JanSport Couloir

This is a nice pack for carrying heavy loads. The shoulder straps are incredibly beefy, and it's got a good padded waist strap. The shovel compressor pad extends to cram some pretty large items behind it, and the pockets inside the shovel pad are handy and large enough to hold your sunglasses and alot of other little stuff. Plenty of room in the main compartment for everything else. Compression straps work well. This pack is comparable in size and use to the Lowe Countour Mountain 40, but with better pockets, padding and belts.

Downsides: Can't think of too many. Seemed to have to undo all compression straps to get into main compartment, but now I'm reaching. All in all, pretty good pack.

I got this at a Jansport outlet mall store for $42. All they had was the ugly mustard color. OK with me - it's usually on my back.