The good stuff:
This pack acts the most like a technical hiking pack.
It is a fully top loading design with a
squarish base making it a breeze to pack.
It also has the best overall suspension system of the group.
The waist belt, while not as good as the Patagonia
Critical Mass, is wider than all the others and therefore can support
loads.
Most important, however, is that
the Gregory Sketch 28 has the stiffest and most substantial frame-sheet of
all the packs tested.
This makes
carrying loads a breeze. In fact, when fully loaded, this pack felt like the
lightest of all the CDPs.
The Sketch 28 also had a separate zippered area for a laptop. In other words, you do not have to go into
the main part of the pack to gain access to your laptop. This padded pocket is accessed with a zipper
that spans the entire side of the pack making removal and insertion of a laptop
a breeze. There is a nice touch in this laptop area as well. Against the wall
is a slot for an iPad. There are also two hidden side zipper pockets that can
be used for the mobile phone or wallet.
Like all top loaders, it allows you to "flop and
go" – a bit less so since you need to be sure that you have zipped up the
laptop compartment given that it is separate from the main compartment (which
is a benefit). The Sketch 28 has a clean
look that I like. There are no
unnecessary fabric patches and all the lines are clean and polished. I know that looks are completely subjective,
but I do like the look of this pack over all the others.
The bad stuff:
The biggest problem is that it does not cover the six
necessities. The description of the pack
on every web site says that it has a: "Top accessory pocket with internal
device organization." I don't know
about you, but I read this as it had a divided organizer pocket. You might be surprised to learn that what
Gregory calls internal device organization is a single large pocket with a clip
for your keys. Uh…hello, Gregory! That is as much organization as this:
As a result, this pack is only discussed here because I was
duped into buying it. Grrr. I want you to consider that idiocy of the
omission of this feature. The Sketch 28
is clearly marketed and designed for the bicycle commuter. After all it has a special slot for a bike
pump and a U lock not to mention that it has separate slots for a computer and
iPad. To make a commuter pack without organizational slots seems absolutely
nuts to me. It's almost as if the manufacturer screwed up and forgot to include
it in the pack.
There are other issues with this pack, but frankly, because
it lost out on the necessities test, I have to save everyone's time and stop
right there.
Summary:
It was so close to being THE one had there actually been a
divided organizer pocket. Unfortunately,
Gregory's copywriters did not do their homework and created an entirely
misleading description or the manufacturers screwed up and forgot to include a the
organizer. Either way, it strikes out. Since this pack was so great in many other
ways, I actually checked three times to see that there really WAS no
organizational pocket before I packed it up and sent it back. Perhaps Gregory
has changed things since I wrote this, but until then, shame on you Gregory!
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