three years of planning went into this video!! welcome back ladies and gents, as always
my name is Matt if you guys are new here this channel is all about hiking and
backpacking we talk a ton of backpacking gear here
I'm also Canadian I cut up some pretty banging places and the gorgeous Canadian
Rockies so if that sounds interesting you guys click on the subscribe button
over here but like I alluded to this is the video that's been three years in the
making you're talking about my long-term thoughts on the Osprey EXO's pack
personally I went with the 58 liter for my EXO's it does come in two other sizes
it comes in a 48 litre and a 38 litre this is all go to pack for all my summer
and my winter backpacking trips so I've had a ton of use with this pack so let's
dive into what I think about my EXO's fish I absolutely love about this pack
is how minimal it is it's very simple it's got a two pocket brain on the pack
and one massive compartment that's it there's no zippered pockets or anything
so with the lid flip back basically everything you see here this is one
giant pocket there's a couple of stretchy mesh outer pockets you've got
one pocket on the back here with some stretchy mesh on the side that expands a
little bit and then you've got two similar pockets on either side got some
stretchy mesh and they stretch out I've got a 1 litre bottle and a 710
milliliter Gatorade bottle in the side pocket here the thing I really like
about these side pockets is there's two ways to get into them so you can get in
traditionally through the top of the side pocket but it's also got this
little pull tab here and you can pull that to the side you can see you can
access the side pocket from the side this is how I get my water bottles in
and out when I'm out on trail
back around to the front of the pack you do also have a couple spots of daisy
chain webbing to attach some gear I've got my little Oilers keychain here
you've also got some loops on the front of the pack this is usually where I
start wanted a sleeping pad is I just hook it up in these little straps here
and as I mentioned the front stretchy mesh pocket I'm not gonna talk a whole
lot about this from pocket just yet this is actually one of the things on the
pack that kind of irks me and I'm not a huge fan of as this front stretchy mesh
pocket but we'll talk about that closer to the end of the video so stick around
for that but you've got a couple more daisy chain on the other side of the
pack and you've also got this little toggle here and an ice axe loop at the
bottom here for storing your ice ax or you can store a trekking pole or
whatever kind of gear you want to attach it that way the pack does have a lid or
brain on the pack and it is removable and that's one of my favorite things
about this pack you've got two clips on the front one there one here the brain
itself on this pack is 8 liters so you've got an 8 litre brain a 50 liter
main pack obviously to make the 58 liter the brain is very simple you've got
zipper on the top here ample storage that's most of your 8 liters but then
when you flip the brain over you've also got this little kind of a see-through
mesh pocket with a key clip in here the only thing I ever really stored here is
I usually just throw my wallet and my keys in here I said it is removable
there's just two buckles that sit just above your shoulder straps and the brain
comes off don't use the brain on my pack for my summer backpacking trips I
basically just took anything that I would store in the brain like I said my
wallet and my keys and that sort of stuff I just have a simple really
ultralight so stuff sack that goes to the top of my pack that stores all that
stuff awesome I realized I just told you guys how to rock me on trail suite I
guess I've got to find a new way to store my valuables on a mono trail the
brain of the pack removed you'll probably notice you've got this really
cool little flap cover here Osprey calls this their flap jacket this
thing is sweet I love it it keeps the top of the pack covered it'll stop water
and debris and stuff from getting inside there
it just mounts with the exact same buckles that your lid would connect with
on the front flak jacket is not removable so it's always there on the
pack so even when you've got the brain this kind of just sits underneath you're
using the brain of the pack this thing is kind of redundant so like hearing a
little bit of extra fabric weight is kind of a pain when you open up the pack
it's just one big open cavity it's just one main pocket that's it
you do have a sleeve down the back for a hydration bladder and on the back of the
pack by your suspension there's a little hydration port if you do use a hydration
bladder personally I don't so I don't really need that sleeve on the inside
but I just haven't gotten to the point where I'm such a gram we need to have
cut that tail yet but maybe a thing I may just end up cutting out a little bit
of material inside to save myself a couple cramps let's talk about the
weight savings from removing the lid because that was my reason for going
with ditching the lid was a little bit of weight savings so let's talk about
what I saved in weight ditching the lid on my XS 58 combined way to the EXO's 58
with the brain 41 and a half ounces 1176 grams the brain itself 147 grams or five
and a quarter ounce I'm gonna pack itself at 1029 grams or 36 and a quarter
ounce I know it's not the lightest pack out there and yeah I could go lighter if
I went with one of those Dyneema backpacks but honestly I just kind of
think they look awful no offense anybody uses them it's just I
just don't think they look very good a little bit of extra weight I carry with
the EXO's for the extra weight carrying capacity and that's kind of one of the
next perks we're gonna talk about when we flip the pack around and we talk
about the suspension this is the primary reason I actually went with the Osprey
EXO's as my backpack of choice three years ago when I made the switch I went
with the EXO's because of the aluminum suspension that you can see here it's
got this aluminum stays down either side that hold the form of the pack but it
was the trampoline back that kind of sold me so what this back panel here
does is this mesh panel here is actually completely separate from the main body
of the pack so you can see here like my hand just flaps inside there's a good
four to five inches of space between the mesh panel which sits against my back
and the the actual backpack itself so as you're out there backpacking
you don't actually have the main body of the pack coming in contact with your
back and it allows all this room for air flow and ventilation and for me I sweat
hot when I'm out there hiking and this definitely helps keep me nice and cool
and they see me comfortable but having the frame in a minimalistic lightweight
pack like this allows me to carry up to 40 pounds that's what Osprey rates this
pack at now personally I've carried 38 pounds with this pack fully loaded on a
winter backpacking trip it was extremely comfortable I like the fact that I can
get away with carrying a bit of a heavier load with a more minimalistic
pack so that was my primary reason for going with the EXO's was the suspension
system got the fully padded hip belt now I was a little skeptical of the hip belt
the first one he picked up this pack I mean it is very thin but it does the job
but like I said I was extremely comfortable carrying a 38 pound winter
backpacking logo with this so you know the the minimalistic hip belt was not an
issue for me it doesn't have hip belt pockets but for me personally I use my
ribs from pack all the time so the hip belt pockets aren't really necessary I
like ample padding and the shoulder straps you also got the load lifter
straps you've got a heavier load it helps you to pull the load in closer to
your body and just centers that weight straight down and pushes it down to your
hips makes for a much more comfortable carry you have a whistle on your sternum
strap which is nice the sternum strap is adjustable you've got this little bar of
plastic inside the material here and the sternum strap so you can slide up and
down so you've got the fully adjustable sternum strap a couple points of webbing
to attach stuff on your shoulder straps this is usually where I carry my inReach
as I clip it onto here they're just kind of dangles here on my shoulder which I
really like on your shoulder shop on your left hand side you've got this
little toggle with a loop of shock cord and on the left hand side near the
bottom of the pack you have this loop here so the idea is you slide your
trekking pole down through here and put the handle up here and it kind of stoles
it at your side it's kind of a cool idea I personally have never really used it I
just hold on to my trekking pole and kind of using them all the time so it's
just one of those things I don't really use but it is they're just kind of a
cool feature to have another thing I absolutely love about my EXO's pack is
how durable it has been and how it's held up when I first got this pack
I felt like these straps here the little compression straps on the side and the
ones on the bottom and little daisy chain straps and the little buckles they
were all so small and frail and I thought everything was gonna break and
at first I absolutely baby this pack but as I got to using it and I just
eventually ended up in situations where I ended up having to do some Bush
walking on trail and it came out pretty much unscathed I mean this pack has been
through the wringer and the only spots were have any issue at all was a couple
minor tears in the micro mesh here on the back panel but he's had a couple
small holes in the micro mesh on the back panel of the pack
it was the only durability issues I had at all with the pack everything is held
up awesome I mean I've done some pretty intense bushwhacking through some pretty
dense forests and this has been rubbing up against thorns and willows and bashed
up against trees and dropped in the mud and everything and yeah this pack has
held up extremely well I've been extremely impressed with the durability
of this pack so far after three years of abuse but now that we've got home for
all the things that I absolutely love about the pack let's talk about my one
big issue that I have with my EXO's pack like I kind of alluded to a little bit
at the start it was this front stretchy mesh pocket no it's not that it's not
the issues with the holes I expect holes in the stretchy mesh every person I've
ever known who's had one of these packs or any kind of pack that's got the
stretchy mesh pockets on the outside they always end up snagging a little
hole here and there on a tree or a branch or something
so I expected holes in that I'm not that's not the issue at all my issue
with it is the design of the pocket itself it runs a good portion of the
size of the pack but as you can see here the way Osprey has built this one is
they updated it from the older EXO's version which was just a full stretchy
mesh pocket so all this bit here was all stretchy mesh they didn't have this
solid I think this is like a hundred and ten D fabric in the center here they put
this here for a little bit more abrasion resistance and longevity use of the pack
I guess to make it last little longer and I get it but the issue is this
bottom part here really expand look you only have like this
little bit that expands here but when the pack itself is full and you've got
everything pushed down in here and you know you've got a whole backpacking mode
you really can't fit as much as you think in this outer stretchy mesh pocket
it just really doesn't expand much so you can really only figure down to a
boat here in the pocket so you lose about half the depth of the pocket so I
wish I could store a little bit more gear on the outside here like I wish I
could stuff my rain jacket down to here but even that is like a it's just a pain
to get it in and get it out so I just tend to store a couple things in the
outside of the pack here on the older messy pocket that I just want easy
access to like my tarp and my water filter and my bug spray and that kind of
stuff but I just I wish it was a full mesh pocket it would be so much more
useful and usable but you know that's if that's the only gripe I have with the
pack how can I really complain I mean I've I've used a pack for three years I
I don't really intend on switching the pack out I mean I guess maybe you've
Oscar he comes up with an updated version of the EXO's and updates off
this one and you know maybe they go back to the full mesh back panel Osprey if
you're watching I do intend on continuing to use my EXO's pack I
absolutely love this pack like I said any man I've carried up to 38 pounds of
this thing it was extremely comfortable I love the suspension I love how simple
it is I just I love the ease of use of the side pockets like I said my only
gripe really is the front mesh pocket I just wish that I could use all the space
that it looks like it has I've just kind of accepted that the pocket only really
ends here but tuck you know it is what it is right if you guys like this one
and you guys are into you know backpacking and getting more lightweight
with your backpacking kit and looking at moving into closer to the ultralight
backpacking realm what I'll do for you guys is up over here I'll put a link to
a playlist that I've got with a whole bunch of different weight saving
backpacking tips for you guys so when you guys are done watching this one head
over there and check that one out and as always guys I am Maddie
thank y'all so dang much for watching I'll see you guys on the next one