User Review: Coleman Max 65

The good news is that this is a full featured pack with all of the bells and whistles for a very reasonable price. 65 Liters of space, a zippered sleeping bag compartment, two bellowed external pockets with compression straps, inner and outer lid pockets. Ladder adjustable. Load stabilizer straps at the the shoulders and hips.

There are two elastic pockets lateral to the bellows pockets, I believe intended for water bottles, but they do not work when the bellows pockets are utilized. It is hydration bladder adaptable. It includes a rain cover.

I packed this for a weekend @32lbs. Bear in mind I'm 6'6", 270lbs, with size 15 to 16 shoe. This was packing light for me. If you measure, I have a 22 to 22.5" torso.

This pack fit me well loaded at this weight. The pack was very a very comfortable carry for the weekend, but maybe just a touch top heavy. Some of my companions mentioned the shoulder harness was too narrow and too stiff but I did not have issue with that.

The seams are well stitched and the fabric appears very durable. Some people mentioned that the divider zipper was sewn in wrong, but that, I believe is intentional for air escapement while using the compression straps. All in all, the quality is very good for an "off the shelf" Walmart item.

The bad starts with ... IT IS HEAVY weighing in at a feathery 5lbs 10oz with rain cover. I expected to be able to use the water bottle pockets but they are of no use when the external pockets are loaded.

The zippers are very finicky. None were one hand operable. Therefore, none of the pockets were accessible while the pack was on. With use I think the zippers would have loosened up. The deal breaker was that this pack squeaked and creaked with every step I took.

For, the price I was willing to overlook some of the shortcomings but not the constant squeaky door hinge. It was returned after the three day trip and replaced with a Deuter 60 Zero.