Stone Glacier and Kifaru

[Yellowknife]

Roksliders,



I will report on:

Specs: Self-explanatory
Fit: This will be MY subjective opinion for me. Already folks are telling me if I don't like the feel of one or the other, I am doing something wrong.
Finish: Quality of worksmanship and materials.
Durability: This will be fun.
Features and performance: Likes and dislikes. Usefullness to me. This will be the bulk of the review.
Looks: Actually I don't give a shit about this. If you do, make up your own mind.
Company support: This will be all out in the open with these companies, and I will gladly discuss anything that comes up.
Other categories as they arise.

All of my opinions and conclusions are mine and mine alone. Feel free to agree or disagree as you see fit.

Keep the test ideas coming!

One comment on the pack testing. Please be sure to describe the kind of hunting you normally do in the report, so we can more or less gauge how that effects your judgment of features. The Stone Glacier coming from an "light weight at all costs" kind of designer obviously comes with pluses and minuses from a function standpoint. Your value on those types of features will be somewhat dependent on the kind of hunting you like to do, weight/volume of gear carried, etc. Everybody has those sorts of biases, so I'm not saying that it's bad... I would just want to know what yours are going in.

As far as more specific comments on the pack testing, I have two.. Specifically on the Stone Glacier.

1.) It appears to me that compression straps are used to compress both the load in the bag and any meat carried in the load sling. So by design, when you have a load in the sling, you are also heavily compressing the load in the bag. Does this make it difficult to access the critical items in the pack, without loosening the entire load, especially considering the minimal pockets?

2.) When using the load sling for carrying meat, the design of the pack pushes any load in the pack bag out away from your body. It's hard to tell from the stock photos if this is enough to effect balance when carrying a load of meat + camp. Given the fact the the heavier weight is close to the back, it's probably not an issue, but I'd be interested in any comments. The Timberline series essentially pushed oversize loads taller, which has it's own stability issues, but is the current conventional approach.

Yk

 

[stephen b]

As stated above by many people- I think this was an excellent approach to doing this review. Hats off to Aron, Matt, Kurt (SG), Kifaru, and the Rokslide team in the way this is being approached.

Might only be one relatively small review- but the way this is being handled and discussed ahead of time; and the manner in which is going to be done, speaks volumes about the transparency; integrity; and passion that all involved have towards back country hunting and gear towards that pursuit.

Well done!

There a number of very experienced folks that post here and their input is very helpful to people that visit this site. And reviews like this one and the comments made in these threads and the review thread to come only add to the data base of info and quality to Rokslide.

I agree with the comment above about this being a great site. There may be some other back country hunting sites, but this one is right up there as far as not taking a back seat to any of them with regard to the knowledge and experience of the forum members. And their willingness to share. Pretty impressive for a relatively young site; and I might add is only going to get better when they handle things the way they are.

 

[robby denning]

Now I gotta wait before selecting a pack to see how this turns out. Lookin' forward to it Matt.

How about testing them while jogging with small boulders in them? Seems to be a new way to train for some.

 

[fillthefreezer]

How about testing them while jogging with small boulders in them? .

you just want him to do it...

 

[robby denning]

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

I brought a group of teenagers on a hike once. When I wasn't looking they stuffed my pack with rocks, on the bottom so I wouldn't see them. They were shocked that I kept on trucking. I felt it but didn't say anything ha.

Would I do it for fun, or "training", not so much.

 

[fillthefreezer]

i prefer truck tire chains to rocks personally, one pack weighs 55lbs and you can easily get 2 packs in a longhunter bag

 

[HellsCanyon]

So is the new Kifaru HighCamp pack and bikini frame gettin the nod for this review? Seems its pretty similar to the SG.

Mike

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

I was wondering the same thing

 

[Salmo-Priest]

I still prefer the Stone Glacier. Similiar in price( the most I'll pay) and I much prefer the gray over the brown. I also won't have to pay extra for the expandable meat hauler. Both are great looking packs no doubt.

 

[Ryan Avery]

This meat shelf thing cracks me up. How many people have used one with a pack that just has a day trip loaded into it?? Then put a quarter in the meat shelf. It's a complete pain in the ass. I don't care who manufactures the pack, your still pushing weight away from your body. IMO it's just not worth it.

 

[ohhiitznik]

This meat shelf things cracks me up. How many people have used one with a pack that just has a day trip loaded into it?? Then put a quarter in the meat shelf. It's a complete pain in the ass. I don't care who manufactures the pack, your still pushing weight away from your body. IMO it's just not worth it.

This^^^^^

 

[ohhiitznik]

That's why I'll pack my meat in my bag! Keep the weight close so you don't have to walk like a hunchback.

 

[Salmo-Priest]

Maybe I'm missing something? I did see Arons video where you can purchase a meat shelf and the Kifaru hauls the meat in the same manner. At 6000 cubic Inches there a damn good chance I'll get all my boned out meat and gear inside pack main body. Prolly have to attach sleeping bag or something light on the outside. Could do the same with the Kifaru? The expanding meat shelf works great when packing elk quarters and gear for the day in the pack. I know because I've done it on multiple times with another pack. Like how both the Kifaru and Stone Glacier compress for day hunts. But again I have a useful tool in a built in load shelf that I don't have to pay extra for. No parts to lose and I have know/heard of enough morons that will use their rifle scope as binoc's to look at big game. Don't like the brown, too many stupid people in this state.

 

[stephen b]

This meat shelf thing cracks me up. How many people have used one with a pack that just has a day trip loaded into it?? Then put a quarter in the meat shelf. It's a complete pain in the ass. I don't care who manufactures the pack, your still pushing weight away from your body. IMO it's just not worth it.

Done right- there really is no difference between having a shelf ( like on the new Bikini frame) and compressing the bag and its contents around the meat; than if you did say the same thing inside the bags contents. Especially if you put the meat vertically in a kifaru meat bag. So, if you did the same thing in the bag, you would still put the heavy meat close to your back and put contents around it. So there really is not any more weight away from you on a properly situated shelf and bag.

And you can elevate the meat higher on the self on the frame and use a compression strap tightened down to keep meat from slipping.

Too me it is less of a PITA on an elevated shelf than trying to get the contents inside the bag just right.

 

[Ryan Avery]

We will have to agree to disagree..... It always pulls me backwards no matter how tight I have the meat. So I will
continue to put the meat into the pack.

 

[stephen b]

We will have to agree to disagree..... It always pulls me backwards no matter how tight I have the meat. So I will
continue to put the meat into the pack.

No problem- that is good- "different strokes for different folks", as it would be boring if everyone in the world did the same thing. And if we all agreed- that would not be good either.

For choices with packs we have a lot; and heck just with Kifaru gear they have just about everyone covered.

About as many combinations as the Oregon Duck football team.

 

[Ryan Avery]

About as many combinations as the Oregon Duck football team.

LOL, your not kidding

 

[Aron Snyder]

Done right- there really is no difference between having a shelf ( like on the new Bikini frame) and compressing the bag and its contents around the meat; than if you did say the same thing inside the bags contents. Especially if you put the meat vertically in a kifaru meat bag. So, if you did the same thing in the bag, you would still put the heavy meat close to your back and put contents around it. So there really is not any more weight away from you on a properly situated shelf and bag.

And you can elevate the meat higher on the self on the frame and use a compression strap tightened down to keep meat from slipping.

Too me it is less of a PITA on an elevated shelf than trying to get the contents inside the bag just right.

You can actually get the same "lifted" result off of the High Camp and Timberline by using the bottom compression strap to close off the bag. This what part of the design and why the compression straps are located in the position they are in.

So, you tighten the bottom compression either the HC or Tline bag, and you have a lifted meat shelf with ZERO additional weight. I'm not saying the other way is wrong, but something I don't prefer to do/use.

 

[Aron Snyder]

Maybe I'm missing something? I did see Arons video where you can purchase a meat shelf and the Kifaru hauls the meat in the same manner. At 6000 cubic Inches there a damn good chance I'll get all my boned out meat and gear inside pack main body. Prolly have to attach sleeping bag or something light on the outside. Could do the same with the Kifaru? The expanding meat shelf works great when packing elk quarters and gear for the day in the pack. I know because I've done it on multiple times with another pack. Like how both the Kifaru and Stone Glacier compress for day hunts. But again I have a useful tool in a built in load shelf that I don't have to pay extra for. No parts to lose and I have know/heard of enough morons that will use their rifle scope as binoc's to look at big game. Don't like the brown, too many stupid people in this state.

If you leave the meat shelf attached to the Kifaru (all the time), than it can't be lost.

As far as "why" it's quick release? That's easy.... the majority of people we talked with, said that they would prefer to haul the meat inside the pack (the way I mentioned above), so we designed the shelf to be an option. This way you could choose the way that YOU wanted to use the pack and leave the additional stuff behind.