Mountain Hardwear Fluid 18 | Active Daypack Backpack | Field Review

Description

Krik of Black Owl Outdoors reviews the Mountain Hardwear Fluid 18 backpack. One of the most comfortable packs Krik has ever worn, the Fluid 18 was sent to us by Sierra Trading Post along with a discount code that is good for 25% off their entire site, although some restrictions apply.

To redeem the code click on the link below:

http://stp.me/BlackOwlOutdoorsDiscount

BECOME A PATRON

---------------------------------

http://www.Patreon.com/BlackOwlOutdoors

UPLOAD SCHEDULE:

-----------------------------------

Sundays - Tuesdays & sometimes Thursdays.

STORES

-------------

Amazon | https://www.BlackOwlOutdoors.com/amazonstore/

Black Owl Supply | http://www.BlackOwl.supply

CONNECT

----------------

website | http://www.BlackOwlOutdoors.com

newsletter | http://eepurl.com/bsv3Rv

instagram | http://www.Instagram.com/BlackOwlOutdoors

facebook | http://www.Facebook.com/BlackOwlOutdoors

twitter | http://www.Twitter.com/BlkOwlOutdoors

Krik's Goods

--------------------

Owl Creek Handmade - http://owlcreekhandmade.etsy.com

stony's Photography

---------------------------------

Things Done Framed - http://www.ThingsDoneFramed.com

Tags: black owl outdoors,nature,camping,hiking,backpacking,survival,bushcraft,wilderness,forest,backcountry,mountain hardwear,fluid 18,technical backpack,backpack,review,rucksack,light-weight

Video Transcription

hey wassup Turtles it's creek here with black outdoors and today I'm going to be doing a review on the mountain hardwear fluid 18 technical pack now before i get into the review of this pack i want to preface all this by saying sierra trading post contacted us and interests and asked if you're interested in doing a product review collaboration if you're not familiar with sierra trading post it is a really cool website that has a bunch of discounted outdoor gear and apparel I've actually yeah my down sleeping bag i purchased got a good deal from them a few years back but nonetheless it's a cool site check it out a lot of good deals a lot of good discounts and addition to doing this review of this pack sierra trading post has been generous enough to actually give us twenty-five percent off discount link which will be in the description below which is basically slight wide i believe there's a few items that are excluded from that but basically this pack retails for 110 dollars I think the discounted price when Sierra Trading Post is 80 bucks but with the additional twenty five percent they've given exclusively for the Black outdoors this pack will be about 60 bucks which is pretty dang cheap but getting into the pack now some of the features of the pack starting on the side you have to stuff pockets with this expandable mesh material so on each side the other side just shown and then on this side here you see how much this really expands able to hold a water bottle you know over time I'm not sure this elasticity is going to stay in this shape but this is reinforced at the top here so that if it is going to stretch you're going to have stress on it this should keep its form pretty well over time to keep this secure and this is a 40 ounce water bottle so it's kind on the bigger end the whole bag is constructed out of the main body of the bags constructed out of the 100 d rip stop which is this darker red right here and on the front here this hex nut is 210 d a little bit stronger

see the hex nut design in it a little bit stronger and this is this is um shows up on the bag of more stress points on the bottom actually written right here running up the back you can see this is this higher rip stop this is the medium and large-sized there's also small and medium actually with the medium/large it increases the pack vol 4 20 liters as opposed to the 18 for a small medium and this pack weighs under 2 pounds which is a superlight pack with this really thin thin but strong rip stop nylon this is the flame color option with this the highlighted white and gray which I really like on the outside here like I sorted started touched on with this pocket with this higher ripstop is sort of this more super you'll pocket if you will and this will accommodate a helmet riding helmet and or climbing helmet only if you don't have so much packed inside the bag as you can see as I open this up sword to its full capacity with the compression straps open there's really not that much room in here there is but I'm going to have to stress and push on the inside of the compartment of my contents on the inside of the bag but nonetheless it is capable it's open now you can excuse me expand it open to what you need just two compression straps on your side that you just saw me fidgeting with one here one here excuse me down here we have a loop for ice axe and trekking poles a little of attachment pointer here with a little bit of reflecting material one it up top here i got my carabiner hanging off just this little piece of nylon up here and there's a small little grab handle up here doesn't need to be any bit much bigger for this pack there's two zipper tracks that you see up top here this is for the main compartment and this one is specifically designated for hydration reservoir or bladder and because this pack i'm going to turn it around and sort of show you because this pack is very sort of elongated with the body you can see how narrow this pack is as opposed to being pushed out in sort of more of a rectangular shape this is very narrow and running Pierre meaning as my hydration bladder would sit from the hoop or from the loop up here the end of my bladder would hang right here with all this extra space in the compartment so what I had to do because actually this broke there used to be a little clip right here I had to put a piece of string around it to let it hang so there wouldn't be so much pressure when this is full just hanging in the pack so this allowed it to sit down towards the bottom of the pack tape seems on this though keep out some weather over the zipper track moving on to the back has this cool wave system that they're calling which is inside underneath this mess right here underneath the pad you can see it's saw this orange color and sort of a wave accordion style if you will which will allow less points of contact to open up a little bit of air channel in here when your back touches this gives a lot more structures to well to the bag because this is a thin thin thin Lee constructed material of the bag very nice size lumbar pad right here which allows the weight sit comfortably on the lower back i've had this pack to about 16 pounds in here which is a decent amount of weight for a pack of you know under 2 pounds itself very very nice generously sized hip belts with this very comfort comfortable and ventilated which again transfers the weight well around the hips more points of contact allows the way to be transferred and fits more securely to the body on each hip belt there is two nice-sized pockets sort of mess some sort of stretch stretch capabilities of the pocket inside here I just have a hand lens soulfire ID implants looking things close up all that I wouldn't recommend putting anything too bulky in here or too rigid because you do want this to be able to conform to the curvature of your body as it's going around the hip so if you put a strong or big bulky item in here it's not going to be able to bend with the body it's not gonna be comfortable just keep that in mind and on the other side again the other hip belt these are definitely a nice size definitely a nice size pocket one to the shoulder straps as it has a d-ring on here there's one on each side d-ring on each side adjustable sternum strap right here inside each side goes up and down or depending where you like it where you need it ventilated and one thing I can say about these shoulder straps is geez these are comfortable on the side here you can see how this material from the underneath is rolling up rolling up rolling up as one continuous piece of fabric there's no hard sewn seam right here so that if you do want to wear this next to your skin or with a tank top one where somebody touching your bare skin you're not going to have more increase a chance of a hot spot occurring from a hard material and or as it our ass own soon connection point with here so again these are really comfortable ventilated the overall theme of this pack is this it is super comfortable super comfortable for me and he has compression straps here to help secure the weight closer to up secure the weight on your body and I'll get the pack on and I'll show you how it fits and all that good stuff inside the main compartment now I have just a range show right now whole hammocks sleeping system and there's one zippered pocket inside here zipper track here a little bit of a key holder to hold your torture keys I have a bar in here a compass inside of fell case I made really like really proud and a multi-tool when your multi tool and that is the ins and outs of this pack now I'm going to get it on and show you that on the fly compressions actually let me get this pack back up I'll get the pack on me and show you that on the fly compression system that's one reason one feature in concert that I really why I really like this bag get this all buttoned up tight now I like to get the pack on I like to start with my hip belt on my hips where I want the weight to be carried get my shoulder straps adjusted for the weight and the position I like sternum strap to help keep the shoulder straps in place okay now on the fly compression system that i mentioned before at the top here where my hands are reaching for i'm pulling these two tabs and as i pull them you can see how it's bringing the bag closer to me the top of it it's bringing it closer to me and what that does is really secure the weight up here and I can just tell you right now this weight is being transferred more evenly across me across my back in addition to this up here is another cool part of the compression system is on each side here you can see there my finger running through this little orange right here this little tab right here which is running through the pocket and another one over here and if you look back here through this pocket right here this is where this can wear this is attached to when I pull on this little tab lets you see that it's dissension through there and on the other side I'll do the same thing and again that's bringing the weight closer to my body and it's securing it on top of just the hip belt and the shoulder straps being adjusted from this point so get this is a really cool feature of this bag and honestly then I got this one I feel like the weight is just hugging my body it's really really great to me that's why I chose a pack like this because I can move around with it I can jump around you know I feel like the weights really balanced as I'm moving around jumping around on logs the weights not shifting at all on me my impressions of this bag is that I really like it it's the most comfortable pack I've ever worn and that's saying a lot I really like packs I love gear I've had a lot on I'm really critical of bags and the biggest thing for me is a pack has to be comfortable before any of the features are considered who let me catch my breath for a second there's a few things I want to comment on about this bag 1 i'm going to show you real quick i think it has to do with the fit issue just maybe this medium/large is a little bit big for my torso is that when i take this top layer out just the top thing and i only have this say i'll call it packed half full is that when it's on my back I sort of get a pivot point right here that there's not always contact with my back I think that's because my torso just a little bit small for this medium large but that's okay not a diss on the pack i think it's just for me I just didn't get the right size pack and again that's important but nonetheless I wouldn't trade this package I wouldn't get a smaller size i really like it i like the extra two leaders it works really well harping on the comfort again i can't get over how comfortable it says i really like the on the fly compression that as I'm cinching this to me it's really great another thing to keep in mind with the style of pack though for comfort because it is thin designed sort of a thin material is that you need to be very thoughtful how you put your items inside of it if you're not just going to be putting in you know some layers a big Hank a rope if you're going to be climbing using this to take up to a summit or approach is that you need to be thoughtful like I said I've had 16 pounds in this with some pretty oddly shaped items some some metal canisters different stuff of that nature and how to be really thoughtful to get it comfortable because you can feel what's inside of it but just with a little bit of forethought messing around you can get this still very comfortable with more weight inside the pack one other thing I would like to see on this bag it's not so much a harp on the design or disc for this design because it is designed for it as a technical bag it's just a zipper pockets something on the outside here just another small pocket another sealable closed pocket just to put some smaller items in and like all bags I'd like to see an integrated rain cover just come with all packs that's just I think should be standard anymore but nonetheless this is a great bag any questions about this pack anything then covered anything you want to add to it please leave a comment again I just like to thank Chris at sierra trading posts are given this opportunity giving us the discount code again go check out their site get the link in description below to get that twenty five percent off of the already discounted gear this is Creek signing out with black outdoors later turtles