Bushwalking gear and paraphernalia. Electronic gadget topics (inc. GPS, PLB, chargers) belong in the 'Techno Babble' sub-forum.
Forum rules
TIP: The online
Bushwalk Inventory System can help bushwalkers with a variety of bushwalk planning tasks, including: Manage which items they take bushwalking so that they do not forget anything they might need, plan meals for their walks, and automatically compile food/fuel shopping lists (lists of consumables) required to make and cook the meals for each walk. It is particularly useful for planning for groups who share food or other items, but is also useful for individual walkers.
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 10:53 am
as opposed to their packs designed for adventure racing,
they are now giving a nod to lightweight design for overnight tramping packs
1.1 kilos for a 45 litre pack
they are succumbing to the dark side
http://www.macpac.co.nz/trek/trekking-p ... -pack.html
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 10:58 am
Macpacs version of the exos??
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 11:20 am
good point, yes well it does have the trampoline back and the side compression straps of teh exos...
has the large vertical zip pocket of other brands as well.
the market is so awash with lightweight designed gear now. macpac seem to think its time to get try and get a bit of the lightweight market
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 11:52 am
I fear Macpac are far too late moving on this market trend - they are already too far behind the rest of the pack (excuse the pun!) so would need to produce something extraordinarily different to the others in order to get their edge back. Not to mention this particular model is still fairly heavy for a 45L pack.
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:07 pm
bringing out one lightish weight pack is only dipping your foot in the water of the lightweight market and its not an ultralight pack. maybe they are looking to see what the uptake is before deciding if they will put out more models lighter than their normal range, theres no shortage of competition, so they must know their sales for the new model arent likely to be stellar.
be interesting to see if they bring out more lightweight models.
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:20 pm
Given Macpac and Kathmandu have a different customer base to the current lot of UL buyers, they can now move into a maturing technology and pump it through their mass market business model. All perfectly logical. They clearly aren't chasing the relatively small premium UL buyers nor have a need to do so.
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:22 pm
GPSGuided wrote:Given Macpac and Kathmandu have a different customer base to the current lot of UL buyers, they can now move into a maturing technology and pump it through their mass market business model. All perfectly logical. They clearly aren't chasing the relatively small premium UL buyers nor have a need to do so.
Good logic there
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:22 pm
Looks like they have forgotten about hydration?
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:28 pm
Giddy_up wrote:Looks like they have forgotten about hydration?
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"
woops!
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:32 pm
Giddy_up wrote:Looks like they have forgotten about hydration?
Nup
Stretch side pockets that will easily take a 1 litre bottle
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:36 pm
well that gives you so many options for hydration
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:38 pm
wayno wrote:well that gives you so many options for hydration

Clearly a feature!
BTW, do other UL packs have dedicated hydration facilities? Never thought those hydration systems with all the heavy plumbing etc are consistent with the UL philosophy.
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:39 pm
this tasman pack certainly looks nice and shiny and sleek.
Given the new ceo came from the fashion house of Trelisse cooper, i'm excited anout the prospect of frilly fashion packs to come out with flowery prints all over them...
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:42 pm
GPSGuided wrote:wayno wrote:well that gives you so many options for hydration

Clearly a feature!
BTW, do other UL packs have dedicated hydration facilities? Never thought those hydration systems with all the heavy plumbing etc are consistent with the UL philosophy.
i've got an osprey talon 44 litre, same weight as the tasman, has hydration bladder and hole for the tube...
i've got a black diamond 40 litre axiom, same weight and that has a hook and a strap for a hydration bladder with holes for the tube..
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:48 pm
Sounds like those Yank marketing departments have sold out from the core philosophy of UL. Good to see Macpac is stedfast on it.
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:52 pm
If their market is mainstream as mentioned, the lack of a hydration port will be a huge turnoff.
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 12:55 pm
that macpac pack is not an ultralight pack, its too heavy for the size... it just looks like a cutdown version of their standard packs with lighter materials... but they havent gone all the way... they've still go t a frame, padding, massive waist belt. suspension system...
its just your average lighter side of average weight pack...
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 1:11 pm
GPSGuided wrote:wayno wrote:well that gives you so many options for hydration

Clearly a feature!
BTW,
do other UL packs have dedicated hydration facilities?
But this isn't a UL pack...
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 1:28 pm
Strider wrote:But this isn't a UL pack...
Not UL by our standard but for Macpac...
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 2:20 pm
wayno wrote:this tasman pack certainly looks nice and shiny and sleek.
Given the new ceo came from the fashion house of Trelisse cooper, i'm excited anout the prospect of frilly fashion packs to come out with flowery prints all over them...

do you think he anything to do with this pack? it started in development a good 9 months back. The ceo has only ever been involved with design of soap. That is the truth.
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 2:23 pm
blacksheep wrote:wayno wrote:this tasman pack certainly looks nice and shiny and sleek.
Given the new ceo came from the fashion house of Trelisse cooper, i'm excited anout the prospect of frilly fashion packs to come out with flowery prints all over them...

do you think he anything to do with this pack? it started in development a good 9 months back. The ceo has only ever been involved with design of soap. That is the truth.
it's called taking the *&^%$#!
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 2:25 pm
wayno wrote:blacksheep wrote:wayno wrote:this tasman pack certainly looks nice and shiny and sleek.
Given the new ceo came from the fashion house of Trelisse cooper, i'm excited anout the prospect of frilly fashion packs to come out with flowery prints all over them...

do you think he anything to do with this pack? it started in development a good 9 months back. The ceo has only ever been involved with design of soap. That is the truth.
it's called taking the *&^%$#!

who knows, you may be correct, but not yet

...but any impact on product wont really been seen for a little longer..I'm sure there will be a bunch of new things for xmas that will give an indication on their "new direction".
what he said in wilderness is less emphasis on clothing and more hardcore gear. I will be very interested to see what actually happens...
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 2:37 pm
blacksheep wrote:what he said in wilderness is less emphasis on clothing and more hardcore gear.
If that's the case, it would be very interesting to understand how they are planning to cover the overheads associated with their huge chain of brick-and-mortar stores. There simply aren't enough hardcore gear freaks to justify a store in every major regional centre, and most of them probably shop online anyway..
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 3:11 pm
macpac dont have that many stores compared to kathmandu..
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 3:29 pm
wayno wrote:macpac dont have that many stores compared to kathmandu..
Kathmandu haven't shown any intention to shift their product line toward hardcore gear.
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 4:14 pm
well the ceo came from a niche company, seems to want to make macpac more of a niche technical company as well according to a statement he made when he took the job earlier this year... so far all we seem to have is this semi lightweight pack with no facility for a hydration bladder.... so that rules out anyone so prefers a bladder wanting to buy it.... water bottles have a strong following in countries with very cold winters since the water freezes in bladder tubes and you can carry a bottle in your jacket to stop it freezing.. have they simply aped overseas design features?
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 4:17 pm
wayno wrote:well the ceo came from a niche company, seems to want to make macpac more of a niche technical company as well according to a statement he made when he took the job earlier this year...
you believed that?
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 4:20 pm
blacksheep wrote:wayno wrote:well the ceo came from a niche company, seems to want to make macpac more of a niche technical company as well according to a statement he made when he took the job earlier this year...
you believed that?
"seems to want"
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 4:23 pm
blacksheep wrote:wayno wrote:well the ceo came from a niche company, seems to want to make macpac more of a niche technical company as well according to a statement he made when he took the job earlier this year...
you believed that?
he was pretty quick to make the statement having just started the job, that seems a bit impulsive, would have been safer to spend some time in teh company to try and get a better idea for what he thought their best path was...
its early days for him, he seems to want to show a commitment to being a technical company by making that statement but since he had only just taken teh job when he said it , it means theres more time for him to change his mind...
Thu 15 Aug, 2013 4:28 pm
wait and see
© Bushwalk Australia and contributors 2007-2013.