Thread: MacPac Packs

I have an older Ascent XPD and it is good but I will be buying Cactus Climbing Foray if I can free up a bit of extra cash. I have had no problems with the pack with any failures and I like the single compartment type packs. The harness on the Ascent just is not as good as i had hoped. Maybe Im just too big and got the wrong size? I do like the kevlar material in the XPD.

The glissade looks like a pretty good bit of kit ,,,,bit wider than the cascade ,,,,but has a good looking harness ,,,same as my traverse ,,,and the price is right at the moment,,,,,specially with it being for the young fella

I brought a Macpac torre about 25 years ago and its still going strong. I don't know what their modern packs are like...........so i'm no help at all really!

i have an old cascade, its been great. strong as hell. i dont know what the latest products are like tho. bit out of my price range.

Had to go to macpac today. Long story but I needed waterproof pants that weigh fuck all and NOT event. They have some pants that fit the bill so I thought fuck it, I have been wrong before.

Fucking hell, worst service ever.

Some middle aged fuck going on to someone about how he's had macpac gear for ages and its only just starting to fail. He started in Dec 2011. Wow. A year. And he clearly doesn't get out much if you know what I mean.

No body helping anyone. 2 American dildo's on the desk standing around clicking their fingers with a full store (maybe 40 people) and no one being helped with anything. Customer service = 0.

Fuck I hope these pants aren't as bad as my resolution jacket. Weren't even that cheap but aint got no time for that shopping shit.

End rant

Chris

yip some sales staff are nutbars. i feel your pain. had the same kind of problem last week.

I popped into Macpac Petone the other day, I thought they did okay! The owner approached us within about 20seconds. He started good banter and wasn't pushing products hard, just genuinely helpful. Even gave us a card for a website that reviews multisport products.

(That I then left in my pocket and went through the wash...whoops....good thing I built this bog box pretty big.)

IMHO this NZ company produces a very robust and durable pack for around the same price as Macpac. They would be my first choice for a good quality pack.

Cactus Climbing Equipment Ltd - Climbing & Outdoor Gear Christchurch

You realise Remington doesn't own Marlin. An investment group bought both Remington and Marlin and ruined the reputations of both.

Originally Posted by Tussock

I was going to say that MacPac had just turned into Kathmandhu. Did not know it was the same guy. Makes perfect sense.

This is slash and burn commerce.

It's a simple model. Buy a brand that is respected for quality and is priced accordingly. Quality costs money. You need top end materials, you need to spend a lot on your machinery to maintain tolerances, you need to pay people to check everything. This ism how you develop a brands reputation. Every time one of us buys something and has a great run out of it, we plug it to our mates. Look at all the people on this thread plugging the MacPac brand because of a piece of gear they bought 20 years ago.

It takes a long time to undo all that good work. In the time it takes to destroy a reputation of 20 years, you can make HUGE PROFIT. You leave the pricing the same, or better yet, increase it, and you slash manufacturing costs, slash material quality, slash quality control. Now you have doubled your profit margin instantly and you don't have to worry about your reputation, because you are not building one, you are bleeding an established one dry.

Kathmandhu was a decent product way back when. Then it was gutted, got a reputation for being junk, and low and behold, now they are doing the same to MacPac. You can grantee, when no self respecting outdoorsman would buy MacPac anymore, they will be looking to buy Cactus or Swazi and do the same to them.

This shit is too common. It's happening to guns as well.

There are some obvious people who do this. To be honest this is exactly what Beratta does too, and Remington has started doing (look up Remington Marlins). You should NEVER buy anything from this sort of company. Not only are you guaranteed to be getting ripped off, your supporting a slash and burn organisation who's sole mission is to take decent companies putting out decent gear and destroying them for profit.

There are plenty of alternatives that make decent gear and are trying to build a reputation, not bleed one dry.

Lost redirect

yeah mate, macpac cascade is where its at. great packs with a good harness system to carry heavy loads comfortably.

New retro-styled Macpac backpacks are kinda cool.

like this one

Originally Posted by gimp

New retro-styled Macpac backpacks are kinda cool.

like this one

In the retro or old days they were called kidney rotters.