Review: Medium A.L.I.C.E. Backpack

When I first started reading up on Survivalist boards and forums almost everyone was recommending a Medium sized “A.L.I.C.E” backpack to carry your goods. I’d never heard of them so did a little more research and discovered there is a serious rift in the communities over these bags. It seems you either totally love it or completely loathe it. I decided to find out for myself what all the hullabaloo was over so I broke down and bought a black one with an external frame.

Previously I was using a cheap European style rucksack for my general BoB. It was durable, fit everything I wanted to carry (albeit with very little room for expansion) and most importantly was pretty comfortable to schlep. All in all I was happy with it but in the name of science I gave it up. The Alice w/frame when empty wasn’t too heavy at all and stored pretty flat. When I transferred all of my BoB gear to it there was a lot of extra room which was a plus because I had some new stuff to add thanks to the comments on my first post and the forum discussions. (Thanks guys!) The new bag weighs in at 25.5 lbs and is a bit unwieldy to handle. The bottom is apparently designed to have a bedroll which I don’t currently have so it won’t stand up on it’s own which is pretty annoying and I have to lean it up against a wall to store it conveniently.

The next step was to do actual field trials. I found a nice 2.5 mile circuit by my house that had hills, dirt and street walking and for the next 5 days I wore it and walked this circuit. The first thing I noticed is that it takes a lot of tweaking to get it to sit comfortably. Once I got it dialed in though it was incredibly comfortable. Since it’s got an external frame there are only 2 points of contact on my back which I was dubious about but after my first walk I was sold on it. The open back design kept me cool even when I was hauling my ass up a giant hill. Even with it’s weight it was incredibly comfortable even after day 5. It has a waist belt to keep it firmly attached to you but I found it to be more uncomfortable so I leave it unbuckled to no ill effect. After the full field test the only complaint I have is the lack of padding on the straps and they definitely started to bite into me after repeated use. It’s a good bag and carry’s a LOT of stuff but I can see how some people may not care for it since it is a pain to get dialed in to your particular physique. That said I’m going to be keeping it as my primary BoB as well as taking it for a walk every day as part of the physical side of my personal training. I’ve got a post up on the forums to discuss more baggy goodness.