Paging all you ULA Circuit/Catalyst owners...

I can fit my BV500 vertically in my Circuit. As for how I pack it: mostly just pile clothing stuff sack at the bottom, add in the heavy food load, pad (nemo vector long) can fit alongside the food (even with it in the BV), put in the smaller items to fill in the spaces, then cram my quilt and puffy into any remaining spaces (no stuff sack, just loose). I put my fuel bottle and water bottles in the side pockets. My rain gear, pack cover, and stakes go in the stretchy pocket. Small items I want during the day go in the hipbelt pockets. They can hold 4-5 ounces of nuts or trail mix, plus a bandana. In the other side, I keep the sunscreen and/or bug dope.

Where are you living these days, or over the Winter? Might be able to arrange for a Circuit to find you if you will return it. Sort of a get your hands on a well used one before jumping in.

I've hauled 35-40 pound loads for short times on hikes, but it is more comfortable hauling 30. Isn't that true of most packs? I just recently hauled 39 for one day, to cache water on night one.

You are exceptionally generous this way, zeke. But once I decide, I'll probably just be a modern American and order it, try it on when it arrives, and return it if it doesn't fit right Thanks, though.

Yeah, I've always had packs with the traditional lid pocket, where I've always kept my raingear & windshirt. My current main pack has a front pocket (not mesh) that I use for things I might need to access (maps, etc) and small things that would tend to get lost in the main compartment: headlamp, toothbrush, etc.

So, the rolltop design would require a little bit of a packing re-think. I like the idea of the tent in the big mesh pocket--lately I've been packing my tent as close to the top of my pack as possible, so as not to have to empty my pack in a storm when that inevitably happens. Also, my 2p tent (TT Stratospire) has struts that make it pack up kindof hotdog shaped, and it doesn't tend to pack too well horizontally anyway.

Describing what the length of your trips are, I think you'll be happier with the Catalyst.

You can order it with a detachable top lid, and with or without the roll top. I've had it both ways. I prefer a pull top, but if you plan on not always using the top pocket, get the roll top. My current has the roll top.


My Catalyst in the smoke this August:

zeke , I recall you mentioning this a few other times in gear packing discussions. I'm curious, do you not worry about those items getting wet? (Perhaps you use a big pack liner bag?) I know you do a lot of your hiking in places where it doesn't rain much, but those are the two items (quilt and puffy) that I'm pretty strict about protecting from water--I think of my quilt, especially, as my "last line of defense."

I usually put my puffy in a gallon ziplock and my quilt in a small Sea-to-Summit dry bag. Of course, in both cases, it reduces the ability of those down pieces to fit themselves into the available space, as they do in your system.

I can fit a Bearikade Weekender and my gear in the Circuit. I had a few holes - it's a well used pack - and sent it back to ULA, and they deconstructed and reconstructed the pack with a new fabric front panel and patched/reinforced the hole on the top of the frame, all for free. I do pack the canister vertically because I don't like how it rides horizontally. Sleeping pad and quilt are together in a dry bag in the very bottom, the canister goes in on top of it, all the rest gets stuffed down around the can and first aid plus lunch stuff sack on the top of the pack. My light tent goes in the mesh front pocket, along with the ground sheet and occasionally my collapsible fishing pole. The side pockets hold the toilet bag, the map pouch, my 2 oz windbreaker and a few other items i'll likely need during the day. The belt pouches hold the sunscreen, lip balm, phone and maybe a snack.

And for me, in 45 years backpacking, I’ve never brought a pack into the tent. It stays outside with raincover on, generally hung off the ground on a tree. I think that’s especially prudent in bear country.