Gregory Z55

I took this on a 3-day trip into the Grand Canyon--nothing crazy strenuous, 2 nights at Bright Angel. Down on day 1, fool around to Ribbon Falls on day 2, out on day 3. It broke on day 2.
By broke, I mean the center aluminum stay snapped about 1/3 of the way up from the base. I carried about 40 or so pounds into the canyon (adding a few on the way to help my wife's knees), and carried between 35 and 40 on the way out. The day it snapped, I was cinching the (seemingly nice) compression system down for the day trip to the falls. I imagine the problem had something to do with the hollow nature of the stay.
I did a lot of research and tried on at least a dozen packs before settling on the Z55, and, despite its weight, the suspension seemed capable, even resilient. I needed something that could handle a few days weight plus a DSLR system (camera, extra lens, tripod, etc.--nothing too fancy). Turns out it wasn't as strong as I thought.

Bought one last August for the comfortable suspension, though I knew the poorly designed sternum strap would cause problems (as it did on my Pyr dayback). Fixed the sternum strap it so it stopped riding up, but nine months after getting the pack the cheap clip holding the sternum strap to the left shoulder strap popped off.
Ordered a new pack as a replacement but, factory fresh out of the box, found stitching in the upper back part unraveling between where the shoulder straps are sewn in. No reply to my messages to Gregory customer service, so I'm firing Gregory and switching to Osprey.

I am sorry but I must reply to another review. I read a lot of reviews for a lot of products with a recurrent theme. This entails the critical review and analysis of a product when utilizing that said product outside of the realm of its (real) intended use. Obviously we are human and like to explore creatively in many different facets, but by using my years of experience mountaineering and powers of observation I can easily note that this is not a mountaineering and or technical pack and more simply a backpacking pack. Looking at the tool attachments and and overall design of the pack, it is not engineered for a lot of technical ice tools, crampons and heavy loads at that. The pack has a wide storage capacity meaning that it is much wider in the center of the pack, making a vertical ascension and descension difficult to maintain balance. Mountaineering packs act to distribute the weight from the top to the bottom to aid in vertical ascension and maintain counterbalance with the bodies alignment. Further more this pack has no gear slings built into it and does not have the heavy duty webbing noted in most mountaineering packs built today. Why I like the Z55? Well, the big kicker for me is I love dual access in all of my packs. If I don't have it I will literally tailor one myself. Why is that important to me? Well, I really love being able to find what I need when I want it, especially when there is a more emergent situation on the horizon. Aside from the dual access I like gregory webbing straps and hip belt, they just work for me. Anatomically, I am 5'10" about 165, and this pack in a size Large fits pretty good. I tried a medium and it was slightly to small, but the large is almost too big so I am in between. Do yourself a favor though if your serious, measure using gregory's measurement guide and you should at least have a good idea where you should be, keeping in mind all torsos were not created equal. Now what I don't like about this pack is I really don't like is the front pocket and its design. Another review disliked the capacity of this pack, but I think that you have to calculate this front pouch into the 55 liters. Unfortunately when loading the front pouch and placing some unsaid items compressed between this pouch and the body of the pack it can become quite bulky and creating and unbalanced load. For this I find this pack below my standard, but this might work well for someone of a different build than myself, or of course personal preference. As for Gregory, I really like their packs and the access points which are becoming more popular with many other manufacturers.

This pack reminds me of a car that's engine is too small. The suspension is comfortable, but it's simply not strong enough. It's rated at 35 lbs, but marketed as an all-purpose Backpacking, Climbing, and Mountaineering pack. Personally, I find it hard to do even a basic multiday mountaineering trip with less than 35 lbs, especially in the winter. My second beef with the pack is that, like many internal frame bags, the back panel bows in, significantly cutting the useable space in the bag. As a result, I can't fit my camelbak and sleeping bag in at the same time, which is really annoying. With the negatives out of the way, if you're on shorter trips, summer trips where your sleeping bag isn't large, or you pack light in general, this has potential to be a great bag. The suspension is comfortable if you keep it within the correct weight range, and there are all sorts of great pockets all over this thing. I'm returning it and going back to my Marmot Matterhorn 42, as I like the heavy duty suspension system and the better space in the pack. Ironically, my 42 Liter Matterhorn holds more than my size large 60L Gregory. Bottom line, if you don't carry too much weight or volume of stuff, and like lots of organization, this has potential to be a great pack. Just make sure it fits your needs well before you pull the trigger and buy it.