The Six Moon Design Swift V is a 50-liter ultralight-style backpack that’s out there with three various kinds of backpack straps, together with vest-style backpack straps, and a number of hip belt sizes. It’s configured like most ultralight backpacks with a entrance stretch mesh pocket and aspect pockets which can be good for carrying water bottles. I examined the backpack with the vest-style straps and actually loved utilizing the pack, which is nice for carrying high-volume, however low-weight masses. The vest-style straps are snug and high-function, offering plenty of pockets and accessible storage with out having to cease and dig round in your pack to search out one thing.
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- Quantity: 50L + 10L in extension collar
- Kind: Body (Fiberflass hoop)
- Gender: Male (Feminine-friendly straps out there)
- Entry: Prime-only (roll-top)
- Weight: 38.6 oz, weighed with vest suspension (mfg weight is 40.2 oz)
- Pockets: 6 with out vest, together with one inner. 6 extra on the vest.
- Hydration-ready: Sure, ports behind every shoulder strap
- Bear Canister Compatibility: BV500 matches horizontally within the base of the primary compartment
- Supplies: Robic Nylon, Extremely Stretch Mesh
- Likes: Vest harness pockets are very handy, and the adjustable torso size is simple to make use of
- Dislikes: Has many straps, that are troublesome to distinguish from each other
The Swift V is just about equivalent to the Swift X (see our evaluate) besides it’s made with cheaper Robic Nylon and never a water-resistant ultralight laminate like Extremely, XPac, or Liteskin.
Backpack Body and Suspension
The Swift V has an adjustable torso size, so you may dial in an ideal match that matches your physique. It really works by elevating or reducing the peak of the shoulder straps relative to the hipbelt, so that almost all of the pack weight rests in your hips and never in your shoulders.
The shoulder strap yoke matches right into a sleeve on the again of the pack that’s lined with velcro. You increase or decrease the yoke within the sleeve to the specified top. This needs to be achieved by really feel as a result of there aren’t any markings on the sleeve equivalent to your measured torso size (in inches or cm), so becoming the pack is finest achieved with the assistance of an skilled hiker when you’re a newbie.
Backpacks with adjustable torso lengths are uncommon within the ultralight backpacking world and are an actual bonus for individuals who have issue getting a great match with packs utilizing the mounted torso ranges provided by different producers. Lots of the packs that Six Moon Designs (SMD) has made through the years have had adjustable torso lengths: my first ultralight backpack, the SMD Starlite, had an adjustable torso size circa 2006, in order that they’ve been at it for a very long time.
The body within the Swift V is a light-weight Delrin rod (fiberglass) bent in a loop that provides the pack some physique so it doesn’t collapse on itself when empty and maintains a boxy form when filled with gear. It additionally gives some load switch to the hips for the reason that rod ends terminate within the lumbar pad, however a lot lower than a extra inflexible aluminum body or framestays. Nevertheless, it doesn’t forestall a bear canister from barreling (rounding) the again of the pack if positioned horizontally, which might make it uncomfortable to hold.
The Swift V hipbelt is calmly padded with spacer mesh, offering a great wrap round your hip bones. The utmost advisable weight of the Swift V is just 25-30 kilos, so there’s no want for a closely padded belt. The hipbelt has two tiers of push-forward straps and a middle buckle, so it’s straightforward to tighten, and the 2 tiers of adjustment are appropriate with totally different hip geometries, specifically these of women and men. Lastly, there are two pockets on the hip belt, giant sufficient to carry a smartphone or a large number of snacks.
Vest Type Shoulder Straps
I examined out Six Moon Designs’ vest-style straps with this pack, and just like the assortment of pockets it gives. I can carry my iPhone and InReach Mini 2 very securely, along with maps and snack bars galore. The vest has lengthy open pockets to retailer water bottles: for instance, you may match a 23.7 oz good bottle in them or a smartphone, which is my choice.
The vest has two sternum straps that pull the edges collectively over your chest, but it surely’s a bit troublesome to place them in order that they’re parallel. Not like standard shoulder straps, which have a prime and backside connection to the pack physique, SMD’s vest has 4 factors of contact, making for a busy pack with many straps, all coloured black, which makes them troublesome to distinguish from each other.
- The highest of the vest is hooked up to the yoke, which controls its top
- A aspect strap connects the vest to the aspect and backside of the pack bag (standard shoulder straps will not be linked to the aspect).
- A load lifter strap connects to the higher half of the vest strap.
To suit the pack, it’s a must to tweak every strap, which may be laborious to do by feeling alone with out a full-length mirror helpful. While you take away the pack, it’s a must to loosen the load lifters and retighten them another time if you put the pack again on. I don’t suppose I’ve ever used the load lifters on the Swift V as a lot as on any backpack, however they’re important for pulling the load ahead with the vest-style straps so it sits flush towards your again. Web internet: if you’d like the pockets and comfort of the vest-style straps, it’s a must to be keen to regulate them incessantly on this pack.
Backpack Storage
The Swift V is configured like most ultralight model packs with a entrance mesh pocket and two aspect bottle pockets, which have elastic/wire locks on the prime to forestall bottles from coming out. All of the pockets are made with Extremely Stretch cloth, which has wonderful sturdiness.
The pack is a 50L rolltop with an added 10 liters of storage within the extension collar. The ends of the rolltop may be secured utilizing aspect straps if you need extra prime compression, or clipped collectively on prime of the pack bag. Six Moon Designs cleverly added two totally different buckles to the ends of the rolltop so you may hyperlink the ends collectively on prime of the pack or to straps on the edges. The highest of the extension collar has a velcro strip to carry the edges collectively and stop them from separating as soon as rolled and secured by the highest Y strap.
The pack comes with an inner hydration pocket to hold a reservoir, with two hydration ports behind the shoulder straps. There aren’t any hydration keeper straps on the vest-style straps, so that you’ll in all probability wish to MacGyver one thing up your self.
Exterior Attachments and Compression
The Swift V has a static wire as a substitute of compression straps made with webbing alongside the edges above the bottle pockets, that are tensioned with a prime line-loc. Whereas they don’t present a lot in the way in which of compression, they do forestall taller objects, like fishing rods or trekking poles, from falling out. It’s additionally very straightforward to reroute these cords in different areas of the pack, which has further buckles and beastie D-rings sewn into the seams as potential anchors.
The pack additionally has a Y-strap that loops over the roll prime, which can be utilized to lash extra objects on prime of the pack. In my expertise, it’s fairly troublesome to safe a bear canister below a Y-strap, notably on packs that lack a non-rigid body and will not be bursting full, however the Y-strap is appropriate for securing different cumbersome objects like a foam pad or rope to the highest of the pack.
Comparable Backpacks
Advice
The Six Moon Designs Swift V is a light-weight 50L backpack weighing 38.6 oz with vest-style shoulder straps, though a model with standard shoulder straps can also be out there. The Swift V has an adjustable size torso and a number of hip belt sizes so you may dial within the personalised match, which is a uncommon characteristic within the ultralight backpacking world the place fixed-length torso sizing is the norm.
Whereas the Swift V has a body, Delrin loops don’t present the identical diploma of load switch, stiffness, or safety (from feeling the contents) {that a} pack with a full body or framestays gives. The Swift V is most fitted for cumbersome however light-weight masses that don’t have plenty of inflexible edges that may poke via the pack bag and trigger discomfort. For instance, the Swift V could be a superb pack for hammockers who carry a number of quilts or ultralight thru-hikers with frequent resupplies.
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Disclosure: Six Moon Design donated a pack for evaluate.
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