Help me pick a pack! Terminus/DT2

[Wasatchbuck]

So I have done the research and looked and looked online. I have narrowed it down to either the stone glacier terminus or a DT2 with the bikini frame. For those that own either of these two packs can you give me your pros and cons about them. I know the stone glacier is a relatively newcomer but if anyone owns one please chime in. I will say that I am leaning towards the DT2 however one thing that is holding me back is how the meat is packed out...i.e in your pack. For those that have packed animals out in it do you find that its hard to fit the meat in the bag along with your camp and all the other gear? Does the meat have a chance to breathe while in the bag? I like the DT2 for the modular aspect, its build quality and tried and true reputation. Just dont really relish the idea of throwing game on top of all my gear, let alone if there will be space to do so without making extra trips to unload my pack.

Thanks for all the help with this, its been driving me nuts!

Joe

 

[Aron Snyder]

I won't comment on what pack to buy, but YOU CAN detach the bag from the frame on the Bikini/Duplex system, and stick the mat between them. I think I'm the only person that's done this with the Kifaru pack.

Here's a video on the way that I pack out meat.

[video=youtube;HpFi3S3ynYQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpFi3S3ynYQ[/video]

 

[luke moffat]

Good stuff Aron....good reminder going into hunting season. Thanks for posting.

 

[fillthefreezer]

please forgive me, but i just dont get this fad of everyone wanting to pack meat outside the bag! put gear in bottom of pack. put big black garbage bag in pack. load meat. sling pack. start walking! its like reinventing the wheel! and all these load shelfs and stuff are like those "spinner wheels". fancy. whats the point!

just last weekend i had to carry my wifes pack, strapped to my pack, she had maybe 20lbs of gear in it and it was extended beyond my regular pack, idk, 10-12inches. i cant belive the amount it threw my balance off.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Wasatchbuck,

These are two great packs! Hard to go wrong. The SG is a bit lighter, and if you want minimal organization it may work well for you. I love the suspension and functionality of the BT2. Availability may be a factor also, if you need one soon.

FTF,

I haven't had trouble using load shelf systems and one benefit to them is you don't take up packbag cubes with your meat. I would use the load shelf with the SG and the Gen 2 Hanging meatbag with the BT2.

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

The load shelf concept seems to have developed with the light and fast mentality. Small minimalist bag that can expand for load hauling.

Personally i like the concept. I havent used the load shelf a lot on the Solo or the bikini but will soon. I think you will be happy with either frame, i haven't used the bigger SG bag though.

 

[G Posik]

I use the SG Solo. This frame fits me perfect. I like the meat shelf. As it lets me carry a smaller bag and still have room for meat on the shelf. I may get the bigger bag later on for late season trips.

Glenn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[slim9300]

please forgive me, but i just dont get this fad of everyone wanting to pack meat outside the bag! put gear in bottom of pack. put big black garbage bag in pack. load meat. sling pack. start walking! its like reinventing the wheel! and all these load shelfs and stuff are like those "spinner wheels". fancy. whats the point!

just last weekend i had to carry my wifes pack, strapped to my pack, she had maybe 20lbs of gear in it and it was extended beyond my regular pack, idk, 10-12inches. i cant belive the amount it threw my balance off.

Agreed. I have a T1 and BT1 for a reason. I want to fit all my gear and half of a boned out elk in the bag. All my gear is in waterproof stuff sacks that weigh nothing. There is no better way to carry meat in my opinion since its easy to lash down tight and balance the load (1-2 additional lash straps are also helpful).

For the OP. I can only attest to my two Kifaru packs. They are the best hunting investments I have ever made in terms of gear. I went from being able to carry 100 lbs. with significant discomfort with my BW and Icon 6000, to being able to carry 120 lbs. with reasonable comfort (nothing makes that much weight easy when you are 160-170 lbs). That 20 lbs. is the difference between having to take two loads of elk out with my partner versus one; not to mention a better feeling body for the rest of the hunt.

 

[justin davis]

If go Kifaru. But that's me. I've tried and used kifaru packs for years and there's a reason I don't Stray from them.

 

[blb078]

I think in the end it comes down to faster availability, lighter, and a load shelf w/the SG vs more organization, more ways to configure/accessories w/the Kifaru. The Kifaru does have a meat shelf option but IMO it's not the same as the SG since a big part of the SG design is around the meatshelf and it's also waterproof on the back/bottom to prevent blood from soaking in. Both have great craftsmanship, durability, comfort, etc, the SG you do have some accessories like the Access Bag and the Minimalist along w/small belt and spotter pockets but you still have more options w/Kifaru if you're the type of person who has to have a certain element of organization.. I have the SG Terminus and love it. If you are able to try both of them out I'd say do that and see which one works for you,

 

[Whisky]

I had a Terminus and BT1. Ended up keeping the BT1

SG Pros - Light and minimal (if that's your style), nice convenient load shelf, bag straps on the bottom of bag, comes with a top lid with a very convenient pocket, VERY quick and easy to make adjustments, buy it now

SG Cons - Straight frame only, lack of accessories (for me), disliked the way the spotter pocket attached to the bag (it flopped around pretty good and didn't allow me to really get full compression from the two straps being used,

BT1 Pros - More accessories and pockets (with more weight obviously), better layout for ME, different stay options, better padding in shoulders and belt

BT1 Cons - back pockets are about worthless, more of a PITA to adjust, accessories are damn expensive, built to order

Comfort was awesome in both packs, with a slight edge going to Kifaru, for me. With the SG the lumbar pad definitely helped. I actually did a fair bit more testing with the SG as it was the pack I started with first, and it is an excellent pack, if you're looking for a light and minimalist bag. But the main thing that swayed me Kifaru is the accessories and modularity. I like pockets. I had a Highcamp initially on order and I'm very glad I got that switched over to T1. My initial experience with the SG inspired that change. It's too much of a pain IMO to dig into the pack everytime you need something.

I wanted to hang onto both and hunt with both for a season to get a better feel for each style, but I ended up selling the SG to help fund other crap.

I saw where somebody attached a Grab It to the Terminus. I never experimented with that, but that would be a MUST for me if going SG. I have actually contemplated buying a Solo or Approach to use more as a day pack. I'd be very interested in hearing if somebody can get a Grab It on the Approach, and how a bow would ride strapped to the back with that built in spotter pocket, full.

Both awesome packs, just depends on your style...Can't go wrong with either!!

Edit: and I know I'm nit picking with some of the things. That's because they are both good packs with not much to rag on.

 

[cmeier117]

I would go with Kifaru, the Bikini frame is amazing!

 

[luke moffat]

Can't see the advantage of the meatshelf thing either...the big bag theory is so much simplier and you can just learn to load your meat and gear in your pack accordingly. A 7K cu in back is lighter than a 4K bag with all the accessories to make a meat shelf and less BS swapping your pack around at make it work. Only time I'll drop rearrange my packbag off the frame is if the quarter is too big to fit in the mouth of the packbag. I'd rather go with making the load TALLER than further back like the meat shelf modes go.

 

[cwh]

I can only comment on the Terminus, and I am really liking it so far. It is a big switch for me going from a Barney's Pinnacle external at 7800 CI for everything to an internal. So far in hiking with weight, I am really liking the load shelf. Extremely secure and makes balancing out the pack very easy. I haven't put the weight into it that I have the Barney's. Haven't been over about 85lbs total weight, but have been very happy with how that handled. I have packed some stupid/huge loads in the Barney's, some of which were good, and some of which required lots of 550 cord to secure.

"Re-arranging" the terminus is maybe a 2-minute operation the first time you do it, and gets faster from there. Pretty much nothing, considering we are doing this because we just killed and cleaned an animal.

Would I run the Terminus as my only pack in AK? It wouldn't be my first choice - I don't think I could ever walk away from the Barney's for that role. But that's because I want to be able to pack hides/moose quarters/random stuff, and an external will always be better there. But when I start putting lots of distance in, just to get started and a lot of that distance is vertical, I think the Terminus will shine.

 

[Benny]

I will always grab the smallest bag I can get away with for that particular trip.

Also, meat shelves don't add weight, they're a product of a modular pack system.

 

[luke moffat]

I can only comment on the Terminus, and I am really liking it so far. It is a big switch for me going from a Barney's Pinnacle external at 7800 CI for everything to an internal. So far in hiking with weight, I am really liking the load shelf. Extremely secure and makes balancing out the pack very easy. I haven't put the weight into it that I have the Barney's. Haven't been over about 85lbs total weight, but have been very happy with how that handled. I have packed some stupid/huge loads in the Barney's, some of which were good, and some of which required lots of 550 cord to secure.

"Re-arranging" the terminus is maybe a 2-minute operation the first time you do it, and gets faster from there. Pretty much nothing, considering we are doing this because we just killed and cleaned an animal.

Would I run the Terminus as my only pack in AK? It wouldn't be my first choice - I don't think I could ever walk away from the Barney's for that role. But that's because I want to be able to pack hides/moose quarters/random stuff, and an external will always be better there. But when I start putting lots of distance in, just to get started and a lot of that distance is vertical, I think the Terminus will shine.

I agree to an extent. When I had the SG terminus I was able to load it up with all the gear I'd take for a 10 day hunt (food and water as well) plus a 50# sand bag between the frame and the packbag with it full....I found the weight of in the pack bag was too far back. Not only that the packbag wrapping around the sand bag essentially "ate up" a lot of the volume the sandbag would have taken up if it were just in the bag to begin with. Just what I found.

I'm sure with a bit of practice it could be done in 2 mins or less but I'm a slow study. And for me swapping the Kifaru to meat shelf mode takes even longer (again slow study) so I'll just stick with the the big bag theory

Benny I agree that the meat shelve on the SG pack doesn't take any weight. However on the in Kifaru style there are some added straps you can add to make it work a bit better. Aron did a video on here showing it can be down without any accessories, however I believe if I were to use the meat shelf on a Kifaru I'd add the expanded meat shelf kit to better help compress it. The difference between the 4800 Highcamp and 7K Highcamp is 3 oz. I'm sure the expanded meat shelf kit of for the Kifaru would be darn close to that. The weight of either is negligible but it does require you to carry more "stuff" potentially with the Kifaru. Just different strokes for different folks....no wrong way to go about so long as it works for you and makes sense in your mind. There are a lot of guys that like this option obviously. The pack companies offering this option in their packs speaks to this demand. So long as its comfy for the user doesn't matter how its carried out. Good luck to ya this season.

 

[cwh]

Luke, I think I follow you. With the "big bag theory" your load expands vertically, and you can control the CG by throwing gear in the bag first and then piling the meat in. On a load shelf design, the load expands horizontally, and away from your back by necessity, which is what you don't care for (mainly) If I read you right....

That makes sense to me. I like the fact that I can put the heavy stuff where I want it, and control its movement better on the shelf.... but I guess I can just hope to test the load shelf with meat in about... 18 days. What pack will you be using for sheep this year?

 

[luke moffat]

CWH,

Yeah that is pretty much my beef with the meat shelf. Just what I found after trying it out. But to each their own you may end up loving it and thats great, just not my cup of tea. I'll be using a Kifaru Highcamp 7K bag on a bikini frame, yes it can convert to meat shelf mode, won't be bringing any straps or anything along to convert it as such...everything is going in the bag The high camp is WAY larger than the DT1 bag so getting everything in there won't be much of an issue. That said I think for mountain goats I'll be using the Duplex with the 8500 cu in Rondy bag on it.

Best of luck to ya this fall CWH, though a guy like you doesn't need it. Look forward to the pics!

 

[dreamingbig]

to your original question... DT2