squeekieslayer
WKR
I am going to be 100% honest. I love MR, I like that they are made here in MT, and they are great people. The MR line of packs, as mentioned, are BOMBPROOF. But other than that, some other packs seem to work a LOT better for me.
I had the Longbow for the last 2 years, i saved for my entire last year of optometry school bit by bit to get it. For the last two years, I "tried" to love it. There were many problems I personally had with the NICE frame and that bag combo.
The issues I had before I traded it in were 1) Too heavy 2) Too Short 3) The frame was STIFF and FLAT and restricted movement 4) 1200 of the 2200 ci were used up by the spotter and tripod pockets 5) the hip pockets took 2 hands to open and stuck all the time.
So I switched to Kifaru DT3 with hunting cargo and med waist pouch. After 6 weeks of using the bag for anything from bivy in the Spanish Peaks to long miles in the Missouri Breaks in the rain, I have realized there are a few other things I did NOT EVEN KNOW I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THE MR. 1) Your hips DO NOT have to have scabs on them at the end of every trip 2) My back did NOT have to be drenched in sweat after every single trip 3) Load Lifters actually help, A LOT 4) I could like something made in CO more than something made in MT
I guess to me it was hard to stomach, but it seems to me that the Kifaru DT series is everything that the MR NICE system dreams of being. I think that for the money, there is really no reason to choose the MR over the Kifaru DT.
Dont get me wrong, I dont think you would be "unhappy" with your choice. Tons of people love them and as mentioned, they can haul like 400 pounds. They are extremely durable and they are great people. But if you are spending that kind of coin you owe it to yourself to compare them directly.
Joe
I had the Longbow for the last 2 years, i saved for my entire last year of optometry school bit by bit to get it. For the last two years, I "tried" to love it. There were many problems I personally had with the NICE frame and that bag combo.
The issues I had before I traded it in were 1) Too heavy 2) Too Short 3) The frame was STIFF and FLAT and restricted movement 4) 1200 of the 2200 ci were used up by the spotter and tripod pockets 5) the hip pockets took 2 hands to open and stuck all the time.
So I switched to Kifaru DT3 with hunting cargo and med waist pouch. After 6 weeks of using the bag for anything from bivy in the Spanish Peaks to long miles in the Missouri Breaks in the rain, I have realized there are a few other things I did NOT EVEN KNOW I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THE MR. 1) Your hips DO NOT have to have scabs on them at the end of every trip 2) My back did NOT have to be drenched in sweat after every single trip 3) Load Lifters actually help, A LOT 4) I could like something made in CO more than something made in MT
I guess to me it was hard to stomach, but it seems to me that the Kifaru DT series is everything that the MR NICE system dreams of being. I think that for the money, there is really no reason to choose the MR over the Kifaru DT.
Dont get me wrong, I dont think you would be "unhappy" with your choice. Tons of people love them and as mentioned, they can haul like 400 pounds. They are extremely durable and they are great people. But if you are spending that kind of coin you owe it to yourself to compare them directly.
Joe
