Deuter Futura 32 Hiking Backpack

It was one of my opinions that Deuter was a top brand regards back packs along side the likes of Osprey but no more. I can only conclude the company's "bean counters" hacked it, certainly this model; it is a cost-cut too far and now it is merely OK instead of really good pack.40+ years in exploration industry with 2-5 months tours of duty in the deserts or offshore on vessels meant I have been continually studying luggage and back packs, buy them, and put them through their paces. It all started in the late 70's with Karrimor and Berghaus but they seemed to have given up this market certainly the top end. The following decade tried a few other brands including Alpine Lowe (and LowePro for photo gear) before settling on Osprey for most of the last 15 years.Eventually got annoyed having my arms chaffed by Osprey's tendency to put pockets at the hip belt. What a stupid place to put a pocket as that cause chaffing. If I wanted to have a pocket there I would put a molle style pouch(es) such that they could slide out of the way of my swinging arms.Must have gone through 15 pieces of rolling luggage and similar number of back packs or varying sizes in about 40 years but still could quite find the perfect one for most requirements. So decided to give Deuter 50+10 Futura a go. This was model dating to around 2017 when I bought it in 2021. Loved it so much that I bought another one straight away because the first one will eventually wear out and I didn't want to take another few years to search for its replacement.This is more or less the reason for buying Futura 32 in 2024. I wanted to go through kissing gates across foot paths rather than having to climb over them. At a push one could walk through these gates with the 50+10 still being worn but with difficulty thus often climb over them instead. Also I want a pack when travelling on oublic transport but cut down the number of times I accidentally bump into people. Decided to have a pack similar design to 50+10 but smaller hence the Futura 32.The Futura 32 met all my specifications except 1 important design feature. There Is NO rain flap protection for the zips. Since rainproof / waterproof zips have been used on top flight Goretex jackets for the past 2 decades I may just about accept that if the zips were rainproof but they are not, just ordinary zips. For the sake of perhaps £2 extra for each of the two zips Deuter would have had a great back pack but the penny pinching has gone just too far so now this pack is merely OK rather than great. The pack may be ok for commuting but I wouldn't recommend a youngster use it for their Duke Of Edinburgh's Expeditions. I remember from my first Bronze in the 7-'s to the last Gold award expeditions, they all have rainy days, expecially the Pennine Way for the Gold. No way can I recommend this one. By all means put it on the shortlist to consider if you find it on Amazon at a good price because it is otherwise very comfortable, stable, well sewn together (I won't say well made due to the zips).One other minor complaint is the side mesh pockets are too short. I prefer hot drink so I don't use the bladder pocket for water bladder. The side pockets are just about tall enough for Stanley 350ml insulated cup / flask but there is risk of a 470ml Thermos falling out as this size of flask protrudes too far out of the pockets.Sure there is a rain cover but I hate those. Only ever tried to use it once but it made horrendous flapping noise in the winds. I go outdoors to enjoy, among other things, hearing birds singing not flapping noises. So in my book using rain flap or waterproof zips is a definite must in the design. By the way this Futura 32 is the first pack I ever had in 45 years which doesn't have decent rain protection; all the ohters in the past have rain protection flaps.Downgraded to only 3 stars.After using this 32 litre pack a few more times I have to downgrade it even more. This pack chaffs my arms between elbow and wrist. The adjusters for the hip belt are located at the hip fins. I don't know why Deuter re-invented the wheel but they did; other manufacturers just allow the adjustment at the centre of the belt where the two halves come together (and excess strap left is put through a loop to keep it out of the way). No, Deuter thought better by having adjusters located at the hip fins. Well, stupidly, they could not have tried walking with the pack for themselves. At the hip is where our skeletons are wide (not as wide as shoulders but wide none the less). Then Deuter add a hip fin of a few cm and on top of that add the plastic adjustment buckle there = just a cm or two just too wide. As I walk I don't purposely swing my arms but pendulum effect invariably means that arms do swing and most times touches these adjustment buckles ! Of course you wouldn't notice if you were "Nordic Walking" with two walking poles but that is not my style of walking and I wouldn't be carrying poles if I were to use public transport. When walking I want to build up and maintain the muscles of the legs so I just use a walking stick for traversing steep sloping ground oherwise the stick is being swing by the arms also when traversing ground less steep.This chaffing was never a problem with the earlier edition of the 50+10 litre pack; and I reckon it's because the hip fins are longer such that when the hip belt is fully engaged, the adjusters (also located on the hip fins) end up closer to the centre of ones body and therefore out of the way of swinging arms.OK I have been able to tolerate this annoyance the first couple miles of a walk but certainly by the 4th mile it becomes much worse than mere annoyance.