Expanded Cons of Alakazam

Very expensive. You don’t need to spend $575 to get a tier-1 backpack; most top performing options cost between $300-$450. And with them, you aren’t risking the big bucks on a new and unproven design with an uncommon feature set.

Small hip belt pockets and shoulder strap pockets. The strap pockets tell a very different story than the external pockets on the body of Mountain Hardwear Alakazam. While the latter are massively oversized, the former are massively undersized. The hip belt pockets are about 50% smaller than I prefer, and lack volumization. Each one can fit about three Clif bars.

The shoulder strap pockets are an even more egregious offender. Each side has two overlapping pockets, an open access upper, and zipper access front. While the product photography from Mountain hardwear depicts soft flasks in the upper pocket, this is extremely misleading because those flasks are nearly empty; the entire upper pocket is only ~5” deep and leaves full 500ml flasks drooping out awkwardly over the side.

Luckily, this issue is easily resolved with an at-home fix. Use an extra sharp knife to cut the mesh at the bottom of the upper pocket beneath the middle of the front pocket. This will combine the two separate compartments into one single compartment that is actually large enough to fit 500ml soft flasks. See photos.

Stiff hip belt with pressure points. Because the two halves of the frame meet at a single point where the u-shaped piping sits in its cradle, there is definitely a concentration of pressure in that spot. While not terribly uncomfortable per se, this could create a major issue if it didn’t fit your body well in a way that amplified pressure. Furthermore, the hip belt foam is stiff and thin, and it is overall kind of narrow. To alleviate this pressure concentration point, I highly recommend adding a Zpacks Ultralight Lumbar Pad. The nylon webbing straps and buckle up front absorb more cinching pressure than is ideal. While the articulation of the hip belt boosts comfort and mobility by quite a large amount and is exceptional, everything else about the hip belt decreases comfort compared to the average hip belt that you might be used to.

Wide and bulbous. When the massive side pockets are loaded up, the Mountain Hardwear Alakazam 45 backpack becomes extremely wide and bulbous, as wide as the wearer’s torso and arms combined. This makes it a bit ungainly for technical terrain. And while it hasn’t happened yet, it does feel like something might fall out of the middle opening of the side pockets which are designed for water bottle access.

Vest harness straps seem like the wrong choice. This is more opinion than fact, but a few things make me question whether a vest harness style shoulder strap configuration was the correct choice. Yes, vest harnesses are trendy, but they’re really only necessary if you intend to run, or at least shuffle, with the pack on. Yes, the articulated hip belt tells the running story, but the 65-80L capacity says walking-speed only. So we doubt anyone will be choosing it for speed purposes. Traditional shoulder straps with after market bottle sleeves or pockets are comfier and cushier for walking, and personally what I would have preferred to see on the Mountain hardwear Alkazam.