I recently purchased this pack for my son who is 13. We needed to get light for a multi-day trip in the Pecos Wilderness. He is vertically challenged, i.e. short, so I got him a size small. We tested it out first with a 25 lb load on a day hike and he loved it. It fit well, handled the load without even blinking. We loaded on some additional items for the longer hike and I substituted his 3/4 therma-rest for the standard pad, and also made a frame sheet (actually took it from another pack) the wieght was still only 3lb 11oz and the framesheet helped stiffen things up well.

Customer Service

Wild Things was great to deal with, Keith and Rebbecca in particular were just great, it felt good to buy from this company.

Similar Products Used:

None

After using a Jansport D3 external frame pack for over 30 years, I decided to go untralight, last year, as I am 65 years old, and still have a passion for backpacking. Being only 5'5", I wanted my loaded pack to be 30-32#, even for a 10 to 12 day trip, which I often take. My 2 pound WildThings AT pack at 5,000cu.in. capacity has proven to be absolutely perfect for my needs! I did compare it with GoLite's ultralight pack, by actually trying GoLite's on with the same amount of gear as I had had in my AT pack, and I found the lack of a hipbelt on the GoLite to be a major disadvantage to it. Otherwise, the GoLite and AT were fairly similar, especially in quality of craftsmanship, and cost. I did have Human Nature (pack repair company) in Grass Valley, CA, modify my AT with 2 daisy chains on the front for lashing wet clothes, and a fantastic cinch-strap off the top of the AT for drawing the pack closer to my shoulders. Using the AT will allow you to become expert at compression, as you use stuff sacks for organization. The WildThings AT pack comes in two shoulder-strap sizes, to accomodate short and medium-tall folks!

Customer Service

When I originally decided to "go ultralight" I contacted both WildThings and GoLight to tell them that I wanted them to send me their packs for comparison, which they did — I had to charge them both to my Visa. After I compared the two, I returned the GoLite pack, and was promptly issued credit on my charge card account.

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None

I bought this for a 98-mile Yellowstone hike (east side of Yellowstone Lake, down the Thorofare, west to Mariposa Lake, north to Hart Lake, northwest between Lewis and Shoshone Lake to Old Faithful)I took with my then-15 year-old daughter. I've had back surgery twice, and she's, well, 15; so I was counting ounces. I love it; it's more comfortable than many packs much more than twice it's weight. I'm not especially gentle with my gear (I'm an ex-paratrooper), but the pack shows hardly any sign of wear and no sign of weakness. This year it's back to Wyoming, Jackson- Lander through the Gros Ventres and the Wind Rivers.

The bag probably isn't for fussy people who can't live w/o 23 pockets, and the water bottle pockets are a little hard to get to. But if you want to do 10 nights and have to carry your share and more of the gear, ultralight is the ONLY way to go.

Customer Service

When I ordered it there was some problem getting material and manufacturing the bag. Their people assured me it would be ready, kept me informed, and got it to me ahead of schedule. I felt I could tell from their attitude that they meant to do things right.

Similar Products Used:

Kelty and Jansport, primarily.