Ultralight Packs
Roll these up and stow them in your duffel or big pack for summits or dayhikes.
Boreas Topaz
$45; 10 oz.; 10 liters; boreasgear.com
Pros It’s highly water-resistant thanks to a roll-top closure and PU coating on the 100-denier nylon; a burlier 420-denier bottom panel guards against wear.
Cons It’s the least stuffable here.
REI Flash 18
$35; 12 oz.; 18 liters; rei.com
Pros It’s hydration compatible; a webbing hipbelt prevents swaying and flapping; price is right.
Cons The shoulder straps and torso length proved too small for our big-chested, long-torso (19+ inch) testers.
Outdoor Research Antimatter Pack
$75; 9.9 oz.; 18 liters; outdoor-research.com
Pros This seam-taped, PU-coated, 40-denier nylon pack stuffs into its own sandwich-size pocket, and also converts into a tote bag.
Cons One of the mesh pockets suffered a dime-size hole.