Osprey Warranty

[keithy]

So I'm walking in Eastern Europe at present. I've got my Osprey Talon 33 bag (from 2011 or 2012). It was relegated to closet duty for a while as I had other packs I used but it has seen some day and light overnight use last year. I brought it on my trip instead of the more robust Exos as it is frameless and I can stuff it into my main bag when not walking in the forests/mountains. It has been reasonably comfortable for overnighters but I have been packing light. I bought a cheap bivvy bag (which incidentally is not the most comfortable or breathable as I've found.) So my carry is around the 12-13kg mark including 2-3 days food and around 4L water as the water in the limestone mountains is scarce.

After a couple of nights out in the Hungarian mountains where I slept in caves - I didn't bring the bivvy - I caught the bus from the mountain village back to town where I discovered my Osprey bag sported a rip in the top hood pocket.

The pack was mostly under a raincover so I don't know when it happened. The top hood pocket wasn't overstuffed - just a 7" tablet, GPS when not being used, camera, gopro, spare batteries, USB battery pack, some elastoplast tape and some strapping tape. There was still wiggle room in there.

On inspection the stitching has held up fine but the material has frayed resulting in the hole.

I contacted Osprey in the US, previously having contacted them about the internal silicone lining in the same pack flaking off in 2014. It wasn't a big issue for me at the time as I use a rain cover or drybags to keep my stuff dry.

Osprey have been great so far. They told me that it can be fixed under warranty but they don't have a distributor in Eastern Europe.

Osprey's European distributor have contacted me about sending it in for repair, however they are based in the UK and given my current travel plans it might be difficult to ship it get it fixed and returned in my timeframe. But so far thumbs up to Osprey for honoring their "lifetime warranty". I'll have to see about getting it repaired back in Oz. I am assuming the Aust distributors will also honour the warranty?

I usually carry some McNetts gear aid tape but forgot to pack some this trip. My duct tape is a bit tacky and I think might leave a mess when removing and my sleeping mat patch kit might be a bit too permanent so I've tried the elastoplast as a temporary patch to stop the hole getting bigger. This seems to hold. I also have needle and thread but am hesitant to do a field sew as the material has failed rather than the stitching.

The new hole peeking out

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The material has failed ( or the stitching was too close to the edge of the material)

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Inside view of the hole

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The top hood pocket wasn't fully packed just these things

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[GPSGuided]

A good company is just that much easier to deal with.

[Mark F]

As a short term solution the first thing to do is to heat seal the frayed seam to stabilise it. Then I would put a bit of duct tape on the inside. While the duct tape may leave a bit of residue when removed a little meths or shellite will get rid of it.

[keithy]

I also thought of burning the edges to top the fraying but there is little material there and I thought they might suggest that was it contributed to the failure.

Looking inside the hood there are quite a few loose threads so I'm am wondering if a loose thread got caught in the zipper and caused the fabric to fray.

Anyway my temporary patch held over the past few wet days where the fabric was damp and the elastoplast still held. On the reverse I have put a strip vertically as well to stop the hole getting bigger. Looks ugly but works.

They have sent me contact details for the Asian distributor as I will spend a few weeks there before return to Aust. So hopefully they can repair it for me.

From the inside

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My elastoplast temporary fix

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[keithy]

Just a follow up on my pack failure issue and a happy ending.

I have to give kudos to both Osprey for their warranty and willingness to help with the warranty while I was out of the country, and Outdoor Agencies for their help in resolving the warranty claim.

After patching the first hole with my Elastoplast patch about a month later in November after another day walk I found that the hood material frayed again in a different spot - this time where the load lifter straps connected to the pack itself!

These were the pics I discovered while waiting for a local village bus. I used another Elastoplast patch - patching both the interior and exterior. This held strong for the next month or so, but I was conscious not to put anything of value in the lid top pocket.

Osprey had provided me with contacts for their UK warranty service, but it required at least a 2 week turnaround that didn't coincide with my travel plans. They gave me the contact details for the Asian distributor as I was going to be in Malaysia for 3 weeks before coming back to Aust.

The Asian distributor (Tearproof) unfortunately were useless as they didn't respond to emails or a left phone message.

Back in Australia though, the Australian distributor (Outdoor Agencies) however, were brilliant. I contacted them in December after not hearing back from the Asian distributors, and when I got back in January, they sent me to the repairer - Finn Industries in Melbourne.

Finn Industries informed that the damage was unrepairable - the lining had gone and the material was too frayed to repair. Osprey then sent me a new replacement pack. The replacement Talon appears be made of a stronger fabric than my original Talon and the failure points of my old pack did not seem an issue here.

So a couple of things from this experience:

• I highly recommend Osprey packs for their warranty.
• Elastoplast makes for a handy fabric repair field patch

[andrewa]

Looks to me like seam failure relates to fabric not being hot cut , or the seam being a little too close to the edge of the fabric.

A