bushbasherbrad wrote:My Brother has a mountain designs 75ltr pack and that is excellent and has plenty of room
Brad, if your Allgoods cheapie is the same size, try getting all your gear and packing it in your pack, then pack the same stuff in your brothers pack. At least that will give you a closer idea of size.
From your gear list there should be plenty of room in most packs, how well does your sleeping bag compress? Mine gets down to smaller than a soccer ball. Probably not good for it, but it means I can fit it in.
Being a "cheapie Allgoods" pack, you might want to have a close look at the features it has that you like and don't like, and weigh up whether you think it will be good enough or whether you do indeed need to replace it.
If you do decide to replace, there is a stack of discussion on packs on this forum. Everyone has opinions on what they like and all you can do is take on board what you read here and keep the relevant points in your mind when considering a pack in the shops. It's always best to look at the packs, and to try them on and see whether they fit you properly (some are quite adjustable), and is comfortable WITH a load.
Something else to consider if replacing it is whether you might one day want to walk solo, therefore need to carry everything, so think about that too.
Eddie, to address your question re the pockets etc... I used to have just the top loading and like you, pull everything and the liner out to get to the tent and whatever underneath.
I was very comfortable with how I did things and didn't think I would like a pack that unzips the bottom section.
Now I have the liner bag in the top section, the tent / tyvek , pegs go in the bottom pocket so I can get to it all without having to fully unpack when arriving at camp, it's great. Billy, stove (in billy) and fuel sit under the liner bag so I can get to it either from underneath after removing the tent, or after removing (or emptying) the liner bag. Poles I strap to the side of the pack, usually rolled in the centre of a laminated map. Sits beside the tripod on the outside of the pack, held on by the side compression straps.
Water bottle on other side in little open pocket on outside of pack. Stretchy sort of material, works well but badly grazed by rocks and has a few holes, to be expected because of what it's made of and what I use it for.
My pack has a clip for keys as well, though I usually use it for the pocket knife as I sometimes need it in a hurry and want to know exactly where it is. For example, Scarpa laces covered in snowseal get quite stiff, and sometimes I need the corkscrew on the pocket knife to get hold of the laces to get them undone, easier on the fingers esp. if it's cold.
My current pack has a bit of a design problem in that nearly always when doing up the zipper on the top pocket, the membrane near the zip gets caught in it. So you have to hold it out of the way, which is a bit hard to do if you really load the top pocket up.
My wife's Esprit has a little pocket on the side of the top pocket, my old Ravine had that too, this pocket was great for little things to get your hands on - torch, compass, DEET, sunscreen, whatever. The pocket on the back is great for the bog roll & trowel, 1st aid, and the PLB. One zipper to get to it all, or the PLB goes in the pocket if we're leaving the packs at camp for a while.
More info here than just packs I know, more drifting in to how to use the features the pack has.
And yes, it is important to know where the keys are in the pack, and that they are not going to fall out. Hasn't happened to me, thankfully.
If you adopt the mentality that your life depends on every piece of gear you carry, you might be surprised at how aware you become of where everything is. After all, it just might.......
Posted: Mon 05 Jul, 2010 4:43 pm
) with a great harness system with the classic being the McMillan in the range. Of course some will differ in that opinion 
Not noticed anyone walking away from the OP range unless heading for lighter or specialised harness system such as the Aarn balance system. A good quality all nylon pack can save over a kilogram if not two compared to the canvas style so Osprey might be worth a look. In that case as Nuts points out buying direct from the USA is much cheaper but you take a big risk that the harness you get will be the wrong size so buying locally from a shop that will fit a pack to you is often worth the money. Beware, fitting packs is a bit more specialised than what a lot of Kathmandu staff can manage so if you are paying a lot make sure the person knows what they are doing.