Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review

Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review – The Best Multi Day Running Pack Just Got Bigger. But is it Better ?

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The Fastpack 35 is now my favourite backpack. I’ve used it extensively in the last 2 years for every multi day adventure I’ve had. The combination of extreme lightness, waterproof roll up dry bag entry, front pockets and pouches for snacks and water bottles and that you can adjust it bigger or smaller means it can carry everything up to a lightweight tent, sleeping bag and overnight gear and still feel secure and light enough to trail run wearing.

Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 At a Glance…

35L waterproof breathable backpack with roll top

loads of pockets and zips to store smaller items

secure comfortable adjustable shape

Literally my favourite backpack of all time

Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 

In Depth Review

 I first tested this bag 2 years ago on a  Fastest Known Time  record attempt on the Sussex Border Path but I’ve gone on to use it for my Leatherman Loop, New England Trail records in the USA as well as both through hikes of the CT section of the Appalachian Trail.

New England Trail Fastest Known Time
New England Trail Fastest Known Time

What is a Fastpack?

So what is a Fastpack ? Fastpacking is the natural outcome from slower long distance runners like me who do lots of self supported multi day running with outdoor camping.  I tend to see myself as much as a fast hiker as I am a slow ultra runner.  For multi day running with no checkpoints or crews you need to carry a few extra items with you like sleeping bag , small tent or bivvy bag , extra waterproof gear and charging packs for power so the standard 14L or small race vest simply isn’t big enough.  Ultimate Direction have dominated this ‘Fastpacker’ niche with the industry standard for years in the form of the Fastpack 25 .  

The Old Leatherman Loop Fastest Known Time
The Old Leatherman Loop Fastest Known Time

The Ultimate Direction Size Choice 15L, 25L or 35L ?

The Ultimate Direction Fastpack Range is rather varied. The 25L Fastpack  is superb and I’ve used one for a few years but the 15L Fastpack is awful ( it has a non waterproof zip right up the middle of the whole bag so everything gets wet if it rains and it is just the wrong size for everything, too big for single day too small for multi day).  There is also now a female FastpackHER which I have reviewed and wasn’t impressed with.

Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
Lee-Stuart Evans Setting the fastest known time on the 141 mile Sussex Border Path using an Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35  

Side by Side with the Fastpack 25

When I initially got the bag I couldn’t understand why it looked exactly the same as my Fastpack 25. This made no sense. How have they added 10 more litres of storage? It wasn’t until I looked at the depth of the bag that I realised that was where the extra room come from. This has a very interesting side effect, the bag feels no more bulky on your body than the fastpack 25 but it means the side bungee storage mesh pockets and much wider and longer so its much much easier to reach back with your hands while wearing it to take things in and out.
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
At first glance the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 ( left) and 25 (right) look the same size !

Fabric

The material feels a little bit more hard wearing than the older Fastpack 25 I had and with hardly any weight difference its easy to see why you would opt for a 35L bag over its smaller brother because  you can easily roll it down and make it smaller than a 25L bag but with a 25L you cant make it any bigger.
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
The UD 750ml bottles sit a bit high in the pouch for my liking on the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 

Water Bottle Pouches and Chest Pockets

The water bottle and pockets configuration on the Fastpack 35L is an improvement too. I like the high zip pocket on the left breast as its big enough to fit my smartphone and a charger pack so I can charge phone or watch or torch on the move easily. It has numerous extra stretchy pounches for gels and snacks ( far more than the Fastpack 25) but you lose the ability to have 2 water bottles up front with the high zip pocket. The old Fastpack 25L used to be able to handle 2 x 750ml hard bottles easily but for some reason the Fastpack 35L leaves the water bottle a bit too high and near my neck and face with a 750ml bottle so I opted to use 600ml softflasks instead which works great, one up front and one stowed in a side or rear pouch.
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
plenty of room for gels and snacks in the multitude of zip pockets and stretchy pouches on the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 

Gripes

The new range of UD race vests have an upgraded and thicker and more hard wearing bungee to mount your poles near the bottles so its shame to see that the Fastpack 35 hasn’t adopted this and still has the flimsier bungee. After a lot of use they fray and eventually split off. While I’m having a little moan the new chest clips are fiddly, the old standard clips on the fastpack 25 I had worked either way up, the new ones have to be the right way round. When you are tired or it night this is infuriating. I cant see any advantage to these new clips, only downsides.
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
I hate the new fiddly clips on the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 

Adjustable and Secure Even When Running

Some people complain about the UD packs being a bit ‘bouncy ‘ when running. I often actually find that this is usually due to pack having too much heavy gear low down and the side and bottom straps being adjusted wrong. The new Fastpack 35 has a new extra waist belt added. This waist belt is a total waste of time. It has no pockets or anything useful on it which is a shame but its so narrow you cant comfortably tighten it enough for it to be load bearing before it starts to cut you in half. Worst still it makes the entire pack sit proud against your whole back tightly so you get hot and sweaty easily.  I took the waist strap off within the first few hours of my run on the Sussex Border Path and have never put them back on.  I really dont think you need it. If you do then UD need to create a much thicker padded belt like Osprey use so that it can actually be load bearing. 
Mine Hill Preserve Leathermans Loop Fastest Known Time
Mine Hill Preserve Leathermans Loop Fastest Known Time

Removable Sponge Back

Final moany bit. The new Fastpack 35 comes with the awful sponge foam back support pad in it. Take this out and put it in the bin. It makes your back hot and uncomfortable. Once removed the pack doesn’t sit proud against your back in places and thus naturally allows air to flow through and keep you cool.  My foam pad went in the bin in the first 10 miles. 

Adjustable to Lots of Different Body Shapes

You can now adjust the height of the chest straps AND the side strap height so you can customise even more for your body shape. This is good progress from the UD FP 25 but I’d still like to see a female version of this pack and not a ‘unisex’ set up.  They do a Jenny Race vest for women so its about time UD do a female Fastpack ( update – I hear from UD there IS a female FastpackHer coming out soon !).
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
5 different height options on loops for the side straps of the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 

Waterproof and Breathable

The bag is breathable and to a heavy extent waterproof. Because it has a roll dry bag closure rather than a zip it keeps things dry in rain showers. If you are running for long periods of time like I do  I recommend having individual dry bags for things such as waterproofs, sleeping gear, spare clothes etc so that your body sweat doesn’t gently soak all your gear when running.  I’d say you even have room for a lightweight 2 man tent on top of the gear I carry as standard. A top tip here is I remove the entire inner tent of my small 2 man Vango tent and take only the outer tent and 8 lightweight pegs so I have a quick to set up advanced tarp for cover if I get hit with a few hours of heavy rain and want to rest while I wait it out. This adds only about 700g to the pack. 

Seamless Comfort – No Chaffing

The Fastpacks are made from a unique seamless infinity desgn which means there are no seams on any of the sections that contact your body. This makes this immensely comfortable and in fact when I was hot ( it was a baking hot 27 that weekend)  I ran significant sections with no t shirt on at all in total comfort (apologies to the odd walker that saw me. I was too hot to care)

Enough Storage for All Your Overnight Gear

My 35 L bag had more than enough room in for a sleeping bag,  inflatable roll mat, spare clothes, waterproof jacket and trousers, spare socks, charging pack and gear and bivvy bag with loads of room to spare. With the 25L I would be close to capacity on the bag for multi day adventures which can make rummaging round in the bag a pain. the 35L is much better but comes with a word of warning …. you need to be disciplined with your packing or you WILL fill that extra 10L with stuff you don’t really need. I slept ‘rough’ a few times during the weekend in 2 to 3 hour stints. The extra space meant I could bring a few extra ‘luxuries’ like an inflatable roll mat without having to mount anything on the outside like I normally do with the Fastpack 25.
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
The huge and very stretchy main outer mesh pouch across the back of the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 

A Huge Stretchy Mesh Pocket for Easy Stowage of High Use Items

The rear massive bungee mesh area remains a feature shared with the FP 25  and I love it. I tend to fill it with stuff I need quickly like a waterpoof jacket or headtorch that can stand being rained on .
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
Storing a drybag beneath the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 is easy when I go wild swimming

Daisy Chain Attachments Loops for Extra Gear

There are huge numbers of places to mount small karabiners or bungee to attach clothing or gear  to on the outside, it has loops for ice axes and various ‘daisy chain’ loops and 2 of its own bungees to accommodate any extra gear you want to stow on the outside easily .
Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
The waterproof zip pouch at the rear of the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 for things like keys and wallet.

Waterproof Outer Zip Pocket

The bag still has the waterproof outer zip pouch with waterproof zip. I use this for wallet , keys and electrical items like batteries and medical gear that all need to be kept dry. There is a small clip on cord inside too to attach your keys to so that the nagging voice in your head that you’ve lost your car keys all weekend can finally be silenced. 

Easy to Wash and Reproof

The bag washes well with tec wash and can be re waterproofed easily too with Nik Wax Waterproof. 
All in all there is very little difference in price between the fastpack 25 and the Fastpack 35 and I would say the 35 is worth the extra money. You can always make a bigger bag smaller ….but you cant make a smaller bag bigger. You could even finally see a Marathon des Sables runner using this bag and be one of very few to have everything inside the bag on day one !
Sussex Border Path
Sussex Border Path 

I finished the 141 mile Sussex Border Path  in 3 days and set a new record.  An average of 50 miles per day in hot conditions and 10,000 ft of ascent. the right pack with the right amount of comfort and features is really important when you are quite literally living out of your bag for 3 days and nights.  This was fastpacking at its absolute best and I loved almost all of it.

Sussex Border Path Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review
Fastpacking means seeing sunrises like this on the Sussex Border Path 

Verdict 

Verdict

The Fastpack 35 is now my new favourite bag.  I prefer it over the 25 because of the pocket configuration on the front and the additional storage space and more accessible side mesh pouches when wearing it. I even used it pacing a runner on the South Downs Way 100 recently because it packs so small when nearly empty so it just feels like a race vest.  The pros easily outweigh the small new niggles I have with the clips, foam pad and weird useless waist belt. 

5 thoughts on “Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35 Review – The Best Multi Day Running Pack Just Got Bigger. But is it Better ?

  1. Ciao, volevo prendere il fastpack 25, perche ha le due tasche per le borracce. Lo userei oer uscire di due giorni con una dormita fuori in bivacvo utilizzando un sacco a pelo.
    Esso è 14×25 c’entra per orizzontale nella parte bassa? Come spazio me ne avanzerebbe abbastanza?
    Come taglia pensavo alla S/M sono alto 176 cm per un torace di circa 87/90, pensi possa andare bene?
    Grazie Michele

    1. tutti i pacchetti veloci hanno due tasche sul lato anteriore per l’acqua. In realtà ho una recensione separata del pack veloce 25 sul mio sito web. Non sono abbastanza sicuro di quale sia la tua domanda, ma direi che generalmente le donne usano la borsa S / M. È regolabile molto in modo da poter ottenere le cinghie giusto per la tua taglia e forma. Spero che questo aiuti e faccia un’altra domanda se è necessario. Se acquisti tramite uno dei miei link, aiuta anche a supportare il mio sito. Vi auguro una buona giornata.

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