By continuing you agree to our use of cookies. You are able to update your settings at any time.

Cookie Policy

A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie, is a piece of data stored by a website within a browser, and then subsequently sent back to the same website by the browser. Cookies were designed to be a reliable mechanism for websites to remember things that a browser had done there in the past, which can include having clicked particular buttons, logging in, or having read pages on that site months or years ago.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies cannot be disabled

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They are normally set in response to your interactions on the website e.g. logging in etc.

Cookies:
  • .ASPXANONYMOUS
  • .DOTNETNUKE
  • __RequestVerificationToken
  • authentication
  • CV_Portal
  • CV_Store_Portal_Cart_21
  • CV_USER
  • dnn_IsMobile
  • language
  • LastPageId
  • NADevGDPRCookieConsent_portal_21
  • userBrowsingCookie

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to monitor traffic to our website so we can improve the performance and content of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited or how you navigated around our website.

Cookies:
  • _ga
  • _gat
  • _gid

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and content. They may be set by the website or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.

Cookies:

Currently we are not utilizing these types of cookies on our site.

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Cookies:

Currently we are not utilizing these types of cookies on our site.

How Much Can It Carry?

When you're looking at a pack, one of your very first questions is "how much can it carry?". We want to give you as much information as possible to answer that question, so we give you three different sets of information for each pack - dimensions, volume, and chassis capacity. Each one gives you a different look at what a pack can do. Read below for more detail on each one.

Volume

Everyone who has taken geometry knows that volume is length * width * height. Except no backpack manufacturer uses that metric. They use a combination of loading a bag with something like beans and voodoo math to arrive at their pack volumes which are expressed in either cubic inches or liters.

We used to publish only "dimensional volume" like we learned in geometry for our volumes. Then we started hearing back from unhappy customers that our packs were *way* bigger than we said they were. This is because they had an idea in their head based on other manufacturers' published volumes. So we started using some voodoo math of our own to come up with "volumes" that allow you to compare apples to apples with other manufacturers. That's what the "comparative volume" is.

Which of those two volume measurements is the one to pay attention to? Tough to say. Depends on what you're comparing with. If you pay attention to the dimensional volume, it's not going to be smaller than you're thinking -- but it might be bigger than you're thinking.

In addition to the volume measurement, we also give the dimensional measurements because it's another way to understand just how big a pack is. You can always get out a measuring stick and plot out a rectangle using the dimensions.

Chassis Capacity

Volume is useful, but it doesn't really tell you how load capable a pack is. All of our packs are engineered for load carriage and will safely and comfortably carry much more than their volume suggests. Chassis capacity is how much you can load onto a pack in a pinch and expect it to still be functional. It's a representation of what is possible, not what you should be doing.

Our haulers (the Ute and qui-Ya) have a chassis capacity of 300lbs. We know this because we've done it. However, there are very few people in this world who should be carrying much more than 80lbs in a pack, particularly over broken terrain.

Our smallest pack (the Tarahumara) has a chassis capacity of 50lbs. Does this mean it makes a good overnight pack? Of course not. Other packs in our lineup are far better suited for that role. But, like most of our packs, the Tarahumara has a useful and robust compression system that will let you add a lot of volume to it if necessary.

So if you're out on a hike and find a stash of Spanish gold bullion in some desert canyon, don't hesitate to load that pack up with a few bars to take home. You know you'll never find the stash again so count yourself as fortunate that your pack can carry a lot more weight than you would normally want it to.