Sierra Designs flex capacitor

[P Carter]

Anyone thought about this pack? The variable capacity, light weight, and price are intriguing. Designed by someone with more backpacking experience than you can shake a stick at who is also an elk hunter.

Flex Capacitor | Sierra Designs

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Max weight capacity is 35-50lbs. That is a pretty small load of meat.
It may very well be great for what it is designed for, but it certainly is not designed for carrying weight.

 

[DaveC]

It's a nice pack; in terms of weight/price/quality ratio nothing else comes close. Frame height is around 25" so comparable to many "hunting" packs.

Skurka packed 70 lbs of elk out with an early proto several times. It has a fairly stiff lumbar pad and hipbelt, so I think the belt-user interface will probably be the limiting factor more than frame stiffness. Less room for fit correction with such stiff padding.

 

[meta_gabbro]

Reviving a positively ancient thread now that the second gen model of that pack is out. I've got the 1st gen 40-60L size, and have used it on antelope rifle hunts in NM and WY and a mulie archery hunt in NM. All hunts done while backpacking, carrying food, water, clothes, shelter, and sleep system, totaling 41lbs with consumables, rifle, and optics. Did every animal in two trips, first one with gear and one quarter, offal, and trim meat, second trip with the remaining quarters and head. Pack stays cinched to 40L till it's time to pack meat.

Biggest load was just shy of 70 lbs; not the most comfortable experience, but I've yet to get that much weight on my back and be happy about it. Longest pack out was around 7 miles with the mulie, so 28 miles round with around 1k' elevation each segment. Felt pretty miserable toward the end, but my boots were bothering me more than the pack by far. Longest trip I've ever done with it was 80-some-odd miles in the Sangre de Cristos with a 19lb load and it was crazy comfortable. Plenty of airflow across my back, nice padding on the hipbelt, and the hipbelt pockets are actually usable.

Made a gun holder to secure my rifle to the side of the pack, and my tripod and spotter go on the opposite side in the stretch pocket and secured by the compression straps. I keep my GPS in one of the hip belt pockets, food in the other, rangefinder in the shoulder strap pocket, binos on the opposite shoulder strap held by a Peak Designs Capture Mount, sidearm in a chest holster. The new model has a second shoulder pocket, which I'd probably move my GPS to so I can cram more food in the hip belt. There's also a 60-75L with burlier padding and a stronger frame, which would probably be a better fit for a hunting pack.

You can find the 40-60 for $160 sometimes, which is absolutely bonkers for a sub-3lb pack that can still handle 60+ lbs imo.

 

[kad11]

Reviving a positively ancient thread now that the second gen model of that pack is out. I've got the 1st gen 40-60L size, and have used it on antelope rifle hunts in NM and WY and a mulie archery hunt in NM. All hunts done while backpacking, carrying food, water, clothes, shelter, and sleep system, totaling 41lbs with consumables, rifle, and optics. Did every animal in two trips, first one with gear and one quarter, offal, and trim meat, second trip with the remaining quarters and head. Pack stays cinched to 40L till it's time to pack meat.

Biggest load was just shy of 70 lbs; not the most comfortable experience, but I've yet to get that much weight on my back and be happy about it. Longest pack out was around 7 miles with the mulie, so 28 miles round with around 1k' elevation each segment. Felt pretty miserable toward the end, but my boots were bothering me more than the pack by far. Longest trip I've ever done with it was 80-some-odd miles in the Sangre de Cristos with a 19lb load and it was crazy comfortable. Plenty of airflow across my back, nice padding on the hipbelt, and the hipbelt pockets are actually usable.

Made a gun holder to secure my rifle to the side of the pack, and my tripod and spotter go on the opposite side in the stretch pocket and secured by the compression straps. I keep my GPS in one of the hip belt pockets, food in the other, rangefinder in the shoulder strap pocket, binos on the opposite shoulder strap held by a Peak Designs Capture Mount, sidearm in a chest holster. The new model has a second shoulder pocket, which I'd probably move my GPS to so I can cram more food in the hip belt. There's also a 60-75L with burlier padding and a stronger frame, which would probably be a better fit for a hunting pack.

You can find the 40-60 for $160 sometimes, which is absolutely bonkers for a sub-3lb pack that can still handle 60+ lbs imo.

Are you still liking this pack? Any durability issues with repeat 60-70# packouts?

 

[meta_gabbro]

Are you still liking this pack? Any durability issues with repeat 60-70# packouts?

It’s still my go-to pack, and will see at least 2 more hunts this season. I did look at replacing it with an Eberlestock hauling frame and a dry bag, but it came out to like 3 extra pounds and enough money for a new scope and that just didn’t seem worth it. No durability issues so far, though it has gotten a little creaky with age, but only while weighed down (so not while packing in, just while packing out). I figure it’s not an issue, since it’ll only be noisy after I’ve killed an animal and packed it full of meat.

The only gripe I’ve got with it is that I forgot to mention in my first post is that the shoulder strap pouch is on the right side, so if you shoot right handed keeping anything in that pouch messes with shouldering a gun. I have to yank my rangefinder out of it in order to shoot, which can be a pain. The new model has two shoulder strap pouches though, so you can use the one on your offside instead and avoid the issue.

 

[kad11]

It’s still my go-to pack, and will see at least 2 more hunts this season. I did look at replacing it with an Eberlestock hauling frame and a dry bag, but it came out to like 3 extra pounds and enough money for a new scope and that just didn’t seem worth it. No durability issues so far, though it has gotten a little creaky with age, but only while weighed down (so not while packing in, just while packing out). I figure it’s not an issue, since it’ll only be noisy after I’ve killed an animal and packed it full of meat.

The only gripe I’ve got with it is that I forgot to mention in my first post is that the shoulder strap pouch is on the right side, so if you shoot right handed keeping anything in that pouch messes with shouldering a gun. I have to yank my rangefinder out of it in order to shoot, which can be a pain. The new model has two shoulder strap pouches though, so you can use the one on your offside instead and avoid the issue.

Awesome, thanks for the update! I just grabbed a gen2 60-75 for $150 so I'm looking forward to putting it to use.