Atlas Packs Athlete vs DAKINE Syncline 16 L Pack

Important: Choose the Adventure or Athlete hip belt – otherwise you will have literally no padding on your hips. I don’t recommend using the bag without a hipbelt either. The Adventure belt is more comfortable as it provides two layers of foam padding and a wider webbing and buckle – it’s also bigger and bulkier.

I also purchased a Capture Clip from Peak Designs which allows you to fix the camera to the shoulder strap in place while hiking – a great addition to this pack.

The lower weight of the reservoir seems to help it sit better, and for me, felt an improvement on my other similar style packs. Whilst not waterproof, the fabric is good enough to shrug off splashes and a couple of hours lighter rain. The usual quality I’d expect from Dakine is there, and the pack feels pretty burly, despite its fairly low weight feel.  The attention and thought paid to the pack layout, access and stowage features all combine to make this a capable and worthy trail pack

Ben has been testing the smaller of two sized DaKine Syncline hydration packs, the 12 litre, that comes fitted with a 3 litre Hydrapak bladder and will accept a CE-certified back protector.

The hose has to be run on the left as there is only a port and strap webbing to hold it on the left, where it handily mounts on the to the magnetic clip to keep the nozzle from knocking about whilst riding.