You finally convinced me - Ongoing Mystery Ranch Sawtooth 45 review

[yakimanoob]

Just thought I'd give a shout-out to all of you who told me I was crazy to use my Osprey pack as a hunting rig.  On the last couple of backpack hunts, I had a pressing voice in my head reminding me how full my pack was and how difficult it was going to be to get meat into the Aether and/or all my gear lashed onto the outside. 

I finally broke down and ordered a Mystery Ranch Sawtooth, and I'm stoked.  I'll put it through the paces this summer as I scout and get in shape for a Rainier climb and high buck and elk season.  I'm keeping the Aether 60 to use as my backpacking and mountain rescue pack, at least for now.  Who knows, I may love the Sawtooth so much I decide to use it for everything. 

Hope you're all doing well in the age of COVID-19!

[ThurstonCokid]

Good call! Good packs are #1 and comfy pants are #2! Happy hunting! Hope it serves you well


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[SteelheadTed]

Good call! Good packs are #1 and comfy pants are #2! Happy hunting! Hope it serves you well


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Good boots are #1.  If your feet hurt, nothing else matters.

[fishngamereaper]

  I love my MR pack.. Good choice.

[HAGEMANIAC]

Good call! Good packs are #1 and comfy pants are #2! Happy hunting! Hope it serves you well


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Good boots are #1.  If your feet hurt, nothing else matters.

 

[yakimanoob]

Pack came in yesterday, and considering I've only ever head lightweight backpacking-focused packs (mainly from Osprey), HOLY HELL this thing is beefy.  It's gonna take me a minute to get used to it.    I threw some gear in and strapped my rifle on and it seems like it will carry really well. 

I'll post pictures at some point when I've had a chance to get it out on the trail. 

[ThurstonCokid]

Good call! Good packs are #1 and comfy pants are #2! Happy hunting! Hope it serves you well


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Good boots are #1.  If your feet hurt, nothing else matters.

I guess my boots have never let me down.. so I’ve always underrated boots. Very good point.


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[Jpmiller]

My current pack is a stone glacier so you obviously made the wrong choice going mystery ranch  but seriously hope you like that mystery ranch, might be my next pack when I want something new.

My hunting partner uses an osprey pack and I'm constantly giving him a bad time. He has about twenty packs from before his hunting days and he won't buy a new one on principal. Didn't you shoot an elk a year or two ago? How did you pack that one out?

[Stein]

Pack came in yesterday, and considering I've only ever head lightweight backpacking-focused packs (mainly from Osprey), HOLY HELL this thing is beefy.  It's gonna take me a minute to get used to it.    I threw some gear in and strapped my rifle on and it seems like it will carry really well. 

I'll post pictures at some point when I've had a chance to get it out on the trail.

I hear you.  When I got an Exo, it felt like I was strapping a lightweight dining room table on my back.

[yakimanoob]

Took the pack and the pup for a stroll in the hills today.  My initial impressions are that it's going to be a great pack for my style of hunting (mostly day hunts with occasional ultralight overnights/weekends).  It's stiff as a board, which is obviously the point but it's going to take some getting used to, and I can't help but wonder... like... does EVERYTHING on the pack need to be so overbuilt?  Like I said, coming from the world of Osprey packs, I'm having to readjust my expectations...    

I've never had molle hipbelts before, and the flexibility is nice.  I kinda liked having my binos on the belt instead of in my FHF chest rig, but I don't know if I'll be able to give up the chest harness as a standard.  It's definitely a little more awkward to get them in and out of the stock case on your hip than in the chest rig.   We'll see how I feel about it on further trips. 

I am very impressed with the suspension, and I was particularly surprised by how the main part of the back panel doesn't make contact with my back at all -- which is wonderful for ventilation.  Maybe for other body shapes it does sit against the back, or maybe I just missed it when I read people's reviews.  Either way, that's a HUGE plus for me, and not one I was expecting.

My only real gripe so far is that the shoulder harness doesn't have any elastic loops to hold your hydration tube in place (pictured).  Let's hope that remains my biggest complaint! 

[bigdub257]

I use the small elastic cord on the sternum strap clip to secure the bladder hose. Seems to work fairly well.

[yakimanoob]

Following up on my Sawtooth 45 pack, I ended up selling it and have ordered a Terraframe 50. 

After about a year of use, a few frustrations surfaced and never went away. 

1) It's... floppy?  Full of gear and on your back, it could hardly be any neater and tighter.  But when you're packing or accessing your stuff, the packs flops and falls in a way that makes operating the zippers very frustrating, and tends to let gear fall out of the pack regardless of whether it's upright or laying down in duffel position.  The way the fabric is cut also makes operating the main zipper frustratingly difficult when it's full of gear.  You can (kinda) see the fabric tension issue in the photos above in how a fold develops running horizontally across the front panel of the pack when it's full of gear.

2) I abhor the SJ autolock buckles.  YMMV, but I never could adjust to having to use both hands and a lot of effort every time I wanted to change the tension on a strap.  I've personally never had a problem with buckles slipping under load, and IMO the security of that mechanism is not worth the considerable increase in effort required to simply tighten the straps. 

3) The lower straps, going from the bottom of the pack to the bottom of the frame, do not have a buckle.  This means that it's exceptionally difficult to use those straps for tents, sleeping pads, etc to be strapped to the bottom of the pack.  I didn't expect this to matter so much to me, but since I wanted to push this 45L pack to 3-5 day backpack hunts, the inefficiency of strapping things to the outside of the pack bag turned out to be very frustrating. 

Things I liked, in no particular order:
- The build quality is unbelievable.  I'm used to Osprey packs which are no slouches when it comes to durability, but the Sawtooth is downright confidence-inspiring in the way it's constructed.
- When it's packed well, it makes for a super tight package on your back and carries extremely well.
- Honestly, it just looks really cool.  I like the look of the Sawtooth way more than the Terraframe, and I've already tentatively nicknamed the Terraframe "Big Ugly."
- The molle hipbelt on the GL MT frame is sa-weeeet.  I'm now running a Forager pocket on each side with an Alienware holster for my Beretta Nano on the right side. 
- It carries like a dream.  With my camp and gear and half my buddy's bear, I went ~3mi with 95lbs on my back and the pack did it's part wonderfully.  No hot spots, and it comfortably transferred the load to my hips.  Still one of the most physical things I've ever done, but I have no complaints about the pack itself.

Once I get the Terraframe 50 out in the woods, I'll post more thoughts with the new pack.