The Deuter Aircontact Extremely 50+5 Backpack is a light-weight, adjustable-length backpack that weighs 2 lbs 10 oz. It’s an inside body backpack with a floating prime lid that’s made with lighter-weight materials and a easy adjustable body system that doesn’t compromise on the consolation that Deuter packs are identified for. The pack additionally has two detachable compression straps you can reconfigure and connect to an intensive array of exterior gear loops to be able to carry cumbersome gear like a foam sleeping pad, tent, or sleeping bag. This new ultralight Deuter backpack can be obtainable in a girls’s mannequin, the Deuter Aircontact Extremely 45+5 SL.
Specs at a Look
- Capability: 55L
- Weight: 2 lbs 10.7 oz (1211g)
- Gender: Males’s (Girls’s additionally obtainable)
- Body: Inside Body
- Entry: High
- Body Materials: Spring metal hoop
- Adjustable Torso Size: Sure
- Ventilated: No
- Hip Belt Pockets: 2
- Load Lifters: Sure
- Reservoir Appropriate: Sure
- Bear canister compatibility: BV500 (vertical solely inside ); BV475, BV450, BV425 (vertical and horizontal inside)
- Pockets: 4+ Major (3 exterior)
- Max Really useful Load: 30 lbs
Deuter backpacks have at all times been identified for his or her sturdiness, adjustability, and luxury, however till now, they’ve run considerably heavier than the packs of competing backpack manufacturers reminiscent of Osprey and Gregory. However the Aircontact Extremely 50+5L is a big departure with using light-weight materials and body elements whereas preserving the adjustability and luxury that Deuter packs have at all times been identified for. Regardless of its light-weight, the Aircontact Extremely 50+5 remains to be loaded with enhanced options and capabilities that may enchantment to any backpacker seeking to swap a heavier old-school pack for a a lot lighter-weight one with out giving up consolation or operate.
Backpack Body and Suspension
The Aircontact Extremely 50+5 is an inside body backpack that makes use of a really light-weight spring metal hoop as a body. The ring is a skinny metallic rod formed like a rectangle that’s sewn into the pack bag perimeter giving the load lifters and hip belt a agency anchor to assist the load. This can be a tried and true method so as to add stiffness and construction to a light-weight backpack whereas giving it some spring and flex in order that it feels very responsive and vigorous when loaded up and worn.
The Aircontact Extremely has an adjustable torso size, which is a reasonably widespread characteristic on Deuter packs, and one that basically helps you to dial in a customized match. Deuter simplified the adjustment system on this pack although so it’s a lot lighter than their different heftier fashions. Light-weight carabiners are connected to the highest ends of the shoulder straps and slotted into easy daisy chains sewn onto the again panel. In the event you slot the carabiners in direction of the highest of the daisy chains you lengthen the torso size and in case you slot them decrease down you shorten it. The purpose is to maintain about 30% of the pack’s weight when loaded in your shoulders and the remainder of the load on the hipbelt, in order that your stronger leg muscle tissue do a lot of the work.
The shoulder straps on the Aircontact Extremely are calmly padded and S-shaped, which makes them snug for women and men. The sternum strap may be very straightforward to regulate by shifting the plastic clips on the finish alongside extra daisy chains, sewn to the entrance of the shoulder straps. I don’t know why some producers make sternum strap changes so troublesome, however these are lifeless easy to reposition.
The hipbelt can be a lot lighter weight on the Aircontact Extremely and Deuter’s different packs. It’s calmly padded and coated with wicking air mesh. The hipbelt has a single beefy heart buckle and also you tighten the hip belt by pushing the webbing straps ahead, to get a good hip wrap. There’s additionally a comfortable however important lumber pad in again that helps stop the hip belt from sliding down your again. It really works rather well with out being noticeable.
The one factor I don’t like concerning the hipbelt are the hipbelt pockets that are each coated by a big weave mesh. Whereas the pockets themselves are massive and might maintain a Smartphone and many snacks, that mesh will not be going to final very lengthy with out getting ripped up. It’s additionally not rain resistant in any method. Deuter ought to have made them with a stable outer material for higher sturdiness. I like this pack sufficient that I’d take into account slicing these pockets off and overlaying them with a third-party hipbelt pocket from Gossamer Gear or one other small gear producer.
Backpack Storage
The Aircontact Extremely is a prime loader with a floating lid and the one entry level is from the highest by a drawstring closure. The principle compartment has one inside hydration pocket with a single hydration port between the shoulder straps on the prime of the pack. It additionally has a 6″ extension collar above the body for overloads.
The floating lid has one big pocket on prime (with a key fob inside) and is fitted to the highest of the pack so it doesn’t flop awkwardly again or to the aspect the best way that some prime lids do….so long as the principle compartment is fairly properly full. If it isn’t, the lid will get fairly cumbersome and can slide off to the aspect significantly in case you fill it with heavier gadgets. I nonetheless love floating lids as a result of they’re nice for carrying cumbersome gear like foam sleeping pads or multi-person tent our bodies which can be too massive to pack inside.
The floating lid is large sufficient that the ends can match over a BV500 bear canister, their largest measurement, however you’ll want to pack the principle compartment full to supply assist from beneath and maintain the lid pocket pretty empty to suit over it. A BV475 canister works a lot better if you’ll want to put extra stuff within the lid pocket as a result of it’s shorter in size. The BV475 canister additionally matches horizontally in the principle compartment, in addition to the BV450 and BV425, however the BV500 solely matches vertically.
The Aircontact Extremely additionally shines in relation to exterior stretch pockets. They’re very deep and might maintain a ton of substances or clothes. The aspect pockets are massive sufficient for two x one liter Smartwater or 2 x 32 oz. Nalgene bottles have slanted tops to make them simpler to retrieve when the pack is worn. The mesh may be very high quality and sturdy, not like the mesh on the hip belt pockets, and gained’t snag on vegetation as a result of its openings are method too small to catch. The underside of the pockets is stable material to remove any abrasion once you put the pack down on the bottom.
There’s additionally a really lengthy entrance stretch mesh pocket made with the identical tightly woven mesh. Neither of those exterior mesh pockets has backside drain holes and depend on the mesh to empty moist contents, so that you’ll need to ensure that to make use of a pack liner inside because the inside seams are bounded and never taped. However you’d try this with any backpack in case you hike in a local weather the place it rains.
Backpack Compression and Exterior Attachments
The Aircontact Extremely comes with two aspect compression straps. Out of the field, these are configured in a Z-pattern alongside the aspect of the pack, with one finish connected to a buckle on the prime of the pack behind the shoulder strap and the opposite finish girth hitched to one in every of 8 exterior loops organized across the perimeter of the entrance stretch mesh pocket.
The good factor is you can take away the aspect compression straps and reconfigure them as wanted to connect snowshoes, a foam pad, a tent physique, or actually something to the perimeters or entrance of the backpack. Every of the compression straps is 33″ lengthy (which is big), so you have got numerous webbing to play with. Plus you possibly can add extra third-party straps or cordage as wanted. The REI Flash 55 has the same scheme the place you possibly can take away and reconfigure the compression straps to connect gear to the surface of the pack.
Comparable framed light-weight backpacks
Suggestion
The Deuter Aircontact Extremely 50+5 Backpack is Deuter’s first foray into ultralight backpacking and maintains the consolation and adjustability that Deuter packs are identified for. Weighing 2 lbs 10 oz, it’s additionally a fairly feature-rich backpack with an adjustable torso size, a well-fitting hipbelt, nice exterior mesh pockets, a floating lid, and reconfigurable compression straps. In the event you’re in search of a light-weight backpack with a body and a prime lid pocket or floating lid, I’d encourage you to attempt it out. I beloved utilizing it myself and suppose it’s nice that Deuter, which is the world’s largest backpack producer, has such a aggressive light-weight pack to supply hikers in search of to scale back their pack weight.
Disclosure: The creator bought this backpack.
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