User Review: Deuter ACT Lite 50+10

Summary

The pack is light and comfortable, but because it's a 1 size fits all design, unless you're very 'average' you might find some minor modifications are required. The design is fairly basic — top loading with mesh side and back compartments and a removable cover compartment. The comfort comes mostly from the aluminum stays and fairly beefy back support and hip belt for the pack size — worth the slightly extra weight, in my opinion. With about 25 pounds in the pack, i usually didn't notice it being there.

I would recommend to a weekend heavy packer or a lightweight hiker for extended trips.

The Deuter ACT lite 50 was lightweight, comfortable. I could see hiking for very long trips with it. The following are some observations I made about the design and fit. Overall, I'm happy with it.

I just bought this pack and used it for a weekend trip with ~20-25 pounds of gear and food.  I'm small - 140 pounds, 5'81/2".  The pack was comfortable, though i was nearly at the ends of its adjustability.  Because of this, the sternum strap wouldn't go the extra 1/2 inch I wanted it to, and the hip belt had a solid 2 feet of dangling belt webbing.  Both of these are fixable with some cutting and sewing. 

I also value not having to unpack my bag to get at the things in the bottom.  There seem to be NO light weight (<3.5 lb) and comfortable packs on the market that add the extra zipper to make this possible.  The Deuter is a replacement for my recently stolen Mountainsmith Rock-it pack, which was top and front loading.  Extremely simple design - awesome pack - discontinued many years ago.  Here's my plea to pack makers - add the extra zipper!  I'm willing to carry the extra 3 ounces!  Unfortunately, adding a zipper after the fact is likely not possible.

The top of the Deuter has an extra length of grey material that converts it from 50 to 60L.  It works but makes the pack all that more annoying to get things into and out of.  I found myself rolling the extension materials into a collar to make packing and unpacking easier.  This constricted the top opening even more.  Either a wider top opening or a front zipper would have made this pack a delight to fill.

I removed the top pocket for a portion of the hike and found that the extension tube is set up to fold over the front of the pack and hook to the two straps that normally pull the top pocket/pack cover.  This worked, but i was expecting to be able to roll the extra material (there's a lot of it) like one rolls the top of a waterproof bag  before clipping to the straps.  this didn't seem possible.  Again, minimal design change by making one of the two buckles on a strap and the pack cover & extension a male would make this possible.

The internal hydration pocket was great to have - as well as the hip pocket, though I can tell the hip pocket zipper won't last very long - maybe it's a quality issue or just my bag. The zipper size seems appropriate for the pocket, and the pocket worked well for carrying a camera and a few other small things.