Review: Patagonia Blackhole 25L - $130

The good stuff:

It has all six of the listed necessities!  The Blackhole 25L also had a top zippered pocket in which I could store my sunglasses.  It was not as good as the Refugio's dedicated sunglasses pocket, but it was close.  This pack is also bombproof.  Likely the best-made and best materials of all the packs reviewed.  The zippers for the main compartment were crazy stout.  I really appreciate that hidden slash pocket on the front of this pack.  It is a perfect place for storing my wallet for easy access.  This hidden pocket is also slightly gusseted with allows you to stuff in your wind breaker if need be. 

The thing that the Blackhole has over all the other packs reviewed is that the lid opens wide and away from the user.  Let me explain.  If you swing this pack around to your front with the straps still on to, say, get to your camera, the lid opens away from you instead of into your face.  This makes it possible for you to use the pack to change lenses without having to move the lid away to see your equipment.  This may sound inconsequential until you are faced with this situation while using a pack without this type of opening and you do not have an extra hand to hold the lid of your pack out of the way.  Inevitably this forces you to put the pack on the ground.  Not something you always want to do.

The bad stuff:

I wanted to love this pack since it looks cool and it is a kin of the Refugio.  But it simply wasn't that much better than the Refugio to make it the replacement.  While it has a stiffer back, it is by no means stiff enough to keep it from being a bit of a flopper.  What really did it in was that it lacked mesh side pockets.  I did not realize how important having this feature was.  It does not warrant being one of the "necessities" as one can always lash a bottle to the outside, but it is a convenience.  Again, I was comparing this to the Refugio which HAS mesh side pockets. 

The other thing that was a bummer is that the organizer pocket was inside the main compartment.  That means you have to use two hands to unzip and get access to a pen or your wallet.  (This thing has stiff zippers that would not budge without the leverage offered by two hands.) 

Summary:

The Blakhole 25L has a somewhat restrictive feel to it (everything being in the main compartment) which meant that this pack was not flexible enough for me.  Think of it as being a pack that tries to straddle between city and country but doesn't reach either side.   It is well put together, but does not quite fit the bill for me.

Grade: B