UKC

Hello all,

I'm in the market for a new daysack for winter and summer climbing to go with 30 and 45+ sacks already in my possession.

I quite like the look of these two but was wondering what the real difference is between them for such a big cost gap? The simond one costs 20£ new and I have the opportunity to buy the osprey for 40£, which is normally about 80 RRP. Can anybody explain the feature disparity between the two to cause such a price gap? 

I prefer the looks of the osprey but there must be something other than looks and brand that makes it cost so much in comparison?

And of course, which should I go for? I do prefer the looks of the osprey but I'm not sure if I like it for twice the cost. The features appear very similar with the simond having a few more, for a very similar weight.

Thanks

Weight and material, plus some design details and features make Osprey more spendy. 
 

Are they worth the premium, it depends. 
 

I’m not that fond of Osprey, they seem to pack way too many features and such on their packs. As an enginerd I do like the idea, but on real world use I just end up cutting extra stuff away or gettin’ annoyed by it. 
 

I prefer a cleaner and thus more robust feel to sacks. Blue Ice ticks those quite well, and I recall Sports-Pursuit might have some still at bargain prices (Dragonfly, so a lightweight climbing sack, which might suit your needs).

I've an older version of the Simond 22 sac, originally bought mostly for use in town (commuting, work related travel, etc) but its become my usual small day sac for walking & ski trips where I don't expect to have to carry my skis on my sac. Its now about 5 years old & the fabric is starting to show signs of wear in places. I don't really climb anymore but I've carried it on some scrambly routes & its been fine for that. The Osprey (which I don't know) would have to have something special to merit paying so much more

Two factors really, Simond is owned by Decathlon and they are distributed exclusively  through their stores which means no extra distributors costs and shop costs, so they can retail at a much lower price. They also have a very limited R&D spend and tend to run lines for a long time. Then the materials are as Hema says a little less spendy and features not quite as good. But overall my experience of Simond has been that it is good functional kit at a fraction of the cost. 

Osprey, well I used to agree with Hema, until I was looking for a new pack hand ended up buying an Exposure 35 pack. It quickly became my favourite pack and has remained so for the 10 years i've had it. I have bought others since, for example a Montane, but the Osprey is just well designed, comfortable and works in all conditions. The Montane, all the buckles broke, the fabric wasn't hard wearing, the ice axe holder which looked like it would be excellent IMO was total tat... really wasn't impressed at all. Hopefully they have improved since I bought mine... But back to the point, the mutant is their most stripped down pack - if it had existed when I bought mine, that's the pack I'd have gone for and TBH I wouldn't hesitate to get it if it was at the right price... £40 for a pack is not much really...

If you're talking bout the £19.99 "Mountaineering Backpack 22l", I'll tell you it's ace. I have a lovely 30l roll-top berghaus alpine number - never gets used. I also have two of those superlight foldable packs - a decathlon  20l 'cliff' and a blue ice dragonfly. They have ended up as gym bags - as they just don't have any structure and as soon as you put anything in them they flop about.

They've released a superlight version (about half the weight) - 

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/mountaineering-backpack-22-litres-sprint-22-g...

The cheap one is a much better day-to-day bag (if you ended up taking it walking or scrambling or casual climbing, rather than trying to shave weight to be done super fast in the alps).

Another thing to look out for is Lowe Alpine's packs on sportpursuit. They were knocking out their top end alpine pack for like £40 last time I checked.

Thank you for your comment, I had a look at sportpursuit sale but could not find the dragonfly... I may have found some other random bits and bobs I do not need though!

This pack is mainly to get used for summer and winter day hikes with use of ice axe and crampons. I have bigger sacks so can give this to my girlfriend so she can carry her axes yet I can still take most of the weight. Doesn't need to be hardcore durability but I'm not sure if the dragonfly would be too light for a general purpose daysack like this.

Another option was the mountain equipment goblin 24 but it hasn't got the rope carrying buckle at the lid which is why I omitted it...

Is that the alpinism 22 sack with the daisy chain down the middle? I saw one of those for sale somewhere, might have been Facebook but it looked pretty good. Think I'd opt for the newer version though as the two axe loop things look funky and it's only £20 to include warranty. It has all the features I'd like but I just much prefer the osprey styling 

Yeah it seems like £40 is actually on the more affordable side of rucksacks! My deuter guide was £40 which was also second hand, but it made more sense since it's a big pack with a lot of features. This I think is harder to justify for some reason even though I'd end up using it much more than the deuter...

If I threw the ME goblin 24 into the mix would you still side with the osprey? I'd have gone for the ME as it's price is a balance between the two, it's still very light and good quality materials but it doesn't have the rope securing buckle on the lid. 

Yeah I had a little look at that more expensive one, 'only' 100D fabric compared to the much stronger fabric of the cheaper one and the other options I'm considering. Weight isn't so much of an issue that is my priority I just didn't want to be hauling around a l bag of bricks!

Yes you are correct that is the bag I speak of and thank you for your comparison with the other bags. Is the lowe alpine one the velo 30? It's the only model I see in this price/size category on their website. The marmot kompressor 18l looks interesting but I think it'll turn out to be a little small

Just out of interest, you seem keen on a zip top pack? Roll tops to me make more sense especially for climbing when you are likely to have hard pokey things which stick out and make zip tops harder to close. Also at a push the roll top can be used a little extended to fit a few extras in. And I would say at the size you are looking at, having a good way to attach ropes is more or less essential. 22l is just about OK for a cag, you gear and a small amount of food and water but nothing else.

As it were I actually much prefer a roll top as well...I just couldn't find any of this quality for this price, in this size bracket with all of these features. This all started off with me looking at vintage karrimor rucksacks in Facebook marketplace and then I went on to deuter/black diamond etc and found these three.

The only other sacks I've found are macpac amp race 25 and deuter speed lite 26 but I thought the 26 was getting a little big. 

Ideally I'd have a 24 litre roll top made from a tough fabric, all modular parts, ice axe holders, rope buckle, option for compression straps and have it be a muted yellow colour very similar to ME 'acid yellow'! Unfortunately this doesn't exist for my price range as far as I can see

<cough cough>

https://www.simond.com/mountaineering-backpack-22-litres-sprint-22-grey-id_...

Should have known you were going to come at me with that haha! One of the previous commenters mentioned it but I was worried about how durable it will be as a normal daysack being only 100D fabric, in comparison to the other 22l zip top simond having 420D body and 600D base.

Edit: it would see pretty heavy use as the main summer rucksack for walking and also possibly the rucksack for a 2nd all year around

Yes the cheap one is pretty bombproof. It also has a slightly padded back, thicker straps and structure which makes it lots more comfortable as an all around 'daysack' rather than a specalist lightweight climbing pack. I have one, my mrs has one. I'll prob buy another. The black one is smart enough for putting a laptop in it and commuting e.t.c.

No, SP were (past tense) selling off (and came back on every so often) the lowe alpine attacks in various sizes.

Fair comment, although at that price I'm not sure longevity matters that much... if its a sack mainly for walking with then the one you originally highlighted would seem fine to me as it has better padding. I think you might be in danger of overthinking this thing... as for vintage karrimors - they were brilliant 25 years ago... things have moved on a bit...

ME Goblin 24.

Can be found for around £37 online. 

I use mine for the bike commute to work and I have no doubt it will be the most brilliant Summer scrambling pack.

Big zip toggles.

Simple.

Carries well.

Feels quality.

No extra nonsense. 

It's also a pleasant yellow colour.

Have you found any way to attach a rope to the sack? The osprey is only 3£ more and has the rope buckle on it 

Also yes I am definitely overthinking this, not been able to get out so gear is apparently what my mind has decided to focus on!

I got the mutant 22 last year cheap on ebay and love it. Great for summer walking, used it for a summer ascent of Eagle Ridge as well. The rope strap is quite good - can be used either as an internal compression strap to pull the top of the sac in when there isn't much in the sac, or can be threaded to the outside under the lid zip and then loop back over the top to hold a rope. Cant comment on the alternatives.

No I haven't, although it wouldn't take long to work something out using the grab handle. The Osprey is a cracking pack too!

Hahah, yes!