UKC

The Centaur 38 is a climbing focussed pack with all the features you need for year round climbing adventures.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=3433

In reply to UKC Gear:

Not a bad looking pack, looks like Marmot took the Osprey Mutant and stripped most of the junk off it.

In reply to chris_s: A UKC review will follow shortly as I'm doing my best to break one currently! Overall a good, simple pack; some nice touches and a couple of niggles.

In reply to UKC Gear: Velcro tool loops - NNNNnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooooo! They freeze up and stop working in just when you don't want them to, in my experience. Shame, looks a great pack otherwise.

In reply to TobyA:
Good colour too, aye?

In reply to nickinscottishmountains: Don't know what you are doing to them, because that never happens to me and I have had a number of packs with velcro tool straps. Very occasionally I brush some snow off, or blow on them if they are really icy. A couple of breaths and you can melt icing, but like I say I have maybe had to do this once or twice in dozens of days out with packs with velcro tabs.

In reply to Nick Harvey: mine is quite jolly and bright - although I was mocked by my family for my disability (colour blind) when I called it yellow when supposedly to the rest of the world it is clearly green...

In reply to chris_s:

Aye, looks exactly the same to me, pity they didn't strip more weight off?

For a pack this size, you don't need top tension straps or padded waist belt. You could then loose the extra straps on waist belt and krab holder things too! A simple padded back too would suffice.

Then again, it wouldn't look so 'climber' in the shops!

Stuart

In reply to Stuart the postie:


It is a simple padded back. The shoulder straps are also great for climbing with, using a design I haven't seen before.

I guess not everyone wants just 25 mm webbing waist belt, a bit of padding isn't a bad thing if you have a long walk in with all your gear and most of your clothing for the day stuffed in your bag, although they become an annoyance when you are actually climbing. On this one you can take the lid off if you want to save weight, but actually its a pretty neat and simple pack to start off with - no removable framesheet or struts for example. So it's not a 'strippable' as other similar packs but of course that makes it also lighter to begin with than many similar sized packs.

In reply to TobyA:

I have a Golite Jam pack, same size as the above, 700g or so, nearly half the weight.

Berghaus also did something similar (Phantom 37L), again sub 1kg.

I have a 16yr old Lowe Spire 40, tuff as f'k materials, still about 1kg!

I just don't understand why something, in todays 'fast and light', with materials and technology, can still weigh much more than 1kg?

Stuart

In reply to Stuart the postie:


Yep - fair enough. I don't think my Berghaus Ice Star that I got in 1990 weighs any more than this, so lighter packs aren't a new idea.

>

I guess those are pretty specialist light packs - my 'on route' pack weighs 280 grs (REI Flash), but I tend to carry that in a bigger more comfy pack that I leave at the base of a route in winter if we are abbing the route.


Just sold a 15 year old Lowe Snowpeak which was also probably only 1.5 kgs and lasted superbly.


I suppose materials haven't changed that much for an all-round pack. You still have two shoulder straps, a bit of padding in the back, a lid with a zipped pocket or two, etc. In fact one of the things I do like about the Centaur is how much it reminds me of my rather knackered Berghaus ice star from a time when the Soviet Union still existed! The Centaur isn't a super light pack - Marmot do this one http://marmot.com/products/ultra_kompressor?p=119 (which I think is what Will Simm sees to be using for all his amazing Patagonian and Alpine routes), it's a decent all rounder.

In reply to TobyA:

Look forward to the review, even though I should be curbing my pack obsession

In reply to Stuart the postie:

I agree, and while we're at it, why does any pack have ice axe loops?

In reply to chris_s:


I prefer having them on the back rather than on the sides, but it's mainly just a personal preference. Occasionally I need to strap other things on the side (snowshoes or skis normally) then you want your tools on the back.

In reply to TobyA:

You multisport deviants!

In reply to chris_s:


You have to get to the bottom of the icefalls somehow!

In reply to TobyA:

Tools don't go so well on the side when the pack is less than half full. I used to be against tool-keeper type things so cut them off a CiloGear pack I had, along with nearly everything else. I kind of regret it now, though unfortunatley I have many other packs I can use :-O

Been on a bit of a hunt for a 35l-ish climbing pack lately, so interesting to see this Marmot. I don't think it looks like the Os Mut 38 at all? I sold the BD Epic 35 that I just got - that lumbar pad still sh*tted me. I disagree about not needing adjuster straps on the shoulder straps, I quite like them as I often want to snug the load in closer over my shoulders. Some packs hang back to much and without these straps they're useless. If you actually put a bit of weight in these packs and walk any distance, a padded hipbelt is nice, but yes, they are a PIA over a harness. I have a Phantom 37 that I have not used as I can see it won't stand up to regular crag-type use or big loads - it's a specialist thing, but nice and simple. So right now I've gone back to realising that CiloGear packs fit me best of all. For me, they carry better than packs twice their weight and just seem to fit me better. There's a variety of bodies out there, using these packs for a variety of things, so I don't see much use in hard-n-fast rules about what a pack of this size 'should' be like.