Exo K4 Awesomeness!

[bridgerlabau]

Just thought I would start adding some insight to the new K4 pack from Exo Mountain Gear and my limited experience with it…..

My Dad, girlfriend, and I all walked into the Exo shop around 315 in the afternoon (45 minutes before they closed) a couple days after the pack release to check out the new K4 packs and see what the craze was about. Little did we know we would be walking out with significantly lighter wallets in the next hour. A little history…I’ve been using a Badlands Clutch for the last 8 years or so and have packed so many elk and deer out I can’t even count. It has worked great and Badlands has always taken care of me when stuff breaks (probably from overloading it). Last fall I packed out a front and rear elk quarter with my gun, spotter, and other misc items last fall for my sister and that’s when I realized it was time for a frame pack. The sway and inconsistency in the pack holding the load wasn’t cutting it anymore and I realized it was time for an upgrade. My Dad has been using the slumberjack frame/bag and my girlfriend has had a Mystery Ranch Popup 38 for reference. Now you know what we’ve had and are coming from….

We all three showed up to the shop with basically no idea where in this commercial complex it was. There’s no big fancy sign or grand entrance. It’s just a little door that says Exo Mountain Gear and S&S Archery. When we walked in there was a small showroom with all the new packs and some mounts. We were promptly greeted and helped immediately. We just told the guy we wanted to check out the new packs. He immediately got up and started showing us the new features and how the pack works etc…. Where he puts stuff, how to haul a gun and bow, the differences in pack sizes. Basically a complete run down on how the new K4 works. He then let us try on the pack with 50 pounds on it and got us all fitted with the right size. Fitted the waist belt, shoulder straps, and load lifters all to our unique body profiles. And I gotta say 50 pounds felt great, I think they had the packs filled with helium cause it felt great and the pack handled it well! Customer service was phenomenal and he gave us one of the best experiences I’ve ever had walking into a hunting shop. Needless to say without even planning on buying new packs we all walked out with a hat/shirt and an order placed for a new K4 pack. They stayed late and they weren’t in a rush….we weren’t out the door until at least 20 minutes after closing time. It was absolutely incredible to see such great customer service and have such a great experience. Yeah the packs were over $800 but you can’t beat a local to me company providing an experience like that. It was priceless to say the least! I just got my pack this last weekend and was able to put it to the test packing out a set of big 6 point sheds. At least 310 plus and I loved how light and stable the pack felt on my back.

Thank You Exo Mountain Gear

 

[WV Mountaineer]

That’s awesome.

 

[IDShane]

I picked up my second pack from them last week. I am trading up from a K2 5500 to a K4 7200 they have always been good to me too. I do what I can to send as many people as I can. I really like to support local companies as much as possible and plus they have a great pack!

 

[Marbles]

Exo is an awesome company. I really appreciate and respect the understated nature of Exo, no meaningless word soup to sound cool while marketing and no whoring out the brand to sell duffle bags and such. It matches their packs, no BS shiny tacticool crap, just function.

 

[Kybosh27]

Just thought I would start adding some insight to the new K4 pack from Exo Mountain Gear and my limited experience with it…..

My Dad, girlfriend, and I all walked into the Exo shop around 315 in the afternoon (45 minutes before they closed) a couple days after the pack release to check out the new K4 packs and see what the craze was about. Little did we know we would be walking out with significantly lighter wallets in the next hour. A little history…I’ve been using a Badlands Clutch for the last 8 years or so and have packed so many elk and deer out I can’t even count. It has worked great and Badlands has always taken care of me when stuff breaks (probably from overloading it). Last fall I packed out a front and rear elk quarter with my gun, spotter, and other misc items last fall for my sister and that’s when I realized it was time for a frame pack. The sway and inconsistency in the pack holding the load wasn’t cutting it anymore and I realized it was time for an upgrade. My Dad has been using the slumberjack frame/bag and my girlfriend has had a Mystery Ranch Popup 38 for reference. Now you know what we’ve had and are coming from….

We all three showed up to the shop with basically no idea where in this commercial complex it was. There’s no big fancy sign or grand entrance. It’s just a little door that says Exo Mountain Gear and S&S Archery. When we walked in there was a small showroom with all the new packs and some mounts. We were promptly greeted and helped immediately. We just told the guy we wanted to check out the new packs. He immediately got up and started showing us the new features and how the pack works etc…. Where he puts stuff, how to haul a gun and bow, the differences in pack sizes. Basically a complete run down on how the new K4 works. He then let us try on the pack with 50 pounds on it and got us all fitted with the right size. Fitted the waist belt, shoulder straps, and load lifters all to our unique body profiles. And I gotta say 50 pounds felt great, I think they had the packs filled with helium cause it felt great and the pack handled it well! Customer service was phenomenal and he gave us one of the best experiences I’ve ever had walking into a hunting shop. Needless to say without even planning on buying new packs we all walked out with a hat/shirt and an order placed for a new K4 pack. They stayed late and they weren’t in a rush….we weren’t out the door until at least 20 minutes after closing time. It was absolutely incredible to see such great customer service and have such a great experience. Yeah the packs were over $800 but you can’t beat a local to me company providing an experience like that. It was priceless to say the least! I just got my pack this last weekend and was able to put it to the test packing out a set of big 6 point sheds. At least 310 plus and I loved how light and stable the pack felt on my back.

Thank You Exo Mountain Gear

Congrats on the new packs! I picked up a K4 5000 at the Hunting Expo and I’m super excited as well. Steve was such a cool dude and super helpful. Love the simplicity of their packs and how functional they are.

 

[406flyfish]

Great to hear. I’m torn between 5000 and 7200 for archery/rifle season in MT.

 

[Kybosh27]

Great to hear. I’m torn between 5000 and 7200 for archery/rifle season in MT.

I was kind of debating the same thing. I’m in Utah and primarily archery hunt so I figured the 5000 was enough for what I do. I’ll admit I’m not the most ultra light packer and having the extra room is nice. If you’re hunting in MT later in the season and need more gear having the extra room is nice. One thing that’s awesome about the K4 is how crazy compact the bags are when you compress them down. I bet you wouldn’t even be able to tell with the 5000 vs the 7200. Damn now I’m questioning my decision. Haha.

 

[406flyfish]

Been using the Metcalf this past season and just a smidge too small for late season. The EXO 5000 is an extra 1,200 CI so should be perfect.

 

[Sand Wrench]

Great to hear. I’m torn between 5000 and 7200 for archery/rifle season in MT.

I bought the 7200, not regretting it so far. The 7200 is only 2 oz heavier than the 5000, and the lid weighs 7 oz, so my plan is to run the 7200 without a lid or hip belt pouches. The bag compresses down nicely, I think it's gonna work out pretty well. I got the 26.5 frame with medium hip belt, and the bag/frame combo weighs 91 oz on my scale FWIW.

 

[bridgerlabau]

Great to hear. I’m torn between 5000 and 7200 for archery/rifle season in MT.

I think the one thing that led me to the 5000 was the U shaped zipper vs the two side zippers like the 3600 and 7200. I like the bigger zipper, but to each his own! I have enjoyed the pack on the last two hikes I've been on, very lightweight and works well holding my stuff I carry around. Only problem I am trying to figure out is why it rubs on my hips when I hike. Still working on adjusting that to fit me better

 

[406flyfish]

I think the one thing that led me to the 5000 was the U shaped zipper vs the two side zippers like the 3600 and 7200. I like the bigger zipper, but to each his own! I have enjoyed the pack on the last two hikes I've been on, very lightweight and works well holding my stuff I carry around. Only problem I am trying to figure out is why it rubs on my hips when I hike. Still working on adjusting that to fit me bettera

Did you watch the Exo adjustment video? They highly recommend ditching the belt or even tucking in your shirt if you experience any rubbing.

 

[Valkyrie]

I finally got my K4 5k pack set up. Took a little to get the fitting just right. Im 6’4” and finally settled on the second to lowest adjustment holes and then a slight micro adjustment down and I have a very comfortable fit with the shoulder harness lightly resting. One thing that I found is the pack actually feels like a brace of sorts where I feel how it makes distribution of weight very comfortable. I can see maybe moving the harness up another slot under heavy loads but right now, I’m all set and if I can get some time off work, I plan on a backpacking trout fishing trip next month to try it out.

What a great piece of gear. Well made, ergonomic in use and function. Very happy with the purchase.

 

[bridgerlabau]

Did you watch the Exo adjustment video? They highly recommend ditching a belt or even tucking in the shirt if you experience any rubbing.

I did, I am kind of thinking that I have been tightening the belt too much and that is causing a lot of rubbing. I am going to loosen the belt for the next hike and see if that works.

 

[plebe]

Exo is an awesome company. I really appreciate and respect the understated nature of Exo, no meaningless word soup to sound cool while marketing and no whoring out the brand to sell duffle bags and such. It matches their packs, no BS shiny tacticool crap, just function.

Some companies were actually doing Tactical before it was tacticool.

I like Exo too.

 

[Darrack]

Awesome to hear about the costumer service. Far a few these days.

 

[Movadius]

Took the K4 5000 out today from 9am to 7pm with a buddy of mine. Combination of hiking, scouting, trail clearing and camp cooking. Had about 35lbs of gear, food, tools and liquids. The organization of the pack came in handy. The long side pockets were perfect for storing my silky saw on one side, and am agawa saw in the other.

Was wearing the pack for about 5 hours of the day while pushing through, over and under some really dense brush littered with deadfall. I never felt off balance even once.

I know my use case isn't the intended one the K4 was designed for, but it definitely does exactly what I needed it to and what most other packs ive tried have failed to do for me.

 

[thatguyoverthere]

good service and knowledgeable staff seem rare these days.

 

[TheHammer]

good service and knowledgeable staff seem rare these days.

This! Mark gave me excellent service and sent pictures to handle all my questions and concerns. I consider myself relatively difficult to deal with due to my social awkwardness and excessive matter of fact at times. The only thing I’ve found on the k4 I’m not fond of. Lack of modularity, not enough pockets! Would be my biggest gripe. Second would be color options. Now training with the pack I can tell you the thing handles weight exceptionally well compared to other brands I’ve tried/owned. Seems I forget how much weight is in the pack until I take it off and handle it by hand. It is very comfortable at 60lbs and makes it feel like 30/35lbs.

 

[thatguyoverthere]

This! Mark gave me excellent service and sent pictures to handle all my questions and concerns. I consider myself relatively difficult to deal with due to my social awkwardness and excessive matter of fact at times. The only thing I’ve found on the k4 I’m not fond of. Lack of modularity, not enough pockets! Would be my biggest gripe. Second would be color options. Now training with the pack I can tell you the thing handles weight exceptionally well compared to other brands I’ve tried/owned. Seems I forget how much weight is in the pack until I take it off and handle it by hand. It is very comfortable at 60lbs and makes it feel like 30/35lbs.

I'll have to check it out. I have kinda been looking for a good pack, but never got past online research or poking around at stuff on store shelves (where the staff just walk past you).
I just end up putting my army ruck on out of habit...

 

[thatguyoverthere]

If army rucks are your primary experience, you owe it to yourself to get a K4. I trained with an Alice pack prior to enlisting, and was issued a Molle 2 when I joined. Those things are like child’s play compared to the K4. I know it’s more about budget than anything (lowest bidder), but I really wish the military would issue better stuff. Or at least allow the grunts to get their own gear more than they do.

The K4 is every bit as rugged and capable as any military ruck, if not more so. But it’s also significantly lighter and much, much, much more comfortable.

Yeah, I never did like the Army rucks. I just made it work... I've been issued both the older metal framed rucks and the newer plastic suspension MOLLE stuff. I especially don't like how broad/fat the MOLLE rucks are.
I've got the K4 saved. I'll look for one locally first. Thanks.