Seemingly desceesed company karrimor produce high quality rucksacs without question however, consider the downside:
Most are very heavy (mine weighs the same as my karrimor tent and twice as much as my sleeping bag). Okay they have a very good semi internal frame design however, on events such as DofE, it is very difficult to keep my bag under the desired 10kg boundary when the rucksac itself weighs in at around 2.5kg.
What do other people think. Is quality worth the extra weight??
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 These days quality doesn't have to mean extra weight. Take a look at offerings from across the pond like the Osprey range if you want quality and low weight.
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 A better question these days is probably whether durability is worth the extra weight. The lighter stuff gets, the less durable it tends to be...
As has already been mentioned, Karrimor are back with both a new range of packs plus a small selection of clothing, which is mainly eVENT shell.
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 Old karrimor packs are superb, they occasionally made some good stuff up until they keeled over.
I've got old alpinistes, hots, jaguars etc they're not super light, some are 15+ years old, faded and worn but I still use them.
That's what you paid for then, now you're paying for the heritage attached to the name, which is on a heavier, poorer quality sack.
Oh, I'm always bitter when it comes to karrimor aren't I?
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 I remember when Karrimor used to be Karrimor and they were made down the road from where I used to live. Mate of mine in the school hiking club had an uncle who worked there, so we'd put in all our orders through him dirt cheap! Foul weather and rough treatment never bothered any of my Karrimor packs, but the last one suffered from too much sun and faded badly before starting to disintegrate.
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 I've just bought a second hand Karrimor Panther 65l off ebay.
I was hoping to go back packing with it but it has no hip belt.
can anyone confirm my worst fears ...I've been had haven't I ?
Cheers
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Yes, well probably.
Post the item number and I'll check it out for you.
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 I've decided that buying durable kit is foolish as I now have little I can justify replacing with shiny new kit.
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 Souns like a plan to me John, the shorter the life span of the kit the more you get to gear shop allthough I dont have a problem justifying new kit, 'cos i want it' seams to do fime, but then Im not married.
I had a karrimoor climbingsack I got when I was 13, it did great till my ex boyfriend started to use it to carry motor bike engins in it, the fabric coped well with the weight and the pointy metal bits but I never got the oil out of the fabric.
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I've still got my old Alpiniste 55. It's kind of basic and went back to Karrimor three times for repairs, but it's still a viable climbing pack.
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It's a great plan, who wants a kit that weighs twice as much and is going to outlive you.
In ten years time your heavy kit will still be working whereas if you'd bought lightweight kit you would be replacing it with even lighter stuff and if you've been carrying the heavy stuff you probably won't be working any more.
I need new boots, finally worn the tread off a pair of Berghaus Storms, think I'm going to see how far the price of a pair of Mantas will fall, down to 125 in Norwich today.
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I have a karrimor panther that is a few years old and been through hell and highwater. So far so good, but...
...Last year I recommended them to a friend who purchased an identical model to mine. It was rubbish. The side pockets were stiched in some strange lob sided manner, rendering both pockets unusable. The same problem also 'cinched' the main bag in the middle! the lower compartment access zips were unusable, and the padded side of the hip belt were 2 different lengths.
I hope these problems were due to the recent troubles that the company has experienced, and will be nothing but a sad memory now they are sorting themselves out. I would hate to see another good, reliable, British product line go down the pan.
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my border collie pup has just chewed through my Hot Earth sac, circa 1988, well hacked off. The new sacs aren't a patch on the 1980's products, they were made to last, could take abuse and come back for more. If the pup had chewed my Jag75 or either of the Alpiniste sacs i'd now be minus the dog!
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.jpg) Hi Paul, Welcome to OM I've got a Karrimor Annapurna II from 1978 which I'm thinking of dusting off and giving another go. Not carried it for a long time though but good capacity (60L?) for weight (1.5kg?) compared to my Lowe Alpine Appalacian which is 60L expanding to 70 but 2.5kg - comfortable though.
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 I still have a karrimor Boma 45+10 which was modelled on the old alpiniste with the same material used in zodiac rubber boats. Build quality is superb, when karrimor went bust, you could pick them up for peanuts. Even though I use osprey now, I'll never get rid of it as it is a reminder of what a great company karrimor was.
The Karrimor Sabre military rucsacs made by PRI are of the same high quality that karrimor were and come in black, green and DPM. The sabre 30 and 40 are based on the hot ice and hot earth. Still worth a look in black as climbing sacs
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I have a Hot Route dating back to the early 90's. I clean and proof it every couple of years and despite some good use, it looks just like new. The fabric (cordura ?) is virtually bomb proof. Not the lightest sack to carry but dependable. I also seem to remember them making tents - a wedge shaped design but Im showing my age now.
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I have never managed to kill off a real Accrington Karrimor Product - old Hot Earth, old Hot Route and now a fetish collection of three old purple Alpiniste packs. Bought a more recent Alpiniste Elite pack and it was rubbish - all marketing features but unstable, heavy and fussy. Still using my oldest purple Alpiniste 45+10 all the time
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I recently purchased one of the "new generation" of Karrimor rucksacks from Field and Trek, the X-Lite 35. This is, as the name suggests, a light weight pack and build quality is excellent. In comparison with similar size sacks I have from Ospray and Lowe Alpine the only area where it suffers in comparison is the design of the frame/back system. It does not have an airspace/vented back system so suffers more in terms of "sweaty back syndrome" but other than this it is a good carry and significantly lighter in weight. At only £40 on the F&T website it is good value for money.
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 I have an excellent condition 'Joe Brown' sac by Karrimor from around '94 with the extra side pockets. This can be prone to the same s w eaty back problems, but also has the advantage that it can be used as a bivvy bag and you can also stuff a Karrimat up the back for ease of carrying and for cushioning. In testament to the quality of the old Karrimor stuff, I used an old Outward Bound sac to carry bricks from the local building merchants to my home to rebuild a shelter in about '96. I made numerous trips like this, and doubt very much that the new stuff would be as capable.
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