I just picked up a Fulcrum for my first backpack elk hunt. I haven't hauled any animals in it yet but I've been messing around with it loading it up with gear and weight for cardio. First off, check out
Jordan's comparison of the Fulcrum and the Reckoning if you haven't already. This is what ended up selling me on the Fulcrum over the Reckoning, which was my other contender at the time. She has an additional video on her channel going over the features of the Fulcrum as well, plus there is another review of it in the Rokslide gear section
here.
It's an awesome bag. It's one of those pieces of gear I end up just admiring even when I'm not actively using it and I always end up wanting to play with it and try different configurations and loads. Sometimes I just wear it around the house empty like a weirdo. This will probably be true for any Kifaru bag. They're just plain cool. That said, after actually seeing the thing, it is gigantic as the previous post noted. Since I plan on using it for an elk backpack hunt where I will potentially be carrying a large load of meat on top of my camp, I am happy with it and will not look back. Is it the bag to end all bags? It depends on how often you will be using its full capacity. With most of my camp gear in it, it's only about 1/3 full. I took it out the other day to use for backpack cardio and loaded it with 60 pounds of sandbags. Since the bag is so voluminous all that weight hung down like a diaper filled with lead and it was not very comfortable. I ended up taking the Fulcrum off my frame and just running my Native alone on the frame for the sandbags to keep the weight up higher.
Now, I'm sure with some combination of the right sized sandbag and compression straps you could get the Fulcrum to work for cardio, but the point is if you don't have enough stuff to fill it up everything is low in the pack. When in daypack mode there's a lot of empty bag there. Is it a big deal? Not really, but that brings us back to the question, “How often, if ever, are you going to use all that space?”
If you haul a lot of animals on foot, I'd go for it. There a ton of capacity for boned out deer and elk, capes, skulls, quarters, bear rugs, maybe a cool boulder you find on the mountain...You could literally stuff an entire dead turkey or coyote in this thing. Carrying around odd-shaped stuff like 5-gallon pails of bait, chainsaws, or sleeping bags for your 7 children? This is your pack. However, if you hunt close to the truck or are looking for a pack for non-hunting backpacking trips, you will likely rarely need the space. Even for a 4 week through hike, I don't know if you'd need all the space. Again, it's not that it's particularly heavy or too bulky, it's just that if you rarely will need the space, you may be better off with a smaller pack.
Keep in mind you can also expand the capacity of a smaller bag by using a
bungee kit, adding pouches or
cargo panels, or adding a lid like a
Native if needed. Strapping your tent and sleeping pad to the outside, etc. There's also the
Nomad 2 which has similar wings but allows you to completely remove your main bag when converted to daypack mode, giving you the option to make it a monster when needed.
In the end, it's up to how you're going to use it. I'm 100% happy with mine, but I do expect I may end up picking up a smaller one in addition to the Fulcrum for when I'm not on extended backcountry hunts. Then again I just like buying gear. I'm sure it would work well as a do-it-all bag if limiting yourself to one bag to rule them all. Good luck in making your decision!
