Berghaus Mach 24 Tested

Berghaus Mach 24 - Tested

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.

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.

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.

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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