This will be a fairly brief review as I’ve only had the bag a little over a month and don’t feel like that is enough time to shake out the bag and figure out all its strengths and weaknesses. However, it is by far my favorite of all the various packs (Eagle AIII, ATS RAID II, BFG Overlord, Northface Surge) I’ve owned and sold over the past few years.

Right side view.

Left side with Nalgene 1L bottle in side pocket

Top view, small zippered pocket contains: CAT tourniquet, Quickclot gauze, Compressed gauze, and some gloves. Panel is a BFG pistol dapper.

BFG mesh dapper, Garmin 60CSx, shemagh and Multitasker

Rearview. I have taped up the waistbelt as I have no need for it every day. The sternum strap is decent but could use a few more inches in length.

Top pocket. This pocket holds a very surprising amount of crap. The knife, headlamp and windshirt tucked in the corner barely take up 1/4 of the available space.

I have not had the money to buy any of the LBX line of pouches designed for this bag. The BFG dappers I have are working ok, but are not ideal as they were designed for a fully velcro lined pack where the Khard only has velcro strips. The ability to open the bag in several different ways is outstanding. Provided you remember where you put things in the bag being able to just unzip one side and access the pouch or item from there is excellent.

The pack carries very well with the frame sheet and aluminum stays being the stars here. The shoulder straps are not thickly padded at all, but nevertheless do well under load. I have only done a few short hikes carrying a max of 20 pounds so far, but would not hesitate to carry more weight for further distance with this bag.

My biggest complaints revolve around the waist strap and sternum strap. I would like for the waist strap to be removable as I don’t use it 90 % of the time. The buckle is easily removable but then you are left with no place to stow the straps. The sternum strap would be excellent if it were a few inches longer. I’m not a huge guy (5′ 10″ 185) and the strap barely buckles across my chest. If I were deploying again and planning on using this bag while wearing body armor I would most likely try and come up with some sort of aftermarket solution for the sternum strap.

Overall I’m quite happy with this pack. Its an expensive bag, but well built and being Arc’teryx I’m hoping it will last many years. I plan to update this thread with more pictures and observations in 6 months or so once I beat it up a bit more.

Let me know if anyone wants more specific pictures or questions answered and I’ll do what I can!