External frame backpacks - recommendations?

[sethorly]

I'm looking for external frame backpacks. I'm not sure about the capacity yet, although it needs to be enough for basic camping gear - sleeping bag, basha, bivvibag, rollmat, or a similar sleep system. Any recommendations of a backpack or a series of backpacks I could consider?

I love this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kelty-Trekker- ... B01KIN1NMC but it's a bit expensive. That's the standard I'll use for comparison though.

[Jamesey1981]

The only external frame pack I have is a Swedish army surplus LK35, all my others are either frameless or internal frame.
I have a canvas one, it's also available in thick nylon, very basic, just one big bucket, and pretty heavy, but will last for ever, about 35 litres or so, (and you can stuff more in due to the way it closes) but has accessory straps at the top and bottom for attaching bulky stuff to the outside.

The shoulder straps they come with are pretty thin (but they're reasonably wide) and they don't have a hip belt, so a lot of people swap to the straps and belt from a US Alice pack.
I couldn't find any decent Alice straps when I got mine, so I made a hip strap, used the waist belt padding from an old SAS Bergen that my local surplus shop sold me for next to nothing and some webbing and buckles from eBay and now it's a really comfy pack.

A lot of the bushcraft lot love them at the moment, so plenty of vids on YouTube so you can get a feel for it and see if you like them.

Probably a lot more basic than you're after, but worth a look as they'll last forever and don't cost a lot.

http://www.militarymart.co.uk/swedish-a ... ksack.html

[sethorly]

Thanks Jamesey. It was the online bushcraft reviews for the LK35 (on top of the external frames I used when I was a lad) which made me certain an external frame backpack was the right choice for me. I'm after something with less DIY to make decent however (I haven't the time or inclination to sort out my own hip strap).

[Jamesey1981]

Fair enough, not everyone enjoys making stuff as much as I do, if you can find a decent set of Alice straps you can put those straight on with no modifications so that will be the easy way.
I did look for them, there are aftermarket Alice straps available, one lot are from MFH, seen them in a couple of places, but their reviews are horrible and even in the picture of them the stitching looks awful so I would say that surplus is the way to go.

I do wonder why they never had a waist belt, they had another pack called the LK70 that went on the same frame, 70 litres in full combat load out and no waist belt, must have broken a load of Swedish soldiers!

You could go for an actual Alice pack, three sizes of pack to choose from and tried and tested, can be a little pricey here, in the US they can often come up for about 25 dollars but I've never seen them that cheap. They're also fairly heavy but again they're properly tough so they'll last for years.

[sethorly]

Thanks Jamesey, I hadn't come across the Alice pack. Looks very promising - nice and wide. Really appreciate your suggestion.

[Jamesey1981]

If you do go for one, make sure it's either surplus or from one of the better companies that make them, there are companies that make ones that are better quality than the military ones, but there are also companies making cheap rubbish so if you want a brand new one they are available but it'll pay to do your research first.