Top Rated: Karrimor SF Predator 30 MOLLE Pack (8.6 / 10)
Category: Modular 30 Litre to 60 Litre Trekking Pack
MOLLE, up for adoption?
At its core, the Predator 30 is a compact, narrow pack which sits high on the back. Without the PALS webbing, it would look something like a stripped-down climbing pack, with its ski guides and ice axe loops at its base, frameless top-loading design and lightly padded hip belt. And that's essentially what this pack is, at its core. But being a MOLLE pack, its modularity allows for a level of customisation that simply isn't available to most civilian packs.
The heavy duty, rotproof, reinforced KS60-RS 600D fabric allows the pack to deal with additional loads and capacities that extend this pack from the small into the large capacity range; sufficient in our experience, for all ones gear and enough food for 10 days (in all seasons). Depending on how mountainous the terrain, between 15 and 20 miles per day should be very do-able. So the Predator 30 will allow you 150 to 200 miles before re-supply is required - that's a fair degree of independence.
The Predator 30 is really a 30L, 40L and a 55/60L pack in one. An incredibly robust pack for its weight, the Predator 30 is a no-fuss (with no superfluous features), highly functional, utilitarian, mule of a pack, that will deal with pretty much anything any trekking civvie (no matter how hardcore) is going to throw at it. I'd love to see the MOLLE system adopted by a weight conscious outdoor pack manufacturer, but until then, Karrimor SF's Predator 30 is Scramble's top pick in the 30L+ Trekking Backpack category (and I have a feeling it's going to take something very special to dethrone it).