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Lee-Stuart Evans running in the USA with an Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25

Super Speedy Review

I’ve tried various backpacks for multi day adventures but the Ultimate Directions Fastpack 25 is nearly always my go to bag. Normally in a review I’m testing a new bag on the market, but this difference with this review is I’m writing about it after literally thousands of miles together and simply put there is no better backpack for trail running or fastpacking.

You will not find a better bag for storage pouches, a main waterproof compartment, adjustable sizing and shape and ways to stow all your gear within easy reach. Nothing from any other major manufacturer comes even close.

In Depth Review

In this blog I aim to do two things, Firstly explain why the bags made by Raidlight, WAA and Salomon are so laughably bad and secondly to walk you through the design features of the Fastpack 25 that make it such a superb pack horse for Outdoor Adventures. 

Lee-Stuart Evans running the Marathon des Sables 31st edition wearing a Raidlight Olmo bag.

If you want to bypass my angry rant about bad gear then scroll to the heading ‘ Features to look for in a Decent Multi Day Race Bag’ further in the blog ..if not then you are about to read me at my absolute most opinionated, ranty and funniest.

Some of the testing I’ve done on other bags has been nothing short of hilarious, including my puzzled expression as to why an armless waterproof jacket would be needed in the desert and why raidlight gear often cant last a week of use.

So before I walk you through the superb features of the Ultimate Direction bag (and their range as a whole) let me get some serious rants off my chest about the other 3 major ‘contenders’. 

Raidlight Olmo 20 –  well designed but made of tissue paper

Apparently this was designed specifically for desert racing, and its design is fairly good overall for races such as the Marathon des Sables, but and its a huge but …. the build quality of Raidlight stuff is atrocious. I mean Christmas cracker toy build quality. When I bought the Raidlight Olmo 20 it fell apart within a week. The shoulder straps thread fell away and the whole bag disintegrated in multiple places. It’s the same with their carbon trekking poles and most of their gear.

Lee-Stuart Evans running the 31st edition of the Marathon des Sables pic by Ian Corless

Anything with a ‘made in vietnam’ label from Raidlight is literally unlikely to get you through one weeks racing let alone a few years of good quality use.  I’m not the only one to complain about build quality, a quick search online or in forums will confirm this.  I ran the Omen 66 a few years back and saw a runner with a brand new Raidlight bag watch in horror as it fell apart in multiple places before his eyes during the race.

In the 2016 Marathon des Sables Marco Olmo passed me on the long day. He is the guy the bag was designed by and named after. Marco Olmo was not wearing an Olmo bag, or even a Raidlight bag.

Raidlights notorious poor build quality

There are positive points to this bag, and at the time of the Marathon des Sables I took the bag to a seamstress to reinforce the terrible stitching and reattach the badly made straps and connectors. Raidlight customer support was awful and there was little point exchanging the bag for another one given this was a build quality issue. I reluctantly made a shit bag better with the help of an expert seamstress. I ran the MdS with the least worst Raidlight ever made and vowed when I got back to find a bag that I could be confident to use for more than a few hours.

At the front the bag has a number of small little mesh pockets for stuffing gels etc round the bottle area which I like, and round the back is a huge mesh bungee area to rapidly store rubbish and gear like jackets and tops you might want quickly . 

Raidlight poor build quality

WAA Ultrabag MDS 20L Backpack – Literally the most stupid bag ever designed

Firstly let me set the record straight on this bag. This bag DOES NOT have a 20L capacity. At best its 12 litres. I know this as I have owned both the raidlight and the WAA at the same time and when I moved gear from the Raidlight to the WAA it wouldn’t all fit in, in fact half of it wouldn’t fit in.  You only have to look at the pics of people running the Marathon des Sables in this bag to see how much of their gear is hanging off the outside of it even towards the end of the week.  How on earth can a bag SPECIFICALLY designed for ONE RACE be so off the mark for that race? My mind boggles.

WAA can only just give this bag away its so bad

Secondly this bag is given away for free to all UK entrants of the Marathon des Sables. This is important. WAA claim that the vast number of people running the MdS use this pack and whilst that is true its because they literally had to give it away.  Just because people are using a free bag doesn’t make it good. A lot of people doing the MdS have little or zero multi day running experience so don’t know what to look for in a bag.

WAA bag is twice the weight of the Ultimate Direction Fastpack

Thirdly this bag IS NOT 590 grams. Its 1.2Kgs . This is a glorious bit of marketing misdirection. Whilst this bag has very sturdy build quality it is ridiculously heavy for a desert race. Its also BLACK so it attracts heat and the pouches and back section are padded to keep the heat in more.  The main bag ONLY weighs 600g, once you add the side pouches and all the front gubbins its like wearing a Volvo with all the nuts loose.

This bag wears you not the other way round.

Lee-Stuart Evans testing the WAA Ultrabag over christmas

If you need a 30 minute instructional video on YouTube to explain how to wear this bag you have utterly failed in your task.

The bag itself is nuts. It has a rain cover ….for a desert race .  It has a flare pouch for an item that isn’t part of compulsary kit for the last 3 years. It has belt pouches that slide around all over the place and drive you mad and fall off when you undo the waist strap.

This bag has a complicated waist extra bag 4L pouch system at the front that you can run without the main bag ….except…AT WHAT STAGE DOES THIS HAPPEN ON THE MDS?!!! 

The bag has 3 black zips on the black bag that are blocked by some useless clips and covers just to make things more fiddly.  Finding the right black zip is difficult at night.  The zips go all the way round the bag to fully open it, and unless you leave the zips to meet at the base of the bag it WILL open itself under pressure and movement and empty the contents of your bag across the desert without you noticing.

The good news is it has lots of mounting points on the outside of the bag to compensate for its terrible internal volume.  Beware the velcro strap loops on the bottom, position them wrong with roll mat or sleeping bag in them and the velcro will wear through your shorts in a matter of hours.

The water bottle holders on the front sort of clip on and bounce around like mad. But that doesn’t matter because the WAA desert bottles leak like crazy so you wont worry after an hour or so as they will be empty.  It also comes with a green kagool…for the rain …..but it has no arms.

This bag is fiddly and time consuming to get on and off. You honestly feel like you are parachuting in to liberate France when you wear it.

Salomon Bags – Puny Zips and Small Water Bottle Pouches

I’ve not included the new Salomon Bags in this review for 3 reasons,  the zips are puny and will break and jam in no time, the bottle holders are insufficient in size and block the storage pouches when you have a bottle in them and the main opening zip is cheap and not waterproof and runs the entire length of the bag meaning any rain in the UK will soak the entire contents instantly.  It also has a totally unfathomable bungee tighten system that I couldn’t get to work so I even called Salomon who were as perplexed as I was. I bought one of their bags last year and sent it back for a refund after one run.

And then along came the Americans and did everything better.

So what features are you looking for in a multi day race bag?

This is the bit you skipped to if you wanted to avoid my rants about other makes of bag!

I’d say the following key points are important

• lightweight and under 700g but able to store at least 20 to 25L of gear
• various pockets and mesh pouches to store smaller bits of gear you need to get to easily
• sizing options for small to large/ tall people
• womens sizing ( for female runners)
• waterproof bag
• front mounted water bottle holders that are comfortably positioned.
• ergonomic design to fit your body comfortably
• decent build quality and reputation
• easy to increase and decrease in size depending on the run your are doing and the kit you need

The Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25 – A bag designed by runners for runners. 

This bag nails it. It is without a doubt the best bag out there for multi day racing. I’ve recommended this bag to a number of Ultra runners and all have come back raving about how good it is. Ultimate Direction have been doing this for nearly 30 years and their latest range shows that sitting down with well respected Ultra runners and decent build quality and materials results in a bag that lasted me thousands of miles of use.

There is also a new female version out called the FastpackHER which I review here. Unfortunately its actually not as good as the unisex version and I suspect most women will continue to buy the unisex one.

Fastpack 25 Features

Lee-Stuart Evans Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25 configured for the Monarchs Way Ultra

The build quality on this bag is superb. I suspect it would be strong enough to support my weight if I was suspended by it. I’ve used this bag extensively for more than 18 months in all environments from Hot desert in Egypt to Arctic Tundra in Mongolia and its still perfect. I had to sew an MdS pouch on to one part of the front a year ago as I accidentally tore the pocket off in an airport security machine, but other than that no stitching has failed and all the zips still work.

Infinknit Seamless Design

The bag has a seamless design against your body for comfort , and is made from a material that wicks sweat away quickly. In fact a criticism of all the bags I’ve tried is the wicking quality of the material…its too good. It means its often necessary to store jackets and spare tops inside the bag in a small drybag otherwise the sweat seeps through the back and into your dry clothing making them damp.

Roll Down Drybag Opening

Roll down dry bag opening of the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25

One of the best features of this bag is that its waterproof. By having a dry bag like opening at the top the bag keeps your gear dry in the rain. Most rucksacks come with a rain cover you have to fiddle with on and off when it rains ( and then can’t get to gear easily) . This gets round that by having a roll bag that’s watertight instead of zips . This has the added advantage that you can easily change the size of the bag depending on what you are taking with you. Roll down the bag more to make it smaller.

Pouches and Pockets

The Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25 rear mesh and waterproof zip pouch at rear

There is also a quality center zip pouch at the top rear that’s waterproof too (take note Salomon). This has plenty of room for things like my keys, wallet, spare batteries and things that are water sensitive but I might need to get hold of easily.

Massive Rear Mesh Bungee Area

The rear of the entire bag is a giant stretchy mesh, I use this to stuff a small lightweight waterproof jacket in, my waterproof running Petzl Torch, and any clothing I may want to take on or off quickly if it isn’t a rainy day.  I’d actually say that at a push you could get a travel sleeping bag in there.

The Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25 side mesh pouches for water bottles , gloves , hat or snacks.

Next are the side bungee mesh pockets. These are perfect for things like gloves , beanie hat on one side , and for wet wipes , talc and suncream on the other side . With practice you can reach them on the go without taking your pack off.

Bottles Pockets and Poles on the front

The Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25 front mounting bungees for folded trekking poles.

The front of the pack has two zip pockets large enough for a large smartphone, and also snacks and gels . I love that the bottle holders easily cater for a 750ml bottle rather than a weedy 500ml and by mounting the bottle on the front you push the weight distribution forward which is more natural to a runner. I’m no longer a fan of camelbaks in any guise for long distance running as you can’t tell how much water you have left, they are clumsy to fill at checkpoints and your back warms the water.

The best feature that is unusual is at the front is the little bungees coming off the top and bottom of the water bottle holders to mount z folding trekking poles. By having them vertical you don’t cover your race number (WAA and Raidlight take note) and are easy to grab and stow away when you need them. Poles mounted at the back of a bag where you cant reach them are useless.

Verdict

The Fastpack 25 is one of the best made products I’ve ever used for running and fastpacking. I’m using either this or its bigger sister bag the Ultimate Direction 35 in almost any photo you’ll find of me on my website.

There is nothing close to this bag for fit comfort, lightweight, well made versatile storage in all weather conditions. You will not regret buying this bag.

Lee-Stuart Evans crossing Frozen Lake Khovsghol on the Rate Race Mongol 100 wearing an Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25