Guide Pack (Questions, Colors, and so on!)

[BowTrek]

Guide Pack (Questions, Colors, and so on!)

Hey all! I have a handful of questions regarding the Guide’s Pack. The main one of which is (sadly) will it ever come back in Olive? Or a non-blue, non-grey color? I’m just not fond of blues or greys and even black in this case doesn’t fit like I’d like.

I think I saw somewhere on the forums that the Shadow Guide might be making a comeback in an updated version, so I suppose that rekindled my interest in the Guide’s Pack (the side pockets are vital for my plans, so the shadow guide itself wouldn’t work for me without those).

I’ve been watching eBay for a while but haven’t seen any pop up there. I’ve also asked around a handful of other places – do you all have any standard places to look for used TB bags? I know the forum here has a ‘trade’ sub-section that I’ve used before (love my S19!) but no place for WTB threads.

As for questions about the pack itself… would a Side Kick fit in the large space on the top pocket of the Guide’s Pack? I have been wanting to pick up a Side Kick for a while to use as a dedicated electronics bag – it will fit in my current Deuter pack (that the Guide’s Pack would replace).

I have a Grayl 24 oz water filter – this is significantly larger than a standard 24oz water bottle. Works great btw, if anyone else needs an easy, faster water filter. It’s about 3.5” diameter and about 10.5” height, which is a bit bigger than a standard 32oz Nalgene. Anyone know how well that would fit in one of the side pockets? Looking at the dimensions on the website it seems like it /should/ fit, but I don’t want to struggle getting it in and out (and ideally I could have a ghost whale in there with some electrolyte powder next to it – and I always carry two water bottles, one normal one and then this one).

I have no intentions of checking my Guide’s Pack (with side pockets) but sometimes things happen. Are the clips that attach the side pockets sturdy enough to hold up if the bag needed to be checked as luggage for an international flight?

Honestly at this point I’m about ready to order a Navy one, try it on to see if I think I could carry it comfortably with 25 lb for 300 miles, then return it if the answer is ‘no’ instead of yes. I’ve held off buying one for years now… knowing whether or not it would be comfortable (compared to my Osprey, my Kelty, and my Deuter) would ease my mind (and make it either easier to wait on a not-navy color or just stop waiting period!).

Bag looks like it would be fairly easy to strap a tent, sleeping bag, and mat onto (assuming I had the straps to do so) but has anyone actually done that? Tent and mat probably onto the back of the bag with the sleeping bag on the bottom is my guess at how I’d do it, depending if there was room. That's a lot of tie down onto the bag, and if anyone has a picture I'd love to see what set-up you used.

Thanks all!

[lang]

I've been itching for an Guide's pack in Olive for a while, but I've never seen one come up.

I asked Darcy if they had any plans on getting any different parapack colors in the Facebook group, and she said that they didn't... so take that for what it's worth.

[G42]

This thread is updated as they have time, but it's the latest on fabric colours & jump to the last post of the thread to see the updated comment on Steel:

https://forums.tombihn.com/general-b...tml#post147785

Navy is the only current Parapack colour as they run out the last of Steel... so unless @Darcy tells us differently, no Olive unfortunately

[BowTrek]

I’m not attached to parapack despite it being a great choice. I assumed they’d either have to retire the bag permanently or eventually make more in something other than navy, even if it’s a while to go yet. Given the rumors of a new shadow guide I’d hoped this might get looked at too!

Regardless I still have to figure out if all those other things I want to pack/carry will load out well.

[bartleby]

In the recent Zoom-Meeting Tom was also talking about the future of Parapack. I took home that there is a good chance that Parapack will stay for longer but perhaps from a different mill that produces it with even better qualities than TBs current supplier. Maybe this will also result in other colors than just navy, who knows? Furthermore, I understand that the Guide's Pack is one of Tom's favorite bags (which is no wonder to me) and the fact that it was updated just recently and wasn't sorted out in the recent retirement circle gives me some hope that it will be available for longer. But that's just pure speculation...

Back to the nitty-gritty: I have a GP in navy and I love it. I think that navy matches just perfectly with Coyote but that of course is just my very personal opinion. I hope I'll find some time tonight or over the weekend to take some pics to answer the questions regarding the pocket sizes and the strap-on options specifically.

[bartleby]

As for questions about the pack itself… would a Side Kick fit in the large space on the top pocket of the Guide’s Pack? I have been wanting to pick up a Side Kick for a while to use as a dedicated electronics bag – it will fit in my current Deuter pack (that the Guide’s Pack would replace).

I tried it today and the answer is yes! Here you see a Side Kick in Front of my Guide's Pack. It is reasonably packed and fits perfectly in the top pocket of the GP.

I have a Grayl 24 oz water filter – this is significantly larger than a standard 24oz water bottle. Works great btw, if anyone else needs an easy, faster water filter. It’s about 3.5” diameter and about 10.5” height, which is a bit bigger than a standard 32oz Nalgene. Anyone know how well that would fit in one of the side pockets?

Unfortunately, I have no bottle that is in that size. So I searched for something similar in size and I found a cereal box that is 3.6'' x 10.8''. I assume that your water filter isn't completely cylindrical but somehow smaller at the top. Because as you can see: although the cereal box does just fit in the pocket you wouldn't be able to close it. So my guess it that the water filter will fit and yes you would certainly have some space left for smaller things such as a Ghost Whale.

I have no intentions of checking my Guide’s Pack (with side pockets) but sometimes things happen. Are the clips that attach the side pockets sturdy enough to hold up if the bag needed to be checked as luggage for an international flight?

I have not tried this yet but I think I wouldn't do that. Although the clips work really well I think that a bag that will be checked should be as smooth as possible. Thus, I would rather clip of the side pockets (which is no big deal) and put them inside. I would even consider putting the backpack in an extra cover to protect the straps and other loose parts.

Bag looks like it would be fairly easy to strap a tent, sleeping bag, and mat onto (assuming I had the straps to do so) but has anyone actually done that? Tent and mat probably onto the back of the bag with the sleeping bag on the bottom is my guess at how I’d do it, depending if there was room. That's a lot of tie down onto the bag, and if anyone has a picture I'd love to see what set-up you used.

Yes it is fairly easy to strap things onto the bag. Here you see my Travelrest Trail Light attached to the bottom or to the top (the green is certainly not the ideal combo for Coyote...)





I think that I would attach heavier things to the bottom and lighter stuff to the top. Overall, the Guide's Pack is not a very technical backpack. Thus, I think it is important that you try if attaching a lot of stuff to the outside still gives you enough carrying comfort.

Hope that helps!

[BowTrek]

Hope that helps!

That MORE THAN helps!

Pretty much exactly all of the information that I needed. The only thing you can't do for me is try it on - and that's something I was always going to have to do myself. As you say, it seems to be a less technical backpack than some of my others, and I need to experiment with that actually loaded and on my back.

You are amazing and a credit to these forums. Thank you so much! Really can't wait to get my hands on one now!