TL,DR
I sold my Mystery Ranch Metcalf and purchased a Stone Glacier 40/56 earlier this year, no experience with the Kuiu so I won't give my input there. They seem to get good reviews on the 'tube when guys are comparing them, but who knows how honest those reviews are/how biased they are.
My Mystery Ranch was a 2021 Production Model, with the Guide Lite MT frame and 5 piece hip belt. It seemed to be great and I loved it... until I got about 50 lbs into it. The frame was WAY too short to get an appropriate "lift" from the load lifters, so much of the weight was on my shoulders. Felt about like my old Badlands Superday in that regard. Additionally, no matter what I did or what adjustments I made or who tried to help me fit it, the darn thing would slide down my butt and hang inappropriately low, especially considering they retail for the same prices as all the other high end packs. From reading similar complaints on this and other forums, I believe it has to do with the oversized lumbar pad. It had way too much body and squish, and was too smooth so it didn't ever contour appropriately or hang onto my hips or butt to keep the pack up.
The final nail in the proverbial coffin was an elk scouting trip in August with my hunting partner. We hiked about 3 miles in and I had way overpacked, in an effort to push myself and help with pre-hunt conditioning, so I had about 55 lbs in the pack. It slid and sagged so badly that my hips, butt, and outside of my legs went numb. To the point that for the next week, my 2 outside toes on both feet were "asleep." It got sold shortly after that trip and replaced with my SG, which is about as polar opposite of the Metcalf as can be. Lightweight (4 LBS empty including the frame for a pack that expands to 5100 Cubic Inches excluding the top lid), minimalist frame design with minimal padding that sticks to you, and by dang the thing just flat works. It doesn't shift, doesn't wobble, doesn't sag, and the frame stays are long enough that your load lifters actually lift the load from the shoulders.
Personally, I'd recommend a SG over the Mystery Ranch without question. Based upon some mixed reviews I've read on the Kuiu's (admittedly I've never even seen one in person), I'd do the same and recommend SG over the Kuiu. Fit is what's most important, so the more you can somehow try on, test out, and put some weight in to fit correctly before keeping one, the better. If possible, order everything you're looking at and try them all at home in a clean and controlled environment without removing tags, and then return the ones that don't work for you.
For reference, I'm 5'11, about 195 LBS, 33 inch waist, long torso.
But hey, I'm just some random guy on the internet...
I sold my Mystery Ranch Metcalf and purchased a Stone Glacier 40/56 earlier this year, no experience with the Kuiu so I won't give my input there. They seem to get good reviews on the 'tube when guys are comparing them, but who knows how honest those reviews are/how biased they are.
My Mystery Ranch was a 2021 Production Model, with the Guide Lite MT frame and 5 piece hip belt. It seemed to be great and I loved it... until I got about 50 lbs into it. The frame was WAY too short to get an appropriate "lift" from the load lifters, so much of the weight was on my shoulders. Felt about like my old Badlands Superday in that regard. Additionally, no matter what I did or what adjustments I made or who tried to help me fit it, the darn thing would slide down my butt and hang inappropriately low, especially considering they retail for the same prices as all the other high end packs. From reading similar complaints on this and other forums, I believe it has to do with the oversized lumbar pad. It had way too much body and squish, and was too smooth so it didn't ever contour appropriately or hang onto my hips or butt to keep the pack up.
The final nail in the proverbial coffin was an elk scouting trip in August with my hunting partner. We hiked about 3 miles in and I had way overpacked, in an effort to push myself and help with pre-hunt conditioning, so I had about 55 lbs in the pack. It slid and sagged so badly that my hips, butt, and outside of my legs went numb. To the point that for the next week, my 2 outside toes on both feet were "asleep." It got sold shortly after that trip and replaced with my SG, which is about as polar opposite of the Metcalf as can be. Lightweight (4 LBS empty including the frame for a pack that expands to 5100 Cubic Inches excluding the top lid), minimalist frame design with minimal padding that sticks to you, and by dang the thing just flat works. It doesn't shift, doesn't wobble, doesn't sag, and the frame stays are long enough that your load lifters actually lift the load from the shoulders.
Personally, I'd recommend a SG over the Mystery Ranch without question. Based upon some mixed reviews I've read on the Kuiu's (admittedly I've never even seen one in person), I'd do the same and recommend SG over the Kuiu. Fit is what's most important, so the more you can somehow try on, test out, and put some weight in to fit correctly before keeping one, the better. If possible, order everything you're looking at and try them all at home in a clean and controlled environment without removing tags, and then return the ones that don't work for you.
For reference, I'm 5'11, about 195 LBS, 33 inch waist, long torso.
But hey, I'm just some random guy on the internet...
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