Symbiosis Gear Aspen Backpack Overview

The Symbiosis Gear Aspen UL backpack is an ultralight, frameless backpack designed for ladies by a girl. This makes it uncommon on the planet of ultralight backpacks, the place most packs are unisex. This largely means they’re made for males.

• Sort: Frameless
• Voume: 48L (38L essential, 10L exterior pockets)
• Weight: 25 oz/ 708 g
• Gender: Unisex however made for ladies and people with slender shoulders, with S-shaped shoulder straps
• Pockets: 5 open
• Waist belt pockets: No
• Hydration suitable: No
• Load lifters: No
• Most really useful load: 20 lbs
• Sizing: One measurement
• Supplies: 420D Extreema (Nylon), Spundra UHMWPE
• Match: 5’2” to six’1” top
• Hipbelt vary: 18”-50”

Backpack Storage and Group

The Aspen is a top-loading backpack with a complete capability of 48 liters. This contains 38 liters of inner quantity and 10 liters within the exterior pockets. The pack bag has a roll high with snaps for closure and a Y-strap to carry it down.

There are 5 open pockets: a big entrance stretch pocket good for storing stuff you want quick access. There are two giant facet pockets manufactured from strong, sturdy 420D ripstop nylon cloth. It’s potential to seize a water bottle from the facet pockets and put it again in. It may be completed with a Nalgene, nevertheless it’s a lot simpler with a tall bottle with a smaller diameter, resembling Smartwater or the same model. One pocket will maintain two such bottles or one bottle plus different gear. Each pockets have a cord-locked shock twine on the opening.

There’s a fourth pocket on the underside of the pack. It’s the identical stretch cloth as on the entrance pocket. It may very well be an excellent place to place a map, a sit pad, or a bandana. Additionally, something inside it could possibly get squished if you set the pack down. This pocket is most safe when the pack is full, nevertheless it’s not an excellent place to maintain valuables.

The fifth pocket is an built-in stretch telephone pocket on the proper shoulder strap. I used to be initially skeptical about this pocket, nevertheless it holds onto my telephone fairly nicely, and it doesn’t impede shoulder motion.

You’ll be able to match a full-size bear canister vertically within the pack, then pack round it. Nevertheless, this takes up a big quantity of the usable inside area. It is strongly recommended that you just add a sit pad to the again for padding. You possibly can additionally put it on high utilizing the Y strap; nevertheless, you’ll in all probability need it empty or stuffed with gentle issues, slightly than including a considerable amount of weight excessive up on the pack and throwing off your stability.

There aren’t any pockets on the waistbelt. Nevertheless, a removable pouch is within the design section at Symbiosis Gear.

Backpack Body

The Aspen is a frameless backpack with a padded mesh again. The pack is outfitted with female-friendly S-curve shoulder straps. I discovered them fairly comfy, and they need to match any breast measurement. The sternum strap may be very simply adjusted alongside the shoulder strap. A part of it’s stretchy so to get a agency but forgiving match.

The Apen doesn’t use load lifters, they usually’d be pointless on a frameless backpack anyway as a result of there’s no body to anchor them to. When packing the pack, you need to ensure you don’t oversuff it so it barrels towards your again however lies flat towards it.

The waist belt is easy 1.5” webbing, so it doesn’t switch load to the hips. The buckle lies properly flat and is straightforward to function. Vast elastic bands wrap across the belt that you should use to handle any extra belt webbing

Exterior Attachment and Compression

The Aspen has zigzag facet compression straps that run the size of the pack and can be used to connect objects to the edges. There’s not a lot extra size, so it’s tough to connect something cumbersome. There’s a lengthy Y-strap that can be utilized to compress the highest of the pack or to safe a cumbersome merchandise, resembling a foam sledding pad.

Along with shock twine over the entrance stretch pocket, there are gear loops on the base of the pack to facilitate carrying trekking poles. There are additionally daisy chains on the shoulder straps for attaching accent pockets.

Most Beneficial Load

The Aspen is rated for 20 lbs, and once I go over that, it turns into uncomfortable. Ideally, you’d need to get your base weight (minus meals, gas, and water) all the way down to round 10 lbs and carry a minimal load to suit into the pack’s 38L of closed capability and 10L of open pocket area. That’s a reasonably minimal summer time load by my requirements, with few nice-to-have consolation objects. Whereas the Aspen is a backpack designed for ladies, you’ll need to shrink your load quantity and weight considerably to make use of it comfortably, significantly if you happen to use a backpack with a body and hipbelt right this moment.

Suggestion

The Symbiosis Aspen is an ultralight frameless backpack designed for ladies. With a complete capability of 48 liters (38L of closed storage), it’s primarily designed for thru-hikers who need a sturdy ultralight backpack made with thick nylon (Extreema) slightly than costlier Dyneema or Extremely cloth. That mentioned, the Aspen would additionally make a pleasant pack for shorter-duration or weekend backpacking journeys, offered you may hold your whole pack weight below 20 kilos.

Disclosure: Symbiosis donated a backpack for evaluate.

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