Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional Evaluate: Throw Out All the pieces You Knew About Backpacks

Probably the most modern backpack on this yr’s backpacking gear check wasn’t from an up-and-coming cottage gear firm, however from a decades-old firm out of New Zealand, Aarn. The place most backpacking backpacks are fiddling across the margins of design — just a little extra padding within the shoulder straps right here, just a little extra air flow within the again panel there — the Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional takes a very completely different method to the important problems with match, load bearing, and pack group. Whereas it’s not completely clear why this model backpack hasn’t caught on in the USA — it’s a comparatively widespread sight throughout the ocean — a few of the concepts behind this backpack are beginning to catch on with ultralight backpacking firms. That is one which’s nicely overdue for a recent look.  

Purchase from Aarn

• Capability: 50 liters
• Unisex Torso Match: 16 to 22 inches
• Pockets: High zip pocket, two facet stretch pockets, again mesh pocket, with two interior mesh pockets, two hip belt zip pockets, two oversize shoulder strap zip pockets with exterior mesh pockets
• Adjustment Factors: Hip belt, shoulder straps, load lifters, adjustable again panel, two sternum straps
• Guarantee: One yr

Most backpacking backpacks have one overarching purpose: Switch the load out of your shoulders to your hips. Even with right now’s internal-frame designs, meaning a inflexible construction and aggressive hip belt that locks into place in your physique. Now, should you’re carrying a monstrously heavy load — resembling with one of many finest looking backpacks — or have particularly weak traps, that is most likely a greater backpack model for you. However for many backpackers, this may result in a medley of pointless points, starting from bruised hips to tight shoulders. 

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The Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional takes a special method, distributing the load of the pack throughout your total physique. This implies your hips are a lot much less restricted than with a conventional backpack. The Mountain Magic then takes this a step additional by decoupling the shoulder straps from the again panel, which frees up the vary of movement in your shoulders. The impact is akin to sporting a heavy coat: You are feeling the load, however as a result of it’s not targeting one level of your physique, there aren’t any ache factors and you may transfer freely. 

There are three predominant variations in design that permits Aarn to tug off this magic trick: outsized shoulder strap pockets, a again panel adjustment strap, and free-moving shoulder straps that you could entry whereas sporting the backpack. 

Outsized Shoulder Strap Pockets

Lately, capacious shoulder straps pockets have grow to be pretty ubiquitous on the finest ultralight backpacks popping out of the cottage gear world. This makes a world of sense. Shoulder straps have been beforehand underutilized actual property; having a pocket there permits you to entry gear with out stopping to take your backpack off. However the Aarn shoulder straps pockets are completely different. Mixed, they maintain a whopping 7 liters of drugs, much like what the highest pocket (sometimes called “the mind”) would maintain on a conventional backpack. 

Regardless of its ubiquity, there are a number of points with each the position and the utility of the highest pocket. The primary is that you could’t entry something in it when you are climbing — it’s important to cease and take it off. The second is that backpackers are inclined to overload it with small, dense objects: satellite tv for pc messengers, energy banks, sunscreen, toiletries, and the like. High-loading your backpack like this isn’t beneficial, as it might probably have an effect on your stability.

However placing all these small fiddly heavy objects that you really want simply accessible on the entrance shoulder straps is one other matter completely. Now the load of that gear is counterbalancing the load of the principle compartment on the backpack. Whereas conventional backpacks considerably change your middle of gravity — one thing anybody who has tried to rock-hop throughout a mountain stream can attest to — with the stability pockets it stays a lot nearer to its pure place in your physique. Additional, having weight knocking down on the entrance backpack reduces the extent to which the shoulder straps are pulling again, noticeably decreasing stress in your clavicle.

Out of doors Life examined the Stability Pockets Multi Professional, which have a zippered inside compartment, in addition to a mesh pocket on the entrance, however Aarn has eight completely different variations of those pockets, together with one geared particularly at fishermen. 

Again Panel Adjustment

To essentially profit from the stability pockets on the Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional, the pack has to suit in order that it’s hugging your physique. To make sure that’s true for people throughout a variety of torso lengths, Aarn takes a special method to the order of operations for becoming a backpack. 

Sometimes, to suit a backpacking backpack, you first begin with the proper again panel size on your torso dimension, or modify the again panel to the proper size, then modify the hip belt, shoulder straps, sternum strap, and — lastly — the load lifters. Nonetheless, it’s surprisingly onerous to get the precise proper torso dimension on a backpack. You must first know what your torso measurement is, which includes explaining to a pal what the iliac crest is after which hoping they get the measurement proper. Then it’s important to discover the backpack dimension that almost all carefully matches that measurement. Some backpacks have adjustable again panels, however they have an inclination to both solely change in increments of 1 inch or use industrial-strength Velcro, which is a royal ache within the ass to get into the proper place. 

The upshot is that loads of individuals aren’t beginning with the proper torso size after they transfer onto step two of becoming their backpack. This throws all the different adjustment factors out of alignment. By the point they hit the ultimate stage of adjusting the match of their backpack, there may be both an excessive amount of pull from a too-tall backpack body or an excessive amount of drag from one that’s too quick. In each instances, cranking down on the load lifters so far as you’ll be able to helps to eradicate discomfort (most backpack producers beneficial a 45-degree angle to optimize load-bearing). However this will increase strain on the clavicle, sternum strap, and hip belt, which can finally result in different ache factors. 

The Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional fixes this problem neatly by making the again panel adjustment one of many closing steps in becoming their pack to your physique. Earlier than you place the Mountain Magic on, you pull up on the blue twine operating the size of the backpack till the shoulder straps are on the prime of the body. You then put the backpack on, tighten the hip belt and pull on the shoulder straps. If you get to the double sternum straps, Aarn recommends criss-crossing them for optimum stability.

Then discover the blue loop on the backside of the pack that connects to the highest of the body, such that if you pull down on the backpack, it pulls the body down till the shoulder straps are resting securely and comfortably in your shoulders. All because of this if you lastly get to utilizing the load lifters, they’re functioning as load stabilizers and also you gained’t be tempted to overcrank them. And the very best half is you don’t have to know your precise torso size to make use of this method.

Free-Transferring Shoulder Straps

Sometimes, when you’ve received an inside body backpacking backpack strapped on, your vary of movement goes to be considerably restricted. Attempt to swivel your hips, and the pack will resist you. Attempt to transfer your shoulders up and down, and the pack will resist you. That’s partly why frameless packs have grow to be so standard with the fastpacking set — they permit for the better vary of movement wanted to run and scamper and break FKTs. 

However the Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional permits for the same vary of movement, whereas nonetheless transferring loads of weight to your hips by way of metallic stays within the body. That’s as a result of the shoulder straps aren’t stitched into the again panel. As an alternative, the highest of the shoulder straps are connected to the again panel adjustment mechanism on the prime and a nylon twine operating between the underside of the shoulder straps that’s tucked into the underside of the again panel. If you swivel your hips, the pack strikes with you. If you transfer your shoulders up and down, the pack is alongside for the trip. In the event you’ve been tempted by the liberty of a frameless backpack however aren’t prepared to surrender the hip belt, this can be a actually distinctive characteristic.

Testing the Aarn Magic Mountain 50 Professional within the Area 

The Magic Mountain earned prime marks from our testers on the second Out of doors Life backpacking gear check, with practically good scores throughout all classes. I used to be notably impressed by how simple it was to maneuver on this backpack. I’m endlessly turning round whereas climbing to speak to the particular person behind me on testing journeys. With the inflexible body backpacks I examined, a nagging piriformis harm would flare every time I attempted to do that, however I used to be utterly pain-free within the Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional.

Different testers famous feeling equally free: “The way in which the Aarn Mountain Magic strikes with you makes you’re feeling limber, strong, versatile in a manner that no different pack has made me really feel,” mentioned Diana Helmuth. The one factor impeding this freedom of motion was the sheer dimension of the stability pockets within the entrance, which does restrict your skill to maneuver your arm throughout your physique. However whereas this felt awkward, it didn’t truly forestall testers from doing something they wanted to do whereas backpacking. 

The match of the backpack was additionally a standout for our testing crew. Apparently, they famous that they spent much less time adjusting and readjusting the backpack for match all through the course of the day “I discovered that I didn’t have to do a lot adjustment to those as a result of the load was distributed so nicely,” famous Patrice “Regular” La Vigne, who carried one of many heaviest masses at 36 kilos and skilled zero discomfort. 

Solely the tester with the shortest torso, Jac “High Shelf” Mitchell, deducted one level for match. She has a 16-inch torso which is true on the backside of the advised vary for this backpack — when you have a equally quick torso it could be value trying on the Aarn Featherlite Freedom, which is available in a smaller torso dimension. 

A lot of the testers for the Magic Mountain 50 Professional struggled to make a dent within the 7-liter capability of the stability pockets. “With three separate compartments on either side — one mesh and two inside zippered pockets — I’d be capable of entry absolutely anything rapidly,” mentioned Regular. “A number of the issues I want to have extra accessible in my every day guiding could be my binoculars, wildflower discipline guides/books, studying glasses, sat system, bug spray, sunblock along with the issues I normally put in my hip belt pockets like snacks.”

To essentially check the utility of the Aarn Magic Mountain 50 Professional’s shoulder strap pockets, I took it out for a three-day backpacking journey with my household. My child is 5, which implies she isn’t going to hold a lot past her coat, and her capability for snacks is each limitless and important for morale. We’d have been struggling to replenish the Aarn’s shoulder strap pockets with our light-weight backpacking kits in the course of the Out of doors Life discipline check, however I had no drawback filling up these entrance pockets with goldfish crackers, additional child-sized base layers, gummy worms, sunscreen, and fruit snacks. I believed I had reached the outer limits of the pockets’ capability till my child requested if I might carry her stuffed dragon for her. By some means, the Aarn Magic Mountain Professional nonetheless had house. 

What the Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional Does Greatest

Each single one of many options listed above — the shoulder strap pockets, the again panel adjustment system, and the free-moving shoulders traps — delivers on its promise. The match is gorgeous every time, the load is comfortably distributed throughout your torso, and the vary of movement is outstanding. That is simply probably the most comfy backpack I’ve used and testers throughout a variety of physique varieties expressed comparable sentiments. This was very true on the vary of masses commonest for backpackers within the 25 to 45 pound vary. 

After I received used to them, I additionally loved how accessible all the pieces was in my entrance shoulder strap pockets. As a result of it was so completely different from each conventional backpacks and ultralight backpacks, I struggled some with determining the place I had stashed one thing. After a number of journeys, I’m beginning to determine the best packing system for this backpack, but it surely’s going to take extra time. 

What the Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional Does Worst

Simply the most important strike towards the Aarn Mountain Magic 50 Professional is that the stability pockets look bizarre. My sense is that in its native New Zealand — the place the Aarn is considerably extra standard — this pack doesn’t warrant a second look. However within the US, sporting this backpack made me oddly self-conscious. A number of members of our backpacking gear testing crew said they’d not use the stability pockets due to this aesthetic problem. 

The opposite drawback with the stability pockets is that they make it troublesome to placed on the backpack as a result of, totally loaded, they overwhelm the shoulder straps, narrowing the hole that it’s important to shimmy your arm via. 

Whereas testing, I observed that as a result of the adjustable again panel can transfer round fairly simply; to get the very best match (versus a reasonably good match, which our testers have been loads impressed by) it’s important to readjust the pack from scratch every time. Some testers responded to those two points by merely not taking the pack off at breaks, together with when relieving themselves, and located that the pack’s flexibility made this a viable choice.

Lastly, the Aarn has a reasonably restricted guarantee, overlaying defects in manufacturing for under a single yr. 

Closing Ideas

After testing the Magic Mountain 50 Professional, I’m shocked that Aarn doesn’t have an even bigger following in the USA. Their method to design has important advantages, notably for people accustomed to carrying substantial masses and whose bodily frames don’t pair nicely with extra typical backpacks. 

Apparently, you’ll be able to see a few of the driving concepts behind the Aarn backpack system beginning to creep their manner into the mainstream by way of the cottage backpacking gear manufacturers. The place shoulder strap pockets have been nonetheless pretty uncommon 10 years in the past, they’re now a typical sight amongst ultralight backpackers — and in lots of instances they’re additionally greater than they was once. Equally, the rise in reputation of frameless ultralight backpacks has showcased the advantages of releasing up your hips. Aarn’s distinctive (and on this gear tester’s view, higher) method to suit, nevertheless, continues to be distinctive to my information amongst backpacking firms.