User Review: Osprey Aether 85

Osprey Aether 85
Above: The current Aether 85, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed May 25, 2009 by Tom Budlong

Rating:
Design: Top loading internal frame
Size: 85 liter
Number of Pockets: Enough, not too many.
Max. Load Carried: 45 lbs
Height of Owner: 6' 1"
Price Paid: I forget

Osprey’s Aether 85 is fundamentally a very good pack. Once adjusted (I was ready to toss it off the cliff until I did a major adjustment), it carries its load much better than any other pack I have had. Somehow, they got that all right.

However, I consider the lid a collection of design flaws. The pocket is too small – it could easily be larger with negligible weight sacrifice. There is no tiny pocket for wallet and keys (a hook on a string in the main compartment handles keys, but who wants keys in the way all the time.

Although Osprey claims the lid can be removed and used as a butt-pack, preparation requires so many annoying steps that their claim borders on fraudulent. It involves unthreading six strap tighteners, rethreading four of them, ripping apart 9 square inches of tightly compressed Velcro holding the hip belt on the pack and wrestling it into a similarly difficult place on the lid. All this hard enough at home. Imagine doing it with gloves and cold fingers on a cold day. Then you reverse the process to get the belt back on the pack, plus, the four hip belt tighteners must be readjusted to personal fit.

Other packs have a light-duty waist strap built into the lid, and four snap buckles to remove it from the pack. Simple. Job done. Osprey should be ashamed.

The complicated hip belt tightener is a matter of personal preference. The left and right attachments to the belt are pully arrangements, designed, I suppose, so you don’t have to pull as hard to tighten.

Personally I have never had trouble getting hip belts tight, and fussing with the belt's two adjustments in addition to the buckle seems unnecessary. I prefer the simplicity of the old style single adjustment. Personal preference.

But the ability to carry load with minimum discomfort is excellent. For that, it’s a joy to use. I grafted on a lid from a previous pack, with a bigger pocket and four attachment buckles. I will keep this hybrid.

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