The time has come to bid a sad farewell to my Osprey Talon. I've had it for five years plus and it is now starting to show it's age with the belt pockets fraying to the point of unusability and holes appearing in the lid and the bottom. It's been a fab pack, pockets where I want them and an amazing ability to eat a vast amount of stuff - whether that's two ropes, a rack and the rest of the clobber required for a day at the crag, or weird unwieldy items of christmas present shopping. There's only two complaints I have - it's the bag of faf with straps dangling off it everywhich way (even after I cut some of the more extraneous ones off) and although it has given me five years hard service I'm still a little disappointed that parts of it have worn through but I guess that's the price to pay for it being so light.
So what should I replace it with? In my mind I need a goodish size pack, c. 35 litres with the same ability to eat shoeboxes and whatnot. It needs to have a lid you can put a rope under with a pocket on the top and a pocket underneath. An accessible pocket somewhere on the straps for a headtorch/binoculars would be nice as would an easy access pocket you can stuff a layer in without having to undo the whole thing. Any suggestions for an alternative or should I just get a shiny new talon? I did look at the lowe alpine alpine attack today which seemed almost perfect (and has gear loops!) but it seems a bit big and ott for a bag about town.
Any thoughts appreciated!
