2nd Review for Berghaus FreeFlow Rucksack by Colin.

Berghaus Freeflow Rucksack.

At last I had a chance to try and test the freeflow 20 rucksack  from Berghaus

Mainly been out of action due to illness and other things.

So   it was tested on a 6 miles walk on a cold day. The first thing was to get the rucksack to fit  and straps right so it sat correct.

The ruck sack has a mesh back which I found was good all day. It has a large hip belt which ok, but looked a bit big for size of rucksack but it caused no problems.

It has two compartments the main is entered from the top and a small map size pocket on the back. As it was  cold day I was wearing my water proof and fleece. The waterproof would have fitted in but space would be a issue with this rucksack. As I also had my food, over trouser and hats and gloves in the sack. Plus first aid kit. So space was tight. The map pocket is only design for maps.  

On the side there is a stretch pocket for water bottle and these are done at a angle I had no problems with these as |Helen did, but the bottle did keep dropping out when I put the rucksack down. On the back there is the two loops for your poles but they were not used today.

Overall a good light weight rucksack..  Would I use it for walking? The answer would be only for small mileage walks and low down. Plus in the winter you are taking more stuff with you.  The 20L is not big enough for this, but there is a bigger litre size above this one. A good rucksack for city breaks.

My normal rucksack is a Osprey which has it’s good points and bad points as well.

Colin

Review of a Berghaus Freeflow 20 rucksack

This is a review of a Berghaus rucksack, which we were kindly sent by Berghaus.

 

I currently use an Osprey atmos 35 as my main day sack, so found the Berghaus Freeflow 20 quite small in comparison. Due to Colin currently recovering from an ankle infection, we took the rucksack out on a short day walk round Dunham Massey, where the size was adequate to carry both our lunches (not sure how that happened, something about me having the new rucksack so I’d have to carry everything!), a spare hat and my Paramo jacket, but there wasn’t much space left over. Had we been out for our usual full Sunday walk e.g. on Kinder, I might have struggled with the size, particularly in winter when carrying extra spare clothes etc. However, during the summer when using lightweight waterproofs etc. this size would be fine.

 

Likes        

-       The back of the rucksack is curved, giving a clear gap between the rucksack and your back. While I didn’t feel much benefit from this in the cold last weekend, this will be really useful come the summer. In the last few day sacks I’ve bought, I’ve deliberately chosen models that have similar back systems.

Curved Back

 

-       There was nice padding on the shoulder straps, but with meshed areas in them, which again should help to keep me cool during the summer.

-       There was ample padding in the waist band
 

-       It’s a nice light sack

-       There are 2 external open mesh pockets, for bottles etc. The opening for these is on the side, rather than the more usual top opening, which I found made it easier to get water bottles out while wearing the rucksack.

-       Internal pocket to take a water reservoir, and hole to put drinking tube through

Dislikes

-       I prefer a larger day sack, but think this will be much better as a summer sack

-       While the side opening of the external side pockets made them easier to access, I did find that when I put my flask in one of these pockets I could then feel this against my back when I was walking. However, I didn’t have this problem with my water bottle.

 

Flask Too Big

-       The only zipped pocket was a large pocket across the front of the rucksack, accessed by a vertical zip. However once I’d put my Paramo etc. inside the main rucksack, I found this zipped pocked awkward to access and I couldn’t fit much in it. I would have preferred a smaller zipped pocket somewhere for keeping money, keys etc. in

Summary

This is a good lightweight basic rucksack. I think for me it is more of a summer rucksack and I look forward to trying it out in warmer weather when I think its curved back system and meshed padded straps will really come in useful. 

         

Berghaus Freeflow 20 Rucksack

We been sent a Berghaus Freeflow 20 rucksack to test out and do a review and blog about it. This we will do over the coming weeks and there will be two reports. One from me and one from Helen. So you will get  a male and a female report. Helen will review the rucksack first as I am out of action due to a infection in my ankle.

Rab

A recent trip  down the M1 motorway took me on a detour to the Rab shop. Where I picked up some reduced gear.
First Item was the  Vapour-rise Lite Alpine Jacket.

Two pairs of Outdoor Design Gloves and Mitts

One Aeon Tee  and One long Sleeve

Will report back on how they get on. Looking forward at using the vapour rise as I have one from a few years back and I also have the Shadow Hoodie which I like for winter.