Ever been amazed at people's interest in things?

I just had this backpack ordered to ship to me in Oregon from an REI store in Washington (last year's model is $50 off, and my local REI didn't have my size in last year's model): http://www.ospreypacks.com/Packs/AtmosSeriesMens/Atmos65/

Just now I looked to see if I could have found it cheaper online (unfortunately yes, I found it for $40 less on one website), and found some reviews of it. Some of those reviews and comments sound just as in-depth and passionate as opinions here on various audio gear. It kind of amazed me that people put that much thought into a backpack. I guess if you're really into it, it's understandable, but it was kind of surprising. It made me think of what other people, who know nothing about the intricacies of audio gear, might think of our passions regarding one model or another ("A preamp is a preamp, right...?").

There are many things that interest me besides music but I don`t share the same passion for those things. I guess its the same for everyone. As far as backpacks.... its hard for me to get passionate about it but I can relate sort of...

It's missing Jet Pack capability with a weightless inexhaustible power supply, otherwise.........

It is amazing the depth of knowledge some people have about their interests... and how varied those interests can be. Try going to some photography boards and listening to debates about the "new" point and shoot vs DSLRs..... or Canon vs Nikon. Hang out with the Eagles fans.... talk about detail.... someone will debate the merits of a tight end.... another fan will watch on tape, every game of the season and document how many balls were throw his way, catches, drops, fumbles etc. I have a friend who used to enjoy building blues guitar amps.... didn't care that much for playing..... just liked to build them and try for a "certain sound." There are people who collect barbed wire, old steam irons, dental instruments etc. Lots of interests in this world!

I think this does illustrate a very fundamental kind of sorting behavior that our brains are really good at. This process of developing expertise must have some kind of brain chemistry payoff because we seem to run that process so frequently. Every few years I watch The Color of Money because it seems to know so much about that subject.

Having used both a good pack for wilderness hiking and a bad pack -- and having used a (good) pack (twice) to bang around Europe, I'll say that the difference between a good pack and a bad pack -- in the extreme -- could mean the difference between surviving and not. But, for sure, the good pack will be more comfortable and let one make better time with fewer stops to shift loads, adjust straps, etc, and will offer far greater comfort. (Also knowing how to pack a pack is a bit help, but first you have to have a good pack.)

The first time I was in Europe, it was a big summer for US youth tourists (charter air fares had dropped and that forced the majors to drop their fares, sometimes by half)... my GF and I had nice Kelty packs I'd insisted we buy -- and it was one of the few smart things I did at age 20. I'd done a little mountain backpacking and my first experience was with a rental pack. It wasn't a total POS but it wasn't a Kelty. Once we were on the other side of the pond, we met a lot of fellow travelers who didn't have good packs and they were suffering.

Two things you never want to cheap out on, when hiking or touring: a good pack and good boots.

Well, that makes total sense, being a fairly practical item. If you're seriously going to walk into the woods, and live off what you can carry for a few days, the difference between a well-organized pack that can comfortably distribute a larger load is the difference between comfort and misery and injury, if not life and death.

You want to see fanaticism, talk to bike people. Bicycles. They're crazy about this frame and that material for rims and this new fabric for wicking away sweat and that tire kit that'll fit right in yer ass and what have you. Here on the coast highway we have the nuttiest of the nutty. Lawyers and doctors with their money. Hundreds of these shmoes hogging the road. And boy do they get pissed when you get a little too close...

Give me a solid beach cruiser and I'm good.

Hey Man i'm with B2B a good fitting and quality pack along with boots is absolutely paramount to how much your enjoy yourself. Buying a big pack online is risky, make sure when you get it home that you throw some weight in there (at least 45lbs) and set it up and wear it around for a while, even go for a walk for an hour with the weight in and see how it feels after that, if it hurts or binds or sits wrong, send it back because it is useless for you.

Yeah, I had it fit at REI.

I purchased a nice pair of hiking shoes a couple of years ago, and I could not believe how much they improved my hiking experience.

Lowa Renegade GTX low. The most comfortable shoes I own... bar none.

I got them in a "end of the year blowout sale", for only $80, which I thought was expensive at the time... but I didn't realize the "value" of what I was buying. I bet I will get 5+ years of great service from these... I only hope they can take new soles at some point in the future.

About a year later I bought a pair of the mid-height model, and love them almost as much. I paid about 2x the price of the originals... but didn't think twice.

I only know that when something matters, you should get the best you can afford. hiking boots, backpacks, computers, cell phones, cars, food, guitars, mic's, amps, cables...

There are plenty of things where "just good enough" is probably ok.

M

$80 sounds like a good price. Back in '71, I paid $32 ($168 adjusted for inflation) for a pair of Pivetta hiking boots (after doing a short trip with a rented pack and some workboots) and, IIRC, $48 ($252 in 2008 dollars) for my Kelty pack.

I made a point of taking both the pack and boots on a 4 day packing trip before I headed off to Europe -- and I was glad I did. The brand new Pivettas were stiff and killing me and the experienced hike leader told me to just wade into a nearby stream and let the boots soak for a minute. (Thank goodness it was summer. This would not have worked well in cold weather. ) I don't know if that's the right way to do an emergency break-in of hiking boots, but it worked. I tightened up the boots to keep from slipping around in them and they sort of stretched and dried a lot closer to the shape of my feet. That said, not something you would want to risk in cold weather. At all. I like my toes. I'm hoping to die with ten of them.

yeah, that or walking around with wet socks (with your feet in plastic bags - as you can blister up pretty good) is a pretty common technique for breaking in leather, not so good for newer-school synthetics or if you've already sno-sealed the {censored} out of leather

Kind of like the ill-fitting back thing -- I suppose there's no real right way to do an emergency break-in as the whole idea is to have that {censored} dialed beforehand

but {censored} happens and sometimes it's a do what-you-gotta do thing...I mean it is an emergent condition

A monk once told me (I think it's an old chestnut, dunno, but he fed me, and I listened) "make thing so that it will not break, and make that unbreakable thing repairable when it does"

I think it's great. A lot of musicians who come through here to record at my studio could really care less about the gear. After they record for a while, they might say, "I'd really like to sing through that big blue mic again!"

I've loved this plug-in, called the Tel-Ray Variable Delay, for years. I knew that it was based on an oil can delay, and at one point looked into the possibility of getting one. What I didn't know was that there were actually forums for oil can delays, with people telling in full detail about the sound, maintenance, and applications of these oil can delays.

There are forums and websites for just about anything, including oil can delays.

~~~~~~~~~

And I use a backpack for traveling. For 1/6th of the year, I carry all of my belongings around in a backpack and a daypack. These are things that I look for (and this is just off the top of my head - there's more!):

-It must hold your stuff in some organizational manner and be as functional and flexible as possible.

-It must keep your stuff safe and dry. You do not want to be traveling in the upper Himalayas and suddenly find that all your clothes are soaking wet and your electronics, camera, papers, sleeping bag, pillow, or anything else has been soaked. You do not want to find out that it's ripped, leaking, non-functional, or porous.

-It must not break or rip. Ever. There should be two zippers, not one, so if one gets screwed, you can use the other.

-All zippers should be completely covered so that water does not leak in.

-It must have some compartments with mesh, both inside and outside, so that you can store things that need to breathe (wet socks, gloves, etc.)

-It not only has to be indestructible, but it also has to be extremely lightweight. Anyone who uses a backpack for traveling, mountain climbing, or, well, backpacking is typically obsessed with weight...that is, getting all your stuff into a backpack but having it lightweight. And while your clothes and sleeping bag and equipment should be lightweight, it starts with the pack.

-It must be comfortable and put the load on your hips, not on your shoulders or back.

So I can completely understand the fanaticism that may go into a backpack. I've had packs go in the middle of a trip way out in the boonies in a Third World country, and it's not very pleasant. And after every trip, you always think about how you can pack better or do things better. And sometimes, that includes getting a better backpack.

And if you go backpacking in the woods for 14 days or go mountain climbing, multiply the importance of what I said tenfold or more.

I think it's one of those, in whatever field - there are mission critical systems and so we have to get those dialed and there can be a lot of detail, in packs, in preamps, fingernails...what-have-you

Depending on the endeavor, where we put the burden -- durability, redundancy, width of operational envelope, instantaneous performance, graceful failure

where we deem the right balance...so it can be a rich rich thing

Often, I kind of think a performance metric is better looked at as "area under the curve" as opposed to a simple scalar -- but it sure ain;t the only way

and I find that works across endeavors, so yeah...choose an endeavor and there's a whole world in each grain of sand

Oh, people say that about us all the time. "You guys spend all that time talking about this stuff? It's just music."

See?

Inherited a Kelty, amazing pack. Can't find decent replacement pads, so had to make my own, still not quite right. Visited websites ad naseum. Woods trips let me recharge, let the music in my head swirl around for a few. Come back appreciating flush toilets and technology. Or is it better to poop in the woods and cover it with soil, or into the huge public pipes?

I wonder what the "bad pack" death stats are...

I think that your either 'into' gear or your just a user of it......me, I tend to be into it...I'll look into what I am buying, what I intend to use it for etc. I just call it being an educated shopper.

I have to say (I'm a Brit BTW) that my English brethren could be pretty anal about gear and it's technical properties.....someone mentioned hiking boots...phew! The Ramblers over there will hold a discussion about boots till the cows come home (I had a pair of Chris Brashier boots for ever until I finally had to admit that they had lost a little of their integrity).

Over here in the US I find a much better balance between form and function...although Lee has it....I also cycle (MTB and Road) and yes, some of those cats are 'way' over the top!

Actually, I'm more amazed at people who have NO interest in things.

People who have NO hobbies, no interests, no projects, no goals.

Just empty days going to work, watching TV, eating at the same places.

Dull, void, empty lives.

...and they look at us like WE'RE the crazy ones....

I totally get the backpack thing. My brother is that into his bike, just like I am that into music.

Get us talking about what we like and we can drone on for hours.

I don't understand this at all. But they're usually also the people that are sorta judgmental about others and keep repeating the mantra "I wasn't born with any talent". What a sad place to be...to watch all these people doing things they enjoy around you, and you not thinking that you're not good enough for any of that.

Those Osprey packs are awesome.