This is my first internal frame pack and I couldn't be more pleased. Tons of room, with a lot of extra pockets at an excellent price. Very comfortable with many adjustments to fit almost anybody. I don't think you can go wrong with this pack.

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I bought this pack five years ago for $170. It is one of the best outdoor purchases I have made. I have taken this pack all over the country, and abused it in every possible way, and it has held up great. It is comfortable, well designed, and does everything you would expect of a pack costing twice as much.

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I also used to own a Lowe Snowpeak 50, which was nice as well.

I bought the Netherworld from Gart Sports in mid January for $128, definitely a good price for the features and the name. I haven't tried it for serious backpacking yet as it is mid-winter, but tried it out snowshoeing several times now, at about 2/3 capacity (maybe 35-40 lbs. or so). It has done exellent so far. The volume, number of pockets, hydration system, and the suspension are all good, especially for the price and quality of Lowe Alpine. I have a medium pack which is possibly a little big for me, as I am a smaller guy (5'6", 135 lb.) but it is working out just fine so far. Definitely the best pack I found (after much searching) in the $130 price range. It should stand the test of serious backpacking this summer (and summers to come) just fine.

Customer Service

No experience with Lowe Alpine customer service. Gart Sports was fine, although it sounds like they charged about $3 more than others paid at REI.

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Became addicted to internal frame packs last summer with a very old used pack, don't even know the name. That pack's padding and suspension were pretty bad, but still better than my even older external frame cheap-o pack. My new Lowe pack is much better in terms of comfort, volume, versatility, and every other category, hands down. Recomend this to anyone who wants a pack for weekend to week long trips, at a seemingly mistakenly low price relative to other packs with such features and such a respected name. Any other pack at this price would most likely be cheap quality or smaller size.

This is a very good pack. But let's get one thing straight: It's BIG. I bought it for two reasons: 1) I'm a big guy and have a fairly long torso. THis pack fit me very well. And, 2) It has LOTS of pockets. I had just switched from an external frame pack which had lots of pockets, and I love having those pockets. When I went looking for an internal, I made a point of looking for pockets. This has plenty of them for hiding lots of stuff, but sometimes you can go overboard. The pack itself is huge, and is not for novice packers or small people. But I love my pack (My trail name is Lord of the Netherworld; Shout out to my homies on the AT).

Customer Service

NOt the greatest. Lowe is a hard company to get a hold of. I have a LowePro camera bag and they're hard to get a hold of.

For what it's worth, I wanted to submit this review to possibly help others that are thinking about ordering this pack without seeing the product first. I mail-ordered this pack from REI recently, and was not able to try it out or inspect it until I received it. I want to stress that I did NOT actually take this pack out on a trip, however I did load the pack fully for a simulated situation. I ended up returning this pack for a couple reasons. This pack has some nice features, including the size, pockets, and price. However, two things stood out: The shoulder straps were inexplicably wimpy - in fact my Lowe Contour Mountain 40 rucksack has basically the same straps. The other problem was a lack of any kind of padding up the back of the pack (the waistbelt and lumbar pads are OK though) - so your back really doesn't have any protection against the hard back which holds the aluminum supports. I felt that these two areas were enough to send the pack back, and I'm not sure why Lowe decided to scale these obviously important features down. So, while I did not actually use this pack on a backpacking trip, it probably would function fine and is otherwise a nice pack. In fact, it didn’t feel too bad as I tested it. I just couldn’t bear the thought of carrying that pack for miles, wondering if I made the wrong decision. I hope this can help you with yours.

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My Lowe Contour Mountain 40 is a great rucksack.

Very reasonable, good quality, comfortable pack. Have seen them for $169.00 with a hydration pack included. Probably would not want to carry more than 50lbs, however who wants to carry more than that with any pack?

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I very recently decided to get more serious about backpacking as I had really only done light hiking / backpacking in the past, and determined that my Outdoor products internal framepack was just not cutting it after a recent backpacking trip. I decided to do some research and discovered the company Lowe Alpine. The Low web page is very complete, and explains what goes into the manufacture of their very high quality products. This alone was impressive, not to mention the fact the Lowe *invented* the internal frame pack in 1967 which certainly got me to lean towards a Lowe. I looked into what a good pack goes for these days and was admittingly dismayed at the high average prices. Then I found the Lowe Alpine Netherworld 90. This pack is 5500ci (plenty of space for a week if packed well), an excellent adjustable shoulder harness system, many outside pockets which most internal frame packs don't have at all (and I'm a fan of pockets) :), an internal hydration pack and a myriad of other nice features. Now the best part, I got mine at REI for $125! Not only is the pack very well made, but it was very cheap comparitively speaking, to other similar packs, included those by Lowe. As far as Lowe service I cannot comment, however another deciding factor were reviews I read of other Lowe products, which are for the most part, exemplary.

Customer Service

None from Lowe, but I would like to discourage anyone from going to Sport Chalet, and ENCOURAGE people to go to REI instead. I ahve a Sport Chalet 2 minutes from my house, but I drive 20 minutes to go to REI for a variety of reasons. To name but a few of those reasons: Sport Chalet-1: Salesmen- Mostly kids getting $5-7 an hour that know almost nothing about the products they sell, let alone have any work experience. Sport Chalet-2: They are overpriced and unreasonable, they had the Netherworld for $179, they said they would match the price with REI if I would just come in to the store and ask for the manager. I did so, they made me stand around for 20 minutes, then they told me they could only take 10% off. I told them I'd just go to REI and buy it for $125 then, they said go ahead... so I did. Rude, overpriced, and they don't seem to know anything. (you can quote me on that!) GO TO REI: The staff is knowledgeable & friendly, they for the most part hire people who have an interest in the outdoors and actually do go biking/camping/hiking etc. I've had nothing but positive experiences from them in the past, even when I just ask questions.

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Outdoor products internal frame (I forget what model) from 1993. Nothing fancy, it did the job. It was time to retire and move on to a ""real"" pack! :)

This a an excellent pack for the money. I picked mine up for $125 at REI in seattle in July. I was able to comfortably hold 4-5 days worth of gear at a time with this pack. If you wanted to pack a little more carefully, you could probably carry a week's worth of gear. I found it to be comfortable with a load of around 60 lbs. Overall, I have to say that for the price, this is an incredible pack.

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