User Review: Deuter Aircontact 65+10

The first pack I ever bought was an Aircontact 65+10, and to date it's still my favourite out of all the packs I've owned, I had it for four years, and used it for every multi-day trip in that time.

The fabric Deuter uses is light, but still holds up to a lot of punishment, the only rip I ever had in it was from my knife unfolding slightly and poking a hole in it, and that was easily sewn up.

The fact that the hip belt is removable and fully opposable also comes into play a lot with customizing the fit of the pack, I have broad shoulder and a skinny waist, which means a lot of packs are a bad fit on me, but I was able to put a female hip belt in (much to the delight of my hunting partners) and keep the male shoulder straps and was away laughing.

The breathability of the harness was amazing, and Deuter really aren't lying when they say every little movement pumps air through the mesh, I could roll my shoulders and feel my back cooling off whilst wearing it, the exomesh in the shoulder straps is also great in the fact it doesn't compress down completely, so you always have padding on your shoulders (as opposed to cheaper packs where the padding will compress completely and you just have canvas sitting on your shoulders).

The stabaliser straps were, for me, a little unneeded, as I always had the pack pulled tight to my back, but that's more my own personal preference.

Unfortunately I had to retire this pack last year due to an injury at a young age which has caused my spine to grow a bit wonky (up until I hit a growth spurt the pack was a perfect fit, but now it just won't sit right), but can wholly recommend this pack to anyone looking for a decent multi-dayer pack.

For full disclosure: I currently work in a store that sells Deuter in New Zealand, although I bought the pack from the store a couple of years before I started working there.