Naturehike 60L+5 Dyneema Backpack THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY!

Hey it's Dustin with Boomers Outdoors and I'm coming to you today from the woods of North Alabama. What I want to do today is do a complete and I believe fair review of Nature Hike's Rock Series 60 plus 5 liter Dyneema backpack. I bought this puppy back in I think April, sometime middle of April from AliExpress. Took about two weeks to get it and since then I've done two backpacking trips with it and I've hiked approximately 40 miles with this pack, carrying loads of anywhere between 17 and 20 pounds. So while I've done a previous review after one backpacking trip I really feel like I can do a much better fair review after using it more. So another reason I want to do this review is because when you go online you find the reviews all over the place. I watched a couple of guys that took the pack out and said it was a good pack. They really liked it. I watched a senior hiker, he's been hiking a long time, he took it out compared it to his very expensive pack and he gave it a thumbs up for a budget backpack. Then I watched another guy who I respect a lot who's done a lot of gear reviews. He said, and I quote, that this backpack was garbage and possibly the worst backpack he ever reviewed. So which is it? Where does it fall? Is it a good backpack, an okay backpack, or a piece of garbage? So today what I want to do is take it and break it down and give you the good and bad and ugly about this pack and nature hike. If you're listening at the end of this video I'm going to make five suggestions, five little tweaks that you could do to this pack that I think would take it to a whole other level. So I hope you're listening and I hope you follow through on those. So let's take this thing inside and let's break it down. Well I'm home and ready to continue my review of the Nature Hike Rock Series 60 plus 5 liter backpack. This is the Dyneema version of the backpack and first of all I'd like to tell you a little bit about Nature Hike if you're not familiar with them. They are a Chinese company and I believe they make knockoffs of really good products that are out in the market now. An example of that would be their Monger 210. It is almost an exact duplicate of the MSR Hubba Hubba which is a very very popular, very good tent. They also have their Cloud Up 1, 2, and 3 which seems to be a very very similar to the Big Agnes Fly Creek 2 UL which is another very very popular tent. Now the Nature Hike tents are a little bit heavier but they seem to be made really well. So what about this backpack, this new Rock Series backpack? Well it is a pretty lightweight. It comes in two different sizes. It comes in a 60 plus 5 liter and a 40 plus 5 liter. The 60 plus 5 liter comes in the Dyneema version which is what I have. It weighs 2 pounds 14 ounces. It also is available in a 420 nylon version which weighs 2.9 ounces. I went with Dyneema even though it's a little bit heavier because it's a better made material. So what is this backpack supposed to be a knockoff of? Well there's a lot of lightweight and hyper light packs out there today that people use on the market that look very similar to this pack. An example of that would be the Mountain Gear or excuse me the Hyper Light Mountain Gear Southwest 3400. Z-Packs makes one called the Arc Aerobic Pack 60 liter. There's a ULA Own 2.0. I think that's the pack that Dixie uses. There's a 3FUL Gear Trajectory Pack 55 liter. And so there's a lot of them out on the market and that's you know there's things that are common about all of the lightweight packs. Most of those that I just mentioned are under 2 pounds. Some of the things you'll find about them is they're under 2 pounds. 2 pounds or less in weight. They're usually made of really good materials such as XPAK, Dyneema, aerobic materials or one even called UHMWPE which is a long acronym for something. But they're made of really good lightweight materials. Another thing you'll find out about these packs is their design tends to be a roll top closure which this one has. Most all of those have a roll top closure that I mentioned. Some of them may have a lid but I don't think so. I think most of them are roll top like this. This is actually where your extra liters come in is in this roll top design. Most all of them are just one large tube which is like a big duffel bag in other words. They don't have a sleeping bag compartment and different pockets and zippers and almost all of them have on the front of the bag a pocket like this. Sometimes it'll be mesh sometimes it'll be this type of material solid material and this is where your extra five liters comes from this and the side pockets. So those are the things that you find with almost all of your lightweight and ultralight packs. This one also happens to have a frame in it which you know some of them have frames some of them do not. Now I'm going to go with the good bad and ugly of this pack because it has some good things some things that are not so good and a couple of things that are just ugly. First thing to keep in mind is this is a budget backpack. These other backpacks I mentioned the Hyperlite Mountain Gear pack is $355. The Z-Pack Arc Robic is $299. The ULA pack is $240 and the 3L pack is usually $241. I think it's on AliExpress right now for $85 but the nylon version of this pack right now is on sale right now for $62.70. So this is like half or a third of the price or even a quarter of the price of some of these other packs. John Ruskin wrote one time it is unwise to pay too little for something but it's even worse to pay too little because the thing you buy for too little may not do what you want it to do. But keep in mind this is a budget backpack so we shouldn't expect it to be as good in every way as some of these other packs. These other packs are really nice packs. But what are the good features on this pack? Well first of all is material. It's made of which is a really good material. Very strong material. I think weight wise it's stronger than steel. This is a really good material in this pack. The stitching on it seems to be excellent. I mean you don't see any threads, loose threads on this pack. I've actually hiked as I said earlier with this pack over 40 miles. I've sweated a lot in this pack this summer. So I think the construction of it is good. The frame of it. It has a lightweight aluminum frame that goes into in the pack that goes down the sides and across the top which I think gives it great stability. Makes it ride really well. I think that the overall construction of it with this pack on the back. This is a really good feature. This five liter pouch back here. It holds things. With a roll top you don't have all the compartments. So you're basically putting it in one big tube. So you need some a place where you can get the stuff in a hurry. And this pack right here if you need to get to your rain jacket, your hydration, you know water filter kit or bathroom kit. Whatever you need to you can get to that it really quick on this. Your puffy jacket. It does also have a little pocket right here which you can put stuff in. I just threw a couple of items in there. My headlamp, a flashlight. It's a fairly deep pocket. It's about hand deep and so it's got some really neat features. The pack also to me it rides good. So the good things about this pack and it's cost. You've got cost. You've got it lightweight. It's got a good stability frame. It seems to be made well. It's made of Dyneema. Those are some good things about this pack. Well what are the bad things? What are the shortcomings of this pack? Well there's several and let's go over we'll go over the uh the bad things first. Well the first thing that I did on this pack that probably needs to be improved is the uh the hip pockets. It does have hip pockets on it but the hip pockets are very small. You can't get much in these hip pockets. They're pretty small even though it does have hip pockets. That's it's like you know you might get a granola bar in there maybe an iPhone 7 but they're not very big. So that is an issue with this pack. Second thing is the sternum straps or excuse me shoulder straps on this pack. They're pretty close together. Now I will say that's not unusual. A lot of packs have straps that are close together but most of the time they're angled out. This pack does not angle them out and some people have found that to be a real problem. They said this rode in and pinched their neck you know and was very uncomfortable in their neck. I have not had that problem with this pack but some other people have and have seen that as a real problem. So that that is an issue with it also that people have. Another issue is the hydration pockets on the side. It's got two hydration pockets. Now I will tell you getting this bottle out of here you can do it. I can do it. It's really hard but what I usually have to do is reach back and push it up with from the bottom and then grab it as it falls forward. But it is virtually impossible to get your water bottle back in these pockets once you get it out. You have to take the pack off. So that that is an issue too right there that can be a problem with this pack and it is aggravating. So those are some of the things with this pack that are bad. Another thing is like most packs it's got a solid back and it's made really well. This is some pretty good foam on this. It's very comfortable. The hip the hip belt is really comfortable. That's a plus with this pack too but this lays right on your back. Most of your lightweight packs are made like this. They lay on your back so you know you don't have any ventilation. Not much ventilation. The Arc series from Z-Pack they actually make their packs where they actually bow. You can bow them put an arch in the back and so the pack is not right on your back. A lot of your new packs today they do that. They put a you know something to keep the pack from being right on your back. So I'll tell you if it's hot outside your back is going to sweat with this pack. I don't like to hike a lot when it's really hot but that that is a that can be a drawback to this pack that some people don't like. But other than that this pack those few things right there this pack to me is a good value for the money but there is one thing that to me is really on this pack has been the ugly thing and that is this uh well there's one more thing before we before we talk about one more thing this pack only comes in one torso length. That's another bad thing about it. I do want to mention that uh it this torso length is a little bit adjustable with a hip belt but not much. This fits someone with a torso length probably of 19 to 22 inches. I'm right around 6'1, 6'2. This pack fits me really well but if you're over 6'3 or shorter than 5'11 this pack may not fit you. So it's limited in who this pack is going to fit well. Now let's get back to this this thing this uh this is your shoulder strap pocket and it's permanently attached. It's not very big it will hold a 16 ounce bottle of water or what I normally throw in this thing is my bear spray and it does good with that but the problem with this pocket being that it is fixed is it limits how far your sternum strap will come up and so your sternum strap can only come up so far on this pack and the problem with that is you know if you're a woman trying to wear this pack instead of it being a sternum strap as a senior hiker said it usually turns out to be a boob strap so that is a real problem that's the ugly part this thing really limits this chest strap now for me it fits it does come across my sternum up here but just right at the top of it and that's all the way up so if you're a shorter person it's going to go lower and lower on you as this pack goes down so that's the good the bad and ugly of this pack uh for the money is it a good pack i'll tell you that in a minute now what could uh what could uh naturehike do to this pack i had five things i wrote down uh that i thought would really help this pack and uh so the first thing they could do is make this pack in three different torso sizes almost all those packs i listed come in a small medium large and even some of them are tall and by doing that you make this pack where it's much more accessible to people to wear you know instead of someone that's six feet tall or right there about so that's the first thing they could do to improve this pack it's not a big thing but it's a slight thing that would help number two put a little more material in these hip pockets if you're going to have hip pockets make them big enough you can put something in they should be you know it doesn't cost that much surely to put a little more material in there and make the hip pockets a little bit bigger number three uh a lot of packs with their hydration pockets you know they're hard to get to but most backpack companies will angle them look if you angle these just a little bit make them and i've seen other companies do this at an angle they're going to be much easier to get to and put back in there so you could make the pocket bigger or you could just make it an angle and that would take care of that problem another thing and this is the big one is either do away with this pocket altogether don't even put it on there or make it an option that's attachable and you could actually make it in three different sizes just to let you know i'm not telling you how to run your business but if you made it in three different sizes you could sell that as an add-on and make it where it fits on the strap on the chest strap or excuse me the shoulder strap where a person could put it and then the last thing would be simply for those that are having a problem with this pinching on their neck would be to make it like most packs do most of the packs their shoulder straps are angled out slightly that would just be a slight manufacturing change that would take this pack from a so-so pack to i think just an outstanding value now what do i think about this pack what's my evaluation of it i like this pack i like the way it feels i like the way it rides i like the design of it are these things a deal breaker to me no they're not a deal breaker they are an aggravation and they are design flaws that are not really good i can get away with it because the pack just happens to fit me pretty well but if you're not my size or somewhere close to my size you're probably going to have problems with this pack naturehike could take it and fix those problems and make this a excellent outstanding value for money they could actually get more money for it by doing those things it's very similar to these other packs i mentioned they're a lot more expensive and they are better backpacks than this but for a budget-friendly pack so when it's just getting into backpacking this is an excellent value if it fits you and works for you and you can put up with the little aggravations that go along with it such as this uh shoulder strap pocket being fixed and causing issues with a sternum strap other than that it's made very very well so that's my review of it i think it's a good pack no i don't think it's a piece of garbage and no it's not an outstanding pack but it is a good pack to me and i like the pack i like said i wear it i'm going to take it on a lot more trips works well for me and it may work well for you but i'd like to get your feedback on it so please let me know what you think about this pack if you have one what do you like it do you not like it and let me know what you think about my review do you think this review is fair when i watched online as i said earlier i saw reviews all over the place from it being a good pack to a so-so pack to a piece of garbage and so i hope my review is fair i want it to be fair i want it to do a good job on this pack so let me know what you think uh comment in the comment field and let me know what you think about my review okay and thanks for watching