Bushwalk Australia

In other news, it appears that ZPacks has stopped using non-hybrid fabric for their original Blast backpacks. Their website now says that the Blasts are being made with the more durable hybrid fabric.

So this basically turns them into the Arc without the frame.

I think there is this growing trend over the last year or so within the SUL world to focus more on durability of gear than saving an ounce here-or-there. Seeing it at almost every gear company. SMD for example with their new backpack lineup threw the issue of weight out the door and focused more on building a backpack that could properly handle load-transfer to the hips (where weight belongs). MLD has stopped offering 0.51 cuben fiber all together and only offers 0.74 now. The list could go on and on.

Is all of this because of market demand, too much products being returned because of damage, or just foresight by these companies to try to prevent bad PR from gear that does not hold up over the long haul.

I personally love the hybrid CF and my last two backpacks have been made with it (at a near double the weight penalty) but I still find myself grabbing my old Zero made from 1.0 cf a LOT of times.

Going to be interesting to watch the market over the next year and see if this trend continues.