Dt1 vs highcamp 7000

[mfolch]

This is a fist post for me. I'm debating between the dt1 and a highcamp, either on a bikini frame. Price and weight favor highcamp, but the pockets on the dt1 could be useful. I'd have to put a few pockets on the highcamp anyway, so the cost and weight differences are slight in the final calculation. I'm more concerned about fit and balance. I don't have access to either so I'm just judging by the appearance and measurements, but fully loaded the highcamp looks wider and bulkier whereas the dt1 seems taller, narrower, and therefore more streamlined and tightly fitted to the body, closer to one's center of gravity. I had an eberlestock with internal gunsling and the pack sits so far from the body that even when the harness is tightened, the whole bag feels like it pulls backward. This has made me reluctant to purchase a wide pack. I'm leaning toward the more expensive dt1 just avoid that experience. Now that the highcamp has been out for a little while, does anyone have experience with both? And can anyone speak to whether the highcamp is comparatively awkward or prone to shifting around, or does the extra girth not make any difference? Anyone think the highcamp is just categorically better than dt1?

 

[TEmbry]

Maybe I just pack too much crap, but I in no way want a pack smaller in the main body than my HC 7000.

 

[TheRambler]

They are both very similar. As far as the pack fit and feel, there is absolutely zero difference between the two because the frame is the same. You would hardly be able to tell a difference between the two if someone had you put on both packs blindfolded and didn't tell you which one was which.

That being said, I own and really like my HC7000. Don't get me wrong, it is indeed a huge pack, but its shape and dimensions i think make it more compact and not stick out around the sides or over your body. My deciding factor of which pack to get was that on some of my longer trips that are 2+ weeks I have a tendency to really take up every ci in my pack. Especially if the weather is bad. And the main problem i have had with packs with built in pockets is that when you really cram the main pack full you loose all or at least alot of that pocket room. So I went with the highcamp to have the external pockets to circumvent this problem. This also allows me to remove all of the pockets for shorter trips if i want to go lighter.

 

[TheRambler]

DT1 is 30.5(bottom)x31(height, height is 41 with snow collar fully extended)x42(top)

Highcamp is 36(bot)x33.5(height)x45(top)

The Highcamp is only a few inches wider, but otherwise is about the same. If you remove the snow collar from the DT1 you are nowhere near the same capacity pack anymore. Remember that pack width will not increase dramatically between the two packs, maybe an inch or so due to a packs rounded general shape that extra width is distributed all the way around the pack and not just to the sides.

 

[Aron Snyder]

Rambler nailed it!

The High Camp 7 is the same size as the DT1 (basically), but that's including all the pockets and snow collar. If you cut off the snow collar on the DT1, the HC7 will be much larger.

The entry on the HC is much larder as well, so sticking bone in meat is easier.

Both compress the same, so that's non issue.


If you add KU material pockets to the HC, than you will not be adding as much weight and can use the belt pouches as ditty bags when not needed on outside of pack.

I personally like the DT bag better, but that's because of the slot pockets....other than that, they carry the same.

 

[justin davis]

The guys that responded before covered it! They are basically the same bag. The high camp being a little more minimalist with no pockets.
Can't go wrong with either. I have a high camp and I really like it! I'm a 1 big bag kind of guy and don't mind not having pockets.

 

[ohhiitznik]

I have had both. I prefer the HC because I rarely use a spotter. If you carry a spotter and tripod you'd be better off with the DT1 bag. Other than that they are about the same.

 

[dotman]

I have had both. I prefer the HC because I rarely use a spotter. If you carry a spotter and tripod you'd be better off with the DT1 bag. Other than that they are about the same.

I don't agree 100% with that, it is more a personal choice on how you want your spotter packed. I as well have had both and can't tell you if I like the HC better yet, only had it a month so far. Plenty of options to carry your spotter with both bags.

 

[mfolch]

Thanks for all your responses. TheRambler gets to the real point of my inquiry: given that the HC7 is 6 inches wider at the base, up to 7.5 inches shorter, 3 inches wider at the top, and 1 inch wider overall (from frame to edge of pack) than the dt1, doesn't that move the center of gravity lower and further away from the body? Of course, you can pack things so that it's closer, but, all things being equal, it seems like that difference might actually change the way the bags carry. Just to illustrate the point (and forgive the images, it's all I could find at the time), the dt1 is like the tall glass, the hc7 like the big mug; both have the same carrying capacity, but the center of gravity on the first is closer and higher than the second. The difference might not be all that significant, but this last season the center of gravity on the eberlestock was just so off the body that I ended up switching after one week to a smaller and less convenient, but more comfortable north face.

 

[ohhiitznik]

I don't agree 100% with that, it is more a personal choice on how you want your spotter packed. I as well have had both and can't tell you if I like the HC better yet, only had it a month so far. Plenty of options to carry your spotter with both bags.

Dotman you just love to disagree with me. You'd rather throw your spotter in the main bag than in a slot pocket?

 

[dotman]

In my short time with the HC, I feel zero diff with weight in it then my old T1 as far as the bag goes, if I did a side by side it would be easier to tell the diff. Don't forget you are also going from an internal crap frame to a awesome ridgid external that will limit most of what you felt because the frame will not flex, the belt will not slip and there are functional load lifters. The frame keeps the bag close to your body and doesn't allow it to pull down and back like the Eberlestock frames that flexed and slowly crept down plus had your shoulder doing a ton of work.

 

[dotman]

Dotman you just love to disagree with me. You'd rather throw your spotter in the main bag than in a slot pocket?

Yeah, why not, I'm not quick shooting with it and the extra 3 seconds to pull it out will not make or break anything . It is all in how you pack. Either way your pack is coming off to get it all out.

 

[ohhiitznik]

Yeah, why not, I'm not quick shooting with it and the extra 3 seconds to pull it out will not make or break anything . It is all in how you pack. Either way your pack is coming off to get it all out.

NEVAAAAAAAAAA You mean you can't draw your spotter out of your slot pocket like a indian draws an arrow from his back quiver?

 

[HellsCanyon]

It's all personal preference. For my kind of hunting I like external pockets.... alot! Only times I really have my pack stuffed full and decreasing the size of the external pockets are when I have an animal+camp in my pack and in that situation I'm pretty much done accessing my pockets. I'll have my hydration tube and some snacks in a belt pocket and a rainjacket or extra clothes under the lid or in the bungee straps on the Timberline bag. When hunting my bag is compressed down and I HATE undoing the top lid+draw string to reach inside to get something. I try to keep the main body of my pack as empty as possible or atleast store things in there that I won't need until I have an animal down. That's just my preference though.

Mike

 

[TheRambler]

Your center of gravity change will be so minimal you wouldn't even notice. The constant is the frame. The frame is the same size. Since the frame is keeping the bag at the same spot, i.e. it will not be any lower or higher(the bottom of the pack), hence your CG will remain largely unaffected. The HC being 1 inch or so wider will have no noticeable change for you, i assure you.

Since no dimensions of the frame are changing, they are going to carry exactly the same. The way you pack your pack if going to affect your CG astronomically more than the packs being wider by like 1 inch.

This is the big benefit of external frame packs. Its why people say that external frames can "carry heavy and awkward loads better". If these were internal frame packs there WOULD indeed be a noticeable difference between the two.

 

[mfolch]

Thanks for all the feedback. Very helpful. I've settled on the bikini longhunter legacy - a compromise between the highcamp and dt1. Smaller main pack size, more expensive, and heavier but better accessibility and better lid than the highcamp; less expensive, larger main pack, lighter, but less accessibility than the dt1 (if both have the longhunter lid). I need some kind of easy accessibility and when you add three or four pockets to the highcamp, its weight and price advantage more or less disappear. I don't often use a spotting scope so the long pockets on the dt1 are not really a must, and the longhunter' back pocket and lid provide the right level of accessibility; if I need more I'll add a side pocket or two, and it's still about the same cost and weight as the dt1 with longhunter lid. Kifaru makes it hard to decide. But I'm hoping that combo suffices for all the extra gear needed for 7-10 days of freezing rain, sleet, mud, and just generally soaking wet conditions that we get camping and hunting in the adirondacks high peaks.

 

[luke moffat]

Great choice mfolch!!! I have a longhunter Rondy (same as the one you ordered just larger), helped pack out 4 mountain goat, 2 dall sheep, 10 deer, and 2 caribou in a DT1 style bag, and have now used the high camp on 2 grizz this spring. All work great and I don't think you'll be disapointed. For me personally I like the shorter highcamp bag as the DT1 with the snow collar in use is a TALL mo fo if you ask me and alders and a tall pack aren't the most fun I've ever had.

Congrats on your purchase!

 

[Yellowknife]

.....helped pack out 4 mountain goat, 2 dall sheep, 10 deer, and 2 caribou in a DT1 style bag, and have now used the high camp on 2 grizz this spring. !

Pfft. Obviously you have been avoiding moose packin' duty since you sold the Barney's frame. Man up and pack something that will really test it.

YK

PS. No fair pulling up pictures of my Dodge or Ski-doo moose packers. That's, umm, different.

 

[luke moffat]

Pfft. Obviously you have been avoiding moose packin' duty since you sold the Barney's frame. Man up and pack something that will really test it.

YK

PS. No fair pulling up pictures of my Dodge or Ski-doo moose packers. That's, umm, different.

HAHA my moose packer pack is a Polaris Big Boss 800....

 

[Superdeuce]

Ok, I am ordering one of these packs tonight. Been loading them for pretend to many times into my online shipping cart where they keep disappearing.

From the photos, I can see the sleeve of draft vs the mug and what would appear like a more vertical load distribution on the DT1. It look like it might pack a load a bit better from what I can see but I don't imagine many folks have real world experience behind both to compare yet? That said, I can see fitting an elk hind in either, but I just drew a moose tag today and not sure it would fit the entry circumference of the DT1.

Now back to the pockets, what size belt pouches for the hips of the DT1 bag which is the way I am leaning- med or large? Thanks. SD