The Hen Tramper Ultralight Gear 50 Liter Backpack (CTUG-50) is a custom-made ultralight roll-top backpack made with XPAC VX21, a extremely sturdy and light-weight waterproof material generally used earlier than Dyneema DCF and Extremely appeared on the ultralight backpacking scene. The pack is exclusive in that it has an inner body produced from carbon fiber arrow shafts, an exterior sit pad pocket, and a sewn-on hip belt that offers it a really helpful most snug load of 30-35 kilos. The pack additionally has daisy chains sewn to the hipbelt letting you cling a fanny pack from it as a substitute of looping it round your waist. That is far more snug and handy when mountaineering, on the town, or touring.
Specs at a Look
- Precise Weight: 34 oz
- Quantity: a big 50L
- Inside body: Sure
- Prime closure: Roll-top
- Pockets: 3
- Gender: Unisex with female-friendly shoulder straps and hipbelt
- Coloration: A variety of colour choices.
- Hip belt pockets: No
- Load lifters: Sure
- Hydration Suitable: No
- Sleeping Pad Straps: Sure
- Canister compatibility: BV475 suits horizontally, BV500 Vertically
- Prime Y Strap: Sure. Lengthy sufficient to carry a BV500 on high of the pack
- Waist: Customized to your dimensions.
- Torso and Hipbelt Size: Customized to your dimensions
- Materials: XPAC VX21
- Execs: Enormous capability, sturdy, nice exterior pockets, many attachment factors
- Cons: Hip belt slips (request an even bigger lumber pad)
The CTUG-50 reviewed right here is similar to the CTUG-45 I reviewed 4 years in the past, with a couple of minor variations. At the moment, Hen Tramper determined to extend the quantity by 5 liters and supply a second smaller 40L backpack, however apart from that, the backpack has undergone few adjustments. Notably, Hen Tramper has not used Extremely material to make this backpack and continues making it with Xpack VX21 when so many ultralight backpack producers have switched to that material.
Backpack Storage and Group
The CTUG-50 is a roll-top with a big essential compartment, aspect mesh pockets, and a entrance mesh pocket. Whereas it’s labeled as a 50-liter backpack, it feels a lot bigger in quantity, probably as a result of the pack bag has a boxy form with proper angles on the corners as a substitute of curves. When computing pack quantity, Hen Tramper contains the pack’s open pockets, the primary compartment as much as the load lifters, and the extension collar minus 3 material turns. Whereas it is a conservative approach to measure pack quantity amongst ultralight pack producers, it means you’ve much more quantity above the load lifters to pack gear or meals.
The roll-top has strips of velcro sewn alongside the hem however doesn’t have a stiffener. Whereas the pack’s XPac VX21 is waterproof, the pack’s seams should not seam taped so that you’ll wish to use a water-resistant liner and/or drybags for gear and clothes in moist climates. The roll-top buckles on the highest of the pack solely clip to themselves however don’t clip down alongside the perimeters. A protracted Y-strap on the highest can maintain the roll-top closed or safe a pad or bear canister to the highest of the pack. The Y strap is lengthy sufficient to carry a BV500 canister on high.
The mesh pockets on the entrance and sides of the pack are made with the dive mesh used to make scuba gear luggage, which has a big weave however may be very robust stuff and onerous to tear. Even should you do, you may simply run wire by means of the big holes within the weave to seal the pocket up once more and forestall objects from falling out, an old style trick.
The entire mesh pockets will be cinched tight on the highest with line locks and elastic wire to stop objects from coming out. The aspect mesh pockets can maintain two Smartwater bottles and are reachable & replaceable when the pack is worn, whereas the entrance pocket is massive sufficient to carry many smaller objects or a moist tent fly simply.
The pack doesn’t have an inner hydration sleeve or hydration ports to run a hydration hose. There isn’t even an inside cling loop or hook to hold a reservoir.
The bottom pack doesn’t include sewn-on hipbelts pockets however they are often simply added to daisy chains sewn to the hipbelt’s exterior. Hen Tramper’s main enterprise is promoting accent backpack pockets they usually supply a big choice which you could add to simply about any backpack, not simply those they make.
Backpack Body and Suspension
Body
The CTUG-50 has a body produced from carbon-fiber arrow shafts. Whereas this sounds very “cottage,” it’s price noting that my first Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus, circa 2007, (now known as the Mariposa 60), additionally had body stays produced from carbon-fiber arrow shafts. Gossamer Gear has since switched to an aluminum keep.
Hen Tramper provides a crosspiece alongside the highest, making a U-shaped keep that creates good stiffness within the body and holds the primary compartment open, making it simpler to pack. The underside of the vertical stays terminate on the perimeters of the hipbelt, which is sewn onto the pack and never connected with Velcro, like so many different ultralight backpacks. I’ve all the time discovered that you simply get a greater load-to-hip switch if a pack has a sewn-on hipbelt like this as a result of there’s much less buckling of the hip belt wings and lumbar space when loaded.
The U-shaped body nonetheless has lots of torsional flex because it doesn’t have a crosspiece on the underside, though it’s dampened significantly whenever you pack the primary compartment full of substances. The general impact is a reasonably vigorous pack that maintains its form properly with totally different masses, doesn’t collapse, and tracks the hips properly. There may be nonetheless a modest quantity of barrelling when the pack is packed full, however you may make it much less noticeable with just a little gear shifting.
Sit Pad
The CTUG-50 additionally has a sit-pad pocket behind the shoulder straps on the pack’s entrance. Hen Tramper ships the pack with an egg carton pad, really two cut-down panels of a Therm-a-rest ZLite foam pad (1.4 oz). The included sit pad is considerably shorter than an everyday Zlite pad, and an everyday ZLite won’t match vertically within the pack’s pad pocket.
The sit pad is simply used as padding and doesn’t present any structural profit, but it surely’s very simple to take away and exchange, so you should utilize it as a sit pad to maintain your bum dry or the chiggers off you whenever you wish to sit down and take a break. In the event you’ve by no means used a backpack with a detachable sit-pad earlier than you’ll rapidly uncover one million makes use of for it, comparable to a hammock porch or tent vestibule ground.
Shoulder Straps
The CTUG-50 has 3″ huge shoulder straps with daisy chains sewn on the surface, making it simple to hold accent pockets. They’re calmly padded inside with wicking mesh and made in a female-friendly S-shape. The tops of the shoulder straps should not sewn to the pack bag however connected with webbing in order that they rotate extra freely, offering extra consolation for individuals with “curvier” chests. Zpacks makes use of an identical development approach of their backpacks, and it adapts properly to totally different shoulder geometries.
The CTUG-50 additionally comes with load lifter straps anchored to the pack bag simply in entrance of the body. A steel buckle positioned on the high of the strap permits for adjustment of the strap’s angle, a premium function normally discovered solely on higher-end packs.
Hipbelt
The hipbelt doesn’t include pockets and is roofed with two traces of daisy chain webbing so you may connect accent pockets or a fanny pack to them. The hipbelt closes with a central buckle and pull ahead straps, with a separate strap adjustment on the highest webbing strap so you may tighten the highest of the hip belt tighter than the underside. Girls are prone to discover this extra helpful than males, who are likely to have squarish hips.
Sadly, the hipbelt constantly slipped down my hips when worn. The final model of this pack that I reviewed 4 years in the past did the very same factor: it slips as a result of there may be too little lumbar padding behind the hipbelt to stop it. I can’t be the one individual experiencing this, so I hope CTUG considers including an choice when ordering the pack to make the rear of the hipbelt thicker.
Fanny Pack Entrance Pocket
Hen Tramper has a nifty function not discovered on related multi-day backpacks: the flexibility to connect a Hen Tramper fanny pack to daisy chains on the hipbelt. The fanny pack clips to the hipbelt webbing with small clips and hangs excessive sufficient that it doesn’t hit your unmentionables or intervene with tightening the hipbelt. That is significantly better than sporting a separate fanny pack as a result of there may be one much less webbing strap round your waist. The fanny pack additionally stays connected to the pack whenever you unbuckle one aspect and may be very simple to reattach whenever you’re able to roll.
Exterior Attachment System and Compression
The CTUG-50 has aspect compression straps made with linelocks and elastic wire routed in a determine 8 sample. You’re not compelled to make use of them on this configuration, nevertheless, and you may reroute the cords in no matter sample you need or take away them completely.
Along with the highest Y-strap talked about above, the pack comes with a pair of cord-based sleep bag attachment straps positioned under the entrance pocket and a rudimentary ice ax loop. These are detachable should you don’t wish to use them.
Comparable Ultralight Framed Backpacks
Suggestion
The Hen Tramper Ultralight Backpack 50-Liter is a {custom} backpack that’s enjoyable to hold, sturdy, and well-made. It’s arrange like a typical ultralight backpack (a rolltop and three open pockets), which is straightforward to get used to should you’ve by no means had a pack with such massive open pockets earlier than. Whereas I did encounter a difficulty with hipbelt slippage, including an choice to extend the thickness of the rear of the hipbelt looks as if it’d be a straightforward modification to request whenever you order a {custom} backpack.
The CT-50, priced at $400, is analogous in worth to the ULA’s XPac backpacks and on par with equally sized ultralight backpacks made with Dyneema DCF and Extremely from different producers. Whereas XPAC is considerably much less sturdy than these different supplies (however far more sturdy than Robic Nylon), a part of what you’re paying for with Hen Tramper is the flexibility to have a backpack in {custom} colours. That issues to many individuals.
Disclosure: CTUG donated a pack for evaluation.
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