Backpacking packs and backpacking gear have gotten a lot lighter weight lately as a consequence of improvements within the supplies and materials accessible to backpack producers. Most 40-60L ultralight backpacks now weigh between 2 and three kilos. Those we listing beneath all have frames or body stays and may normally carry between 25 and 35 kilos of backpacking gear, meals, gasoline, and water. If it is advisable to carry greater than that, you’ll need a greater backpack. Lower than that, you’ll most likely wish to get a good lighter, frameless, ultralight backpack.
Listed here are the ten finest ultralight backpacks within the 40L-60L vary that we advocate.
Remember to learn our Ultralight Backpack Choice Information beneath and the linked FAQs for much more recommendation and reader suggestions. SectionHiker has a global repute for its complete males’s and girls’s backpack critiques and we’re keen about serving to our readers discover the very best backpacks for his or her wants.
1. Zpacks Arc Haul Extremely 60L Backpack
The Zpacks Arc Haul Extremely 60L is an ultralight ventilated backpack with a suspended mesh again panel to maintain you cool in scorching climate. Made with waterproof and intensely sturdy Extremely 200 and 100 cloth, the 20.9 oz Arc Haul Extremely 60 is a seam-taped roll-top backpack with aspect water bottle pockets and a entrance mesh pocket for exterior gear storage. The torso size is adjustable by elevating and reducing the shoulder pads, whereas the hip belt is obtainable in a number of lengths. Daisy chains on the shoulder straps and hip belt allow you to simply customise the pack with accent pockets, together with ones from different pack producers. The Arc Haul Extremely can haul as much as 30 lbs comfortably.
A Lady’s mannequin can be accessible. Learn the
SectionHiker Arc Haul Extremely 60L Assessment.
Store at Zpacks
2. Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55 Backpack
The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55L is a streamlined and sturdy backpack good for any type of outside journey from thru-hiking to wilderness backpacking. Made with super-strong however ultralight Dyneema Composite Materials, it’s seam-taped and successfully waterproof, with strong exterior pockets for elevated sturdiness. The body on this roll-top pack consists of two aluminum rods, referred to as body stays, that may be bent for a customized match. Weighing 2 lbs 2.5 oz, it has a most advisable load of 40 kilos. We advocate getting the black-colored model as a result of it’s extra sturdy than the white-colored one. The sizing is unisex.
Learn the SectionHiker.com Southwest 55 Backpack Assessment.
Store at Hyperlite
3. Granite Gear Crown 3 60 Backpack
The Granite Gear Crown 3 60 is an ultralight-style roll-top backpack that’s well-suited for thru-hiking, part climbing, and multi-day backpacking journeys. Weighing between 32.6 oz to 44.6 oz with all of its non-obligatory elements, it has all the options you’d count on together with an non-obligatory prime lid (there’s a roll-top beneath), a big mesh entrance pocket, and aspect water bottle pockets. What makes this pack distinctive is an adjustable size hip belt so that you get a customized match, the flexibility to hold a bear can canister below the highest lid, and wrap-around compression straps that make it simple to hold cumbersome gear. The Crown 3 60 has a most advisable load of 30-35 kilos.
A girls’s mannequin of the Crown 3 – 60, can be accessible.
Learn the SectionHiker Crown3 60 Assessment.
4. Osprey Exos Professional 55/Eja Professional 55 Backpack
The Osprey Packs Exos Professional 55 is an ultralight model of the famed Osprey Exos Backpack, a longtime thru-hiker favourite, however weighs practically one pound much less. Weighing 2 lbs 2.6 oz totally configured, the Exos Professional 55 has a ventilated mesh again panel, an adjustable torso size, and inflexible perimeter body that makes it good for hauling heavier masses as much as 25-30 kilos. The floating prime lid could be eliminated if not wanted, dropping the pack weight to 2 lbs even. Ultralight particulars and again air flow make the Exos Professional 55 a great backpack for climbing in scorching or humid circumstances. A girls’s mannequin is obtainable referred to as the
Osprey Eja Professional 55.
5. ULA Circuit Backpack
The ULA Circuit Backpack is a well-liked multi-day backpack for thru-hikers and weekend backpackers. Weighing 37.3 ounces, this 68-liter backpack has a load-carrying capability of 35 kilos and is obtainable with males’s or girls’s particular shoulder pads and a unisex hip belt. The Circuit has a roll-top favored by long-distance hikers, with a entrance mesh pocket, two massive aspect water bottle pockets, and two massive hip belt pockets. Light-weight, however bomber powerful, this pack can final via a long-distance hike and are available again for extra!
Learn the SectionHiker Circuit Backpack Assessment.
Store at ULA
6. Gossamer Gear Mariposa 60 Backpack
The Gossamer Gear Mariposa 60 is a good pack for backpackers who’re lightening their masses as a result of it has loads of storage. It’s intuitively organized for multi-day thru-hikes and part hikes with loads of exterior pockets and coated storage. The Mariposa has a light-weight aluminum body able to carrying 35 kilos comfortably, and interchangeable hip belt sizes can be found, guaranteeing match. It’s made with Robic nylon which is sweet for on-trail use, however you might have considered trying one thing extra sturdy for harder terrain. Weighing 2 lb 2.5 oz, it has a novel aspect quiver pocket good for storing a tent or hammock. The sizing is unisex though a female-friendly hipbelt is obtainable.
Learn the SectionHiker Mariposa 60 Assessment.
Store at Gossamer Gear
7. REI Flash 55 Backpack
The REI Flash 55 Backpack is a 2 lbs 13 oz ultralight-style roll-top backpack with an non-obligatory prime lid. The pack has all the customary options of an ultralight-style backpack together with a entrance mesh pocket, aspect water bottle pockets, and hip belt pockets. There are two issues that set this pack aside from others. First, it comes with pockets and straps (referred to as “packmods”) that may be eliminated with out having to resort to scissors and may save a further 7 oz of weight. Those self same pack mods could be moved round to tailor the pack to your wants. The Flash 55 additionally has revolutionary aspect water bottle pockets that make it very simple to succeed in your bottles, with snap closures to safe tall bottles should you use them. A girls’s particular mannequin can be accessible.
Learn the SectionHiker REI Flash 55 Assessment. We wish to take away the highest lid pocket (3.3 oz) for three-season use (and simply use it like a roll prime) and put it again on in winter for carrying a number of adjustments of hats and gloves.
Store at REI
8. Gregory Focal 58/Side 55
The Gregory Focal 58 (girls’s
Side 55) are multi-day backpacks with mesh-backed trampoline-style perimeter frames able to hauling 30-35 kilos. Weighing 2 lbs 9.3 oz, totally configured, the floating prime lid and included rain cowl could be changed by an ultralight climate flap, dropping the pack weight near 2 lbs 6.5 oz ounces. A entrance stretch mesh pocket, aspect water bottle pockets, and again air flow make the Focal and Side good packs for climbing in humid climate. The largest distinction between the Osprey Exos Professional and Eja Professional (listed above), and
Gregory Focal and Side is that the 2022 Exos and Eja have an adjustable size torso.
Learn our Gregory Focal 58 Backpack assessment or our
Gregory Side 55 assessment.
9. Superior Wilderness Designs Lengthy Haul 50
The Superior Wilderness Designs Ultralight Lengthy Haul 50 is an ultralight rolltop backpack that makes use of two aluminum stays and a foam pad for a body. It’s made utilizing made with Ultra200X, a mix of UHMWPE & high-tenacity polyester that’s extremely robust, light-weight, and waterproof to 200 psi. Whereas the pack has been stripped right down to the naked necessities it has an built-in hip belt and quite a few exterior attachment factors so you’ll be able to simply tailor it to your wants with somewhat accent twine or webbing straps, making it appropriate for four-season use. Weighing 30.2 oz, it might comfortably carry 35 kilos. Sizing is Unisex.
Store at SWD
10. Durston Gear Kakwa 55 Backpack
The Durston Gear Kakwa 55 is a streamlined ultralight-type backpack optimized for thru-hiking and backpacking. It has loads of exterior open pockets so you’ll be able to carry your whole daytime necessities with out stopping to open the pack. However the place this pack shines is within the body and suspension system which does an exceptionally high-quality job of transferring the load to your hips.Sizing is unisex.
Learn the SectionHiker Kakwa 55 assessment. Store at Durston Gear
Ultralight Backpack Choice Information
Ultralight Backpack Frames
Most ultralight backpacks vary from about 40 liters as much as 60 liters in quantity and normally weigh between 2 and three kilos. They’re meant for carrying masses between 25 and 40 kilos and have full frames or body stays. The amount and weight capability you want will rely on the quantity of substances, meals, gasoline, and water it is advisable to carry. This could fluctuate from journey to journey, or city to city should you’re a thru-hiker or part hiker, however compression straps allow you to shrink a pack’s quantity from 40L right down to 60L as wanted. Usually talking, you need extra “body” for heavier masses, however this generally is a matter of private desire.
See the next FAQs for extra recommendation and reader dialogue:
Gender-Particular Backpack Options
Many ultralight backpacks are actually accessible in males’s and girls’s particular fashions, though there are a number of exceptions. In addition they are inclined to have fastened torso lengths and hip belt lengths, though many backpack producers have discovered that adjustable torsos and hip belts or ventilated backpacks give them a major aggressive edge. Many ladies choose S-shaped shoulder straps and female-specific hip belts as a result of they mildew higher to a “curvier” feminine type.
Backpack Material Sturdiness
Most ultralight backpacks are made with Nylon and it’s variants embrace Robic Nylon, Dyneema Composite Materials (DCF), XPac, EcoPack, and Extremely. By way of sturdiness, Extremely is normally essentially the most sturdy when it comes to abrasion resistance, then EcoPak, XPac, DCF, after which Nylon, though it is determined by the thickness of the fabric used. As well as, there are lots of various kinds of Nylon and thicknesses, that are measured by “deniers”, additionally abbreviated as “D” in “20D Nylon Ripstop. Often, larger denier counts end in extra sturdy materials.
Price
Dyneema (DCF) packs are the costliest when it comes to worth, then Extremely, EcoPak, XPac, after which Nylon.
Backpack Covers and Pack Liners
DCF, Extremely, EcoPak, and XPac are waterproof supplies so you may get by with out a backpack cowl if you want. That mentioned, the shoulder pads and hip belts on all backpacks are usually not waterproof and can take in some water, however your gear will keep dry even should you don’t!
Most ultralight backpacks don’t embrace a rain cowl. In case your backpack just isn’t waterproof and rain is probably going the place you intend to hike, we advocate you get a backpack rain cowl or line the within of your backpack with a plastic bag. Some individuals do each or put on ponchos that cowl themselves and their backpacks. See the next FAQs for extra recommendation and reader dialogue:
Roll Tops vs Prime Lids
Among the backpacks listed above are roll tops and a few have prime lids. Which you select is a matter of private desire. Roll tops could be good as a result of they’re extra minimalist and require fewer webbing straps. However prime lids are useful if it is advisable to change hats or gloves ceaselessly or entry a map and navigation gear. Nonetheless, different packs, just like the Granite Gear Crown3 60 and the REI Flash 55 are roll-tops, however include an adjunct prime lid that may you connect over them. That’s actually the very best of each worlds.
Backpacking Match
A very powerful issue when selecting an ultralight backpack is match. Preserve attempting ones on till you get a torso size and hip-belt that matches you completely. Return insurance policies and warranties matter. Stick near producers that assure their merchandise, are simple to contact and need you to have the very best expertise potential. What makes an ultralight backpack nice? It suits you, has easy-to-use exterior pockets or daisy chains to connect your individual, and works effectively along with your different backpacking gear decisions.
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