from my readings here on BPL it seems the general consensus is that MLD stuff is excellent. however, as we all know, the search on BPL is lacking. i was hoping that some prophet owners could chime in here and give me some of their thoughts.
a couple of concerns are
1. compression - i like a nice tight pack, does the bungee cord do the job well?
2. the side pockets look pretty tall, is it easy enough to reach back and get a platy, or any other bottle, out?

thanks-
ben-

Ben, I have a Prophet.

Its OK for compression but I usually just let my sleeping bag expand to fill the area if that tells you anything.

The side pockets are great for keeping things in and I can typically get the Platy out but getting it back in when its less than completely full is a little annoying. I've actually started using the hose and putting one platy in upside down so I can use a bite valve.

I'm seriously considering switching to the Burn because 99% of my trips don't use up most of the Prophet's volume. Want to buy a burn and swap? ;)


Don Meredith

lightpack.blogspot.com

I love my Prophet. Haven't had any issue with compression, but then again I probably carry more than a lot of folks on this site so I don't need to compress all that much. I would think you could get bottles in and out easy enough, but I use bottle holders on the pack straps so I'm never reaching back for water.

So I'm not much help in your questions, but what I will tell you is that the pack is superbly made, it carries well/is quite comfortable (I generally have it around 15-20 pounds with food and water) and seems like it will be quite durable. FWIW.

Hey y'all-

First, enough proselytizing; everybody has a prophet they want to advocate for, geeze ;-)

In all seriousness, fantastic pack. I got someone to custom add a cuben hip belt which makes it a good snug ride and helped with the 25 lb max load I carried for a wilderness trek last summer. I had to fiddle with the fit a good deal at that weight, but it worked out. I kept my paty bladder in the top, which may not have helped the fit, and used a hose, using the sides for general items.

Compression I find to be excellent, as is construction.

Jed

well i'm leaning towards the prophet, the other thought is maybe a conduit, but the lack of compression concerns me. anybody have any other thoughts regarding these 2? i'm pretty much ready to pull the trigger on the prophet but want to wait another day just to make sure.
thanks for the replies and pms -
ben-

Both good packs. I had the Conduit and sold it for the Prophet. I simply don't like the side pockets on the Conduit. I don't put water bottles in mine, I put a lot of light gear I want quick access to (hats/gloves in winter, first aid kit, etc.), and I didn't like the sloping cut of the side pockets. The Prophet has full pockets, makes me feel better about the stuff I put in there staying in there.

doug, that's one thought i had, about losing stuff. have you lost things from your conduit? how would you rate them together, fit (subjective i know), function, compression?

Sorry Ben, never took the Conduit on a trip. Didn't realize the pockets were as slanted as they were, sold it before ever taking it out. It felt okay when I tried it on in the house though.

The Prophet is everything I was looking for in a small pack. I've had it on one trip, this weekend will be the second. Actually an amazing amount of room in the pack -- I didn't come close to filling it. Hipbelt feels fine, snugs up well. I do prefer the ULA hipbelts, which you pull from the sides to the middle to snug, as opposed to (seemingly) everyone else, where you pull from the middle out to snug. But that's a minor detail to me.

cool thanks doug!
i also like that feature of the ULA packs. but not a big deal. pretty low on the list of things i want.
thanks again

I don't know if you want to check it out, but its been whispering to me for a couple days now.

I have seen that pack and there are things about it that I like, but for some unknown reason, it just hasn't caught my interest.

Sean,
I started a thread on the Swift with a bunch of pictures.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=29149

I don't have the Prophet but my Exodus has the same bungee cord setup and bottom volume reducer. I bought the Exodus for trips where I wanted to carry extra gear but ended up using it for weekend trips as well because it's so comfortable to carry. My weekend load is small enough that I had to really cinch up the bungees and bottom load reduction loops to get the pack to keep it's shape. This worked fine (see my Avatar) but having to cinch the pack down to make it carry well is a pain in my opinion (but it does work). I've now ordered the Burn for smaller trips and it fits my smaller load perfectly.

The Exodus is the first pack that I've had that has allowed me to use the water bottle pockets while on the move. I use a small Nalgene bottle and that works fine but a soft sided Platy might not work so well.

Edited by skopeo on 04/19/2010 21:59:26 MDT.