Mountain Warehouse/Mountainlife rucksacks

Well I feel guilty to mention the name of Mountain Warehouse here, seeing as so much of there stuff looks like rubbish, but my problem is that I need a new daysack and I'm on a budget. I use an ancient Karrimor 35L pack at the moment, but it has a primitive hip belt that seems quite useless as the pack is constantly jumping up and down and hurts my shoulders after a long walk.

I saw this Mountain Warehouse pack: http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/Rucksacks_Backpacks/Backpacks_10_35L/sc1402/p16550.aspx
It looks to have good features (padded hip belt, hip belt pockets, chest strap, side pockets) but the question is the quality. Has anyone had any experience? Do they last? it is really cheap at £27!

A basic daysack isn't exactly rocket science.  Try it on with a representative load and see how it feels, if it's okay (and make that assessment having tried on some alternatives) then why not?  The basic fabrics in use these days are pretty tough, if the stitching starts going then a needle and strong thread will fix it.  Millets etc. will give you optiions in simple daypacks, in general the less extras they have the less there is to go wrong and the lighter they'll be.

Having said that... hip belts on a 30 litre pack...  A hip belt is a load-bearing item that requires a [semi-]rigid frame to be of any notable use: without the frame to transfer the load to the hips it'll just anchor the sack but most of the load will stay on your shoulders.  Most sacks in this sort of size have a simple waist belt which is simply to stop the sack moving around too much, hip belts backed with frames tend to come in at 45+ litres and add substantially to weight and cost of the sack to giove you better carrying of bigger loads.

I use an OMM Classic 32 for that sort of size load.  It does cost twice as much but if you're having trouble with an existing vanilla sack then I suspect you'd continue with problems in a modern vanilla sack.  If it's weight on the shoulders that's a problem look for a frame as well as a hip-belt, but bear in mind that there are costs (money and weight) to pay.

Pete.

"Having said that... hip belts on a 30 litre pack...  A hip belt is a load-bearing item that requires a [semi-]rigid frame to be of any notable use: without the frame to transfer the load to the hips it'll just anchor the sack but most of the load will stay on your shoulders.  Most sacks in this sort of size have a simple waist belt which is simply to stop the sack moving around too much, hip belts backed with frames tend to come in at 45+ litres and add substantially to weight and cost of the sack to giove you better carrying of bigger loads."

There are exceptions to that and they are manifold. The North Face Terra range, the Berghaus Freeflow range, the VauDe Triset range, Lowe Alpine Airzone day sacks. There are others including offerings from Osprey and as with the above they all feature frames or frame sheets and full function hip belts.

I don't see the point in frames in a daysack.

It depends on whether or not you use it to carry coal.

The web page gives no indication of the the back system at all.

Without trying it on first you'll never know if it fits you....

So, could be good for you or not......

On the subject of hipbelts

Personally I find that even a simple strap belt helps transfer some load to the hips - if the pack fits me -whether  it has a frame or not- depends on the way you wear/adjust length  the shoulder straps too.

If you are on a budget, (and not needing  pockets), the Alpkit Gourdon range may be of interest?  I have used a 20l one for a couple of seasons - and find the simple strap hipbelt of use.

For a simple day sack, I've got the golite Ion and this is really basic so careful packing is needed.  However I don't carry that much for the day walk so no real weight is in it.

Mal Mawr wrote (see)

It depends on whether or not you use it to carry coal.

Oh dear, Mal. Racial stereotyping again?

You'll be on about daffs and cheese on toast next

You forgot the laver bread and bara brith.

Well I had a look at the pack in Mountain Warehouse, it seemed rather bad really, so I decided that if I want a new pack I should just wait and get a proper one, like the OMM that Peter mentioned.

When I got back I spent ages fiddling with my old Karrimor and I've been able to improve the fit considerably. It has an internal frame so the hip belt on it is definitely useful. In fact, I've decided to try and modify this old bag to make it a bit more modern. I can add, for example, some handy hip belt pockets: http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product291.asp?PageID=98 and possibly put a buckle on the ends of the straps to make a chest strap. Does anyone know if it's possible to buy detachable padding for webbing hip belts? If I could add that I think I could really give this bag an old lease on life.

So my lesson from this is that getting the fit right by fiddling is vital and never discount some kit just because it's old!

Thanks for the help, everyone!