[at-l] How much is too much?

[bushwackerfish@mindspring.com (Bushwacker)]

My wife and I both recently got P-2's from ULA.  They were 2.5 lbs out the
box (each) and have a 4,000 cu in capacity.  We have been happy with them
so far.  They will be our main rig for the 2004 thru hike.

A big factor we learned while fitting my wife is the placement of the hip
belt for women's use.  Typically packs are more or less designed for men
and the hip belt rides too low for most women and leads to serious
discomfort.  You should seriously follow the advice given earlier about
test driving a pack with weight on it before buying it.  This will save you
more pain and frustration than you can imagine.  The beauty about the ULA
packs is that the hip belt is connected by a velcro system which allows for
adjustment to the user's correct comfort level.  Further, ULA is also very
customer driven and will correct anything to make your pack more
comfortable - they sew their own packs!

ULA has several demo packs that they send out.  Just contact Brian at ULA
and get one and test drive it for a test drive.  I'm sure you'll love it.

Here's their website:  http://www.ula-equipment.com

Bushwacker

At 11:41 PM 10/26/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>After a traffic jam just getting TO the Interstate, and then a near-crash ON
>the Interstate, I made it to Bill Jackson's.  The employees were friendly,
>and helpful.  I tried on several packs with weight in them, and found one
>that felt really good and two others that felt good.
>
>How much weight for a pack is too much?  The lightest of the 3 was just
>under 4#, and the other two were slightly over 5#.
>
>I think someone said to try to keep your weight of pack+shelter+bag at 10#
>or under.  Does that seem reasonable?  I'm no ultralighter.  I'm a beginner.
>I'm definitely not interested in going for a record heavy pack either.
>
>My "problem" is that I'm on a budget too.  The 3 packs I liked were
>$240-280.  Do you get what you pay for with packs?  I'm thinking (or trying
>to convince myself?) that skimping on footwear and packs is not the place to
>be skimping.
>
>Thoughts on the subject....?
>
>:-)
>Teresa
>(French Wench)
>http://hometown.aol.com/gatorsncubs/index.html
>AIM:  GatorsNCubs
>
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