothes, sleeping pad, and cooking gear in the sleeping bag compartment. If you are someone who must have a sleeping bag compartment, this will work for summer camping but a winter sleeping bag will be very tough to fit in, the one and only con for me but big enough to deter some people. If you are someone who doesn't mind sticking the sleeping bag on the outside where it would work out just fine in the bag's straps, then this con is not that much of an issue.
Not for TALL people. This bag seems to fit me ok but I am not a very big guy. I'm about 5'9 - 5'10 and it is a close fit. I think it will work just perfectly for me but if you are above 6 ft or anything, beware(then again I am pretty new to backpacking and this is MY first pack).

Overall:
In the end, I bought this smaller bag over the cheaper and larger cuscus bags because of the many reviews those had with cheap build quality. They get a lot of space with their big bag but have a lot of issues with bag quality. I sacrificed some space for quality and extra features. I am a little disappointed by the small backpack compartment but if I have my pack on the outside, this bag should work quite perfectly. I'd say for summer camping this bag is Perfect and for winter camping, if you can stick your sleeping bag on the outside, this bag is near-perfect. I will do an update in about a week after I give this bag a good hard test.

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