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450 requests
Product Description
Designed for comfort and durability, and deliberately simple in design, the Granite Gear Blaze A.C. backpack is made for thru-hikes and multi-day adventures Read More
I have had this exact pack for several years and it is great. At the Massdrop price it is a steal. Regarding heavy loads, it's not big enough to carry 40+ lbs unless you’re packing rocks or something. Agree that it doesn’t easily support liberating water bottles while on your back, but it does support camelbak/platypus water bladders...
I got the Crown X60 and loved it at first. It ticks most of the boxes. But I quickly realised the harness system and way it sits on your lower back and shoulders is horrible, especially if the bag isn’t fully stuffed. Wouldn’t recommend, opting for a framed mesh backing now.
It's a good deal but not really a "Massdrop" exclusive. Next month GG is coming out with a new blaze that is, in essence, a Crown2 with a beefed up frame sheet. This is just GG trying to dump their existing inventory.
Can attest that Granite Gear makes great packs. I bought a similar (but smaller capacity) model a few years back and it has held up wonderfully. At the time I got a good deal on a pack with the woman's belt and sent it to Granite Gear to swap for a men's belt. Was an easy process.
Although I wasn't planning on purchasing one of these, I completely agree with you, CanadaGoose. Many, if not most, men have a bigger chest than what this statement says: "Shoulder straps fit 34–40 in (86–102 cm) chest size," but maybe the ones they're selling on here are for smaller guys, since the only hip belt option is up to a 34" waist. Could either of those be a misprint? It seems very odd.
It makes no sense to me to offer two genders of packs, two different torso sizes (short-reg), two different colours (cactus/java - tiger/java), but on the Blaze AC 60, only one hip belt size (med 30-34 inch)....
Also, in the list of features for all packs, there is this comment:
Shoulder straps fit 34–40 in (86–102 cm) chest size
Because I am a large belt, and have a 42" chest, Massdrop is like the Grinch that stole Christmas :-)
mjbulldisThat link 404’s. Try https://www.granitegear.com/warranty and download the Component Exchange form. You pay shipping both ways, they want $9 from you up front for return shipping.
So figure another $18 and your time packing and shipping to MD price if you need size L straps and belt.
I've owned this backpack for several years and it is an excellent pack. If I had one complaint it would be that it's very difficult to retrieve your water bottles from the side mesh pockets while you're wearing it. The lack of a dry bag style closure was a turn off before I bought it, but once I had the chance to use it for several hikes it became a non-issue. I really like the fact that they didn't include hip belt pockets and instead just left you with molle straps so you could come up with your own solution. It's a very durable, no-frills, affordable pack that I can't recommend enough.
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Maybe someone more flexible than me could easily reach back and grab a water bottle, but I can only manage to do it when I'm either packing a half-load or I've got everything packed just right. I picked up a $13 water bottle carrier from Amazon and that solved the problem.