Posted by Bob Falcone on September 11, 2008 at 1:17 PM
My rather old LowePro Nature Trekker AW has taken quite the beating and is starting to show it's wear, mostly on zipper that doesn't want to stay closed anymore.
I checked into Mountainsmith camera backpacks, and the "Parallax" model seems to be a close size equivalent to the Nature Trekker, at a whole lot less cost. Is anyone using Mountainsmith camera packs? What do you think of them?
Thanks!
Posted by Mel Ladewig on September 11, 2008 at 2:55 PM
I haven't used their camera packs, but I've owned mountainsmith packs in general for a long time. I think they are well made packs though they may not have all the bells and whistles that the competition has. In the backpacking arena, they seem to have lost their direction somewhat in recent years, moving away from expensive technical packs towards cheaper general purpose packs. But they seem to use good quality materials and have have good stitching.
Posted by Bob Falcone on September 11, 2008 at 3:56 PM
Thanks Mel!
Posted by bill meikle on September 11, 2008 at 4:01 PM
I'd be looking for good big strong zips and multi stitching, havent used mountainsmith though.
Posted by Erik Stensland on September 11, 2008 at 4:54 PM
I have one of their packs. A cousin of mine was a rep a few years back and picked up one of their largest camera backpacks for me. It is well made and has stood up to a lot of abuse but I find it to be shorter than I would like. I can't remember the name of the pack though. Maybe it was the Paragon though I'm not sure. Sorry!
Posted by Bob Falcone on September 11, 2008 at 8:35 PM
Thanks everyone!
After posting this I called LowePro to ask about getting the zipper replaced It wasn't going to be cheap (I've had it far too long to be considered anything other than "wear and tear"), but they offered me a killer deal on a new Nature Trekker AW II, so I took them up on it.Up until then, I was leaning heavily towards the Mountainsmith...
Posted by Don Grall on September 12, 2008 at 12:43 PM
I have a LowePro Trekker-Pro AW with a zipper that has given out on one side so I'm just using the one slider that works to close the bag up, a little inconvenient, but it still works. How good a deal did they make you?
Also, there is a new camera bag that is about to introduced in hopefully October by Andy Biggs. It's supposed to be lighter in weight for those who fly a lot. http://www.theglobalphotographer.com/the-global-photographer/category/gura-gear
Posted by Bob Falcone on September 12, 2008 at 7:46 PM
Don, thats exactly what mine was doing, and I handled it the same way you are, but then it would just pop open no matter what...I couldn't trust it to not spill everything onto the ground.
The offered me a brand new AW II for $140 (including shipping) which is $90 cheaper than B&H, and about $160 off list...
Discussion
7 repliesI checked into Mountainsmith camera backpacks, and the "Parallax" model seems to be a close size equivalent to the Nature Trekker, at a whole lot less cost. Is anyone using Mountainsmith camera packs? What do you think of them?
Thanks!
After posting this I called LowePro to ask about getting the zipper replaced It wasn't going to be cheap (I've had it far too long to be considered anything other than "wear and tear"), but they offered me a killer deal on a new Nature Trekker AW II, so I took them up on it.Up until then, I was leaning heavily towards the Mountainsmith...
Also, there is a new camera bag that is about to introduced in hopefully October by Andy Biggs. It's supposed to be lighter in weight for those who fly a lot. http://www.theglobalphotographer.com/the-global-photographer/category/gura-gear
The offered me a brand new AW II for $140 (including shipping) which is $90 cheaper than B&H, and about $160 off list...