Baitfish let me see if I understand you, you said the Eberlestock looks like a p.o.s but you have not used one and there's a difference between saying it looks like a p.o.s and saying it is a p.o.s. I get it.
You are a dealer of what could be considerd by some a competing product (badlands) even thought its really a day pack as most anyone will attest, or a mountaineering pack (the 4500) but not both. Eberlestock looks like it could haul your gear and the meat out at once - (I understand that hauling weight is personal decision and mostly based on one's ability to actually carry the weight). I'm not even sure it fair to compare untill badlands comes out with a pack that can do both and carry a rifle that you can access all at once.
I've actually used the super-day and the 2800, (never even seen a 4500) badlands and as my previous post clearly points out I believe badlands are a great product it's just that they are to small and can not handle the type of hunting I do. I can't put spare cloths, food, water, safety gear, spotting scope, camera ect, in either one of the badlands and ever hope to haul a boned deer out in one trip. I believe the badlands is too small for such a chore.
I'm not saying the badlands is a bad product. I'm saying it's in a different class of packs - it's a day pack or an overnight bag, not a full featured expedition, meat hauling freighter. I think the 4500 would be able to haul meat and gear, but I'd be a little reluctant to haul the 4500 around as a day pack. I have hauled my mountaineering pack around before and it sucked to hunt in. They are nice to haul gear in but you can't effectively hunt with one on your back. And, if you use the removable fanny pack that comes standard on the 4500, your right back to the problem that we started with and that's that you cant hunt and haul with the same unit. If you hunt with the daypack from the 4500 you have to go back and retrieve the pack after the kill.
It looks to me like with the Eberlestock you can hunt and haul with the same pack on the same trip. . . Kind of an ingenious idea. And, you can haul your rifle, I'm not sure where on the badlands, anyone of the models you can haul a rifle that's hunter accessible and ready to shoot. I think you have to strap the gun to the pack on the 4500. To get to it you have take the pack off ? right?
Again, not a convenient way for me to hunt. Finally, the 4500, really the only pack under my consideration as it's roughly the same size as the Eberlestock (when it's expanded) is well over $300 retail ? that is more than $100 more than Cabelas lists the Eberlestock and you cant use it to hunt out of and it cant carry a rifle with easy access to the hunter. The 2800 is too big to hunt in and not big enough to haul the gear and the deer. I don't remember it having an easy and convenient way of hauling a rifle either, could you comment on the rifle hauling capabilities of the 2800 ? can you haul a rifle and access it for a shot in an instant? Or, do you have to haul the gun in the old, traditional manner with a rifle sling that is constantly fighting for a place on your shoulder ? ask any hunter that's carried a backpack and rifle, at some point the backpack strap gets in the way of the sling.
I'm not trying to defend anyone, I'm not running down your produces, I'm just trying to find the best pack to suit my style of hunting and so far I've not found a pack that can compete with the features and build of the Eberlestock.
I hunt high and hard and do not want to carry a mountaineering pack (the 4500) around on my back all day just because I might shoot a deer and not want to go back to the rig and get a pack that is designed to haul my gear and a boned-out mature mountain mule deer.
I'm not running down the badlands equipment, just pointing out that they do not make a pack with the features I need and want in a hunting pack. Anyhow, thanks for your honest and completely subjective opinion of the Badlands and the Eberlestock equipment.
Good luck,
Finalshot
