Arcteryx Naos 45 Dry Bag Backpack Product Review

In early 2006 I found myself standing on a beach in the Andaman Islands of India, gazing at a lush tropical desert island just a short distance away, with a dilemma. I wanted to swim across to camp out there for the night, but I had a regular internal-framed backpack containing all my gear. I wouldn't be able to make it there without getting all my stuff soaked. I thought about if I only had some garbage bags, I might be able to seal my pack in it and tow it with me as I swam. However, I didn't have any and wasn't likely to find any near by. The idea then came to me that there should be an internal-framed dry bag backpack. Subsequently, I drew out a design and thought about how to materialize it. Later that year I was back in California and came across the Arcteryx Naos 45 backpack, which was just that. Needless to say, I was stoked to see that it did, in fact, exist so I purchased one immediately. It retailed for $400, but since I was working as a Tour Leader at the time for Trek America, I was fortunate enough to pick it up for a considerably discounted price. I've been living out of it now for the past six years and it has been my everything backpack throughout my extended adventure travels in North America, South America, Jamaica, and Israel. It's been serving me well, and has needed only a few repairs during these years of continuous use.

It's an incredibly sturdy and durable pack with several ingenious features, and I've also made a number of modifications to it to serve my particular needs. In addition to having one main air-tight roll-top compartment, it also features two smaller water-resistant zippered compartments for stashing smaller items that must be more easily accessible. After the fact that it's a dry bag, my second favorite feature on this pack is the swiveling hip-belt design. It has a rotating pivot in the center of the belt where it connects to the back frame, allowing the pack to flow with the natural movements of the body while walking. The only problem with this design was that the teeth on the swiveling disc wore out quite severely in such a short time, that I couldn't put the pack on my back without the hip-belt dislodging and falling out of place. Eventually, I drove a bolt right through the center of the pivot to hold it all together and it's fully solved that issue, still allowing the belt to swivel as designed. The bolt fits so tightly into the plastic frame that it seems that it hasn't at all compromised its dry bag capabilities. I've also had to add some foam padding to the hip-belt, reshaping it so that it comes up higher on my back. Originally, the top of the hip-belt would rub against my lower back, producing serious chaffing. I've also added foam padding all around the inside of the hip-belt and shoulder straps to produce a better fit and greater comfort.

During my time on the trail I've found that I want to have certain tools immediately accessible to me without having to remove my pack. These include water, headlamp, compass, beanie, gloves, sunglasses, pocketknife, lip-balm, tape, cordage, fire, mini survival kit, and trail map. I've thus built or modified storage compartments, water bottle holders, and a map window to mount onto my shoulder straps and hip-belt to contain all these things.

Although the pack comes with an internal sleeve to hold a hydration bladder, and a plug at the top to run the tube through to the outside, I've long since abandoned using these types of hydration systems and have gone back to the simple sports bottles for a few reasons. I've used nearly every type of bladder available on the market and they've all failed on me in some way of another, usually soaking the contents of my pack, and defeating the purpose of owning a dry bag backpack in the first place. In addition, the bag itself is not air-tight when the plug is open with the hose running through it. Finally, the process of adding water to the bladder is a pain, since in order to do so, one must remove a large portion of the contents of the pack in order to fit the full bladder into its sleeve and then repack it. So now I carry two 500 ml sports bottles mounted to my shoulder straps for easy access and I fill them up as needed from 1.5 L plastic water bottles which I keep stored in the bladder sleeve. I have a design for a completely new hydration bladder system and backpack design to accommodate it, but until I find a gear company to materialize it for me, I'm gonna stick to the trusty water bottle system.

In order to lighten the weight of the pack itself and to streamline it for my needs, I've chopped and trimmed some straps, removed the entire top compartment from the rest of the pack, and detached the two aluminum rods from the internal frame. I found that the plastic frame against the back is sufficient for maintaining the structure and rigidity of the pack, and that the aluminum rods were a bit overkill and unnecessary weight.

Apart from the issue I had with the swiveling hip-belt, I recently had two other problems arise. The longer of the two water-resistant zippers finally broke and the glue holding the plug for the hydration hose has partially come undone, leaving a gap for water to enter into the pack. I spoke with a customer service representative from Arcteryx over the phone and he suggested that I mail it in and that they'd either repair or replace it. Unfortunately, he said it would take about six weeks to get it back to me, but I can't be away from my pack for so long, as I use it so often. So I'll have to wait until my next visit to Vancouver to drop by their factory and hopefully get it sorted out. All-in-all, it's been an amazing backpack and truly one of the best pieces of gear I've owned. With a few design modifications it could become one of the best products on the market.

Danner Combat Hiker Gore-Tex Military Boots Product Review

So I bought a pair of these Danner Combat Hiker Gore-Tex Military Boots in size 10.5 EE from sierratradingpost.com about three months ago. I have low/ medium volume feet with medium arches and short, wide toes. They originally retailed for $310, but were on sale for $224.95 through Sierra Trading Post. This boot was handmade at the Danner boot factory in Portland, Oregon by highly skilled boot builders. It's a brilliantly-crafted design and would be an incredible boot for the right-shaped foot.

There's a number of fetures that I loved about these boots. First off, they're assembled using just a few pieces of Nubuck leather. In my opinion, simpler is better. There's fewer seams, reducing the number of places where stitching can fail. Also, there's one piece of leather that extends up the back of the boot, over the achilles tendon. It's critical that this part of the boot be a one-piece leather strip without any mesh, as it's a high stress area and must be durable. In addition, the entire toe, heel, and sides of the boot are lined with a rubber-impregnated leather scuff guard, protecting the leather beneath, and thus extending the longevity of the boot. Third, it has a leather-lined collar around the top which keeps out all debris from getting in, eliminating the need for using gaiters, at least in non-snowy conditions. Next, it has a Gore-Tex waterproof liner that actually DOES NOT LEAK. I've worn many supposedly waterproof boots with Gore-Tex or Event liners built into them, only to end up with wet feet. However, Danner is the only company that I'm aware of that actually performs submersion tests on all their Gore-Tex liners on their U.S. made models prior to installing them into the boots. In addition, their Gore-Tex liners are made with one seam, as opposed to most other boot companies which often have four or more seams. Because of it's simplicity and detailed manufacturing process it has a reduced chance of failure. Finally, the laces are secured in place using the standard eyelet holes at the top, followed by metal, D-shaped eyelets the rest of the way down in a lace-to-toe configuration.

Unfortunately, even with all its merrits, these boots did not work out for me for a few reasons and I was bummed to have to return them. Thankfully, Sierra Trading Post has a great customer satisfaction return policy, and I was able to return them for a full refund. Thanks STP. So first off, these boots just didn't seem to fit my feet, as I need a wide toe box. Even in the EE width, they were still too narrow for me, and thus ended up giving me blisters on the outsides of both my little toes when hiking long downhill sections. I tried stretching out these hot spots on an iron bar specially made for this, but it didn't seem to help much. The next issue I found with them was that even after three months of nearly daily use, I continued to develop a gnarly blister on my left heel when hiking uphill. It seems to me that this could be avoided if the boot was redesigned with a forward-leaning ankle section. It wouldn't be such a strain on the back of the boot when stepping into a deep achilles stretch, and thus would minimize the friction and strain on the back of the heel. Finally, one more thing that I'd chance on these boots would be to build it with flat, more naturally anatomical outsoles, as opposed to the current 1/2" high heels. Although it works well for braking while going downhill, the elevated heel ruins one's naturally good posture, and produces an unnatural strain on joints and muscles throughout the body.

All-in-all, I think this is a quality product that is also stylish, and I'd certainly recommend it to a friend if they had the right-shaped feet for it.