Eureka! Black Widow III

I just bought my Black Widow III last month and I have some good and bad things to say about one of Eureka's newest designs. I found the pack to have unmatched comfort on the trail thanks to the new Alpha Extreme suspension system which did an excellent job of weight distribution. The large number of pockets made it easy to organize most of my gear without the assistance of stuff sacks etc. and the bottom compression pocket made it easy to compress even the bulkiest of sleeping bags to a small fraction of it's original volume. One of the most appealing features of this pack was the 420 denier ripstop nylon material around the sides which was covered with a polyurethane coating making trekking in the rain risk free as far as my gear was concerned.

Although for the most part this pack acted quite proficiently, I did find a few problems with it. For starters, it's dark black colour made it nearly impossible to see anything in it's interior (even in daylight) without the aid of a flashlight making it very hard to find what I was looking for. Also, the large shovel pocket on the front made it very difficult to gain quick access to the pack. In order to get to the main compartment, you must first undo six buckles and then open the spindrift collar.

Anyway, despite the minor setbacks, I beleive this pack has a good price/performance ratio and would be a good investment for any type of outdoor activity you may have in mind.

Outstanding pack, carries big burdens well, excellent balance. Eureka has been making some fantastic gear lately. I may never need another big pack again.