Panther 2/65 (Karrimor in general)

Member Name: hp98ttb

Product:	Karrimor in general
Date:	05/04/01 (902 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It just seems to go on and on....

Disadvantages: the old design I own has been upgraded loads of times, so any gripes I have may well have been rectified

I have had my Panther 2, now renamed 65- simply because it is a 65 litre sack, for more than 10 years now. It has been on numerous expeditions including Bronze, Silver and Gold D of E award hikes and been dragged under over and through more hedges, fences and rivers than I care to count. And yet, it still goes on.

On its own it is not particularly water proof. In fact, a sieve is probably more waterproof- but do bear in mind that this sack was bought in the late 80's and the fabric on the newest models is almost definitly a little bit better to say the least. I always use at least 2 rucksac liners, as heavy duty as I can get, by which time the sack is as water proof as you can make it.

The Harness is the brilliant SA system, ok, there may be a thousand and one different types of harness out there, but the SA has done me well over the years. It may not be particularly 'cool', but I have not found one that truely is 'cool', however, despite its creaks and idiosyncracies, I have got used to it over the years, and it still keeps going.

The Two side pockets are big enough to fit a litre bottle of Robinsons fruit juice in- or an equivilent along with some other things if you need to, and the top pocket is absoultly massive- I still cant get over how big it seems, however, when it is full it does have the annoying habit of 'flopping' over the rest of the bag if it is anything but full.

The strap attachments on top of the bag are very useful, but I have found that they are not all that stable- I dont know if that has been rectified on the latest sacks, and the drawstring closure on my early model doesn't really close all that much. However, I know that that has changed with the other models.

However, despite all the things that seem to be slightly wrong with it, it still goes on, Karrimor seem to have made a real warhorse here, and I suspect that it has quite a few more hills to be dragged over
before it gives up the ghost.

Summary: