It came in the mail today. It is a short. Exactly what I ordered. However, the shoulder straps are M Trim, which I am guessing the M stands for medium. And oddly enough the hipbelt is WMNS M which I am assuming means Womens Medium. I actually wanted a Medium on the shoulder straps and the hipbelt even though I did not request it when ordering. However, I was going to ask them to exchange them out for Mediums even though I still wanted to keep a short frame.

Heres the thing though! What the hell, am I suppose to get a womens medium? And Is that to say it is really a short in mens sizing. And what is with this Trim stuff on the shoulder straps. Did I get a janking backpack or something. If anyone has one of these, as I know some of you do, can you help me figure out whats going on. Thanks!

Contact Granite Gear.

Edited by FamilyGuy on 07/07/2009 12:31:17 MDT.

Look at the owners manual that came with the pack. It tells you what the abbreviations are and what the standard shoulder strap/hipbelt sizes are on the pack from the factory. I take it you bought the pack from an online retailer rather than directly from GG. They in all likelihood switched out the hipbelt. Not a big deal. Look at the last pages of your owners manual which tells you how to ship it back to them to switch it out for no cost. It is common to exchange these based on what you need, I have. GG customer service is great.

the medium trip straps and womens medium hipbelt are what comes standard on the nimbus ozone. if you had bought directly from granite gear they would have given you the option to chose whatever hipbelt and strap combination you desire. the good news is that they will swap hipbelts for free. call granite gear and tell them what you want. the difference in hipbelts is not the waist size but the angle at which it will contact you waist. more curvy for women, more straight for men. i got mine returned in about a week. the shoulder straps come in different sizes, i find the medium comfy, but that can be exchanged for free as well.

Yea I was going to call them but I dont have the number anymore. Someone gave it to me on here when I asked a question, but that discussion got deleted because two other people were bickering about something unrelated. I am guessing the admins said to hell with it , "We are just taking not these discussion and all of the posts."

I looked in the bag for a manual and did not see one. It appears as though the online retailor did not send one with the package. So you say the backpack comes with womens medium hipbelts as the norm? Same with the trim shoulder straps? As soon as I figure out how to contact GG I will, but in the mean time you guys are the best people I can get information from. Thanks!

218-834-6157

Granite Gear Incorporated
2312 10th St,
Two Harbors, MN

Edited by marti124 on 07/07/2009 14:42:43 MDT.

This is directly from GG: Unless otherwise specified, all Cirrus, Stratus, and Nimbus packs come assembled with a belt and shoulder strap as follows:

Short torso packs come with Women's medium belt and medium shoulder straps.
Regular torso packs come with medium Men's belt and medium shoulder straps.

Thanks thats the number I was looking for although George seems like he might know what the story is. With that noted, does that mean that Medium Trim is just what they call their shoulder straps or does trim me womans? I will trying giving them a call today, but I think their offices are closed now. Thanks.

- Tim

Tim, the hipbelts are male or female, but the shoulder straps are not. The hipbelts for your pack come in small-medium-large, the shoulder straps come in small-medium-large-extra large. If you check the Granite gear website and click the tab that reads fitting you'll be able to give an educated guess as to which belt and straps you need before you talk to customer service.

Alright so what Im getting from you is that they make hipbelts for both men and women. A medium in a womens and mens belt is the same in terms of inches, however, the only difference that exists is how wide it is so that it can met the contours of males and females properly. Am I understanding you correctly? As far as the shoulder straps are concered there in only one type made and it is unisex. Therefore, I should not have to worry about it being called Trim? I worry about that because I wonder why they do not just call it Medium.

On a side note, I called GG a couple of minutes ago and they will be closed this week between Tuesday and Thursday to do a manditory annual inventory check. Bummer! Looks like i will have to wait until Friday to talk to them. However, in the mean time, I guess its to you guys for help :D

The best pack belt for the Nimbus Ozone belongs to the belts that go with their sturdier line of packs. The Nimbus Ozone is in their "Ultralight" packs. the next line is the "Light" packs. They have two styles of belts in that line -- one that is dimension wise the same height, and depth of the "Ultralight" belts but with the difference that a stiff spine buffets the back of the belt. These belts (both Ultralight and light) have a axle "hole" in the center back of the belt that a phillips screw goes through the belt to attach to the frame. With the "Light" belt, the frame connects to the belt via this spine, and the belt spine disperses the weight of the pack to nearly 300 degrees around the waist, so that you don't feel the weight of the pack only at the back, but around you. It's a significant dispersion of weight of the pack for almost no cost in weight.

I am a little overweight and needed to swap out my belt anyway, I opted for this "light" belt instead and got the Large size belt, but dimensioned the same as the Ultralight default belt but it has the stiff spine. Here is from the Granite Gear catalog that you can download:

"Light Pack Belt

All the features of the Ultralight Belt plus a high-density
plastic exoskeleton that forms a wishbone shape to cup
around your hip crest and add load-bearing support.
When fit properly, this exoskeleton forms an effective
“wrap” around your hips which helps to keep the belt
positioned right where it needs to be to effectively transfer weight. This belt is standard equipment on all the
Light Packs."

Download this document to see what I'm talking about:
http://www.granitegear.com/PDF/topoflex_manual.pdf

Be sure the new belt you get is the newer style where to tighten the belt, you pull the straps towards the belly button (the older belts, you pulled the straps AWAY from the belly button).

I looked at the manual, and could not find the difference in the belt dimensions other than "ultralight" and "light" and between them "men's" and "women's" and between them, "s","m","l". I wonder if the difference is that maybe a woman's belt is higher (up/down height) than a man's belt. I think I have the man's belt, light pack line style, size large (new style, where tightening means you pull the straps towards the belly button).

I just love the pack. Fantastic. One word of advice, go to a hardware store and get spare stainless steel screws for the pack and bring along a philips screwdriver (either in a knife or keychain setup), I did one time have a screw come loose -- I had the pack repaired and I think the tailor (at a local store) did not tighten the screw tight enough and the belt where it met the frame, the screw came loose and due to having a spare on hand with a screw driver, I was able to fix myself in the field (on the trail). Thank goodness. My spare screws were stainless steel so they would not rust. The pack has a spare parts pouch that is clipped underneath the hydration pouch, look for it -- I put the spare items in that pouch.

You might be able to get the spare screws from GG when you call them -- ask. Let me know what you find out.

This page has been most helpful. I will definitely ask them about the screws for us.

Ive decided on two things:

I want to try the Medium Shoulder straps both in Trim and Regular.

and

I want to try the Men's Medium Hipbelt in both the Ultralight and Light styles.

Do you think I I was willing to provide them with my credit card information or send them a check they would send me the Medium Shoulder straps, the Medium Ultralight Hipbelt, and the Medium Light belt all at once. I know I would only keep one of them and send the others back, but I would still like to see how they all compare to one another all at once while testing them out on my body. I know this is a question that will only be able to be answered by thier staff personally, but as i wait for Friday to come along when they re-open, what are your thoughts. I am really hoping so because I dont know want to have to exchange my belts out two or three times just to find out which one I like. Unfortunately there is not a place in my state that carries the belts in the store so you can try them out their and make a decision :/

Edited by MichaelRedbeard on 07/07/2009 19:38:02 MDT.