Mountainsmith Inca 45

I bought the Mountainsmith Inca 45 (regular) with weekend backpacking in mind from Campsaver.com. The price was a bargain at just $114.95. Its maiden voyage was a desert backpack trip of about 5 miles round trip.

Likes: The pack is well made, it has belt pockets, side water bottle pockets (1qt ea), trekking pole straps, a snow board pouch (which also works good for a tarp), ice ax pouches (also good for tent poles, stakes, shovels), it has a sleeve for a 2 qt hydration bladder with a single port, and the top pouch doubles as a day pack.

Dislikes: The pack is a little on the small size, the volume is listed as 2258 cu in, extended at 3417 but the extended size is a real stretch. Also the day pack is not a waist pack, as most are; it's a shoulder pack (which is really hard on your shoulders after a long backpack in).

Worst of all the shoulder straps are very hard and tend to rotate out, creating painful pressure points no matter how they're adjusted. I would also say these packs run small, at 5'7" it was a little small for me. With the molded back panel it either fits or it doesn't.

Nice pack. A tiny bit heavy but very comfortable.

Comfortable and did perfectly fine job on a 40-mile hike.