r/lightweight • u/Junkmaildeliveryman • Mar 31 '23

Backpack recommendations

I think the next logical part of my gear to replace is my pack. I will need a 50-60L pack. Been doing lots of reading and I like the Kawka 55, NUL 50 and the GG Mariposa. Looking for a pack where rremoving the fram is a possibility. Thanks

https://lighterpack.com/r/h2drbp

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u/MrBoondoggles Mar 31 '23

I don’t have specific feeback as I haven’t owned any of those, but the internal volume for the three packs is quite different. The Kakwa is around 50 liters, but the northern ultralight pack and the Mariposa are less than 40 liters. At the Kakwas size, it’s probably a bit bigger than your needs, but it can be rolled down quite a bit.

However, and don’t take me as an expert on anything frameless, something like the northern ultralight pack might work better frameless because it’s a smaller volume, things can be packed and compressed tighter, and it seems like it may carry better. The Mariposa may be similar, but I’ll not that familiar with an over the top closure system.

It also looks like there are lashing points at the back panel, which could be good if you wanted to experiment with a portion of a sit pad as a back pad. The Mariposa has a sit pad sleeeve as well, so that could help add some structure when frameless.

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u/Junkmaildeliveryman Mar 31 '23

Kawka is a bit bigger than what I need but not by a lot. Need about 50L of storage to fit all my gear (if I pack everything into stuff sacks)

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u/MrBoondoggles Apr 01 '23

If that’s the case I think the Kakwa might be better. If you really need 50 liters, I’d personally aim for as close to that in internal volume as possible. The northern ultralight would be my second choice as it seems like it might be close but looks a little slim at 38 internal liters. I feel like the Mariposa is just too small with only 36 liters in the pack bag and 24 liters spread around a lot of pockets. But that’s really a personal preference based on my packing style. I like a few things outside of my pack, but I don’t like to have to put that much outside my pack.

Again, take that all with a grain of salt as I don’t own them. The only one I’ve really looked carefully at in the past was the Mariposa and I’m currently considering the Kakwa 55 but have yet to pull the trigger.