Stone glacier 5900 vs mystery ranch bear tooth 80

[MBubley]

I just did the same comparison about a month ago. I ordered the beartooth as well as both SG frames with an R3 5900 bag to compare. My short answer is I don’t think you will go wrong with either but the SG Krux (straight) frame was the most comfortable for me.


Design/build:
From my limited experience both bags/systems seem to be equal quality Construction wise. The beartooth has more integrated pockets/organization than the SG bags but you can buy pockets to put in the SG.

Fit:
I am just under 6’3” and 220 lbs. I got the beartooth about a week before the SG frames. I set it up initially per the instructions on youtube and then spent quite a bit of time taking it on and off, tweaking the straps each time to get it as comfortable as I could. In the end I was pretty happy with how it felt, with 32lbs of weight in it, it was probably the most comfortable pack I have had up until this point.

Then the SF frames and bag arrived. I set them up per their YouTube videos and immediately both SG frames were more comfortable than the beartooth. The hip belt padding on the beartooth is not as tall as the SG so the weight/pressure was spread over a smaller area of my waste. Also the beartooth bag connect lower on the frame so with weight the bag would sag below the belt, you can probably minimize this by messing with the straps but the Difference in how the Sg bag attaches to their frame seems to make that almost impossible. To decide between the xcurve and the Krux frames I had to up the weight to 55lbs in the bag. With the additional weight It was easy to feel that the Krux frame was more comfortable. Ultimately the SG system felt much lighter than the beartooth. I know the advertised weight is more but for me either Sg frame with 55lbs felt lighter than the beartooth with the 32lbs.

Returning the beartooth was a little more of a hassle than the xcurve frame but neither was particularly difficult. The one thing to know is that MR does not handle the return directly, they have you ship it to a warehouse where they inspect it and then tell MR that all is well. How long that takes depends on what else is going on at the warehouse. For me it was 2 weeks from the time UPS said the pack was delivered until I got an email from MR acknowledging receipt. Not a huge deal but given all the negative press on shipping recently was a little annoying. SG acknowledged receipt the same day that UPS said it was delivered. It took about a week for the fund to show in my account once they acknowledged receipt.

Hope my rambling was somewhat useful.

-Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Im leaning toward stone glacier for sure after the research ive done, and being the same size roughly i think the bag will fit me better, found a great used on on here im hoping to purchase appreciate your insight
Cheers

 

[Ram94]

I currently have a Beartooth 80 and ordered a Sky 5900 on the Xcurve frame to try out. I see alot of comments saying the 5900 is too small for 7-10 days. Is the 5900 cu-inch accurate? I had no trouble packing for 9 days in the Beartooth for Alberta sheep and the Sky 5900 should have an extra 17L of capacity. Do some guys just need alot more room than me or is the capacity exaggerated on the SG packs? Second guessing myself a bit here.

The Marshall is only 8L over the 5900 and it is commonly touted as a 14 day workhorse...

 

[jd1006]

My brother has the beartooth 80, I have the guide light mt frame that I have been using, and I just got a SG 5900 on an xcurve. You need to try the frames first and really get a range of weight into them. That’s what turned me on to the SG 5900—i really liked how the xcurve frame fit, the higher load shelf that was built in, and the lighter weight of the frame. The SG 5900 seemed like the most versatile option for me…day pack all the way to 7 days. I have the access bag and the hydro lid and think that with all the ways you can compress the 5900 and or go with out it and just the access bag and the lid that I can really dial in the right setup. I agree that there’s a lot of straps on the SG system…but they don’t seem to bother anything, they aren’t noisy and they show their value in how you customize what you are loading. The bear tooth has a ton of organization options built into the bag as well as the ability to use the molle on the frame. The SG is spartan in how it is setup, but you can add that organization through their various pockets and lid options, should you need it. For me, if cost is the issue, the bear tooth offers a lot of value. But, I told myself when I got into this, I was not going to skimp on key items, like the pack or boots, as they will ultimately decide the success of my experience, so I‘ve just come to terms with spending more, trying different frames, and finding what works for me. My brothers are the opposite. They are just buying what looks like a good deal and taking other people’s words for if its a good pack, good pair of boots, etc.

One thing about the Beartooth that I did not like is that they didn’t include the daypack lid with it, like they do for the Marshall. The lid on the beartooth is basic. The guideline frame was a decent fit, but felt bulkier and somewhat stiff…the xcurve just disappears on me. I think the xcurve would use a little beefier hip belt, but I had 100lbs in it the other day (50 in the bag, 50 in the load shelf) and had no issues in one mile hike. I don’t like having a water bladder in my bag, so having the option to run it in the hydro lid on the SG 5900 was a great option. The access bag has a nalgene pocket built in, so that’s how I’m going to carry water with the SG setup. Ideally, they would have a better nalgene holder on their system, but it wasn’t a deal breaker for me.

I would take a strong look at the Kifaru system as well. I’m getting their frame soon and the fulcrum bag is the one that appeals the most to me with its versatility to compress down to 1800 and go all the way to 7000L.

I haven’t looked into Exo yet. I think they fell a bit behind MR, SG, and Kifaru to me only because I wasn’t as familiar with them. I’m sure they are a strong offering and people seem to really like their frame and bag options. Like what I said above, the key is to put this stuff to test on your body and think about how you need to use it, and try that out.

 

[Ram94]

I currently have a Beartooth 80 and ordered a Sky 5900 on the Xcurve frame to try out. I see alot of comments saying the 5900 is too small for 7-10 days. Is the 5900 cu-inch accurate? I had no trouble packing for 9 days in the Beartooth for Alberta sheep and the Sky 5900 should have an extra 17L of capacity. Do some guys just need alot more room than me or is the capacity exaggerated on the SG packs? Second guessing myself a bit here.

The Marshall is only 8L over the 5900 and it is commonly touted as a 14 day workhorse...

Anyone that's used both have any insights on this? Is the Sky a bigger bag than the Beartooth in reality?