User Review: Dana Design Terraplane Overkill

Reviewed March 30, 2000 by Eugene Colucci

Rating: rated 2 of 5 stars
Design: internal frame
Size: 5,800 cubic inches
Number of Pockets: 2 external pockets (and lid)
Max. Load Carried: 55 lb.
Height of Owner: 5'8"
Price Paid: approx. $450 US

I purchased a Terraplane Overkill about five or six years ago, used it for about two or three years, and then replaced it with a McHale Inex Alpineer Bayonet. I purchased a Terraplane with the hope that it would be my final expedition pack. My previous packs were either insufficient to support 50-or-more pound loads, handle the volume of gear I carried, or both. The Terraplane did not fare much better.

I was eager to try my pack when I first received it, and I remember using it several times during my first few weeks of ownership with loads ranging from about 40 pounds to 55 pounds (combined weight of pack and contents). I was not impressed with the pack's ability to distribute load. At the time, I also had access to a TNF Snow Leopard that I felt handled my loads slightly better. However, the Snow Leopard suffered from poor pack bag construction (there was loose thread everywhere) that caused me to view the pack in its entirety with disfavor. Other manufacturers' packs that I tried at the time such as Mountainsmith, Arc'Teryx, MEC, and EMS were ridiculously soft and/or short framed. Gregory was not much better at the time although it appears from the available literature that Gregory's Pro line of packs improved over the last few years by incorporating higher strength aluminum alloy in their frames, but I have not actually tried Gregory's latest packs and cannot comment further.

My Dana pack handled up to a 50 pound load only a little better than my previous Lowe pack. A 55 pound load was more than the Dana pack and I could handle. I was disappointed - - especially since I thought I just had purchased the best pack available. I almost relegated myself to believing that I would have to live with shoulder pain, waist strangulation, and a pack that insisted (with loads greater than 50 pounds) on sliding down the belt. That is, the belt is connected to the pack - - in part - - with a large, vertically adjustable Velcro flap. With heavy loads, the pack actually slid down the belt (or the belt moved up the pack depending on your viewpoint). I found this quite annoying. One option for me was to limit my loads to 50 pounds. So much for Dana's claim that the pack would control any load I could lift.

On the positive side, the bag of my Terraplane was well stitched, all seams were taped, and the details of the fabric were very good - - with one not so minor exception I will elaborate below. However, the advertising for the Overkill at the time stated that the pack entirely was constructed of 1000 denier Cordura Plus nylon. In fact, the side walls of the sleeping bag compartment were constructed of two-layer 500 denier Cordura Plus nylon. The harness side and lid also contained sections not comprised of 1000 denier Cordura Plus nylon.

I complained about the (in my opinion) false advertising to several people at Dana Design and was informed that the wording would be changed in future catalogs. Indeed, with the very next catalog (I believe that was either the 1995 or 1996 issue) the wording was changed to more accurately reflect the bag's fabric composition. I would have preferred a Terraplane that actually was 100% 1000 denier Cordura Plus nylon with the advertising unchanged.

With a stated volume of 5,800 cubic inches for my size bag, I also was a little disappointed with how little space I actually had in the main compartment for large items.

However, the retractable sleeping bag compartment compensated for this a little. Even so at 5'8" and 140 pounds, I primarily consider the Terraplane a three-season backpack. Load-control inability aside, it is not large enough for serious winter use.

The pack's frame simply does not control heavy loads. My feeling is that the (carbon fiber) frame stays were too weak and too short to control the loads I carried. Despite

Dana's ample advertising, the frame is ridiculously insufficient for controlling loads for which it supposedly is designed. Furthermore, it was necessary for me to cinch the belt really tightly to even attempt controlling the load. That action led to discomfort from squeezing the frame against my coccyx; that never was a pleasant sensation.

There was nothing special about the harness. The stabilizer straps were sewn into the dorsal sides of the shoulder pads so that in pulling hard on the stabilizer straps the shoulder pads were lifted off my shoulders. This seems to be standard fare in the industry insofar as shoulder harnesses are concerned. That is, shoulder pad adjustment and pack stabilization are in conflict with each other, and, unfortunately, most companies make harnesses in this fashion.

After several weeks of ownership, I discovered what I believed was a quality-control problem with my Terraplane. There was a horizontal tear about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in length on the pack's harness side just above one of the shoulder pad's attachment points and hidden from direct view by the shoulder pad. Unfortunately for me, I did not notice this tear for several weeks - - after the 30-day return policy offered by the dealer (Swallow's Nest) expired. The dealer passed me off to Dana Design. Dana Design initially offered to repair the tear at charge because they believed the tear could have been caused only by a knife or other sharp object in opening the packing box.

Sorry, I used no knife. Even if I had, to create a tear in that particular location I would have had to cut through the entire thickness of the shoulder pad! I was livid with anger and made my displeasure known to more than one person at the company. Eventually, Dana Design capitulated to repairing the pack at no charge by replacing the entire harness side. Furthermore, this was the second such problem I had with a Dana Design pack (at the time I purchased my Terraplane, I already had owned 3 other Dana packs).

I cannot recommend the Dana Design Terraplane as an expedition pack. For the price and the company's claims, I cannot recommend the pack at all. The McHale Alpineer I replaced my Dana Terraplane with cost me about $125 more at the time, but the McHale is several times the pack my Terraplane was, and it is the expedition pack I was searching for years. I regret not purchasing a McHale pack several years earlier and saving myself the aggravation and disappointment of owning a Terraplane.

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