G7 Haul Packs

I admit, I’m skeptical:

How could they possibly be as durable or more durable than traditional haul bags?

How could they possibly carry heavy loads well without hip belts?

How often will they snag while hauling with straps hanging from them?

Disclaimer: I was just as skeptical of the Pod but decided to become an early adopter and am completely convinced. No reason to believe G7 can’t pull this off too.

PS: I have a Black Diamond Zion in great condition for sale.

Josh Janes wrote:

I admit, I’m skeptical:

How could they possibly be as durable or more durable than traditional haul bags?

How could they possibly carry heavy loads well without hip belts?

How often will they snag while hauling with straps hanging from them?

Disclaimer: I was just as skeptical of the Pod but decided to become an early adopter and am completely convinced. No reason to believe G7 can’t pull this off too.

PS: I have a Black Diamond Zion in great condition for sale.

They don't carry as heavy loads as tradition nal haul bags. Why do they need to be as durable?

How heavy of a load can you possibly fit in such a small bag?

Also concerned about the straps. 

Rotary hammer, batts, hammer, etc... bolting hardware weight adds up very fast.

Based on the usage in the vids it seems more just for multipitch climbing and not carrying much more than shoes, jacket, water, and some snacks.

Desert Rock Sports wrote:

Rotary hammer, batts, hammer, etc... bolting hardware weight adds up very fast.

Based on the usage in the vids it seems more just for multipitch climbing and not carrying much more than shoes, jacket, water, and some snacks.

Exactly. My normal cragging pack which can carry a rack and rope (or drill & hardware) is about 35 L (equivalent to the mid-size G7) and I can’t imagine a hike of any significant length without a hip belt with just that load. The larger G7 is 55 L… unless I was filling it with an unstuffed down sleeping bag it is hard to imagine more than a stroll to the base of El Cap without hip belt… but maybe G7 has worked some magic.

it looks like it has an unpadded hip belt, but it does have a belt.

EJN wrote:

it looks like it has an unpadded hip belt, but it does have a belt.

Ah I think you're right... It's weird their photos don't clearly show this. But dang, unpadded belts are usually pretty worthless. We shall see.

I'll offer my .02 as someone who's been testing them for the past few months: they're sick. Full disclosure, I was so into it I jumped into helping G7 with the product. So take it for what you will, but I'm a pretty harsh critic and think 90% of the gear out there (at best) these days is complete shite. For context I've taken the Haul Pack to Yosemite, the Black Canyon, Alaska, and RMNP.

The material is as durable as a haul bag. It's actually not that complicated: put some actual R&D into developing a more expensive textile than the old school, cheap PVC used on traditional haul bags and of course you'll get something lighter. Plus as someone mentioned the whole idea with their kit is combined with a POD and other tactics you just aren't carrying 100 lb loads and going full El Cap vacation wall style.

As noted they have a simple webbing hip belt, same as the Arcteryx Alpha FL packs. I have only used the 22 and 36, so I can't speak to a fully loaded 55, but I was surprised how well the simple hip belt carried (I recall thinking the same with the Arc packs). I'm sure if you're fully shirtless the webbing edge would be more uncomfortable than a padded hip belt, but personally I'll take the hit for reduced weight and bulk when I start climbing. Remember when the super light harnesses came out with less padding but spread the webbing itself to distribute the load more broadly? The haters sound familiar... 

The shoulder straps are RAD. Probably the most impressive part of the whole pack IMO. Those guys found some crazy indestructible Japanese product used for dump truck couplings that has a nice soft feel on one side and cut it ergonomically so it doesn't pressure point. Apparently it's the single most expensive component, and I believe it. Between being low profile and a fairly smooth material, with a sort of flat lay connecting to the bag, they seem to avoid snagging quite well. If you were doing a gnarly haul with lots of serious snag potential I'd probably take the 10 seconds to unthread the webbing from the bottom buckle just to be safe?

End of the day, is this my daily driver for cragging? Nope, I use a TNF Cinder 55 that I got for free five years ago and I can dump everything into, toss on the ground, and not care. But if I'm headed on a proper objective where weight matters and I'm gonna be hauling and/or climbing with the bag, I think they are tough to beat. Just to be clear, they are NOT indestructible, nothing is. Personally I'm super into the 22 because I do a lot of hard (for me) multi pitch rock climbing and that's the perfect size to tag on hard pitches. So no more burning through a Blitz pack every big mission...

that's a pretty solid review.  thanks for the info!

https://www.climbing.com/gear/best-climbing-backpack/