Gregory Z30 Pack - Tested

Gregory Z30 Pack Tested

The Z30 - new this year - is part of Gregory's 'Fast and Light' series, which probably tells you everything you need to know. The company says the intention is to 'strike a balance between low weight and durability without sacrificing performance'.

So the brief is light rather than silly light and we think it's aimed more at general walkers wanting to save some weight rather than out and out mountain marathoners. The most obvious equivalent would be something like Osprey's Atmos, which also combines a suspended mesh back with a tuned frame and vented foam harness.

There's lots going one with the Z30. Like several recent packs it uses a combination of a suspended mesh back panel for better cooling and a shaped, tubular frame to provide flexible support.

Then there are the neat shoulder strap attachment points which allow the straps to find a comfortable, accommodating position regardless of shoulder width. The rest is hardly revolutionary, but well thought through with neat touches like the quick release buckles on all the side compression straps for easy access and the cunning pole straps which use a hook / shock cord / cord grip combo for fast and easy adjustability.

We've been using the Z30 for general hill and mountain walking and, mostly its' been fit and forget in a good way. Mostly it just works and works very well indeed. To start with, it sits nicely and all the tensioning straps and, in particular the inward-pulling waist belt, work smoothly and effectively.

The arch of the internal frame plate means the internal space is long and thin, but the top-opening zipper is long enough to make loading easy and the pay off seems to be that despite the air gap, there's none of the levering away from the back we've experienced with some ventilated back systems.

The shoulder straps aren't massively padded, but they're very nicely shaped and sit really comfortably. Gregory has paid lots of attention to small details as well. That means plenty of stowage thanks to pockets at the top of the pack, so a lid pocket's not missed, at the back and two mesh ones on the waist belt.

There's also what Gregory calls a 'dump pocket' behind the back pocket, ideal for, erm, dumping stuff like wet waterproofs and two stretch mesh ones at the sides. The belt pockets close forwards as well, which is how we like it as you're less likely to leave them half open.

We also like the neat trekking pole attachment points, which use a shock cord / grip / hook arrangement for quick and easy stowage and release. Neat, effective and, because they're mounted on a compression strap, they still sit well with a part-filled pack.

Downsides? We're struggling to think of any to be honest. The mesh on the underside of the shoulder straps feels like it might be hard on lightweight fabrics, but that's no different to many other packs and it won't quite users who like conventional lid opening packs, but that's just a matter of taste. Oh, and the sleeve for the reservoir seems to be made from needlessly thick fabric, which may add, oooh, ten grammes to the overall weight of the pack

Beyond that, we can't really fault the Z30.