Mountainsmith packs???

[bitflogger]

Anybody actually touched or own(ed) their Quantum or Parallax packs? Thier web site does not have a lot of photos, their customer service people say they'll send or post more, but do not reply, and I don't want to waste time or money if possible. I am personally looking at a solution for both active carrying (on a mountain bike), and just larger storage in general.

The Lowepro packs I've seen have a laptop compartment that's too slim for me, and the Parallax Mountainsmith looks like it could be better in that realm.

The Quantum concept seems like it would be good for high activity where there is still no hydro bladder, but a pack that could carry Nalgene bottles and one's SLR and some stuff, or still allow one to strap or carry a tripod better than a CamelBak or similar.

I see Lowepro Orion II has a port that could be used for a drinking bladder, but that pack will not carry a tripod.

For the moment I lean toward sticking with carrying the camera gear in other packs and padding within a non-camera pack, and getting a larger general purpose camera pack. For that I recall Photo-John's good words on the Dueter, and I see current versions of my CamelBak look improved.

The search continues....

Thanks for any comments on the Mountainsmith if you've seen or touched.

[cathpah]

Anybody actually touched or own(ed) their Quantum or Parallax packs? Thier web site does not have a lot of photos, their customer service people say they'll send or post more, but do not reply, and I don't want to waste time or money if possible. I am personally looking at a solution for both active carrying (on a mountain bike), and just larger storage in general.

The Lowepro packs I've seen have a laptop compartment that's too slim for me, and the Parallax Mountainsmith looks like it could be better in that realm.

The Quantum concept seems like it would be good for high activity where there is still no hydro bladder, but a pack that could carry Nalgene bottles and one's SLR and some stuff, or still allow one to strap or carry a tripod better than a CamelBak or similar.

I see Lowepro Orion II has a port that could be used for a drinking bladder, but that pack will not carry a tripod.

For the moment I lean toward sticking with carrying the camera gear in other packs and padding within a non-camera pack, and getting a larger general purpose camera pack. For that I recall Photo-John's good words on the Dueter, and I see current versions of my CamelBak look improved.

The search continues....

Thanks for any comments on the Mountainsmith if you've seen or touched.

While I must admit that I have not touched either one of those packs, I can say that I own the mountainsmith paragon (the last version of their camera backpacks) and it's AMAZING. furthermore, I noticed that you also live in Madison (quite the coincidence) and should tell you that they have both the paragon and the lumen at Fontana sports (both of the older versions). To be honest, I'm kind of searching out the parallax myself to be able to carry my laptop along on photo safaris, and I know that fontana does not have either the Quantum or Parallax (I just called). I would reccomend checking out the two options that they do have, because aside from carrying a laptop, my paragon is perfect.
Otherwise, let me know if you do find a parallax locally, because I'd love to fondle and explore it as well. best of luck to you.

[mjs1973]

Hey Bitflogger and Cathpah,

It's nice to see some more Wisconsinites here on the site. If you haven't seen it, be sure to check out the Wisconsin Gathering Thread. Some of the members from this area are planning a Madison get together for sometime this summer. We are considering meeting someplace in Madison on 2/4 for a bite to eat and kick around some ideas about what to for a larger gathering.

Here is a link to the planning thread. Feel free to add any ideas or suggestions.