Moving on from a Mystery Ranch Metcalf to what?

[prm]

I have a MR Mule, which I think is similar to the pop up. Went to a Kifaru and also had a K4. If you like the pop up the Stryker XL is a much more capable version of that style pack.

 

[Poser]

I used a 1st gen Exo (I suppose its a K1 though they never called it that) for 9 years. I really liked the titanium frame design on that generation, though, long term the fabric was a little too light for durability. I swapped out help belts and straps several times until they were no longer available. The pack also went to by local repair shop numerous times. The newer models are much burlier. I'd be interested to try one, but the fact that all generation of SG are intercompatible lured me away.

I switched to a SG setup a couple of years ago and do really like it, however, it took me awhile to figure out that I actually needed a large hip belt despite being within the medium size range. I measured my hips numerous times to make sure I wasn't crazy and kept coming up inside of the medium belt by 2 inches, but the belt sure didn't fully wrap my hip bones. I switched to a large belt which I have pretty much maxed out to the tightest adjustment and it rides significantly better due to more surface contact and fully wrapping the hips. On the size charts, it doesn't really make sense, but in application its way better.