Mountainsmith Scream 25L Review
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The Mountainsmith Scream 25L is a lightweight, durable backpack that is a great option for someone looking for a backpack they can use for day hikes, vacation travel, and backcountry adventures. This pack is made from higher grades of Duramax nylon for durability where you need it and lighter weight material where durability is less important.
What sets the Mountainsmith Scream 25L apart from many of the other lightweight or ultralight backpacks on the market is that this backpack is light and doesn’t have a lot of structure to it, but it is still durable. A lot of times when you use an ultralight outdoor product, you often sacrifice some durability. That’s not the case with the Scream 25L.
The Mountainsmith Scream 25L backpack is a top loading backpack with an extending fabric to allow for additional packing. It is easy to stuff your gear in and pull out of the pack whether it’s a puffy jacket or an emergency kit. For items you want super easy access to, the lid of the Scream 25L has a zippered pocket in it that can store a phone, camera, and some food. This pocket is similar to what you would see in a backpacking pack. For more outside storage on this pack, there are two stretch mesh pockets on each side of the pack that can hold any size water bottle and then some. There is also a good sized pocket on the front of the pack that can accommodate a number of small items. Depending on how full you stuff the main compartment, what you can put in this pocket will change depending on how much the main compartment pushes into this pocket. There are also two loops to store trekking poles and one loop to store an ice ax on the bottom of this pack.
If you don’t fill the Scream 25L completely, there are compression straps to cinch down the backpack and reduce loose lying pack fabric. The shoulder straps on this backpack have minimal padding, but while taking this pack out for long day hikes, I didn’t notice much difference from a regular pack. After dozens of times wearing of wearing this pack, I never had sore shoulders due to the minimalist padding. The Scream 25L also has a small removable hip belt that helps keep the back on your hips. It would have been nice to see a tiny sternum strap on this pack, but it’s not a deal breaker in my mind. For hydration, the Scream 25L has an internal compartment that can hold up to a 3 liter hydration bladder, but it is not included.
For more info on the Scream 25L and other Mountainsmith products, visit www.mountainsmith.com or www.amazon.com/mountainsmith.
