Lowe Alpine's new Nanon and its more stripped-down brother, the Zepton are lightweight backpacking sacs with a difference. They're intended to be both light in weight, but also to offer decent carrying support and comfort thanks to a more substantial back system than most ultra-lightweight offerings.
The Zepton weighs slightly more thanks to extra features like an adjustable back length, side entry zip, stuff pockets and hip-belt pockets, so it's best suited to someone who wants a light pack but without sacrificing versatility. The Zepton, if you're wondering, weighs around 200 grammes less.
Technical Lowdown
We're used to people making packs light and to that end, Lowe Alpine has used familiar touches like light but tough Dyneema fabric and skinny 10mm webbing straps with lightweight buckles to match. But what's interesting is the way Lowe has taken features from its full-weight packs and scaled them down to suit the lightweight ethos.
Take the hip-belt, which is a slimmed-down version of the company's excellent AdaptiveFit system which automatically compensates for different hip shapes, then there's the harness, which is slimmed down with perforated closed-cell foam doing padding duties and an adjustable length back system no less.
The latter uses a simple sytstem hidden behind the lumbar pad allowing easy and quick tailoring to suit different proportions. Finally, the back system itself combines an internal plate with a flexible tubular frame to give decent support without a big weight penalty. Padding is sufficient rather than lavish, but then that's what the Nanon is all about.
Performance
At a measured 1420 grammes the Nanon is respectably light for a pack that'll hold up to 60 litres, though not ridiculously so, but it makes sense when you load it up and head on out. Unlike some ultra-light packs which feel slightly flimsy and need careful packing, as long as you keep the weight reasonable – Lowe suggests 10-15kg as a guideline – the Nanon feels, well, right really. Comfortable, supportive and stable, much like a heavier Lowe pack in fact.
There's no hint of things sticking into your back or cheesewire straps trying to slice your arms off. The hip-belt works well, spreading the load comfortably. We were a little concerned that the ends of our XL sample almost met when we cinched the belt up, so if you're on the slim side, try carefully.
We've had no issues so far with the skinny webbing and buckles and what we really do like about the pack so far, is that you still get all the mod cons you'd have with heavier packs – big stuff pockets, belt pockets, adjustable back and so on.
There's even side-zip entry to the pack for rapid retrieval of deeply buried camping artifacts and forgotten scraps of food.
Downsides? After two exploratory walks, we're struggling to find any, but the acid test will come over an extended backpacking trip in the Highlands next month, but gut feeling so far is that the pack does exactly what Lowe Alpine suggests it's designed to.
Initial Verdict
A reasonably lightweight, biggish pack that doesn't exert punitive revenge for gramme saving. It's still comfortable and supportive and long as you don't go nuts with the load and comprehensive features mean that you don't end up wanding along with your spare gloves hanging from your mouth... Very promising so far and at £140, while it's not cheap, it's not exhorbitantly priced given the lightweight expensive fabric and components.
