I am just getting the shoulder straps sewn together for my G4 pack. I have been thinking about the compression system and had a quick question.

Would it be better to have the shock cord compression run on the inside of the pockets? Does having it on the outside make it harder to use the pockets?

I have not made this pack but I dealt with similar issues on pack projects.
So to answer your question I think if you could figure out a good way to put the cord under the pockets go for it. If not I would get a good elastic shock cord and run it over the top of the pockets. I would think this would compress the pack and still allow you to access the pockets. Another althernative would be to leave either the side pockets or the front pocket completely off and put a compression system there.

I think you're right to look at this because one of the main gripes I've heard about the G4 is the lack of a compression system.

I think i'm going to put the compression system under the pocket. It just seems like putting it over the pocket would make access very difficult.

I probably won't get to that part for a little bit though.

I just happened to be looking at Six Moons Designs website and noticed that some of their packs seem to have a compression system under the mesh pocket, you could check it out for ideas.

It actually looks as if most packs send the compression cord outside and over the pockets... I guess it makes sense like that - it would hold everything in the pockets in place.

I'm at the step where I sew the loops on, so I think I'm just going to add more points for the shock cord and leave the compression system outside the pack.