The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Unbound 40 Backpack is an ultralight backpack weighing 30.1 oz (853g) made with Dyneema DCF. Design-wise, it’s a reasonably radical departure from Hyperlite’s previous backpacks with massive facet pockets, a redesigned and replaceable hip belt, using a single body keep and never two, again padding, daisy chains alongside the edges, a roll prime stiffener, a stretch mesh entrance pocket, and one on the underside. Web, internet, these new options present a unprecedented leap ahead within the utility of Hyperlite’s backpacks, they make them way more versatile to make use of, and appropriate for year-round climbing and backpacking. We did expertise one subject with the brand new body/hipbelt mixture which we notice beneath. It’s additionally price noting that Hyperlite has began utilizing liters to indicate backpack capability with the Unbound 40, slightly than cubic inches, a welcome change that makes them simpler to check with backpacks from different corporations.
Specs at a look
- Shade: White or Black
- Weight: (White: 30.1 oz /853 g ) (Black: 32.2 oz / 914 g )
- Precise Weight Examined: 30.6 oz in a Massive torso/Massive hipbelt
- Gender: Unisex
- Quantity: 40L inner storage, 9L exterior storage
- Sizing: A number of torso and hipbelt lengths
- Body: Contoured aluminum keep, foam again panel
- Pockets: 6 (2 facet, 1 entrance, 1 backside, 2 hip belt)
- Hydration Appropriate: No
- Materials: Dyneema DCF and Dyneema Hardline (Nylon) (Black is extra sturdy)
- Seam-taped: Sure
- Bear Canister Compatibility: BV500 and BV475 Vertical Solely; BV450 and BV425 Horizontal or Vertical.
- Professionals: Successfully waterproof, good pockets, a number of torso lengths, glorious attachment factors
- Cons: Expensive. Hipbelt slippage. The entrance stretch pocket could possibly be bigger.
- Go to Hyperlite Mountain Gear for full specs.
Testing Course of
I’ve been testing the Unbound 40 in New Hampshire’s White Mountain Nationwide Forest, “the place backpacks go to die,” since November 2022, via late autumn, winter, and into this spring. I’ve hiked roughly 150 miles with it together with a 1-night in a single day. I’ve been utilizing backpacks from Hyperlite Mountain Gear (HMG) since 2013 and the HMG Southwest 2400 and HMG Southwest 3400 are two of my favorites having seen in depth use all through the Whites, on the Appalachian Path, and in Scotland. For an in depth breakdown of HMG’s packs (that makes their considerably complicated product line comprehensible), see Hyperlite Mountain Gear Backpacks: Easy methods to Select.
Backpack Pockets and Storage
The Unbound 40 is a rolltop backpack that may be buckled collectively on prime or alongside the edges of the pack utilizing offered accent cords that connect to daisy chains on the pack sides. These cords are simple to lose although (I misplaced one when it fell off), but it surely’s nonetheless a pleasant choice because it offers you the flexibility to use a lot better compression to the highest of the pack, along with the included Y-strap.
Not like HMG’s different backpacks, there is no such thing as a velcro strip on the highest of the rolltop, which is an effective factor as a result of it is among the first factors on HMG packs to interrupt down and unravel with use. It’s been changed with a stiffener.
The Unbound comes with big facet pockets which might be nice for storing a number of bottles and make a handy place to carry the underside of a snowshoe if you happen to hike in winter – this has at all times been a little bit of a problem with HMG’s different backpacks. The highest of the facet pockets has an elastic cinch twine for securing the contents. The Unbound doesn’t have an inner hydration pocket or hydration ports, so that you’ll want to hold water in these pockets or in accent sleeves hooked up to the shoulder straps.
The hipbelt pockets are equally massive and may simply match a Smartphone and snack bars or gloves. HMG expanded their hipbelt pocket dimension a couple of years in the past, so this isn’t a internet new change.
The pack additionally comes with two open stretch mesh pockets, one on the entrance and one on the underside of the pack, which is a characteristic that’s change into common with thru-hikers. The entrance mesh pocket is fairly distinctive in that it has prime opening and a decrease one close to the underside. Nonetheless, it turns into more and more troublesome to make use of, as in tight, when the inside of the pack is stuffed full with gear,
I don’t assume it’s a tremendously practical enhancement, but it surely offers you a solution to entry objects on the base of the entrance pocket with out unloading all the pieces within the pocket. For instance, I hold my tent stakes on the base of the entrance stretch pocket and this lets me entry them simply.
The Unbound additionally has a stretch mesh pocket on the underside of the pack that may be a handy to position to retailer snacks, hats, and gloves so long as you don’t thoughts crushing the contents or getting them moist once you take the pack off and put it on moist floor or within the mud. It has two openings, one on the appropriate when dealing with ahead and a small gap on the left, referred to as a trash port so you possibly can stuff used wrappers into it. It may be onerous to entry the openings nonetheless when you’ve got bottles within the facet pocket pockets, which dangle down and forestall entry except they’re pushed up and out of the best way.
Backpack Body and Suspension
The Unbound40 has a single contoured aluminum body keep augmented with foam padding behind the shoulder straps for elevated consolation, one thing that HMG contains on their larger quantity fashions at present. That body keep terminates within the pack bag however is just not linked to the hipbelt in any manner, which is just a little little bit of a head-scratcher, to be sincere.
The hipbelt, in flip, is now not sewn to the pack bag as in HMG’s different backpack fashions however is detachable and hooked up to the pack with velcro, which I believe it’s a internet loss by way of load switch to the body. In testing, I additionally skilled repeated hipbelt slippage down my hips utilizing the Unbound40 hipbelt, one thing I’ve by no means ever skilled with HMG’s different backpacks. Your mileage might differ since your hip form could also be totally different from mine, however this hipbelt slippage raised a crimson flag for me.
The hipbelt webbing doesn’t slip, so I’ve eradicated that as a risk and the hipbelt padding on the UnBound appears similar to what’s used on the HMG’s older backpack fashions. I think that the bottom of the pack collapses when carried, exacerbated by the very fact the pack bag and the hipbelt are actually decoupled, creating further slack within the hipbelt enabling the slippage to happen. I repeatedly discovered myself carrying the pack weight on my shoulders alone, which is most disagreeable and tiring.
One other notable distinction within the UnBound hipbelt in comparison with HMG’s different fashions is that it’s tensioned by pushing the straps ahead, utilizing what’s referred to as a Scherer cinch, which was first launched by Kelty some 20 years in the past and is in use on most Osprey and Gregory backpacks. The middle buckle dimension has additionally been lowered, but it surely doesn’t clog with snow, which is an issue with many packs with smaller buckle {hardware}. Whereas there are two tiers of straps on the hipbelt that you simply’d hope would conform higher to totally different hip shapes, I didn’t expertise a lot worth of their use.
The shoulder straps on the Unbound, like HMG’s different packs, are J-shaped, that are much less snug for ladies and men with well-developed chests as a result of they don’t conform to curves very nicely. They’re lined in entrance with daisy chains not less than, so you possibly can simply connect accent best-of-breed pockets, just like the HMG shoulder strap pocket proven right here, bottle sleeves, or electronics to your shoulder straps.
Exterior Attachment Factors and Compression
The Unbound has twin daisy chains sewn alongside the facet seams of the primary compartment which can be utilized so as to add cords or webbing so you possibly can maintain or safe cumbersome gear, like a foam pad, Tenkara fishing rod, or snowshoes, that received’t match contained in the backpack. Doing that is way more difficult on HMG’s different backpacks so these daisy chains are a giant improve in ease of use.
The facet daisy chains are coloured orange however solely run to the highest of the entrance stretch pocket: nonetheless that’s the candy spot by way of worth. Elastic cords are provided with the pack to assist safe objects with the daisy chains, however you’re free to rig up your individual as nicely. There are additionally brief daisy chain segments on the base of the entrance mesh pocket and on the back and front sides of the hip belt pockets.
Comparable Ultralight Backpacks w/Frames
The Hyperlite Unbound 40 and the brand new bigger Unbound 55 are nicely matched versus these backpacks, that are additionally obtainable in a number of volumes, along with these listed. Of those, I’d pay explicit consideration to the Waymark Gear Lite 50, the Atom Packs Mo EP50, and the HMG Southwest 2400/3400 that are the closest by way of options and body/suspension.
Suggestion
The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Unbound 40 is a superb ultralight backpack for multi-day backpacking journeys with light-weight hundreds and excels throughout a variety of path situations and equipment necessities. It’s additionally considerably totally different from the opposite climbing and backpacking packs that Hyperlite makes and hopefully the beginning of extra upgrades throughout the pre-existing product line. The largest advantage of utilizing the Unbound vs Hyperlite’s different backpacking backpacks is an elevated emphasis on exterior storage with bigger pockets and exterior attachment factors. Particularly, the daisy chains sewn to the facet of the backpack make it a lot simpler to connect cumbersome gear whereas the entrance and backside stretch mesh pockets present safer and accessible storage. The one problematic ingredient of this pack is that the hipbelt is decoupled from the body keep leading to lack of load switch and potential hipbelt slippage. I’d be curious to listen to if others have skilled that subject in addition to myself.
Disclosure: HMG donated a backpack for assessment.
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