First Look: Tribe One Outdoors PackNet, MiniNet and PackTach

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Why Buy?

Sometimes, I need a good way to attach gear to the outside of my pack:

• Ever since I started snowshoeing, figuring out how to carry snowshoes has been an issue. In California, if I went out for a 10 mile snowshoe hike, it would not be a surprising to end up carry snowshoes for 4 miles or more. While I eventually found a good solution, the company making this piece of gear went out of business before I wrote a review or recommended it to others I hike with. 
• Recently, most of my hiking has involved carrying a snowboard. I have been using an externally framed, 75L pack that has worked well, but I have been thinking that it would be nice to carry a smaller, internal frame pack. One of the primary problems with moving away from this pack is that is that my other packs don’t have great attachment points for connecting the system I mention above.
• If you backpack in the Sierra, my favorite place for overnight trips, you usually need to carry a bear canister. In many cases I’ve carried a larger pack than needed partially due to not having a good way to attach the canister to the outside of the pack. Ideally, the canister would go inside the pack, low and close to your body, but when the interior isn’t big enough…    

A couple weeks ago, I was contacted by Tribe One Outdoors, asking if I was interested in testing a system they developed to attach gear to the outside of a pack. While I was initially reluctant, seeing that it used bungees, I became interested once I read over some highlights: 

PackTach™

• Material: Acetel Resin
• Pull Force: 50 lbs.

The Tribe One PackTach™ is a truly unique accessory that allows the user to create a draw point on any fabric without causing damage.

LP Series PackNet™

• Material: 3/16” Nylon Shock Cord 
• Weight: 6.5 oz 
• Storage Capacity: 85 liters 
• Coverage Area: 36” x 36” 
• Tensile Strength: 300 lbs

OP Series MiniNet™

• Material: 3/16” Nylon Shock Cord 
• Weight: 3.2 oz 
• Storage Capacity: 18 liters 
• Coverage Area: 12” x 12” 
• Tensile Strength: 300 lbs

After exchanging a few emails with Tribe One, we agreed that I should test the PackNet, MiniNet and PackTach. Here are some unboxing photos:

http://www.hikinggeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/002-mt-whitney-Image3_96DPI-HG-logo.jpg

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First Impressions

I’ve only used the PackNet system with PackTachs on one hike covering ~ 5 miles. On the ascent, my snowboard was attached and on the descent my snowshoes were attached (I rode my snowboard down). 

• The Good
  • The net is surprisingly strong, attaching my snowboard and snowshoes very securely to my pack. In fact in purposely trying to get them to fail, they never did. I also fell while riding down and my snowshoes stayed where they were supposed to. 
• The Bad 
  • Setup is not as intuitive as I would have guessed and it took me a while to figure out how to attach the PackTachs to my pack as well as where to attach them. If I had watched the videos beforehand, this could have been avoided. The videos are posted here: https://www.tribeoneoutdoors.com/videos
• The Bottom Line 
  • I’m impressed. If the system holds up over time, I’ll recommend it to anyone that snowshoes or wants to add external capacity to their packs. 

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Future Testing

Before publishing a full review, I need to test:

• the systems’s longterm durability, logging some serious miles while using it.
• with a variety of different packs, made from different materials. 
• backpacking, with a bear canister.

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