Was just looking at the Ohm ... looks like the price has gone up to $175, and the only option is the trailname embroidery? What's up with that? :(

It looks like the Ohm (and the other packs for that matter) come with the same options they've always had in the past. It's just that the other stuff (hydration pouch, bottle holsters etc) are now in the "pack accessories" section.

they're including all the accessories with the pack and have adjusted the price upward to compensate. They're listed under "removables" on the Features tab for each pack. So now you get the bottle holsters, hydration sleve, etc with the pack.

I'm sure there are supporters and detractors both ways -- but I prefer the former "cafeteria style". It's also why I like the Zpack approach where you start with a basic packbag and choose your options from there.

The price went up, the optional and included features didn't change. There was a post about this from the new owners a while back. They said the Ohm was initially under priced and was adjusted to more closely match competitor packs. The option features are still a la cart but appear to be under pack accessories for all packs rather than listed with each individual pack separately as was posted above.

off the ULA Website:

"To aid this process all backpack STANDARD FEATURES have been expanded to include what were optional pack features.
These additional standard features are still removable to meet your personal hiking preferences.
Products prices have changed to fold in the new bundle of goods.

They must have decided that after they posted about the Ohm price increase. My mistake.

Thus far I don't like the changes I'm seeing and will have to start looking at other vendors for packs. This is sad since I've always had great dealings with Brian and love/loved his work.

I think the Conduit is actually cheaper now given the additional standard equipment.....

I actually ordered the Ohm right before ULA posted this up on their site. My order with 2 hipbelt pockets came to $179($155 for the pack and $12 for each pocket). After placing the order I received an email from Chris(within an hour) advising me that the pricing structure will be changed in the next week and that he was only going to charge me the new price of $175 for the pack with all of the optional(now standard) accessories. Since I would not have ordered the pack without the pockets this worked out very well. I ended up saving $4 and getting 2 water bottle holders, the foam sheet, the water reservoir and the internal pocket for less than what I was willing to pay! I understand those that might be turned off by the loss of the a la carte option, but the products are still a good value and it doesn't seem that customer service has suffered at all with the new ownership.

Actually in my opinion the new owner of ULA is smart. Let's start out with the assumption that Brian was earning a wage, not running a "profitable" business. This is typical of many small businesses. And eventually they fail.

So now we have a new owner who not only has capital invested in the purchase (he needs a return on this investment), he also needs to pay himself a reasonable salary AND he needs to make a profit, which is different that his salary. This is what good businessmen do. This is America and talented people go into business to make a PROFIT.

Now we have the complaints that GoLite has gone mainstream. Do we want ULA to go mainstream too? Of course not, we are selfish and we want quality UL equipment.

So lets look at including all the options as standard equipment. I call this the "Package Pricing Technique" and it is what I would have done also. Every pack is going to get the works. Which means that every pack is providing 'incremental' sales. Plus the production line will run every item for every pack. No more back orders because they did not anticipate the demand for pockets, etc. It makes it easier to manage the production line, and easier for customers to order, and easier for the accounting functions of the business office. Sounds like Chris is a smart man.

Now we can sit back and whine and nit-pick. But these are the things he is probably going to need to do, to stay in business. My hat is off to the gentleman.

Nicely put, Nick.

Ditto

So, gear closets are going to be piled up with unused ULA accessories?

If I'm understanding this, a loaded up Ohm is $175 where a Gossamer Gear Gorilla is $180 plus $30 for hipbelt pockets?

>> If I'm understanding this, a loaded up Ohm is $175 where a Gossamer Gear Gorilla is $180 plus $30 for hipbelt pockets?

Shhhhhh....

ULA just might raise their price to $195.

"So, gear closets are going to be piled up with unused ULA accessories? "

Nah, gear swap!

But these are the things he is probably going to need to do, to stay in business

The fact that ULA has been in business for going on 9 years would disagree.

How does offering a bunch of options most of us would deem unnecessary make a ULA pack any different from an Osprey or the like?

And to add a little to Nicks commentary: A sale is a sale. They all have "costs' in time, accounting, order processing etc.

Much more efficient to make one comprehensive sale then to mess with a bunch of little incremental sales that make practically no profit and still take as much time and attention as the "big one"

And when something goes wrong with a "little one" it really ends up putting you in the hole time wise. After all time is money.

Thanks for shedding some light on the situation, guys.

Personally, I was going to order dual hipbelt pockets anyways, so this can only be a good thing, as I get a bunch of other (removeable) options for a cheaper price than custom ordering 2 hipbelt pockets. I do believe I'll be getting the Ohm for the upcoming season!

Let's focus on what's really important: we need more colors than green. How about olive (love that color on the original GoLite Jam) and charcoal grey for starters? :)

I love the green! I think the ULA packs are the best looking out there. With that said, an all gray pack w/ the yellow compression straps could be pretty sweet too.