The ULA Extremely Nexus is a 40L streamlined frameless backpack that weighs 19 oz and is designed to hold 20-25 lb masses. It has 5 open pockets as an alternative of the three discovered on most ultralight backpacks, so you may carry all of the gear, clothes, and meals you’d want on the surface of your pack with no need to cease and open the closed storage within the pack’s most important compartment. It’s additionally the primary solely new pack that ULA has launched in a few years, so you need to anticipate some adjustments to it primarily based on buyer suggestions. I’ve a couple of recommendations under for minor adjustments that I really feel would make the pack a lot simpler to make use of.
- Kind: Frameless
- Quantity 40L (32L closed quantity)
- Pockets: 5 exterior and open; 2 closed on hipbelt
- Entry: Roll-top closure
- Materials: Extremely 200
- Hydration appropriate: No ports, no middle suspension level inside
- Waterproof: Not seam-taped
- Load lifters: No
- Hip belt: Non-compulsory
- Canister compatibility: BV450 matches horizontally, however barrels considerably
- Execs: Sturdy cloth, nice exterior storage
- Cons: Essential compartment barrels simply, no aspect compression/lash factors, extra-long Y strap is ungainly
Two Fashions Obtainable
The Nexus 40 is offered in two totally different materials: the Extremely X Nexus 40 reviewed right here is made with Extremely X 200 cloth, which is extremely abrasion-resistant. Whereas the Extremely X 200 cloth is itself waterproof, ULA doesn’t seam tape the packs they make with it, so there’s an opportunity that the seams will leak if you happen to get caught within the rain. ULA additionally makes an Ultragrid Nexus, which is simply recycled nylon strengthened with Extremely fibers in a ripstop sample.
Backpack Storage
The Extremely X Nexus has a most important compartment, 5 exterior open pockets, and two zippered hip belt pockets. The pack is designed so that you’ll carry all of the gear and meals you want in the course of the day within the pack’s exterior pockets.
Essential Compartment
The principle compartment is a roll high, however the ends of the roll high clip collectively, somewhat than down alongside the edges of the pack, so that you don’t get the compression that you’d if the ends had been buckled to straps alongside the aspect of the pack. There’s additionally no stiffener on the high of the pack bag, which makes it troublesome to roll shut if the contents are bulging out the highest and to remain shut with out unraveling. Rolltups work lots higher if they’ve a stiffener on the high, or snaps, magnets, and even velcro to carry the 2 sides of a rolltop collectively.
Internally, the principle compartment is only a large, open area with a skinny foam pad held in place by elastic straps. Whereas the pad is designed to cushion sharp objects inside, it isn’t stiff sufficient to forestall the contents from barrelling (rounding) and urgent uncomfortably into your again. Neglect attempting to hold a bear canister contained in the Nexus or overloading the area, since you’ll really feel it by way of the again panel.
The one different options inside the principle pack bag are two webbing loops sewn into the highest seam the place you may grasp an adjunct pocket, bought individually. The Nexus doesn’t have hydration ports, so there’s no level in hanging a water bladder inside.
The again of the principle compartment, going through the wearer and behind the shoulder straps, is Extremely 200 cloth, with none padding or mesh, so it’s proper up in opposition to your shirt. When the climate is heat and also you begin to perspire, the Nexus turns into fairly sweaty to hold.
Suggestion: The Nexus could be rather more snug in sizzling climate if the again had been coated with spacer mesh so that you’re not sweating on the Extremely cloth. Alternatively, the interior foam pad might be externalized with pad sleeves, like these discovered on Gossamer Gear G4-20, or elastic twine like that on the Zpacks Nero and different decrease quantity ultralight backpacks. An exterior pad wouldn’t essentially cut back the barrelling that happens while you overstuff the Nexus, however having a thicker, extra cushioned pad, like a couple of sections of Thermarest Zlite, would absolutely assist.
A lot of Pockets
There are two (decrease) bottle pockets on all sides of the pack. The underside pockets have slanted tops with elastic cords to tighten the highest and safe objects, making them straightforward to make use of with water bottles. Nonetheless, the entrance of these pockets is open as a result of the underside of the shoulder straps terminate inside them, and is a standard design characteristic on all ULA packs. But it surely means you may’t retailer smaller objects within the backside pocket lest they fall out. ULA runs the shoulder strap anchor by way of the entrance of the pocket to tug the pack nearer to your hips.
The higher two pockets on all sides are smaller and made with Ultragrid mesh. You need to use these pockets to carry snacks, your rest room/trowel set, or perhaps a small prepare dinner system just like the Jetboil Zip, which inserts properly.
The pack has an extended open mesh pocket on the entrance with an exterior elastic twine threaded by way of tabs on the pocket’s perimeter. The mesh pocket is nice for storing a moist water filter or spare folding bottles, meals, or clothes, whereas the elastic twine is appropriate for hanging damp clothes that should dry.
The hip belt has two zippered pockets which can be massive sufficient to retailer fashionable smartphones. The pockets are sewn to the hip belt and usually are not detachable.
Compression and Exterior Attachment Factors
The Nexus doesn’t have any aspect compression straps, which severely restrict the utility of the pack and make it troublesome to hold cumbersome gear until you may match them inside the principle pack bag. As an illustration, when you can carry a pair of brief folding z-style trekking poles within the aspect bottle pockets, I wouldn’t advocate carrying longer telescoping poles on this manner, as a result of they’re extra apt to fall out with out a strap to safe them in opposition to the aspect of the pack. It’s an identical story with Tenkara fishing rods: I pack these in the principle packbag, somewhat than trusting them to the aspect bottle pockets the place they’re sure to fall out with out my noticing that they’re gone.
Suggestion: The perimeter of the entrance mesh pocket has webbing loops to carry an elastic twine. If extra webbing loops had been added alongside the aspect seams of the pack (each back and front), then customers may add their very own twine/cordlocks to lash lengthy objects to the edges of the pack. That will make an enormous distinction. After all, an actual aspect compression strap, like these on the ULA CDT could be even higher.
Whereas the Nexus does have a high Y-strap, it’s simply bizarre and absurdly lengthy. One finish of the Y strap is sewn to the pack in a seam above the suitable shoulder strap. From there, it travels to a plastic ring positioned simply above the entrance stretch mesh pocket, after which lastly to a tri-glide buckle sewn to the seam above the suitable shoulder strap. So the one place you may stress it’s by way of the tri-glide above your proper shoulder. That may be tolerable if the webbing that makes up the Y strap had been an affordable size, however it’s 3 toes longer than it must be (and hangs behind you as you hike like a tail.) So each time you need to open your pack, you need to thread the three toes of strap by way of the suitable triglide, which is tremendous annoying. Different producers use buckles that you could clip and unclip to entry your pack’s high rolltop.
Suggestion: Rework the Y-strap with a buckle above the entrance mesh pocket that you could unclip to entry the roll high. Or give clients the choice to make use of a single strap as an alternative of the Y-strap, like on the ULA Circuit SV.
Backpack Suspension
The Extremely X Nexus is a frameless backpack designed to hold very light-weight masses, maxing out at 20-25 lbs. As such, there’s no weight switch onto the hipbelt, whose solely purposeful contribution is to carry the pack nearer to your torso and to offer a mounting level for the 2 hipbelt pockets. It ought to be famous that the Nexus hipbelt is just not just like the hipbelt used on ULA’s bigger packs; it solely has one tier of stress with a central buckle and never two. You’ll be able to instruct ULA to go away the hipbelt off that pack, and I’d advocate doing that. I discovered it annoying, and with a max load of 25 kilos, a hipbelt isn’t actually vital.
Assessement
The ULA Extremely X Nexus is the corporate’s first new backpack mannequin in fairly a while, and whereas it’s usable, I feel it might be much more versatile with the adjustments I recommend above. If you’d like a frameless backpack that has aspect rolltop straps, a cushioned and porous again, and a greater Y-strap, I recommend you are taking a tough have a look at the ULA Photon (35L) or the ULA CDT (50L) as an alternative. They’re each nice packs, and I can’t perceive why ULA didn’t leverage their designs after they got here out with the Nexus.
Disclosure: ULA donated a Nexus backpack for overview.
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