I bought the pack to replace an external fram pack and ive already decided that the capacity and weight of this pack excels. Its very comfortable to have on your back, even with the heaviest loads. The many pockets offers great organization, and the sleeping bag pocket is perfect. I would recomend this pack for anyone thats large, I'm six feet tall and the tall pack fits me with room for me to grow, and wants to pack plenty of gear along with them, i gave it a five for value, because i caught it on sale, but its still a good buy anyway.

I've used my Rockies once now, but find that it's a great deal for the money. The sleeping bag compartment is just big enough, but not too big...the pockets are great, there's tons of room overall in this bag. I'm a big guy, and have trouble finding packs that are comfortable-not so with the Rockies...felt like a dream. Absolutely no discomfort at all from this pack, and that's without readjusting once on the trail! A great deal for the casual backpacker.

I got this pack for 109.99, which is a really good deal. So far I am pleased with this pack. It has plenty of room for your gear and then some, good support, and over all a worthy competitor for packs like Dana Designs and Arc'teryx and Gregory. The one thing is if you are a climber, consider getting another pack because the fabric is not "top of the line".

Similar Products Used:

Gregory Denali

My Rockies (tall) pack has worked very well for me. I have used it on four trips, ranging from 2-5 days in length, with 30-50lb. loads. The best features of the pack are the price, weight and the number/arrangement of pockets (I had a hard time finding an internal with enough of these...). The worst feature is it is so large that you are tempted to take too much extra gear on short trips. It is not a completely bombproof pack, but there is no reason to expect that feature in a product that costs 30-50% less than any comparable model. It is perfectly servicable, and I will gladly carry the lighter weight (and keep the $$$ in my pocket), than buy into any claims of invincibility.

Similar Products Used:

None

Im a large frame person who can take a toll on gear. I carried my rockies pack with about an 80lb. load depending on water. I had no problems with the pack handling the load. Organization is great due to the pockets and configuration. For me it seems as durable and better organized than most packs at twice the cost. I highly recommend it if your looking for quality for your dollar and not status.

Similar Products Used:

None

I used the Rockies for 44 days this past summer on a NOLS trip in Alaska and it won me over (22 days backpacking in the Talkeetna Mtns, and 22 days mountaineering in the Alaska Range). My instructors advised against it but the Rockies took all the abuse I could give it, and if you pack it right, you can easily use this pack for extended trips. NOLS rented out the Dana Design Astralplane backpack and four students on the course had rips in the shoulder straps from carrying heavy loads (80+ pounds at times). This pack cost almost 4x the Rockies and mine held up fine!

Similar Products Used:

None

Ok, stay away from this pack.. Maybe others have had better experince.. I worked for an outdoor outfitter for 3 years and we got 5 Rockies, and after their first week long trip we only had 2 that stayed together. Bad Zippers ,torn straps, holes.. it wasn't pretty, my only hope is that they sent us the defects so i'll give this pack an optimistic 2 stars.

Similar Products Used:

None

Overall this is a pretty good pack. I used the Rockies Tall for over a year with only a few complaints before moving up to a Dana Design Terraplane. At $109, this is definately a pack for the budget minded backpacker to consider.

The Rockies is a very BIG pack. In fact, I well remember a child at the Rocky Point entry to the Pine Mountain Trail pointing and yelling "Mommy......look at the HUGE pack THAT MAN has!!!!" It swallowed every piece of equipement that I own and I could have pushed in even more but 60 pounds of gear is about my lifting limit.

In comparing this pack to my Terraplane, the Rockies has a lot more sway because of its adjustment ladder. The two sizes fits all concept yields a less stable, less comfortable ride than the more exact fits of a Dana or Gregory Pack. The Rockies was less hard on my back and shoulders than some packs I have owned but certainly not in the same league with pricier packs with more load adjustment options.

The extra side pockets were nice to have, but there is the drawback that it widens a rather fat pack even further, requiring the hiker to lean that much further forward to move the center of gravity. Also, it would have been more useful to have had the lid pocket designed to be detached to use as a hip pack.

During the year that my Rockies was in use it spend a total of 45 days in the backcountry. The plastic covers on the zippers all fell off during that time but there were no other repair problems that presented themselves. I did not subject it to any serious abuse.

Despite some short comings, this pack has more quality than the purchase price would suggest.

Similar Products Used:

Dana Design Terraplane Overkill, Peak One Ozark II

In May of 1997, Backpacker magazine did a 5 day test of 6 internal frame packs; Dana Design 10th Anniversary Terraplane,$460.00- Eureka Endeavor,$200.00-L.L.Bean Mountain Guide(made by Gregory Mt. Products)$380.00- Lowe Alpine Crossbow,$330.00- Osprey Spectre,$270.00 and last but definitely not least, Jansports' Rockies. After 5 days on the trail, the Rockies was tied in 2nd place with the L.L. Bean. Dana placed 1st. Folks, take a look at the prices.
I received a rockies last year as a gift. I've used it in the desert, the Redwoods near Santa Cruz, Ca. and many tmes in the local wilderness area here in southern Ca. Last summer I took it to the summit of Mt. San Gorgonio, 11499', having to carry up all my water in addition to all the regular gear, it handled about 60 lbs. with no problem whatsoever. The one I have does not have a framesheet, but the 2000 model does. I also have a Dana loadmaster series Longbed and a Dana Terraframe, and I'v got nothing negative to say about them, but the Rockies more than holds its' own against some of the "big boys". And for half the price.

Customer Service

Excelent, excelent, people to deal with. On the same level as L.L.Bean.

Similar Products Used:

Older model Gregory int. frame, Older Jansport
D-3 ext. frame, Dana Design Loadmaster Series Longbed and also the Terraframe.

I have used the Rockies many many times, and have bean more than happy with it. It is definately worth picking up for the price you'll pay for it. It's too bad Jansport stopped making it. Nit enough bells and whistles for some I guess. Recently a friend of mine spent a monthe in the Tetons, and borrowed my rockies , because his Lowe pack was not big enough. Unfortunately the pack didn't fit his short frame (he should have tried it on before going I guess.... his fault,) but he still managed to make it through his whole trip in reletive comfort.

Similar Products Used:

Jansport Adirondacks.