What's wrong with Outdoor Products backpacks?

So I'm at the beach today with a friend, who goes hiking with me every blue moon and tends to buy the most expensive crap he can find (no idea why). As we started going back, he noticed my backpack (Outdoor Products Vortex) and goes "omg, why do you buy such cheap gear?"

I bought it cause I needed a beach-only bag big enough for my blanket, towel, water/liquor/vodka/liquor/sunscreen, bug spray, etc and just didn't think that I *HAD* to buy an Osprey or Arc Teryx pack.

I've never had any complaints with OP, I've never hiked with their gear either (I've had Jansport, Kelty, and Arc Teryx), but what is it about their products that make them "inferior". When the airline had me out in Arizona, all I saw were Outdoor Products hydration backpacks & daypacks

*shrugs*

If it meets your needs, tell him to mind his own beeswax, some of my friends have more money than me, and newer stuff, but my technical skills usually win the day, not just my gear labels. (not bragging, still learning)

I can't answer your question specifically, just felt like saying that!
What did people do 500 yrs. ago? They certainly did not die off because they did not have that years pack, or newest color!
Geez.

I'm with trouthunter, if you like the pack and it works for you and your needs (whether that's at the beach or on the trail), don't worry about it.

Anyone who judges people by the labels on their gear is likely to be in for a few surprises.

I'm not a poster-child for brand names, but I was accused of being the "columbia" boy one day on the trails cause i was wearing columbia shoes, socks, hiking pants, and shirt

(all by accident, of course... )

ok, fine, there was a sale at REI.

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I'd rather see you on the trail with your OP pack than see your friend carrying his laptop into the library in an Osprey. Take whatcha got and go with it - your the one in the right.

People make gear. Not the other way around

I second f klock.

Also the most comfortable pair of pants I own are a pair of Columbia Landers, they are cotton so they are leisure pants, not technical, but Columbia is a very good bang for the buck brand for basic backcountry travel. IMO

It is at least a good launching pad to get you started without worrying about your stuff falling apart on the trail.

Also nothing wrong with closeouts if you need to save money, being frugal leads to prosperity later in life. Then buy the new Scarpas.

I have an OP pack that I bought to use as a day pack for snowshoeing. It is probably around 2500-3000 ci. Big for a day pack, but I put a lot in it. The only thing "wrong" with it is that it is a little short for me in the torso and doesn't ride quite as well as my other pack. It cost $40 at Sport Chalet and was a bargain. It is well made and I'd put it up against a lot of other brands. A friend of mine took it to India for 3 weeks and it worked fine for her. It has a big shovel pocket on it and is actually a pretty good design for a winter pack.

My most used pack is a no name-literally-day pack that I got for free on a job. I use it almost every day and have done so for about 20 years. It is a simple design of Cordura nylon. It has no markings on it whatsoever, not even a "made in China" label.

Your friend is, to put it politely, "unenlightened" regarding the relationship between branding and quality. In other words, he's a snob and a poser who thinks tromping around town in the latest TNF jacket makes people think he just got back from Everest base camp.

Yes, there is a lot of poorly made gear out there that will start falling apart as soon as you buy it and some can be readily identified by brand, but not always. You can easily find cheap gear with a well-known name on it because of licensing deals that "rent" the name to manufacturers.

I'm sure we all have some example of good, bad or indifferent products regardless of brand. I had a pair of almost new New Balance boots come apart at a very inopportune time, so you never know.

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...I was accused of being the "columbia" boy one day on the trails cause i was wearing columbia shoes, socks, hiking pants, and shirt

At one time columbia made a lot of the L.L.Bean clothing, particularly the fleece products. No one would fault you for wearing L.L.Bean the trail- because they KNOW you over-paid for it!

I have a Columbia flyfishing shirt that I like WAY more than my ExOfficio shirt of almost the exact same style (I bought the Ex. for 1/2 price in Utah because the salmon color didn't sell very well) For the Columbia, I paid 1/3 of what the "cool" shirt sold for at regular price.

I also have a pair of columbia GoreTex hiking boots that I absolutely love. They DON'T leak, but my Salomons did.

Don't let Ma Gert hear anyone talk smack about her products out on the trail, or they'll be talking out the other side of their head!!!

Well, about the "inferior" OP - I have 2 OP large duffles I have been using for years as the outer protective shell I put my expedition gear in for travel. For the past few years, I have gone to an Eagle Creek roll-around for the airport to airport part of the trips, but the EC gets stashed for storage when I head for the mountain (hard to roll those little wheels in the snow and dirt). One of the OP has been on Denali 4 times, serving as the in-sled and 14,000 foot cache bag, plus 3 trips to the Mexican volcanoes, plus was the on-sled bag in Antarctica as well as being the "checked" bag for the flight to the ice and back in the Ilyushin (the Ukrainian baggage gorillas are even less kind than the US airport baggage gorillas. The other bag has been Barb's bag in sled for our back-country ski tours, as well as her pack protector.

Typically, the following items go in the OP duffles for the expeditions - climbing pack full of gear (Dana Terraplanes for both of us), snowshoes, ice axes/ice climbing tools (with covers on the points), crampons (in crampon bag), hiking/ski poles, camera tripod (not the cameras, though - wouldn't trust them in checked baggage), blue foam pad (Thermarests are inside the pack), and a few other loose items. On the return trip, the plastic climbing boots or hiking boots get put in the duffle as well (I wear them on the plane on the outbound trip, since it is hard to buy new technical boots at the trailhead)

No torn handles, no cuts or even significant worn spots, no broken zippers - tell me again what your "friend" had to say about this "cheap" Outdoor Products gear? It sure does the job for my heavy hauling. True, I would rather have the "cheap" duffle damaged than the Terraplane, snowshoes, or ice tools.

On Columbia, they are sponsors of one of the top (if not the actual top) team in the current Tour de France.

I think in the old days(1980s), backpackers associated anything in bright orange as being of questionable quality. I remember the OP packs as day-glo orange with a junky looking brand-tag and using what looked like flimsy aluminum tubing along with a minimal harness system. I've hardly seen anyone using their packs except for a few scouts and some local boys trying to get a step beyond car camping.

My pack is a far cry from that-a well-made internal frame pack with aluminum stays, a big shovel pocket with a daisy chain down the center, a bladder pocket on the inside,two mesh pockets for water bottles,a top pocket and padded waistband-all for $40. Sure it may be no Granite Gear or Arctery'x, but at a fraction of the price, well worth it.

I vaguely remember the old cheap ones. But don't forget-who remembers when "Made in Japan" meant cheap imitations? Things change.

I've had some experience with this brand. It has always been durable, but it is a bit heavy for long-distance backpacking IMO. The duffles are great for carrying heavy loads short distances and hold up well.

I'd rather spend my money getting to the trail! My mom joined me on the AT for a few days, her gear was my bookbag from school, a yoga mat, a painters tarp, and a sheet sewn together like a burrito! Talk about cheap gear! It was ultralight too, about 6 pounds + food and water. GO MOM!

damn... and I'm taking my jansport with me this weekend on the AT... got bored and found myself with some time off, so I'm flying up to Knoxville on Sunday for a few days on the AT... not taking a book-bag, but my smaller jansport.. no reason to pull out the Arc Teryx-A-Saurus.. err the big one!

Lets see that will put you just west of GSMNP, have you been to cades cove?

no, still planning out where i'm going.. maybe do part of the AT starting at Crosby and get off at newfound... e-mail me some ideas :-) want to be lazy ! return flight is on Thursday

Crosby knob shelter?
Really lazy would be a car tour of Cades Cove! But watch out for the panhandling bears. HA-HA

I will E-mail, you might be sat morn.

Dino, I would agree on the weight issue, but that can be said of many of the packs made by of the "brand name" makers.

Weight is not a quality issue, which was the original question, but a design issue, which is a whole different story. For example, I had a Bora 80-well made, but very heavy; definitely not a pack for long distance hiking,no matter what.

There are very few big light packs. The Kelty Cloud is an example, but it costs $800, which is why most people have never seen one.

nothing is wrong with OP. they have a great customer service dept. if anything goes wrong with something they will fix it for free, no questions asked. they will send you a free bite valve whenever yours starts leaking. forever. i get a new valve sent at the begining of ever season here. what other company does that?

REI-as far as I know,they will take back any non-perishable, non-expendable,item they sell regardless of brand or the reason you are returning it.

I used one for caving for a while. It held up pretty well until I over packed and busted some seams. That was 15 years ago. Still use it for messy stuff sometimes. Never fixed the seam. Gee maybe I should send it back to them and get it fixed.

oh trout, we're doing jakes creek and then the loop ... 16 miles as an overnight. 8 miles is fairly lazy, and its all on old railroad beds. then do a day hike to charlies bunion or drive to clingmans' dome.

Oh, "said friend" is NOT invited on this trip. he's also one that drives a mercedes benz but lives in a crappy apartment (while I drive a ford and live on the beach.. hah)

Tinny who runs minibulldesign.com is now using a $32 Outdoor Products backpack on 2-3 day trips. It is 3500 cubic inches and weighs in at "a little over 2 pounds".

It seems to me if Outdoor Products is good enough for Tinny you can ignore your brand obsessed friend.

They are definitely not a first tier manufacturer. I would definitely go with something else if your budget allowed you to do so. I'm not saying they are cheap bags, but they are a "cheap" brand. It's the equivalent to Apex in electronics or Oster in appliances. They make cheaper products and generally have lower quality standards.

This is not a stab at OP, just an honest assessment.

My daypack is an Outdoor Products Glacier II: 1800 cu in, under two pounds, came with a decent 2 liter bladder... in fact, sounds a lot like Tom D's pack. (Got mine for $30; it's been on "closeout" at Campmor for about four years now!) Considering it came with a bladder & tube, it's a damn good deal, and in my experience, a damn good pack. Since it's a daypack, it gets a whole lot more use than my bigger Kelty or Osprey packs, and has held up well.

Gryffin-mine is bigger than that, but they do sound related. $30 and with a bladder? Definitely a deal. Mine didn't come with a bladder, but I have one that would fit it. What I like about mine is that you can take the stays out and use it more like a travel pack or what used to be called a rucksack.

Probably for another thread, but I don't like bladders.. they taste funny (the water, anyway). I normally just get a carabiner and run it thru the lid of a 32 oz nalgene and hook it to the hip belt.

Btw, my friend that ragged on me about the OP daypack just got a "trans" by jansport pack for school (graduate school).. I couldn't help but say something to him :P