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Posted by Bill S on February 15, 2008 at 11:50:39 am EST
In reply to Dana Design Terraplane Backpacks posted by tboyflyer on February 14, 2008 at 11:51:06 pm EST

Arcflex is the family of packs the Terraplane and Astraplane belong to. It refers to the suspension system. The just plain "Terraplane" was the original version. All in the family are basically the same with minor variations. "Overkill" (the one I have) is made with 1000 denier cordura vs the 500 for the other versions, so much heavier duty (and much heavier weight - 8.5 pounds empty, but it has stood up to a number of month-long expeditions from Alaska Range to Antarctica with no visible wear for some 10 years now). The OK was also the first version with the side zips, which really improved the access when you are sitting out a week-long storm at 17,000 ft on Denali. Terraplane 10th Anniversary Edition is just what it says, but added the side zips and a couple other features from the OK to the basic Terraplane. Terraplane X is essentially the 10th Anniversary Edition as it was continued beyond the 10th Anniversary year (version my spouse has). The LTW is a "light weight" version (not very light compared to some newer packs of the same capacity, but lighter than the original versions). I vaguely recall that the LTW was also slightly reshaped as a women's pack, but don't hold me to that.

Note that certain versions are strictly top-loading for the main compartment, while others have the side zips to provide extra access without unpacking everything. The other major difference is whether the whole pack is 500 denier, 1000 denier, or a mix.

Quality and design when Dana Gleason owned the company were excellent, though the packs were heavy (my son has a Bomb Pack, which is a bit heavy for a day pack, but was intended for ski patrollers carrying avalanche control devices; he uses is as a weekend backpack). The packs stayed much the same in quality for the ones continued through the two subsequent sales of the original Dana Designs. The Terraplane still exists under a different name and some design changes in the latest corporate owner (Mr. Gleason will vehemently tell you otherwise).

When Dana Gleason sold the company, he continued as consultant/advisor for a year or so, then got upset at how things were going. That's when he started Mystery Ranch. He tried selling that at one point (without success). I think he still owns MR.

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