I did my first hike with the Aero 28 on October 6, 2024. Rim to Rim of Grand Canyon from Bright Angel to North Rim. Packed my stuff up for a quick day hike, but with some extras in case of any surprises. My pack weight was probably about 10lbs including water as all of the water stations were in service. Temps were in the low 90s around Phantom Ranch.
The pack wears well and is comfortable right out of the box. I literally took the tags off the day before I started my hike. Adjustment was easy and the fit was superb. I bought a medium and it fit great. I’m 5’8 and weigh about 155lbs and my torso is right at about 19”.
Weight distribution was really good with the shoulder straps and I never had the feeling of them digging into me, even after helping another hiker that was in distress and loaded all their gear into my pack, pushing my pack weight closer to 20lbs for the last 6 miles that took nearly 5 hours.
The zippered phone pocket will only fit an iPhone mini with ease. I just ended up using one of the open pockets for my phone. No fault of the pack as I have the problems with every pack I have, but I was unable to reach the water bottle pockets if I loosened up the shoulder straps and pulled the pack to the side a little bit so I could reach it. The shoulder water bottle pockets are big enough for a 20oz Smart Water bottle or some 600ml soft flasks. The open pocket at the bottom of the main pack was easy to access and was clutch for trash from snacking on the go.…