I have a SMD Starlite on the way, no one sells them near me, so I had to order. My base wt can be as low as 10 lbs in very hot weather with no water filter, with a partner to share tent wt. Or as high as 15 in cooler weather by myself. Expected 3 season wt with 5 days food and 3L is about 29 lbs. I wanted the capability to carry a bit extra with the stays if I have to carry some of my kids load, so the starlite seemed to be perfect (as long as dont have too carry too much of kids load the first day with a full pack)

I have read it doesnt compress a lot, but my thought was to not compress my megalite, and put everything (tent, raingear, etc) in the pack instead of in mesh pockets if volume starts to be problem.

Does this sound like it will work OK for the Starlite? Guess I will know next week anyway.

You are on the right track. It compresses OK with the cords across the back but it does make the back pocket pretty unusable. I never have found a need to compress it much.

I don't have one, but I almost did. I was between this and the ULA Circuit. I went with the Circuit and have been very happy with it. My current cold weather kit is around 15 pounds + consumables, so same as you, looking at mid to high 20's with a fresh resupply. I stuff my Marmot Helium inside a large (22x17") MYOG sil stuff sack and then it goes into the bottom of my Circuit. This will fill about the bottom 1/3 of the pack easily. Then I just pile the rest on top and it compresses the bag only as much as needed. This way I don't have to worry much about needing to compress my pack. Although, my summer kit is about 5 pounds less, and not quite as filling. So, I am going to order the SMD Swift to use for my summer gear.