USWE released a larger pack to sit above the Patriot at Eurobike last year and Pete has been putting the Explorer 26 through its paces in the mountains.
A massive, cavernous pack for those big days in the hills, USWE’s Explorer 26 is not your standard hydration pack. Pete has been rolling this pack out on his big missions into the mountains over the winter to see what it’s got.
The ‘light’ load. Usually contains the Nikon D610 and another lens that this shot was taken with.
Key Features:
- 26 litre storage.
- 1069g
- Lower back support
- Media Pocket With Waterproof Zipper
- Organiser compartment (wide opening)
- Water resistant (Not waterproof) smartphone pocket
- Hydration Compatible (Not Included)
- LED bike light attachment point
- Weight support straps
- Multi size adjustable backplate: S-M-L
- Unisex fit
- USWE.com
Pack for adventure.
USWE tout the Explorer 26 as an ‘adventure pack’, and the name would certainly suggest that. Sporting 26 litres of storage, which is far more than you might think, there really is space for everything you might need for big days in open country.
Unlike other large capacity packs though, the ‘No More Dancing Monkey’ harness strap does a much better job of keeping all that kit static than the traditional chest and waist straps. Both the chest and shoulder straps on the harness are adjustable, as is where they sit on your back. Getting the fit right for your given load is pretty straightforward.
Storage is separated into well thought out compartments as per any good pack, with the main storage compartment taking up the lion’s share of the room, with this divided with a sleeve against the back padding and a zipped pocket opposite.
There’s a soft glasses/phone case on the exterior between this and the hydration bladder pocket. The latter sits between the back pad and the main compartment. On the exterior, there is a multi-pocketed compartment, with both zipped and elasticated pockets for smaller tools, keys etc, and finally, hip pockets for the kitchen sink.
In the wild.
The Explorer very quickly became my go-to bag for its ability to swallow a DSLR as well as the rest of the kit you’d want to bring with you on a trip up any peak in the middle of a Scottish winter. It’s certainly not designed with cameras in mind, but for a single day mission, you might actually end up taking too much kit, the pack really is that big inside. I have yet to find a single day ride where I was anywhere near reaching the bag’s capacity.
That said, with the pack lightly-loaded, the weight sits low and the adjustable straps make it easy to fine tune for this. My only gripe is that being a small person, when the bag is tight on my back in the ‘Small’ setting on the backplate and the bag isn’t full, the top of the bag sits so high that it sometimes tried to push the back off the front of my head.
Ride height.
For anyone of more normal stature (I’m a mere 5′ 3″), the ride height shouldn’t be an issue and as time has gone on, I have been better able to tweak the straps in a different way to mitigate this. With a heavy load and the straps more open, the bag and weight riding lower, I can’t see this being an issue at all. Essentially, it may be that I am using the bag very much at the lower end of its real potential.
When the sleeping bags, mats, stoves etc get added to the equation for some serious multi-day nonsense, I am sure this bag will come into its own.
Over the winter months, there’s been no issue with reliability, even with the snow and mud getting into the hook and loop on the straps, no zip jams, just plain sailing. The construction material is tougher than woodpecker lips too, seeing off some expeditions off the trail and into the undergrowth.
We love:
- Cavernous capacity.
- Harness straps.
- Tough as old boots.
Could do better:
- Rides high with a light load in the small back setting.
What do we think?
If you’re into the kind of riding that involves some serious downhill after some serious uphill, over the course of several days under your own steam, the Explorer 26 could well be the answer.
There’s easily enough space for some overnight gear that should help keep the bags away from the bars and frame, should you not be keen to rock that setup.
Durability has yet to be an issue despite the harsh conditions and my love of meeting the ground at speed.
Expect to see stiff competition from Osprey ‘s Escapist 25 which comes in at under £100, meaning you can add a bladder, which the Explorer also doesn’t come supplied with, for essentially the same money. I’m a ‘bottle in the frame’ kind of guy though, so lack of bladder isn’t a crucial one for me.
Camelbak’s closest storage offering is the Kudu 20, but the addition of a CE Level 2 back protector pushes the price well beyond the two above, and into the same price level as EVOC’s similarly-named Explorer Pro 26L.
