I was wandering around the local Academy and found the Magellan Outdoors PineJack Daypack. It's a 1-2 day bag with hip belt and what seems to be a hard plastic external frame covered in what they call an "air flow" back panel which is a mesh fabric that keeps a bit of air between your back and the bag. It has a hydration bladder and tube with bite valve and a rain fly in the bottom-most compartment. There are 5 zippered compartments (not counting the rain fly one), 2 mesh pockets for water bottles, and 2 small zippered pockets on the hip belt.
The bladder is 3 liters, and was probably the buying factor when I walked past the pack. That, and the price of $35. I bought 2 since I've convinced my wife that we need to start doing weekend hiking trips.
It has 30L of space which is appx 1800 cubic inches. It's a bit small, but with splitting the essentials between two people, I hope it will work out. I stuffed mine earlier with my tent, US army poncho, first aid kit, extra shirt and socks and filled the water bladder. This all fit (with some convincing) in the main compartment. Left the "sleeping bag" compartment and 2 front compartments with room for food, water filter and miscellaneous gear.
Walking around the yard, I can't help but think that the air flow back panel is more of a gimmick than anything else, but the bag rides well on me and had no trouble carrying this load. Tomorrow I hope to fill it up and take the Mrs. and the little one on a short hike and see how the bag does.
Pre-hike thoughts lead me to believe that I would probably only use this bag for spring/summer trips where down here in Louisiana you don't really need a sleeping bag as there is no room for my big Kelty 0 degree bag. I snagged some silk mummy bag liners for $15 and hope they take care of that problem. I also don't like the fact that there are no straps for attaching a sleeping pad to the pack, though there are tabs where some bungee cords could be used. There is a compression strap on each side that might be used along with one of the mesh side pockets.
Interestingly (or worryingly) enough I found no reviews or even record of this pack existing during a brief internet search. Hopefully I made a $35 (x2) investment that will step the wife and I into more hiking and overnight trips what will eventually lead to some better gear. I'm eyeing the REI Osprey Kestrel 48
. Anyone know anything about Magellan gear? I'll report back tomorrow with pictures!
The bladder is 3 liters, and was probably the buying factor when I walked past the pack. That, and the price of $35. I bought 2 since I've convinced my wife that we need to start doing weekend hiking trips.
It has 30L of space which is appx 1800 cubic inches. It's a bit small, but with splitting the essentials between two people, I hope it will work out. I stuffed mine earlier with my tent, US army poncho, first aid kit, extra shirt and socks and filled the water bladder. This all fit (with some convincing) in the main compartment. Left the "sleeping bag" compartment and 2 front compartments with room for food, water filter and miscellaneous gear.
Walking around the yard, I can't help but think that the air flow back panel is more of a gimmick than anything else, but the bag rides well on me and had no trouble carrying this load. Tomorrow I hope to fill it up and take the Mrs. and the little one on a short hike and see how the bag does.
Pre-hike thoughts lead me to believe that I would probably only use this bag for spring/summer trips where down here in Louisiana you don't really need a sleeping bag as there is no room for my big Kelty 0 degree bag. I snagged some silk mummy bag liners for $15 and hope they take care of that problem. I also don't like the fact that there are no straps for attaching a sleeping pad to the pack, though there are tabs where some bungee cords could be used. There is a compression strap on each side that might be used along with one of the mesh side pockets.
Interestingly (or worryingly) enough I found no reviews or even record of this pack existing during a brief internet search. Hopefully I made a $35 (x2) investment that will step the wife and I into more hiking and overnight trips what will eventually lead to some better gear. I'm eyeing the REI Osprey Kestrel 48
. Anyone know anything about Magellan gear? I'll report back tomorrow with pictures!
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and extra shirt/shocks...cause I'm wearing those now...what? They smelled like the woods! 