The ULA Circuit Backpack is a high-capacity light-weight backpack with a stunning quantity of flexibility for a lot of varieties of backcountry adventures. Made with bomber 400D Robic Nylob cloth and feature-rich, the Circuit is a severely robust pack for lengthy backpacking journeys. Maybe extra spectacular is the truth that the design of the Circuit has modified little or no prior to now 7 years since we first reviewed it whereas nonetheless remaining immensely well-liked amongst feminine backpackers and thru-hikers backpacking longer trails such because the PCT and CDT which have fewer much less frequent resupplies. The Robic Nylon Circuit reviewed right here can be obtainable in an much more sturdy and waterproof cloth referred to as Extremely. See our assessment of the ULA Ultra24 Circuit Backpack for an in depth breakdown of its strengths and weaknesses.
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Specs at a Look
- Weight: 37.3 oz
- Quantity: 68L
- Sort: Inside Body
- Gender: Unisex (though female-friendly S-shaped shoulder straps can be found)
- Hydration-Prepared: Sure (hose ports solely)
- Pockets: 5
- Load Lifters: Sure
- Bear-Canister Compatibility:
- Bear canister compatibility: BV500 and Garcia match vertically, all different Bear Vault sizes together with the BV475, match horizontally.
- Mfg. Rec’d Max Load: 35 lbs or much less
- Mfg. Rec’d Base Weight: 15 lbs or much less
Inside Storage and Group
With 68 liters of whole capability, the ULA Circuit can maintain lots of gear and it’s one of many highest quantity ultralight-style backpacks you should purchase with few friends. A lot of the pack’s storage is in a big major compartment that secures with a roll-top closure, making it straightforward to pack and entry the gear saved inside. The benefit of a roll-top closure is that it offers wonderful prime compression for bigger hundreds, with out requiring any extra weight, reminiscent of a prime lid, to comprise the material in an extension collar.
The Circuit is organized like many different light-weight and ultralight backpacks with two open aspect pockets, a big open rear mesh pocket, and a hip belt with two massive zippered pockets. This design helps you to stash all of the gear and meals you’re prone to want throughout the day on the skin of the pack, so you may keep away from having to cease and dig round in your pack everytime you want one thing. Exterior storage like that is the important thing to retaining your transition occasions (layer breaks, snacks, water purification, and many others.) to a minimal, so you may maximize your climbing time, and mileage when you select.
Whereas the Circuit does have hydration ports, it doesn’t include an inner hydration pocket to carry a hydration system. Nevertheless, there are webbing loops inside the principle compartment the place you may hold one and a hydration pocket is obtainable as an add-on accent.
The Circuit’s aspect pockets are massive sufficient to retailer a number of bottles and deep sufficient in order that even a 1.5-liter bottle received’t fall out. The pockets are fabricated from strong cloth with strengthened bottoms offering wonderful sturdiness, together with drain holes so you may retailer moist objects like water filters in them. The highest of the pockets might be cinched tight with a heavy-duty elastic wire capped with a wire lock. Sadly, you may’t attain again and pull a bottle out of the aspect pockets or stow it whereas strolling.
Consolation
Weight
Suspension
Options
Adjustability
Sizing
Sturdiness
Glorious
The Circuit is an ultralight-style backpack made with sturdy materials for lengthy life in robust circumstances. Appropriate for thru-hikes and 4 season use, the Circuit has loads of storage to deal with many missions, with the flexibility to change between a number of hip belt sizes to get a close to {custom} match.
Like most UL-styled packs, the Circuit has an open rear mesh pocket which is handy for storing objects you need throughout the day or moist objects reminiscent of rain gear that you simply’d prefer to dry. The mesh pocket is surrounded by 7 cloth loops that maintain an elastic wire that zigzags backwards and forwards on the skin of the mesh pocket and is useful for securing extra gear to the skin of the pack. The Circuit’s mesh pocket is made with robust cloth and may endure off-trail journey with out ripping. Whereas I nonetheless wouldn’t advocate it, I’ve achieved loads of bushwhacking with out tearing a gap within the mesh, which is fairly spectacular.
Backpack Body and Suspension System
The ULA Circuit is an inner body backpack that has three structural elements:
- An aluminum middle keep anchored behind the lumbar area of the hipbelt
- An open fiberglass loop that runs across the prime and sides of the again panel however not throughout the underside
- A skinny plastic body sheet
Whereas these three elements present sufficient stiffness for the Circuit to hold 30-35 kilos, additionally they are “smooth” sufficient to present it a body-hugging really feel that strikes with you on scrambles and received’t throw you off-balance. On the identical time, you need to watch out to not overstuff the Circuit (with a big sleeping winter bag, as an example) as a result of the again body will bow out uncomfortably and never stay flat.
The Circuit’s hip belt is connected to the again of the pack utilizing velcro, proper in entrance of the purpose the place the aluminum middle keep is tied into the lumbar space. Velcro-attached hip belts are a tried and true design ingredient on light-weight packs and are usually adequate for as much as 30-35 pound max hundreds. In addition they make it doable so that you can strive on totally different hip belt sizes with the identical pack and dial in a {custom} match, one of many advantages of shopping for a pack from ULA.
The hipbelt attaches to the backpack via a slot within the lumbar space and is secured in place utilizing velcro. The peak of the slot has about 2″ of vertical adjustability to it, so you may elevate or decrease the hip belt, and scale back or lengthen the torso size of the pack past the torso size you bought. That is good when you’re between sizes or it’s essential to modify the torso size when carrying massive hundreds.
The hipbelt has two massive zippered pockets and two straps that allow you to fine-tune the match relying on the form of your hips. The 4 straps modify utilizing a Scherer pull-forward cinch, first developed by Kelty, and join at a single buckle. It may possibly take some experimentation to get the correct match, and if in case you have issues, name ULA. They go above and past to ensure prospects get a wonderful match.
Each the hipbelt, again panel, and shoulder straps are lined in padded spacer mesh which is soft with out being too smooth. The holes within the spacer mesh tend to gather particles nevertheless when you wander off-trail.
The Circuit’s shoulder straps can be found in two types, J-shaped or S-shaped, to accommodate folks with breasts or large chests, which is without doubt one of the key causes that ULA has extra feminine prospects than some other ultralight backpack firm. The shoulder straps have numerous attachment factors to hold gear and front-load lifter changes, which slide down the entrance of the shoulder pad to allow you to modify the angle of your load lifters in the event that they’re too flat (a 45-degree angle is good). The flexibility to regulate the angle of the load lifters is a premium function solely discovered on high-end expedition or custom-made backpacks and never one thing usually discovered on light-weight or ultralight backpacks.
Exterior Attachment Factors
If you need to carry heavy and awkwardly sized gear like ice axes, rope coils, or a foam pad that received’t match inside a backpack, it’s essential to have good exterior attachment factors that can be utilized to hold it on the pack’s exterior. The Circuit is considerably weak alongside this dimension as a result of it solely has one tier of aspect compression straps, not two, and it lacks a prime Y-strap. This makes it much less appropriate for winter backpacking than a pack with quite a few exterior straps just like the Granite Gear Blaze 60 or the Crown3 60.
Facet Compression Straps
The Circuit has one tier of aspect compression straps fabricated from webbing which can be utilized to safe longer objects to the aspect of the pack, reminiscent of an umbrella, a tent pole, or a taller water bottle with a sawyer filter screwed on prime.
Twin Trekking Pole/Ice Axe holders
The Circuit has two trekking pole/ice axe loops together with shaft holders which can be utilized to stow two trekking poles or ice axes.
Prime Strap
A single webbing strap loops over the roll-top closure and can be utilized to lash a foam sleeping prime to the highest of the pack or a rope. It’s just a little stunning that ULA has not added a Y-strap right here as a substitute, since that would supply a safer carry for a pad or perhaps a bear canister.
Comparable Light-weight Backpacks with Frames
Advice
The ULA Circuit is a high-volume light-weight backpack (68L/37.3 ounces) that’s optimally sized for weekend backpacking journeys and thru-hikes. When used inside its beneficial load limits, the Circuit is a really comfy backpack, with a body-hugging match, that belies its capability. Made with heavier, extra sturdy materials (400D Robic Nylon), this can be a backpack that may take some severe punishment, which makes it a greatest purchase for my part when you’re searching for a high-volume ultralight-style backpack the place long-lasting sturdiness is extra essential.
When you’re contemplating buying a ULA Circuit the issues that set it other than different producers’ backpacks are sizing and match. When you require particular sizing when it comes to peak or girth, otherwise you need S-shaped shoulder straps, the Circuit or any of ULA’s different higher-volume packs are actually laborious to beat. The Circuit hipbelt can be best-in-class throughout all ultralight backpack makers and the key sauce that makes ULA backpacks so well-liked, straightforward to hold, and well-fitting for a variety o fusers and physique shapes.
Likes
- Enormous extension collar/roll-top closure offers further quantity while you want it, however rolls up and out-of-the-way while you don’t
- Strong strengthened hip belt pockets present wonderful sturdiness
- Replaceable hip belt, with a number of sizes obtainable for a {custom} match
- A number of shoulder strap choices obtainable, enabling unisex put on
Dislikes
- Spacer mesh on the again of the pack and hip belts decide up particles when you hike off-trail
- Again panel can bulge into your again when you overstuff the backside of the pack’s major compartment
- Shoulder straps are anchored contained in the aspect water bottle pockets and there’s a gap within the entrance of the pocket for the webbing to run via…don’t put small objects in these pockets as a result of they’ll fall out of this gap.
Disclosure: ULA donated a backpack for assessment.
Up to date June, 2023.
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