Mindshift FIRSTLIGHT® 30L vs TETON Sports - Mountain Adventurer

ABSOLUTE BEST PART is the Hydration pouch pocket. I have the 3 liter pouch and it provides ample amount of water on extreme heat days that hit over 100 degrees filming offroad racing. For the money, this bag is a steal. The comfort of packing this bag around is second to none

I remembered that my priority was to get fitted, so I held my tongue and he showed me how uncomfortable these packs were for someone of my frame. I hate to admit this, but this 18-year REI veteran was right. He sold me instead on a small, women's Traverse 65 liter backpack, which is everything that this Teton pack is trying to be. Here are the main differences that had me easily pay an extra $100 for the REI-branded pack and returning my two Teton packs: REI small women's Traverse 65 liter pack: - Lighter by 5 oz, even with the rain cover

The rear of MindShift Gear FirstLight 30L has a velcro adjustable torso length to better fit your body size. The back of the bag is well padded for extra comfort, and is designed to help air flow on your upper body. The shoulder straps are very comfortable, while a belt helps maintain the bag tight to your waist. The belt has some extra straps on it that can be used to attach accessories using Think Tank’s Photo Modular Component or with the Lens Switch Case

I went to REI with this pack and the cheaper one I mentioned above, being told beforehand (via phone call) that someone there would fit me with these packs, even though I bought them from Amazon (I spend hundreds at REI, so they were really friendly to me with my unusual request). I was met with a really rude person instead, who begrudgingly fit me, berating me for shopping elsewhere and putting these packs, as well. I remembered that my priority was to get fitted, so I held my tongue and he showed me how uncomfortable these packs were for someone of my frame. I hate to admit this, but this 18-year REI veteran was right

With padded waist straps there’s always a concern about portability.  The StreetWalker, after all, has non-padded straps that tuck inside a pocket and can virtually disappear.  So how did the folks at MindShift decide to avoid the “flapping waist strap” problem I experienced with my old LowePro pack?  They designed the FirstLight’s straps to fold back and clip around the bottom of the pack, essentially hugging the bag and remaining tight and constricted.

Teton, I ordinarily love your stuff so much, but whyyyyy?????? There are too many bells and whistles on your packs, overloading them with a confusing, endless array of straps and buckles, and adding unnecessary weight. My goal was to get a 65 liter backpack that was rugged, well-rated, SIMPLE, easy to use, LIGHT, and which looked smart. This backpack easily could have been that, for it is well-built and nicely-featured, but instead was ingloriously burdened with what felt like 95% straps flapping everywhere, and 5% everything else. The straps on the bottom of the pack were so confusing, even the REI dude had no clue why there were four female ends for two male-ended buckles

This plane has just about the smallest overhead compartments imaginable.  No reasonable large lens bag would fit in those (though the Skin system pouches with smaller gear could).  So the pack had to fit under the seat.  And it barely did

I like that the sleeping bag compartment is larger than other backpacks I have, so I can much more easily fit a high-quality sleeping bag, air mattress, blanket, pillow, etc. into that compartment. With other packs I've had, most of that stuff has to go on the outside of the pack, and then it gets dirty and clumsily bumps into things. Plus, with the Grand 5500, that gear is much more effectively protected from the elements than just being tied to the outside of a smaller pack

I’d highly recommend this bag for any long lens photographer who needs to haul their gear more than a couple miles at a time, especially if you don’t need immediate access to your camera and lens.  If you plan to do any hiking with bigger gear, the 30L is a solid choice.  For road and vehicle-based photographers (such as myself), the StreetWalker HD from ThinkTank may be a more slightly more efficient alternative. Buy the FirstLight 30L

In my opinion, the former is a far better pack, with pass-through pockets for hiking poles, huge side pockets where you could store your cookware, AND it's $25 dollars less. Even to me, a backpacking novice, the packs felt too huge and bulky for the trail. I went to REI with this pack and the cheaper one I mentioned above, being told beforehand (via phone call) that someone there would fit me with these packs, even though I bought them from Amazon (I spend hundreds at REI, so they were really friendly to me with my unusual request). I was met with a really rude person instead, who begrudgingly fit me, berating me for shopping elsewhere and putting these packs, as well

Three grab handles make it easy to hoist into an overhead bin or in and out of vehicles en route to your destination. The shoulder straps and waist belt distribute weight evenly, while the shaped aluminum torso stay provides additional support, allowing you to stay out on the trail longer.

They slide down and open up the bag. That only leaves the ability to use the chest strap areas which is stupid. I don't like having my towels, knife, selfie stick dangling in front of my face. They need to put stronger better zippers in the bag or at least a few hooks stationary in the bag to hang stuff on

Zipper pulls on the bag are beefy and easy to grab, even with gloves, and a bevy of zippered areas allowed me to store keys and other travel items.

Upon receiving this backpack, the first thing I checked was that particular zipper. With nothing inside the pack, I struggled to open the sleeping bag compartment and was never able to close it properly. The teeth of the zipper were splitting open on both ends by the zip stops, and in the middle due to misaligned teeth or the zipper itself is defective. A replacement was ordered

The laptop/tablet pouches are on the front flap of the FirstLight, which lacks the padding of the interior of the bag, so it’s a good idea to be careful when unzipping and lowering the front flap when loaded with computer gear. If I were planning to take a MacBook Pro into the field, I’d opt for a bag with better computer compartment padding, but my laptop and tablet usually stay in my hotel room when I’m on an outdoor shoot.