The Six Moon Design Swift V is a 50-liter ultralight-style backpack that’s obtainable 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 are 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 a number of pockets and accessible storage with out having to cease and dig round in your pack to seek out one thing.
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- Quantity: 50L + 10L in extension collar
- Kind: Body (Fiberflass hoop)
- Gender: Male (Feminine-friendly straps obtainable)
- 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 straightforward to make use of
- Dislikes: Has many straps, that are tough to distinguish from each other
The Swift V is nearly equivalent to the Swift X (see our evaluation) besides it’s made with inexpensive 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’ll be able to dial in an ideal match that matches your physique. It really works by elevating or decreasing 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 elevate or decrease the yoke within the sleeve to the specified peak. This needs to be performed by really feel as a result of there aren’t any markings on the sleeve comparable to your measured torso size (in inches or cm), so becoming the pack is greatest performed with the assistance of an skilled hiker for those who’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 superb match with packs utilizing the fastened torso ranges provided by different producers. Most 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, so 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 supplies 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 stop 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 frivolously padded with spacer mesh, offering a superb wrap round your hip bones. The utmost really helpful 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 simple to tighten, and the 2 tiers of adjustment are appropriate with completely different hip geometries, specifically these of women and men. Lastly, there are two pockets on the hip belt, massive sufficient to carry a smartphone or a mess of snacks.
Vest Fashion Shoulder Straps
I examined out Six Moon Designs’ vest-style straps with this pack, and just like the assortment of pockets it supplies. 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’ll be able to 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 perimeters collectively over your chest, but it surely’s a bit tough to place them so that they’re parallel. Not like typical shoulder straps, which have a high 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 tough to distinguish from each other.
- The highest of the vest is connected to the yoke, which controls its peak
- A aspect strap connects the vest to the aspect and backside of the pack bag (typical shoulder straps will not be related to the aspect).
- A load lifter strap connects to the higher half of the vest strap.
To suit the pack, you need to tweak every strap, which may be onerous to do by feeling alone with out a full-length mirror useful. Once you take away the pack, you need to loosen the load lifters and retighten them over again 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 in opposition to your again. Internet internet: in order for you the pockets and comfort of the vest-style straps, you need to be keen to regulate them steadily 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/twine locks on the high to stop bottles from coming out. All of the pockets are made with Extremely Stretch material, 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 high compression, or clipped collectively on high of the pack bag. Six Moon Designs cleverly added two completely different buckles to the ends of the rolltop so you’ll be able to hyperlink the ends collectively on high of the pack or to straps on the perimeters. The highest of the extension collar has a velcro strip to carry the perimeters collectively and forestall 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 most likely need to MacGyver one thing up your self.
Exterior Attachments and Compression
The Swift V has a static twine as an alternative of compression straps made with webbing alongside the perimeters above the bottle pockets, that are tensioned with a high line-loc. Whereas they don’t present a lot in the way in which of compression, they do stop taller objects, like fishing rods or trekking poles, from falling out. It’s additionally very simple to reroute these cords in different areas of the pack, which has additional buckles and beastie D-rings sewn into the seams as potential anchors.
The pack additionally has a Y-strap that loops over the roll high, which can be utilized to lash extra objects on high of the pack. In my expertise, it’s fairly tough to safe a bear canister underneath a Y-strap, significantly 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
Suggestion
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 typical shoulder straps can be obtainable. The Swift V has an adjustable size torso and a number of hip belt sizes so you’ll be able to 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 supplies. 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 can be a superb pack for hammockers who carry a number of quilts or ultralight thru-hikers with frequent resupplies.
Disclosure: Six Moon Design donated a pack for evaluation.
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