High Peak Pocatello 70 Liter Internal Frame Backpack

WOW!...I am Very, very impressed with this pack....My pack just arrived at work and couldn't wait to open it and when i did...I checked it inside and out...this pack is amazingly well constructed. The material is heavy duty, very nice and tough. Zippers were also of heavy duty material and all those pockets will come in handy for all my accessories. Another great feature is the rain cover....it comes with one...were all the other expensive packs you have to buy separate. I will definitely recommend this pack to my friends and family. I was very impressed with the pack overall and receiving this pack on time and the way it was packaged. It was very neat and presentable. It also came with a park guide of national parks to camp at and some more info on other products they have at campmaxx. Thanks for making my purchase a good experience. Now, time to try this pack out on trip and see how it holds. "Update on how the pack held up coming in 3 weeks." Thank you Carol, Jerry, Breana, Miles, and Ryan

I've had this backpack since Sept. 2007 with multiple trips across Europe, North America, & South America. It's been through all sorts of weather conditions & has been machine washed & dried many times. The pockets & straps are just right. The zippers sometimes catch the material, but also have yet to fail me. The durability & basic practicality alone make this a worthy purchase & potential decent resale.

UPDATE I've now gone on two trips with this backpack, and what I can say clearly is that....so far, so good. I have about 35lbs of gear in there, and tested carrying that weight. It held up really well. - No buckles broke - No straps broke - The seams are still holding - The rainfly is a must have for this backpack, but not enough. So, first off, I've been testing this pack with a much higher weight and packing list than I need because I wanted to test this not only for camping but also as a bugout bag. Most of the gear in there is basically bug-out bag multi-day emergency gear ready, and I would likely dump 10 lbs of it on my next camping trip, leaving more room for clothing and food. As for the rainfly....it helps a little, but is nowhere near good enough. The back of the pack gets soaked, adding tons of weight, which takes more than a day to dry and starts to smell if you're in damp weather. I would recommend removing it and getting an extended poncho designed to go over backpacks. That, plus some light gators or over the pant rain pants and you'll keep you and the pack dry. That extra pocket at the top is really useful for larger get to quick items, and I've found the D-ring and extra straps along the shoulder straps particular useful for holding things to access while hiking. I'm curious though, how much longer this pack will last. The material is fantastic as it's tough, but the seams and buckles do worry me. Like I said though, two trips at 35 lbs each and so far so good. - ORIGINAL REVIEW This review is rather meaningless since I received it just a few days ago and haven't taken it out yet, but here's just first impressions: as a low cost bag that's a little dated, this should work just fine. It's missing a lot of features I would have liked (e.g. hydration pack, removable day pack, water-proof seems and zippers, additional cinching straps, pass-through's for the side pockets). And one thing missing from this and almost every pack is molle webbing. I realize this adds a military feel, but molle webbing is really useful. There's an interesting design for an ice pick carrier. It may be a common design, but basically there are two looped straps at the front-base of the pack, and aligned vertically, there are two cinching straps around halfway up the pack between each side pocket and the main pack. You apparently drop the handle of the ice pick through the base loop so it's just dangling, then swing up the handle and cinch it to the cinch strap. Since there's a set of loop/cinch straps on either side, I guess you can pick which side you want it on, or maybe it's to carry two ice picks....dunno. There are some additional loops that are difficult to see in the image, but are located at the front of the pack just above the sleeping bag section by the orange colored tabs. Not as useful as molle webbing, but at least it's something. It does include a rain cover, which is semi-useful, tho personally I'll replace it with a backpack covering poncho since the rain cover would allow rain to get in along the back and then seep into the backpack from the back. As an expedition pack, it may be an entry level model, but it IS an expedition pack, meaning it's built tough and designed to last. The material is thick denier on the bottom and fairly tough materials throughout. This bag will not fall apart from you or rip easily when walking through any sort of brush. It's tough, and that's something to like. It's also a lot cheaper than a lot of other bags out there. As a bag that will last and last, you couldn't do much better on price than this bag. It's a top loader, which a lot of people don't like as much these days, but that's nothing to scoff at, and only adds to the overall toughness of the main compartment. The top flap has two pockets stacked vertically with plenty of space. The lower pocket zips along the back and holds the rain cover. The upper pocket zips along the front and there's plenty of space in there. It could hold an old fashioned mess kit, maps, valuables and still have room to spare. The main section is fairly large and does have a zippered bottom which opens to the sleeping bag section (also pretty big, big enough to hold a 20 degree sleeping back, tarp, and all tent fabrics). You could also undo that zippered flap and have one super long compartment. In front of the main compartment are two pockets, one is very large, and accessed from above (big enough to hold a folded 5 gallon plastic container with room to spare). The front-most pocket is unorthodox, the zipper runs vertically opening to what I think is a valuables section for easy access. There's an additional elastic mesh pocket to prevent smaller contents from spilling out. I'm not sure why this design was chosen. The large pockets on each side of the main bag are much more spacious than I expected. I've got tons of toiletries and extensive first aid kit plus rope and duct tape in one pocket, and the other holds an emergency fuel gel folding stove, my GSR minimalist plus alcohol stove, extra soup tin with holes for starting wood fires, dry tinder, tons of batteries (just in case), and my ultralight knee pads. I still wish there were pass-through's between these side pockets and the main bag (ideal for trekking poles, or a hatchet) but still oh well. The shoulder strap system is pretty cool. You can adjust it up or down in intervals of about an inch and change or so, from small to XL. The shoulder straps have additional cinching straps to pull the top of the back closer to minimize movement. Like with many packs, the hip belt is removable. In my short trekking tests, it worked just fine. I can't remember the name of the buckle technology but supposedly it's tougher than normal plastic buckles...we'll see. Incidentally, make sure to cinch everything down before you walk and make sure you adjust the torso properly. In my first hiking test, I notice the top of the bag moved incessantly unless I cinched everything down so tight things started to hurt and I worries about breaking the straps at the seams. Then I realized that my torso length required a higher setting and once this was done, the pack settled nicely without over-tightening any straps and was comfortable to walk with with minimal pressure on my shoulders. In fact, though many of you may find this normal, it was a big surprise to me just how big of a difference the fatigue would be when the waist belt could could carry all the weight and the should straps acted only to balance the top. A pleasant surprise. My final test hike was 6 miles and my shoulders felt surprisingly pain free. For an almost laughably low price, you'll get one seriously tough pack that won't (I should say shouldn't since I haven't gone out with it yet) break down on you while in the field. And frankly, while I didn't want to pay a lot, I also wasn't going to give up on ruggedness of the bag. So if that's more important than all the other features, go for this bag. Even if you decide to get another one in the future, this bag is tough enough to last forever and hang around as a back-up back, bug-out bag, or a loaner if a friend ever needs one.

As far as i know it seems pretty decent. its not as big as i expected but the compartments and zipper to open up the whole pack make it more efficient.

This is simply the best budget backpack you can buy. I've used this pack on several 2 and 3 night trips in the mountains of West Virginia and it's very comfortable with loads into the 40-50lbs range. The pack has several pockets for organization. It doesn't have a hydration bladder but, I just put my platapus in the outer pocket on the back and it works fine. Like most backpackers I've lightened my base load now and use an Osprey Atmos 50 for 2 night trips, but this will continue to be my pack of choice for extended stays in the backcountry.

We packed this bag to the gills during a two-week trip all over Europe and it held up beautifully. The multitude of pockets are great, and we had no problems with ripped seams, weak zippers, or loose straps. We traveled to a different city every two days, so it got a workout and met the challenge. A+. I recommend it.

this is a durable inexpensive, get-the-job-done backpack, nothing fancy, just the basics and fairly durable. I recommend it, if you don't have an extra 75$ to spend.

First of all let me say I am extremely happy with this purchase. For what I was paying I did not expect to get such a nice backpack. Keep in mind I have not used this pack in real world conditions, nor have I filled it to capacity and worn it around to see how it performs. It does seem to have quality construction, and for the price you cant afford to not buy one. Im glad I bought this pack for my first one instead of spending three times as much on a pack that would probably be just a little bit better. If you buy this pack you automatically save enough money to buy things to fill it with. Here are my pros and cons. Pros: More pockets than you can shake a stick at, seriously pockets for everything and pockets everywhere. Nice Rain fly location right at the bottom of the pack, which is a good location because if you put it away wet it wont get other pockets wet, whereas on other packs the rain fly pocket is at the top. Comfortable to wear, with lots of great padding. Plenty of straps so you can pack the pack full of things and strap it all nice and secure. The Price! Cons: The sleeping bag compartment at the bottom of the bag is a bit small. I bought a +15 degree sleeping bag and it just barely fits. I was going to buy a -20 degree sleeping bag but now I am glad I didn't because there isn't a chance it would've fit. So, I don't recommend this pack for people who have thick sleeping bags. I am not happy with the water bottle holders because now that my sleeping bag is jammed into its compartment the water bottle holders are not as big.