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Wear testing held up the assumption that the pack would be reasonably comfortable to carry.
Review: Maxpedition Xantha Backpack
Editor's Note:
I originally wrote this review with the thought that we need time off too and many of us enjoy outdoor activities such as camping, hiking and backpacking, so this would be applicable. Then I was reminded that a great many of us work in rural areas with some of them tending toward wilderness. This might be of interest to you as well if you work in such an area OR if you simply need a pack to keep ready in your patrol vehicle trunk.
A few years ago I had opportunity to work security down in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina had come to visit. One of the things I had that I normally went nowhere without, was my three-day pack holding the bare necessities of life: changes of clothes, food, basic first-aid items, CLEAN water, baby wipes (anyone who has ever been in the infantry knows what value those hold) and more. I took that pack with me everywhere except for the one day my team leader said, "This is a 12 hour assignment. Leave your pack here." Stupid me listened to him and spent the next four days without benefit of that pack. Those circumstances are always on my mind when I review a similar sized pack such as the Xantha from Maxpedition.
It is important to acknowledge that different people have different needs over the course of three days. How much food you decide you want to carry, what toiletries you require, how many pair of underwear, socks, etc. All of that is personal choice. The one thing I was taught never to underestimate and always to carry as much of as I could was water. At eight pounds per gallon (approximately), water is a precious commodity that isn't light. That said, the average human needs AT LEAST a half-gallon per day to survive. Since everything is measured in metric these days, let's put that in more common terms. A half-gallon of water is 64 ounces. One liter of water is about 33 ounces (give or take a fraction of an ounce). The average large hydration bladder carries 3 liters...