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Super Speedy Summary Review
The Raidlight Responsiv 24L runners and fastpackers backpack is perfectly suited for multi day adventures where weight and comfort are important. It has a large number of useful zipped secure pockets within reach when wearing it, sits very comfortably on your body with a low ‘footprint’ on your back to help keep you cool and weighs in at an incredibly light 10 oz. The pack comes with two flexi bottles with straws as standard and comfortable adjustable chest straps and a unique ‘twist to tighten’ side adjustment system so the pack sits tight and secure on your body for a large number of different body shapes and sizes. Despite being geared for ‘men’ I think this has a wide range of adjustments available that make it comfortable for women too.
The 24 L carrying capacity gives enough space to carry a light mesh tent, sleeping bag, light roll mat and food if you are on a Summer multi day adventure and the adjustable bungee cord on the outside means you can shrink it down in size to a small race vest size when you don’t need to carry as much gear on shorter hikes and runs.
PURCHASE $189.95In Depth Review
So I must start this review with a huge portion of ‘Humble Pie’. A few years ago it was my opinion that Raidlight had a large number of products that were well thought out but dogged by terrible build quality and I had all but written them off as a brand so to see their build quality jump forward so much has been a very pleasant surprise.
Everything changed last week when this pack arrived. I scoured the vest expecting the worst and instead was basically surprisingly silent. What I held in my hands was a massive jump forward in build quality from what I had seen in the past and a pack that wasn’t just good, but well made and designed enough to instantly place it in the ‘best contenders category’ for a multi day pack.
Materials
The vest has a heavy duty fabric that will resist rain showers that comprises the main body of the bag as well as a lighter weight ‘clear’ fabric for the area that sits against your back and shoulders to give you maximum breathability and avoid you feeling clammy and sweaty when wearing the bag.
The overall weight of this pack is astonishing too at 10oz. Its literally half the weight of its closest contender.
Pockets
The key to a great pack for runners and hikers is the ability to have access to everything you need without having to take the pack off. If a pack has lots of secure zipped pockets you can keep sunglasses, gloves, hat, buff, suncream, bug spray and snacks close to hand without having to stop to get or change things.
This pack has a superb range of pockets and better still they are all within reach when wearing and most have zips so you have the added security of knowing things cant drop out.
On the chest up high are two zip pockets big enough for a GPS tracker and small suncream or snacks, lower below the water bottle pouches are two VERY large pouches to stuff snacks and anything you want. On one side this front pouch has a secure zip and better still this is the first backpack in a longtime that features a front pouch with an area more than large enough to accommodate my huge Samsung smartphone. Many of us use phones for navigation as well as music and photos and I’m often frustrated when ‘phone pockets’ aren’t big enough for anything over a 5 inch screen. The material for these pockets is a highly stretchy material which is great but for the the phone pocket I would like to have seen it made from a more waterproof or rain proof material like the main bag.
The inside of the main compartment also has an easy to get to small zipped pocket up high that’s perfect for your keys.
Finally there is a rather large zipped compartment along the bottom of the bag that you’ll miss if you aren’t looking for it. You can also easily reach this when wearing it and could use it for larger items like warm hat or gloves or even possibly a waterproof jacket. I would just be careful about plonking this bag down hard when not wearing as anything in this pouch will be liable to getting wet from the ground or bashed.
Main Compartment
I view a multi day bag as serving two purposes. The outside pockets and compartments should be easy to access for your ‘during the day’ things like suncream, bug spray and snacks and the main compartment should only really be needed at the end of each days adventures when you need to set up camp and get out a mesh tent, sleeping bag and mat etc.
The main compartment opes up widely thanks to a zip that runs round 3/4s of the entire bag area so its easy to find stuff and get things in and out of it. There is also a thin sleeve running down it to slide a water bladder into along with a velcro loop to hold it.
Straps and Adjustments
There are two chest straps on the front that you can adjust. One of the clips also comes with a built in whistle which is sometimes an mandatory requirement on multi stage races so this is useful. Unlike the Ultimate Direction bags the clips can clip either way up so when you are tired or its dark you aren’t left fumbling and swearing.
You can easily adjust where the chest straps sit on your body by sliding them out of the ‘daisy chain loops’ they are threaded through and reattach them on one of the higher or lower loops ( there are 7 options to choose from). A simple plastic T bar section holds them in place once threaded through.
On the sides the bag has a ‘corset like’ thread system at the waist that can simply be tightened by the twist of a small plastic black dial. You can loosen it off by turning the dial the other way. This is a great way to quickly adjust round your body, and the cords look sturdy but I will be interested to see if this gimmick lasts a year of abuse with me. If you get the sizing right in the first place you shouldn’t need to rely on this too much anyway.
Fit and Sizing
This is a European company sizing for slim runners so for the USA I would advise sizing one size up not down if you are borderline between one of the three sizes. As always I advise taking into account your ‘most layered’ day when wearing this so imagine you are wearing a baselayer, midlayer and thick jacket in the winter when considering what size to go for. Its easy to make a pack smaller but impossible to make it bigger !
I’m also going to come out and say that I think this might be the most comfortable multi day pack I’ve ever worn. It fits my body in a very comfortable ergonomic way and the area that touches my back is minimized to allow as much air flow round my sweaty back as possible keeping me cool and comfortable. Overall the pack sits slightly ‘higher’ on my body than the Ultimate Direction packs and this feels somehow more secure, more nimble and less bulky.
Not Just for Men
The amount of adjustment on this vest and the way it is contoured means its well worth considering for women to use as well. Because the chest straps have a lot of elastic give and can be moved above or below the bust line and the waist can be adjusted in too this may be one of the best fitting packs for women to use. Shona tried it out and noted how comfortable it was for her.
Trekking Pole Mounts
The bag has bungee loops to mount folded trekking poles across your chest area. Whilst this ‘works’ I disagree with this set up for two reasons.Firstly the poles will get in the way of some race numbers that have to be on show on your chest ( believe me there are many European races where you must have the race number on show on your chest area) and secondly if you do take the bag off you’ll need to undo the poles and take them off to do so. Ultimate Direction have bungee mounts vertically on the sides of the water bottle pockets and this is much more sensible. All is not lost though as you can thread and loop hairbands at the top and bottom of the water bottle sections to allow you to mount the folded poles vertically.
Water Bottles
The bag comes with two 600ml (20 fl oz) flexible bottles with straws. This means you can drink easily from them without having to remove them from the pouches and the small bungee strips on the shoulder keep the straws out of the way when not in use.
They are very comfortable against your body and keep the weight distribution away from your back only so you feel more balanced as a runner or hiker than having all the weight on the back. I also like that the straws and bite at the top can swivel easily without having to spin the bottle round. It means when you fill a bottle and slide it in you don’t have to spin the bottle round in the pouch to get the bite nozzle facing you.
There is also a velcro loop inside for a water bladder if you prefer to store your water in the main pack.
Gripes
No bag is perfect and I don’t want you to think this is a long list of criticisms, but there are some issues with this bag that I think are worth noting. I’ve already explained that I’m not a fan of the way the poles are mounted across the chest, but my biggest disappointment is the main compartment zip. This zip is not waterproof. Now if you only race in the hot Summer with lovely weather this wont be an issue but if you are in Europe or more temperate parts of the USA this means that in a downpour everything in this bag will get wet. As a ‘belt and braces’ approach I actually combat this by distributing my gear into various sized small drybags so that you have the confidence to know your gear stays tidy and dry so this does combat the issue, but I prefer a waterproof bag AND mini drybags so I can literally do a river crossing without anything getting wet.
The second big gripe is the external bungee cord. When the pack is almost full its not an issue and provides a useful mounting point to dry out a wet jacket etc, but if you use this pack only half full or less you’ll want to tighten the cords up to stop things rattling about.
When the cords are used to pull the bag tight at the sides they weave multiple times over the main compartment zip which makes opening the bag fiddly and annoying. This only happens when the bag is half full or less and needs to be made tighter but its still annoying.
Closest Contender
For build quality price and features the only close contender is the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 25. The Ultimate Direction offering wins on waterproof design and pole mounts but the Raidlight is much lighter and offers a better option for hot Summer running and ergonomics for pockets and storage on the move. If money was no object I’d use the Raidlight for summer and Fastpack 25 for winter.
Verdict
This runners and fastpackers backpack is perfectly suited for multi day adventures where weight and comfort are important. It has a large number of useful zipped secure pockets within reach when wearing it, sits very comfortably on your body with a low ‘footprint’ on your back to help keep you cool and weighs in at an incredibly light 10 oz. The pack comes with two flexi bottles with straws as standard and comfortable adjustable chest straps and a unique ‘twist to tighten’ side adjustment system so the pack sits tight and secure on your body for a large number of different body shapes and sizes.
Despite being geared for ‘men’ I think this has a wide range of adjustments available that make it comfortable for women too. The 24 L carrying capacity gives enough space to carry a light mesh tent, sleeping bag, light roll mat and food if you are on a Summer multi day adventure and the adjustable bungee cord on the outside means you can shrink it down in size to a small race vest size when you don’t need to carry as much gear on shorter hikes and runs.
I can say for sure that from now on you’ll see me using this pack a lot. I’m actually sad I didn’t get hold of this before my 225 mile fastest known time on the New England Trail recently because this bag would have been perfect.
PURCHASE $189.95About Raidlight
Since 1999 RaidLight has served the trail running community with the best products to enhance your ability to connect with each other, nature, and to share the trail running experience. Born in the French Alps they continue to blaze new trails through innovation and community building. Helping you find your limits on and off the trail is what drives them to create award winning products.
Deep in the French Alps in the town of Saint Pierre de Chartreuse is their headquarters and their INO FAB Rapid Production Lab. In the lab their designers can create and test products in the same day. With endless single track outside their front door they bring products to life faster and more efficiently.
Their headquarters are open to all of the trail running community to learn, play, test gear, and see the latest technology in the outdoor and trail running industry.
They don’t just make trail running gear, they live the life style of trail runners and adventurers. They are next to you when you toe the line at your local race and they follow the same footprints on the trail. They work tirelessly to support the community we are all a part of. Whether you cross a finish line first, last, DNF, or have never started a race you are a part of their family.
