Backpacker – Fall/Winter 2011 Gear Guide – Featuring Mutant 38
January 4th, 2012
Archive
Posts Tagged ‘Mutant 38’
SectionHiker.com – Osprey Mutant 38 Backpack Review – October 12, 2011
October 26th, 2011
If you like climbing or peakbagging in cooler weather, I recommend you try the Osprey Packs Mutant 38 backpack. While large enough to swallow all of your gear, it only weighs 2 pounds 15 ounces (size medium), and has a clean streamlined design optimized for rock and ice climbing that won’t slow you down over rough scrambling or more technical routes.
The Mutant 38 is an exceptionally comfortable backpack to carry with an excellent hip belt system and lumbar padding designed to transfer weight off of your shoulders and onto your hips. But it really is just intended for climbers or and not backpackers. If you want a pack that feels like the Mutant but has enough capacity for backpacking, you should try the Osprey Variant 52 which I tested last winter. That pack has the same kind of suspension as the Mutant, but has a lot more volume and external attachment points. If however you are a rock or ice climber, and you like a form fitting technical pack feels like it’s an extension of your body, this is the pack for you.
Urban Climber Features Limited Edition Osprey Mutant Pack – October 2010
October 21st, 2010
Outdoor USA Magazine – Featuring Mutant38 – May, 2010
July 6th, 2010
Splitter Choss Osprey Mutant 38 Pack Review – February 19th, 2010
February 19th, 2010
I seem to have an obsession with packs. The last time we moved, I realized we had packs I hadn’t seen in years (but of course I couldn’t get rid of them, what if I needed it later?) That being said, it seems that a lot of packs aren’t all that great, instead marketed to the masses who don’t really know better and will buy whatever the sales rep at the local gear shop tells them to. Every now and then, however, you come across a great pack that actually does what it’s supposed to, and in that category I would put the Osprey Mutant 38, loaded with features designed specifically for climbers.
The Good
I’ve been using this pack since last August for everything from casual cragging, to full on sport development, to ice climbing. It has held up to the abuse rather well, minus a puncture in the bottom that nothing outside of a haulbag could have withstood. As far as carrying capacity, it’s listed at 35L, but the floating lid allows it to be expanded to 48L, and it felt like it held significantly more than my Black Diamond Sphinx 45L. Maybe there is some shoddy math going on here, but whatever the reason, this is one of the few climbing packs that I feel can carry everything I need for a day at the crag, plus a rope on top. The outer fabric is durable but light, and the pack’s shape makes it easy to pile stuff into it. The suspension is nice and carries really well, even with heavier loads like, say, a drill, bolts, rope, etc.
….
Osprey Mutant Grabs Top Spot in Gripped Magazine’s Gear Section
October 16th, 2009
Osprey Mutant Reviewed in Britain’s Climber Magazine
August 12th, 2009
