Bushwalk Australia

We are planning a trip (6-7days) to Nelson Lakes National Park (NZ) next summer and i want to get packs for my youngest 2 daughters (will be 10 and 13yrs). So far i've only come across the Osprey Jib and Ace, and the Deuter 30 and 40, as proper kids packs. Does anyone have any experience with those pack??? or any other ideas.

Cheers
Bugs

Been several decades since I had to do this, but 30 years ago REI had a great line of proper framed kids packs.
But i found these to be quite good if a little expensive

http://www.spartanss.com.au/chiropak-ii/w1/i1001406/
My wife uses the big one as a work carry for her laptop

Hi Microbugs,
My 12yr old son has the Deuter 40+10 Air-contact SL. He is not a tall 12yr old and with the harness adjusted to shortest backlength it fitted properly - so plenty of room for adjustment as he grows. He did the OT with me in Sept. school holidays and carried about 12kg in it. The first day I kept asking him how he was going with it and checking that it was sitting properly - it was fine, and he says it was comfortable. It appears to be a strong, 'proper' little backpack, and he likes it.

Cheers.

geoskid wrote:Hi Microbugs,
My 12yr old son has the Deuter 40+10 Air-contact SL. He is not a tall 12yr old and with the harness adjusted to shortest backlength it fitted properly - so plenty of room for adjustment as he grows. He did the OT with me in Sept. school holidays and carried about 12kg in it. The first day I kept asking him how he was going with it and checking that it was sitting properly - it was fine, and he says it was comfortable. It appears to be a strong, 'proper' little backpack, and he likes it.

Cheers.

Thanks geoskid. the +10 aircontacts look a little heavy for the girls, but could be just right for my son (will be 15y). i've seen the 50/55+10 ACTs. Look like they could be good.

One of my kids uses an Aarn daypack without the front pockets which works well. Its light and has a lot of adjustment and its drybag construction is very good. Neither of my kids carried as much as 12kg though. You could add the front pockets as they grew.

Chris

Hi Microbugs,

I cannot help you with the brands to mention.

However we have used the Tatonka Baloo which is 20l day pack made for kids. It’s a great pack and has survived many years of service. I don’t know what Tatonka offer in large kid’s packs but it might be worth a look. We still have a new with tags Barloo let me known if you are interested.

I also have a Kathmandu, Extrados 2 this is a basic (about 40l) backpack which supports their clip on range of accessories such as small day packs and gear racks. This back has plenty of range in the adjustments and we have no trouble fitting to a 150cm tall child.

Good luck with your search and trip.
Wazza

My seven yo, who is tall for her age, is using a Tatonka Vento 25L pack. Most of the others I tried were just too long for her frame, this one works great.

We use a similar rig for our 8yo, who is also very tall.

Osprey makes a proper kids pack, but it's sized for like a 10yo. You could try some of the US online retailers.

We make the torlesse 35 and torlesses 50 in a size 1 harness. We also make the cascade in size one, but with the price of that we expect it more likely to be sold to a petite adult rather than a child who may grow out of that shorter back length.
Cheers.

My criteria for our kids were that it needs to be an economical pack (as they'll be outgrown several times), needs to be sturdy enough to put up with some rough treatment, be a dark colour, not too complicated, and have a short back size available, be relatively lightweight, and comfy for them.

My son (now 11) has a Black Wolf Mountain Ash 45L for Scouting http://www.blackwolf.com.au/product/Mou ... ategory/31
Our older Kathmandu Altai 50L is also an excellent pack for him - it's pretty light (1.35kg), robust enough for a kid to just sling down, not too fiddly, and a short harness lenghth. I think the 40L one is 1.2 kg. I'm not sure about the curent version of the Altai as we haven't tried it. You may be able to find one second hand. http://www.litekamper.com/backpacks.htm - the Altai is the 10th down (I can't give you a direct link sorry because they don't make this version any more)

My daughter, (now 14) has used a BlackWolf Bugaboo 60L for Scouts and now Venturers - it may be a bit big for what you want. http://www.blackwolf.com.au/product/Bug ... ategory/31
The Black Wolf packs are sturdy, and not very expensive, but aren't in the lightweight category except for this version - which comes in 35L and 45L http://www.blackwolf.com.au/product/B-L ... ategory/31. This doesn't have a proper padded hipbelt though, whcih is why we didnt consider it.

wazzawalkin wrote:Hi Microbugs,

I cannot help you with the brands to mention.

However we have used the Tatonka Baloo which is 20l day pack made for kids. It’s a great pack and has survived many years of service. I don’t know what Tatonka offer in large kid’s packs but it might be worth a look. We still have a new with tags Barloo let me known if you are interested.

I also have a Kathmandu, Extrados 2 this is a basic (about 40l) backpack which supports their clip on range of accessories such as small day packs and gear racks. This back has plenty of range in the adjustments and we have no trouble fitting to a 150cm tall child.

Good luck with your search and trip.
Wazza

Pinnacle Outdoors in Melbourne can usually get hold of Tatonka kids packs...