mens Inertia 18 H2O Backpack

Small but great backpack for daily use. Very well made.

Let me start my clarifying that hike about three days a week. So I definitely have high expectations of my gear. I used this to replace a 14 Liter Hydration pack that was always just a little too small. What attracted me to this pack was the light weight. The pack is comfortable and has a lot of great features. For example, Gregory's new hydration packs are a huge improvement from their old version. I think I like it better than Camelback at this point. However, the light weight comes with some sacrifice. The hip belt is just a 1 inch piece of webbing. When it arrived in the mail I thought oh no this thing is going to chafe. That occurred in some other packs when there was no padding on the sides of the hip belt. So far I've been pleasantly surprised that it doesn't chafe. However, the longest hike I've used this bag on so far is about eight miles. If I go for a serious 15-25 mile day, I have a feeling it might be a different story. Another disadvantage, is that there are no side compression straps. Instead they have these draw strings for your hiking poles. I don't love them and worry they will rip off when they get caught on trees, etc. The verdict is still out on the clasp on the breast strap. It's weird. It's not like a regular clip. It might be better because it won't rip the webbing off the should strap. I also think the tiny clasps are going to break. We'll see. All in all the pack is pretty comfortable and it caries a fair amount of gear quite comfortably. For example, my gear list includes: 2 liters of water Accessories bag with emergency fix items, like zip ties, small pocket knife, iodine tablets, head lamp, compass Rain Coat Lunch First Aid Kit GoPro Camera Nikon Z50 Camera with kit lenses Small carbon tripod The total load including the pack itself, hydration bladder and water is about 15 pounds. The bag carries the weight quite comfortably. The construction seems pretty solid. I expect to last me 3-5 years with heavy use. All and all I give the bag a 4 out 5 listing the deficiencies above.