I have been a fan of the First Ascent line of clothing by Eddie Bauer for sometime because the design and quality of the pieces are awesome and now I am a fan of their gear also. The Little Tahoma is a 30L pack and it is a top loader that is great for traveling and a nice little hike or overnight pack. Now I have not been hiking or camping in a year or so, but the pack I took with me was an Eagle Creek pack that my dad gave me which is about the same size as the Tahoma but one thing that I notice is that the FA (First Ascent) pack is lighter than the EC (Eagle Creek) pack being that it is made out of a 210D Nylon N66 Double Ripstop so it is light but is also strong and the base empty weight of the pack is around 1.5lbs.
The next thing that I noticed that you do not really see from the web site picture is the pockets that the pack has kind of hidden around it, there is a nice pocket on top of the main flap to the main pocket (that is the best that I can describe it right now) and I did a sort of test packing for air travel and in the top pocket I put my keys, Surefire E1L, pocket medic, wallet with current ID and also an expired ID just in case, SAK Soldier(though not legal for air travel I threw it in there because I just re found it in a bag of para cord), but is a handy pocket for stuff like that so you do not have to go searching for important stuff. The other hidden pockets are on the sides of the colored area, mine is the green or fern color, if you are looking at the front of the pack we will call the first pocket the left one and it is slightly larger than the one on the right which goes from the right side of the colored area to the left side of the "Y" shape that is in the center of the colored area while the left pocket goes from the left side of the colored are to the right and then to the top of the "Y" shape as does the right pocket. Final note on the pockets is that the left one goes under the right one and the left pocket is around 8in wide and around 14in tall and the right pocket being around 6in wide and same 14in tall. The main pocket which is where I have 1 pair of 5.11 tac lites, 2 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of boxers, 2-3 pairs of socks, waterproof hat, packable boonie hat, and a light jacket inside is nice and large and it also has the usual camelbak or laptop pocket, the main pocket measurements are around 22in tall and around 12in wide at the opening. The nice thing about this pack is instead of the usual mesh side water bottle pockets they are solid nylon like the rest of the pack this I think makes the strong with a length of elastic to contract and expand, the side pockets fit my 750ml Camelbak bottle, and 500ml and 1000ml Nalgene bottles just fin and snug and when not in use they go nice and flat and help to keep the over all sleek look of the pack. one other quick thing is that there is a nice mesh pocket on the other side of the main flap with two pen pockets on the inside and a clip that I used to clip my H1 Ladybug to with some para cord.
The motto of the First Ascent line of clothing and gear is "Everything you need and nothing you don't" and I like that they kept this pack nice, simple and light. They put the outer pockets in places that are smart and do not make the pack any more complicated than it needs to be, which is very simple. The materials are great with the 210D nylon ripstop and the YKK zippers throughout which is another thing instead of using metal zipper pulls they use some nice cord pulls on the outer zippers and they also use the same thing on the 2 outerwear examples that I have which is a smart thing to do because the First Ascent line was designed by some of the worlds best mountain climbers and a cord zipper pull is less likely to freeze to you than a metal one if touched by a non gloved hand. This review was really to tell you about the things that you cannot see like the pockets and other things listed but you can see the four lashing points on the front of the pack and a view of the straps on the pack on the site.
Forgive me is the review seems disorganized and jumbled but I have had the pack less than 24 hours and decided to do this little review with out really thinking it out and having little experience with packs, but this one is a keeper. please let me know if there is anything that you need clarified.
Thank you
The next thing that I noticed that you do not really see from the web site picture is the pockets that the pack has kind of hidden around it, there is a nice pocket on top of the main flap to the main pocket (that is the best that I can describe it right now) and I did a sort of test packing for air travel and in the top pocket I put my keys, Surefire E1L, pocket medic, wallet with current ID and also an expired ID just in case, SAK Soldier(though not legal for air travel I threw it in there because I just re found it in a bag of para cord), but is a handy pocket for stuff like that so you do not have to go searching for important stuff. The other hidden pockets are on the sides of the colored area, mine is the green or fern color, if you are looking at the front of the pack we will call the first pocket the left one and it is slightly larger than the one on the right which goes from the right side of the colored area to the left side of the "Y" shape that is in the center of the colored area while the left pocket goes from the left side of the colored are to the right and then to the top of the "Y" shape as does the right pocket. Final note on the pockets is that the left one goes under the right one and the left pocket is around 8in wide and around 14in tall and the right pocket being around 6in wide and same 14in tall. The main pocket which is where I have 1 pair of 5.11 tac lites, 2 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of boxers, 2-3 pairs of socks, waterproof hat, packable boonie hat, and a light jacket inside is nice and large and it also has the usual camelbak or laptop pocket, the main pocket measurements are around 22in tall and around 12in wide at the opening. The nice thing about this pack is instead of the usual mesh side water bottle pockets they are solid nylon like the rest of the pack this I think makes the strong with a length of elastic to contract and expand, the side pockets fit my 750ml Camelbak bottle, and 500ml and 1000ml Nalgene bottles just fin and snug and when not in use they go nice and flat and help to keep the over all sleek look of the pack. one other quick thing is that there is a nice mesh pocket on the other side of the main flap with two pen pockets on the inside and a clip that I used to clip my H1 Ladybug to with some para cord.
The motto of the First Ascent line of clothing and gear is "Everything you need and nothing you don't" and I like that they kept this pack nice, simple and light. They put the outer pockets in places that are smart and do not make the pack any more complicated than it needs to be, which is very simple. The materials are great with the 210D nylon ripstop and the YKK zippers throughout which is another thing instead of using metal zipper pulls they use some nice cord pulls on the outer zippers and they also use the same thing on the 2 outerwear examples that I have which is a smart thing to do because the First Ascent line was designed by some of the worlds best mountain climbers and a cord zipper pull is less likely to freeze to you than a metal one if touched by a non gloved hand. This review was really to tell you about the things that you cannot see like the pockets and other things listed but you can see the four lashing points on the front of the pack and a view of the straps on the pack on the site.
Forgive me is the review seems disorganized and jumbled but I have had the pack less than 24 hours and decided to do this little review with out really thinking it out and having little experience with packs, but this one is a keeper. please let me know if there is anything that you need clarified.
Thank you