I bought the Hickory and it arrived today, some initial thoughts, first the bad:
-I have a 10-15 year old heavily used Osprey pack, when you put that on you can tell these folks know how to fit a backpack. I don’t get that impression with the Hickory. Of course it’s a one size fits all, I’m 6’ and the frames a little short for me.
-The pack itself rides low, it’s a little weird in the way it carries, a 20 lb bag of flour in there will be pretty much riding on your butt.
-It’s crazy to me there’s no padding along the lower back, just a horizontal aluminum plate… time will tell how this feels but I’m considering wrapping that with a pad which is probably an simple cheap fix, will know more after hiking with a little load.
The good:
-Maybe they aren’t seasoned pack designers, but you can tell they’re hunters, I like all the compression straps and the pockets, and all things considered (especially for the price) I see it meeting my needs just fine… I don’t expect it to be a meat or heavy cargo hauler.
- There’s a considerable gap between most of your back and the bag, expect serious airflow here rather than a huge sweat spot.
All in all I give it a thumbs up at unboxing, you’re not getting a dialed in $300 backpack but for light / medium loads and function up in the tree it looks good so far.
Edit: I did an elk hunt in 2017 and used a Horn Hunter without a frame as my daypack… even with light loads I disliked the way it felt, it fatigued my back faster than it should have, and I swore off frameless backpacks.