Ledd Slinger
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2018
- Messages
- 121
So I arrived home from a month away at work and finally got the chance to check out my new Kuiu Pro pack with Ultra 4000 bag. I thought I would post my initial thoughts in a review since there seems to be a lot of "Which pack to buy?" threads going around.
A little background on myself:
I have been hunting the high country Rocky Mountains of Montana since I was just a little tyke with my dad. I am 38 years old now, so I guess that would put my experience at around 30+ years of figuring out what works and what doesn't, what things are needed and what things are just extra dead weight. I wont go into a lot of details since I'm trying to keep this more focused on the pack, but my personal 'order of importance' for required gear in the high country would be;
#1 - The best boots you can buy.
#2 - A good quality pack with plenty of storage for all day or overnight excursions and room left over to haul out a big load of meat.
#3 - The best optics you can afford.
#4 - And of course a good quality, accurate, and dependable rifle and ragnefinder.
1a - If your feet are miserable, the hunt becomes a living hell.
2a - If your pack cant hold up to the heavy loads required, then the pack out becomes a living hell as well.
3a - If you cant find the animals using sub par optics, then you might as well not even waste your time up there.
4a - And rifle last because even though I personally prefer a top quality custom rifle and hand loaded ammo, most good factory rifles with quality factory ammo will get the job done just as well these days.
So now onto the pack and my initial thoughts on quality and build...
Unexpected Bonus:
The pack showed up with the frame, suspension, and bag I chose FULLY assembled with the extra lumbar pad and internal compression straps setting in the top pocket. I thought that was a great touch. I had been watching all the videos learning how to assemble the pack components thinking they would show up split into separate packaging. And from the videos, it really wasnt a task I was looking forward to. So that was a very pleasant surprise when I pulled it out of the box. Big thanks to Kuiu for going the extra mile and having it all assembled for me
Initial reactions:
The first thought that came to mind when I picked up the Kuiu pack from the box was; "Holy crap this thing is light!" Kuiu claims that the weight of the entire assembled carbon fiber frame, Pro suspension, and Ultra 4000 bag comes in at a super slim 57.8 oz (3.61 lbs). I didnt put it on a my shipping scale to check, but there is no reason for me to doubt that claim whatsoever. This thing is LIGHT!
I could tell it is built very well with good attention to detail and quality craftsmanship.
I really like the Verde 2.0 camo. Its even nicer looking in person. Seems darker than any of the pictures I saw and that's good for me because I prefer darker camo patterns.
Fit:
I tried the pack on for a quick fit after adjusting everything where it needed to be and it snugged up to my back like it was a molded part of my body. It's so light and conformed to my back so well that it was barely noticeable walking around. I will need to put some decent weight in it and go for a hike for the true test. Probably 80-100 lbs will tell the truth of it all.
Suspension waist belt:
The curved shape on the bottom side of the waist belt padding is a very nice design because it places to load of the pack on the outside of your hips where it should be rather than digging into the top of your buttox. There are also tension adjustments on the hip pads to help give a custom fit to the shape of your hips. Another nice high quality touch.
The design of the front waist strap is also very good. It's not a single straight strap across your waist like most packs. It's more of an X pattern. I noticed right away that this was much more comfortable on my stomach when really cinching the pack up tight because it spread the pressure across a much larger area of my abdomen. Excellent design feature there.
The shoulder straps very easily adjust for up to 4 inches in ride height on the frame and varying angles to fall in your shoulder pockets perfectly and give you a fully custom fit. Simply pull the straps away from the velcro attachment point on the frame, set them where you want and press the straps back onto the velcro.
All the excess on the straps have velcro to roll up out of the way for tidiness once adjusted.
From many years experience with other packs, I can tell these belt and suspension designs will be a huge advantage to how the weight rides on my hips when the time comes.
Main compartment and spotting scope pocket:
Next thing I really liked was the size of the outer pocket on the Ultra 4000 bag. It is a LOT bigger than the zipper opening makes you believe. My last pack required me to place my large Meopta S2 HD 82mm spotting scope inside the main bag compartment because none of the outer pockets were large enough. Not a big deal, but it did make access to my spotter a little slower when I wanted it in a hurry. I had the Swarvski ATX 95mm previously and I'm sure even that giant spotter would fit into this pocket.
The internal main compartment is very large and items are easily accessible with zippers that run half way down on both sides to really open it up. I also like the extra couple pockets in the main compartment for additional organization of smaller items. The main bag also detaches from the frame to form a nice large meat shelf between the frame and bag.
A little background on myself:
I have been hunting the high country Rocky Mountains of Montana since I was just a little tyke with my dad. I am 38 years old now, so I guess that would put my experience at around 30+ years of figuring out what works and what doesn't, what things are needed and what things are just extra dead weight. I wont go into a lot of details since I'm trying to keep this more focused on the pack, but my personal 'order of importance' for required gear in the high country would be;
#1 - The best boots you can buy.
#2 - A good quality pack with plenty of storage for all day or overnight excursions and room left over to haul out a big load of meat.
#3 - The best optics you can afford.
#4 - And of course a good quality, accurate, and dependable rifle and ragnefinder.
1a - If your feet are miserable, the hunt becomes a living hell.
2a - If your pack cant hold up to the heavy loads required, then the pack out becomes a living hell as well.
3a - If you cant find the animals using sub par optics, then you might as well not even waste your time up there.
4a - And rifle last because even though I personally prefer a top quality custom rifle and hand loaded ammo, most good factory rifles with quality factory ammo will get the job done just as well these days.
So now onto the pack and my initial thoughts on quality and build...
Unexpected Bonus:
The pack showed up with the frame, suspension, and bag I chose FULLY assembled with the extra lumbar pad and internal compression straps setting in the top pocket. I thought that was a great touch. I had been watching all the videos learning how to assemble the pack components thinking they would show up split into separate packaging. And from the videos, it really wasnt a task I was looking forward to. So that was a very pleasant surprise when I pulled it out of the box. Big thanks to Kuiu for going the extra mile and having it all assembled for me
Initial reactions:
The first thought that came to mind when I picked up the Kuiu pack from the box was; "Holy crap this thing is light!" Kuiu claims that the weight of the entire assembled carbon fiber frame, Pro suspension, and Ultra 4000 bag comes in at a super slim 57.8 oz (3.61 lbs). I didnt put it on a my shipping scale to check, but there is no reason for me to doubt that claim whatsoever. This thing is LIGHT!
I could tell it is built very well with good attention to detail and quality craftsmanship.
I really like the Verde 2.0 camo. Its even nicer looking in person. Seems darker than any of the pictures I saw and that's good for me because I prefer darker camo patterns.
Fit:
I tried the pack on for a quick fit after adjusting everything where it needed to be and it snugged up to my back like it was a molded part of my body. It's so light and conformed to my back so well that it was barely noticeable walking around. I will need to put some decent weight in it and go for a hike for the true test. Probably 80-100 lbs will tell the truth of it all.
Suspension waist belt:
The curved shape on the bottom side of the waist belt padding is a very nice design because it places to load of the pack on the outside of your hips where it should be rather than digging into the top of your buttox. There are also tension adjustments on the hip pads to help give a custom fit to the shape of your hips. Another nice high quality touch.
The design of the front waist strap is also very good. It's not a single straight strap across your waist like most packs. It's more of an X pattern. I noticed right away that this was much more comfortable on my stomach when really cinching the pack up tight because it spread the pressure across a much larger area of my abdomen. Excellent design feature there.
The shoulder straps very easily adjust for up to 4 inches in ride height on the frame and varying angles to fall in your shoulder pockets perfectly and give you a fully custom fit. Simply pull the straps away from the velcro attachment point on the frame, set them where you want and press the straps back onto the velcro.
All the excess on the straps have velcro to roll up out of the way for tidiness once adjusted.
From many years experience with other packs, I can tell these belt and suspension designs will be a huge advantage to how the weight rides on my hips when the time comes.
Main compartment and spotting scope pocket:
Next thing I really liked was the size of the outer pocket on the Ultra 4000 bag. It is a LOT bigger than the zipper opening makes you believe. My last pack required me to place my large Meopta S2 HD 82mm spotting scope inside the main bag compartment because none of the outer pockets were large enough. Not a big deal, but it did make access to my spotter a little slower when I wanted it in a hurry. I had the Swarvski ATX 95mm previously and I'm sure even that giant spotter would fit into this pocket.
The internal main compartment is very large and items are easily accessible with zippers that run half way down on both sides to really open it up. I also like the extra couple pockets in the main compartment for additional organization of smaller items. The main bag also detaches from the frame to form a nice large meat shelf between the frame and bag.
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