US army ALICE packs

DH1

DH1

Joined
Nov 8, 2006
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Has anyone used one of the Army issue ALICE packs for hiking/camping? Prices online seem to be reasonable (about $30-$40 shipped), and probably less at a brick and mortar surplus store.
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I've been camping before, but only one night or two...I may be going for a 7 day camp, and I'll need a larger pack. There are tons of fancy space age ones out there I know, but I'm looking for cheap and reliable:D

Any words from experience would be appreciated:thumbup:
 
Make sure you get the LC2 frame with it. The medium pack is sort of usable without it but you'll be much happier with the frame. The large ALICE pack is useless without the frame.

Otherwise it's a great pack for the money.
 
As a youth, I made the mistake of going on a trip carrying a Vietnam-era alice pack. The balance on it was horrible, especially attempting a crossing of a knife ridge with 100+ drops on either side. I had to use a friends walking sticks to maintain balance. Carrying excess weight in it is painful. There is no decent distribution of the weight on your body. In the Alice, it is concentrated on your shoulders. I would look closer to getting a bargain commercial external pack than an old alice. Even with the frame and beefed up shoulder pads and belt, it is awful for rough terrain compared to what is available today.
 
I carried the med. ALICE pack in the service they are built to take a beating and survive. mine is 30+ years old and still going strong there are stronger and lighter packs these days but idont think you'll find any thing as good in this price range dont forget to get the frame
 
One more thing, I would avoid buying a pack online. Bring your gear to the store, and load it into a packpack you feel like buying, and lug it around the store for awhile. Any reputable gear store will back you up on this. Walk up and down the stairs, if they have any. If it feels painful or uncomfortable the first few minutes in the store, imagine how it would feel after 6 hours walking through even moderate terrain.
 
A-Bags really do a good job of holding up. Their high quality packs. My experience is all on the large size with the frame. The stomach strap (at least that's what I figured that was) was a joke however. The straps are decent and the pack will hold a lot of gear- there was even individual compartments for holding 30 round M-16 mags. The method of hold a sleeping bag and roll pad on the rear of the pack is also a neat feature, but it takes a little getting used too- it's nice to have someone experienced in packing an A-Bag handy the first time you do it.

Also get an appropriately sized field pack liner (http://www.colemans.com/pouch.htmto put in it. As I understand it, water can (and will) penetrate an A-Bag and get your gear wet. They were originally designed to have the rubberized side faceing your gear, but they work better with the green nylon facing your gear and the black rubberized side facing out. Harder for the water to penetrate and easier for you to get your gear out.

The one bad thing about this platform is that it is very easy to cut the base of your hand putting the bag on.
 
I never owned the Alice so take what i got to say for lots of grains of salt. But every time i read something about the Alice there are two things that come up. One is that this pack would outlast anything out there. It would hold and carry all the weight you can stuff into it. The second thing everyone seems to mention is that its a back breaker it would hurt you and make you suffer as it dont carry well. That the main reason i would never get one. I had once a pack just like that. Went for a day long hike 2 hours into the hike i could start feeling the pack sitting the wrong way and it started to hurt. After about 5 hours of hiking my back was in pain i had to stop every time and move the pack. At that point i would have paid anything for a better pack. So as many folks on here always say get something good the first time.

Sasha
 
As an alternative, you might want to look at Camp Trails or a used Jansport external frame pack.
 
Do yourself a favor. Get a real pack. Even with the frame the Alice pack is not a great pack. I loved it in the Army but when I found real backpacks I gave it away. Moderns packs carry approx 70% of the weight on the hips and the rest on the shoulders. The Alice carries its weight 100% on the shoulders. With the frame it also beats the crap out of the kidney area of your back. It is a lousy way to carry weight. Spend the extra money and get a real pack. If I hadn't given mine away I would have sent it to you for the cost of shipping.

For seven days in the summer and warm springs and falls, you can get away with a 2500CI pack if you are experienced with what you really need. If you really want to pack lots of stuff and depending on how much food and how bulky you might want to go to 4500CI. To start I would probably start with a pack around 4500 - 5000 CI. It will be very large for weekends but for seven days it will probably be about correct. Some of this is very subjective. I personally think very highly of the EMS packs. They are relatively inexpensive, guaranteed to the hilt and very well made. EMS will have no problem if you bought a 5000CI pack took it on a couple of camping trips and you decided that it didn't fit or it was too big. They will exchange it. Standard disclaimer. I have no affiliation with EMS, just a long time user of their products.

KR
 
kr1 said:
Do yourself a favor. Get a real pack. Even with the frame the Alice pack is not a great pack. I loved it in the Army but when I found real backpacks I gave it away. Moderns packs carry approx 70% of the weight on the hips and the rest on the shoulders. The Alice carries its weight 100% on the shoulders. With the frame it also beats the crap out of the kidney area of your back. It is a lousy way to carry weight. Spend the extra money and get a real pack. If I hadn't given mine away I would have sent it to you for the cost of shipping.


KR
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So true.
I use my ALICE pack for winter fishing, it holds my 'snowmobile' suit for the 1/2 hour walk, along with a small tackle box and thermos of coffee.
More than that it's just uncomfortable and ungainly.
Here's my 2500ci Mountainsmith Approach (II?)
pack.jpg

This pack is a breeze to carry.
 
I think it's a great pack if you understand how to use it and it's limitations.

Most of the Army had moved to Molle packs. However, the SF groups have not. Not sure of the reason for the SF to stay away from the Molle but I know that the 10th MTN fought the change years ago since the Alice was FAR more durable then the current Lowes that the Army was going to.

I like the Alice just fine and for hard use I prefer it.
 
I think most people hate the ALICE not for the pack, but for the furniture.

The pack itself isn't the most advanced out there, but for the price, they are hard to beat. I would avoid the large, it's too large, go with the medium.

The problem is, as I said, the straps and frame are on the almost on the verge of sucking- if they were a little better, they would. So you have a very good $15 pack, that you will want to put better straps and belt ($45+) on. I like to find a cheaper pack frame online or in a yard sale, and mount a medium ALICE on it. I've got one even after switching to a different pack, I've sent several others off with people to use as BOBs.

If you want to try to improve on the frame.... best first step is to wrap cordage around it like your see below. It gives you better support, and makes the frame both cooler and quieter. Now this is a pack frame of unknown origon, not an ALICE frame, but the principle is the same. A pricier option would be a SpecOps HUMP with a bladder in it.

aliceonframe.jpg


This frame was modified after this- I cut off the top bar, and changed the wrapping some as a result.
 
A couple of computers ago I had a link to a tutorial on modifying a boy scout pack frame to work with an ALICE pack.

For the OP's needs I'd go with commercial.
Sierra Trading Post has a bunch of packs on sale...do a little comparison shopping and you might be pleasantly surprised.
 
Eyegor said:
As an alternative, you might want to look at Camp Trails or a used Jansport external frame pack.
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An external pack brings the center of gravity much higher.
This means you can walk upright.
You the use a good waist belt to even out the load between your shoulders and your hips.
they have a thinner profile, so light less dense stuff at the bottom (sleeping bag) and heavy dense stuff at the top (tent).
This also helps to make you walk upright.

The Alice pack is round in shape, and much harder to pack this way.
It is designed for a combat soldier, not backpacking.
 
neeman said:
It is designed for a combat soldier, not backpacking.
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Experience speaking, I have a 30K ruck coming up the end of next month, if my 1SG would let me, I would be wearing my northface not my alice. The alice can take the abuse of combat, airborne ops and damn near anything else you can throw at it but it is no where near the most comfortable. Crhis
 
I'm no expert, but I've Humped my ass off with a large ALICE pack. Jumped out of planes with one. One of the best for packing lots of weight and not failing in the field. (100+lbs) that I ever used.

I was in when the army switched to the CFM-90, it broke in two months. Then came the MOLLE pack (Gen 1). It broke in seven. (Great packs though in my opinion, just not great for humping lots of weight.) Now I've been out of a line unit for some time. But my buddies continue to get issued new packs, when it breaks they switch back to their ALICE. Was lucky enough to train with some guys from 7th group at Bragg. A majority of them used ALICE's too. (I'm sure they could use anything they wanted too) So you get the jist of my message. There are civilian equivilants that are much more comfortable and lighter. Try loading them with 100+ lbs of gear and jumping out of a plane. See if they survive or not.

I like the packs, but it depends what you want to do with it. They are heavy but I find them semi comfortable. Don't get me wrong, my kidney area bears several scars from frame rub on those fast roadmarches. But the pack is bomb proof. There are definately more comfortable packs out there that weigh a lot less, but for the money it will serve you a long time. My .02
 
Fieldtest, you said what I was trying to but much better, and I agree with every word. Strap military gear to a civilian pack and very few if any will hold up like the alice, it is about as bullet proof as is possible but it sure wears my neck and shoulders.:o Chris
 
runningboar said:
Experience speaking, I have a 30K ruck coming up the end of next month, if my 1SG would let me, I would be wearing my northface not my alice. The alice can take the abuse of combat, airborne ops and damn near anything else you can throw at it but it is no where near the most comfortable. Crhis
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HEY Chris. I agree with the comfort part but the way I read the origional posters question he's all ready looked at more expensive gear, and is not interested, he wants a cheap reliable pack($40 to$60)price range, for a camping trip he may or may not take.and asked specifically about alice. If the person is going to hike on a regular basis over long disance investing in an expensive pack would make sence other wise he might be better served to put his money into a good pair of boots or a good blade and enjoy his seven day camping trip.
Mike
 
Thanks Mike for bringing me back on track, I went and read the original post and think a large surplus alice may be just the ticket.:o Chris
 
Alice or Vector pack ( Alice mountain pack )

Standed up to alot of abuse.

S/F,
CEYA!
 
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