Berghaus Mach 24 - Tested
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Price:
£45
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Weight: 690 grammes (actual
weight)
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Features: 24-litre
lightweight rucksac with Adventure Light back system with
airflow channel, InPression Internal compression system,
three external stretch pockets, Multi attachment points,
two-litre hydration reservoir pocket and outlet, mesh
pockets on belt and lid, internal lid pocket with key clip,
reflective trim for safety. Fabrics are lightweight Ardura
210RS for the body and Ardura 70D for the base
area.
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What's It For?
The Mach 24's a lightweight daysac with built-in internal
compression system designed for 'adventure racing or adrenaline
sports' says Berghaus, though of course there's no reason why you
can't simply use it as a lightweight walking daysac.
The Techy Bits
As usual with packs, performance revolves around the back system
and in this case, the Adventure Light back is very simple with foam
pads top and bottom and an 'air channel' in the middle'. Internal
padding is courtesy of a soft foam sheet with big holes in. Like we
said, nothing complicated.
Well, until you get to the InPression internal compression system
that is. It works like this - cord zig-zags up the sides of the pack
in hidden internal channels. There's a pull tag inside each of the
mesh belt pockets that allows you to tighten the cord right up,
pulling the whole pack and contents in towards your back.
To release it, there's a camming lever in the pocket, that you
pull back to release the slack.
How It Performs
We half-inched the Mach 24, erm, accidentally, at a Berghaus press
event early this year and have been using it sporadically ever since.
The first obvious point is that at a real world 690 grammes, it is
respectably light thanks to the use of lightweight materials and that
simple back system. You can lose another 30 grammes by binning an
internal perforated foam pad if you feel the need.
There are minuses with that. It means you have to keep loads
reasonable and overpacking tends to create an uncomfortable
barrel-shaped burden. But if you keep kit lightweight and compact and
pack carefully, you're saving grammage.
The ace in the Mach 24's hand is the InPression compression
system. Without it the pack just sort of hangs there lifelessly, but
snug it up with the belt-pocket sited pull-cords and suddenly the
whole pack snugs in and forms an organic union with your back.
Part of the secret, we think, is that as well as compressing the
pack sides, it also pulls the base of the pack hard into the belt.
The pay-off is - as long as the load is reasonable - decent stability
when moving fast on foot or wheels and minimal bounce when running.
We did find the length slightly short as well, so it's worth trying
before buying.
All that's good and works well, but we did have some detail
quibbles - the hydration pocket, specced for a two-litre bladder,
though we used a three-litre version without problems, has no top
straps, so the bladder tends to slump downwards in use. The mesh
stash pockets are handy, but the side ones are so high that we found
it impossible to use them without taking the pack off, they need to
be lower and angled towards the user.
The foam panels in the back system - above - feel nice and comfy,
but also do a good job of soaking up sweat or water for a soggy
dorsal experience, we'd have preferred some sort of closed-cell
construction.
Finally, while we liked the InPression system, housing it in the
handy belt pockets, means that with full pockets, it can
be fiddly to slacken off the tension.
The basics of the Mach 24 work pretty damn well as long as you
keep loads reasonable. Tug on the InPression compression system and
you get a light, snug-fitting, stable pack that feels like it's
organically joined to your body and gives minmal bounce helped by a
shape that's deliberately bottom heavy.
We're less happy with some of the detailing - the side stash
pockets are too high for example and we have no idea why there's a
reflective strip on the underside of the lid. For most users though,
we wouldn't expect that to be a deal breaker on a pack that otherwise
mostly works well.
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Apparently gimmicky compression system actually works well,
light weight.
A few niggly faults, notably the hard to access side mesh
pockets.
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Performance
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Value
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