Changes

* '''Handheld bottle'''. Because the bottle is in your hand, you don't have problems with it jostling, rubbing, or banging against you. However , the bottle occupies one (or both) of your hands, and can tire your arms. In some situations , it can also change your biomechanics and running form.

==Ultimate Direction Hardrocker Adventure Vest 4.0 (Top pick)==This update to the [[Ultimate Direction Hardrocker]] pack has a great array of features, and good capacity. I found <jfs id=" B07573PRKS" nonl="true" noreferb="true" n=" Ultimate Direction Adventure Vest 4.0"/>. Like its predecessor, it carried my standard load with ease, and while it took some effort to cinch things down, the results were worth the effort, and the pack has good control of the load, with minimal pendulum motion or bounce. It's a pack that can certainly carry more than I intend, and it's the only pack (so far) that I tested with an increased load of 190oz/11.9Lb/5.4Kg. At that load, it's still surprisingly comfortable, though but at that much loadthe weight does tend tends to make running quite a bit harder. However, if you doing a self-supported run in a dodgy weather, and you want to be prepared for minor emergencies, then the extra capacity is great. There is loads of attachments and pockets to keep things organized, and . One of the few negative changes I found the 2 with this update is there is only one collapsible water bottles bottle on the shoulder straps . These collapsible bottles help to balance out the weight in the main compartment nicely. The ability to shorten the shoulder straps a little help tweak the fit, though adjustment is a little tricky, and can't be done with the pack on. The main downside to this adjustment mechanism is that the hard plastic buckles can chafe quite badly. I had to put some foam padding in that section of the pack to prevent problems.* 13.3oz 1oz in weight(claimed 14.1oz), with a claimed 13L 16.4L capacity. It's a similar size to my Synergyor Hardrocker, with room to spare when loaded with my standard gear. * The pack is made of moderately harsh and abrasive material, but the edges are reasonably soft. Watch for the hard, plastic buckles that rest against the small of your back. * The back of the pack is a transparent mesh, which might improve breathabilityin theory, but didn't help much in practice. * It does not come with a hydration bladder, but there's a sleeve that UD says holds 2L and held my bladder with ease. Access to the hydration bladder is a separate zipper, which makes refilling easier. The transparent back makes it easier to check how full the bladder is without removing it from the pack. * There's a stretch pocket of the bottom of the back of the pack, and a bungee cord over the topof the back of the back. The bungee cord cinches down the pack if it's not full (clip the bungee to the top of the pack for best results.) There are hooks for the bungee further back that allows for better compression with partial loads. Not having the bungee cord go the full length of the back of the pack is a bit of a negative, as you can't cinch down the lower load effectively. (The original Hardrocker was better here.) * There are lots of pockets. * The * There are two zippered pockets on the "hip pockets held my belt" near the small of your back. These will hold gloves on one side and or a small hat on the other, with or a bit number of room to sparegels. The right-hand pocket also has another open pocket behind it.* There* On the right-hand strap, where the shoulder strap turns into the hip belt, there's an internal a small zippered pocket with a clip for keys, stretchy fabric. This will just about hold a standard sized iPhone without a good place for valuablescase. * The * On the left-hand strap, where the shoulder straps each have an strap turns into the hip belt, there's a small open pocket for bottleswith a stretchy fabric. You can put the larger sized iPhone in this pocket, but it includes a cinch bungee to hold them in place's not very secure, and it impinges on the pocket above. There** On the right-hand shoulder strap, there's a stretchy pocket over the bottle pockets that holds a few GUs. Below the collapsible water bottle pockets there's . It has a stretch couple of pouches running around the pocket on one side and that will hold a zippered pocket the othernumber of gels each. There** On each shoulder strap, about where your sternum is, there's also a small zippered pocket made of stretchy material that's so far up would hold a few gels. Be careful putting anything hard in here as it could dig in.** On the left-hand shoulder straps itstrap there's actually on your backa fairly large zippered pocket that will hold a large sized iPhone with ease and have room to spare. It seems upside down when you look at the pack, but makes sense when The positioning of this pocket means that itdoesn's ont tend to dig in, something that can be an issue with something is large hard is a cell phone. * The pack includes two one 500ml collapsible bottles bottle (mini-bladders) that fit with the pack nicely. I swapped the two bottles for Ensure bottles for my standard load. In practice, I would probably have put the contents of the ensure into one of the included bottles and some of the water from the bladder into the other, but I wanted to stick with the standard load for this test. The included soft bottles would bottle work betterwell, as the hard ensure bottle were noticeable on the shoulder straps, digging in a littleand you can squeeze them to get more drink out quickly. * There are two sternum straps to spread the load. The four ends of the straps slide up and down easily over a wide range. * An iPhone/iPhone plus will fit in the The lower shoulder sternum strap stretch pocketis a stretchy, a simple change which really improves comfort and the iPhone will fit in the larger zippered pocketload control.

* There's a small black color matched blue whistle, which I wish it was a brighter color, but is a great touch. * There are no side straps to pull the pack in closer to the shoulder straps, but the ends of the shoulder straps have a length adjustment at the bottom of the pack. This is was a unique feature of the first time I've seen this approachHardrocker pack, but in practice it seemed to help with the fitUD now include this on most of their packs. ** Update: Note that the plastic on the adjustment can rub against your back, and I had to install a square of closed cell foam (from a cheap sleep mat) to prevent skin abrasion. * The thermal top, rain coat, light, hat, gloves, ensure, and bladder went in the main compartment with ample room to spare. I put the Ensure in the front pockets and the GUs in the smaller front pockets. I still had plenty of pockets empty, which is really nice. * I got the mediumsmall, which should be 3023 -39 32 inches, but I was close to the limit on how tight it would go with fitted my 36 -inch chestnicely. * The pack sits fairly low on the back, and isn't as stable as some smaller packs. The Patagonia Fore Runner is a similar size, but more stable. I struggled to get it adjusted quite right, and there was still a bit of pendulum movement, but not too much bounce. * The Hardrock logo on the pack might put some people off. I would wear a race T-shirt to a race I'd never done, but I think for this pack it's innocuous enough that I'd feel comfortable.

File:Packs21Ultimate Direction Adventure Vest (3).jpgFile:Packs22Ultimate Direction Adventure Vest (2).jpgFile:Packs20Ultimate Direction Adventure Vest (1).jpgFile:Packs19Ultimate Direction Adventure Vest-adjust.jpgFile:Hardrocker FoamUltimate Direction Adventure Vest-front.jpg| Additional closedFile:Ultimate Direction Adventure Vest-cell foam padding I addedback.jpg

==Ultimate Direction PB Adventure Mountain Vest 4.0 (Highly Recommended)==This update to the [[Ultimate Direction PB Adventure Vest]], and like its predecessor, it's highly recommended. <jfs id="B07572T2LS" nonl="true" noreferb="true" n=" Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest 4.0"/>.

* 1413.2oz 9oz in weight (1312.3oz 7oz claimed), with a claimed 16L 13.3L capacity. It held my standard gear, but there was not a lot of spare rooms, so I think 16L is overstating things, and it's smaller than Patagonia's 10L pack. * The pack is made of moderately harsh and abrasive fabric, but the edging is nice and soft. Watch for the hard, plastic buckles that rest against the small of your back. * The back of the pack is a transparent mesh, which might improve breathabilityin theory, but didn't in practice. (At least, not if you have a plastic hydration bladder just behind the mesh. )* It does not come with a hydration bladder, but there's a sleeve that UD says holds 3L 2L and held my bladder with ease. Access to the hydration bladder is a separate zipper, which makes refilling easier. The transparent back makes it easier to check how full the bladder is without removing it from the pack. * The main zippered compartment held most of my gear, but my rain jacket, thermal top, hat, gloves, and light, but only justhad to be tied to the bungie cord. * There's a stretch pocket on over the lower half full length of the back of the pack, and a bungee cord over the top half of the packthat. The bungee cord cinches down the pack if it's not full, but it's not as effective as a full-length keeping the load staple. The bungee that would compress cord will cinch further around the whole main compartmentpack to stabilize smaller loads. * The hip There are lots of storage pockets . ** There are two zippered and hugepockets on the "hip belt" near the small of your back. These will hold gloves or a small hat, or a number of gels. ItThere's just room for a squeezestandard sized iPhone without a case. ** On the right-hand strap, where the shoulder strap turns into the hip belt, but I managed to fit there's a small zippered pocket with a stretchy fabric. This will just about hold a standard sized iPhone without a case.** On the left-hand strap, where the shoulder strap turns into the hip belt, there's a small open pocket with a thin thermal top stretchy fabric. You can put the larger sized iPhone in this pocket, but it's not very secure, and it impinges on the pocket above.** On the both shoulder straps, just above the water bottle pockets there are small Velcro closing pockets that are big enough for one just to see or maybe 2 gels. Each pocket has a slightly different closing mechanism, the way couldn't say if it would fitone is better than the other.

* There's an external internal zippered pocket with a clip for keys, a good place for valuables. (This is the vertical zipper on the top left of the pack as it's worn.) * The right shoulder strap has a zippered pocket that holds ~3 GUs, then theres a larger zippered pocket that would hold ~16 GUs. Just below that is an open stretchy pocket that's wider that it's deep, but would hold 6-10 GUs, depending on what's in the pocket above. * The left should strap has a similar zippered pocket that holds ~3 GUs, then a pocket with an included 500ml collapsible bottle (mini-bladders) that fit with the pack nicely''. ''Just below that is an open stretchy pocket that's nicely proportioned and would hold 6-10 GUs. Below that is yet another pocket, this time zippered. (The top most zippered pockets on both sides are above the shoulders when the pack is worn.) * There are two sternum straps to spread the load. The four ends of the straps slide up and down easily over a wide range. The lower strap is a stretchy, which improves the comfort and control of the load more than you might expect. * There's no attachment clip for a hydration hose, though there are loops on the shoulder straps. * There's a small gray blue whistle, which I wish it was a brighter color. More importantly, I wish I could reach it with the pack on, but it's too far back.

* An iPhone/There's no accessible storage for a larger iPhone plus will fit in either shoulder strap stretch pocket or except the larger zippered open pocketthat's not very secure. * I got the mediumsmall, which should be 3123 -40 32 inches, but I was close to the limit on how tight it would go with fits my 36 -inch chest, and I suspect the small size might have been a better fit. * The pack sits higher than a traditional pack, but lower than the AK or the VaporKrar. Motion is will controlled, but not quite as good as the smaller UD AK mountain vest, or the similar sized Patagonia Fore Runnernicely.

File:Packs5Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest (3).jpgFile:Packs6Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest (2).jpgFile:Packs7Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest (1).jpgFile:Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest-back.jpgFile:Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest-front.jpgFile:Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest-adjust.jpg