There are times when a day pack that’s larger than you normally need is handy. You may need to carry more than usual to accommodate the expected weather; you may want to carry some of a companion’s or a child’s gear; you may need to bring along more water than usual; maybe you have to carry supplies for your dogs. I’ve had the Gregory Citro 24 (liter) day pack for a few years now, and I’ve been very pleased with it. At my usual load of 12-ish pounds (sometimes more) this pack has been extremely comfortable to carry. It feels much lighter on my back than I think it will when I pick it up, ad I’ve never had any back or shoulder pain from carrying it all day.
However; sometimes the Citro 24 gets a little crowded. And while Gregory makes a Citro 30 (liter) pack, we asked Gregory to send along the somewhat more robust Zulu 30 (liter) pack (video here) so we could evaluate a pack from a different product line.
The Zulu 30 is longer than the Citro 24, but the additional height doesn’t interfere with your head.
I should note that I have no connection to, nor history with Gregory, and no financial interest in whether you purchase one of their packs or not. (But GearInstitute.com does through their affiliate networks — and not enough to care if you purchase a Gregory specifically…)
Why Gregory?
A few years ago I realized that I needed an updated day pack. Eventually I narrowed the field to five contenders and ordered them all. What mattered most to me was how comfortably the pack carried its load because I have “severe degradation” (to quote the radiologist) in my lumbar spine, as well as an old fracture there.
I loaded each of the 24-ish liter packs with three half-gallons of milk — 13 pounds, about my normal load-out — and walked a mile in each. The Gregory Citro 24 was clearly the most comfortable and put the least strain on my lumbar. While there was another brand in the mix, to which I had a bit of a sentimental tie, I couldn’t argue with the results.
True, a pack feels different at mile ten than at mile one, but it was the relative differences I was evaluating. The result didn’t actually surprise me. In every head-to-head or “best of” article that I’ve read, Gregory packs always gets high (often the highest) marks for their load carrying comfort.
Gregory’s Product Lines
For hiking and backpacking Gregory currently offers packs with capacities from eight to 100 liters, in eleven product lines with corresponding men’s and women’s models in each (as well as additional youth offerings). Plus, additional product lines for everyday carry and for skiing. The Zulu 30 is designed for both backpacking and hiking and day hiking is the context in which I focused my testing.
The Zulu didn’t come with Gregory’s highly regarded hydration bladder although it’s bladder-ready. I don’t like hydration bladders anyway, preferring good old Nalgene bottles. (I used to think I was just being curmudgeonly old school, but it turns out that lots of people prefer bottles.)
Zulu 30 Details
Here I won’t detail every feature but rather the ones I think are most important. When I can, I contrast the Zulu with my Citro.
Both packs are easy and intuitive to use. The Zulu has a thicker, more plush hip belt that links it to the frame with a panel designed to move and flex (Gregory’s “FreeFloat” system), thus isolating its movement from the frame’s somewhat. It also has hip belt pockets that are reachable and large enough to be practical, with easily grabbed zipper pulls.
The hip belt on the Zulu is the 1965 Cadillac DeVille of hip belts — it’s that comfortable! Except you have to imagine the DeVille with a tight suspension and responsive steering, because as comfortable as it is, and even with the FreeFloat system, the belt is tightly linked to the pack and its frame.
The loose coupling of the hip belt where it initially meets the pack is what Gregory refers to as its FreeFloat system. Both the belt and the pack are extremely comfortable while still feeling firmly anchored to your body.
The Zulu weighs three pounds, the Citro two. The Zulu has a specified maximum load capacity of 40 pounds, compared to the Citro’s 20.
Both packs have dual side mesh water bottle pockets and a front stuff (kangaroo) pocket. Both have a half-length U-shaped top panel opening, and both packs have a zippered pocket at the top outside and the top inside of the main compartment. Both have load lifter straps.
There’s a pocket on the inside of the main panel for items needing security.
Both packs have a full-length tensioned mesh that creates space between your back and the pack, but not so much space as to tilt the pack away from your body. While nothing will prevent your shirt from absorbing some sweat in the back, this mesh panel provides enough air flow to help considerably.
The Citro 24 comes in only one size, while the Zulu is available in two and incorporates overlapping Velcro-faced panels allowing up to 3.5-inches of length adjustment. For reference, I’m 5’ 9” tall and both the large Zulu at its minimum length and the Citro fit me. (However, make sure you refer to Gregory’s fit guide here!)
Gregory Zulu 30 back view
Both packs have hiking pole attachments. Neither have dedicated lashing points, but it doesn’t take much ingenuity to lash something to the various straps and whatnot on the packs’ exteriors.
The secret sauce with Gregory packs is a flexible 4-mm steel rod frame that encircles the pack. This minimalist frame provides the structure of an old-school welded-aluminum external frame and works far better than a semi-ridged frame sheet. This is the reason that Gregory packs transfer their load to the hips so effectively, resulting in superior load carrying comfort.
Gregory packs feature these herd-to-miss zipper pulls.
Zulu 30 Performance
I tried a mix of experiments and trail hiking to see how the Zulu 30 performed. But first: the 40-pound rating on the Zulu 30, while feasible, is way over the top for a day hike. Forty pounds is just about five gallons of water, and no one is taking that amount of weight on a day hike. Heck, even with antiquated 1970s-era equipment 40 pounds is closing in on a week’s worth of load-out.
Comparing the same load of 15 pounds in both the Citro 24 and the Zulu 30, I was surprised that, as comfortable as the Citro is for me, the larger Zulu, with its beefier suspension, was even more comfortable and put even less strain on my back. The height difference between the packs was noticeable, but the Zulu wasn’t uncomfortable at all. My fist impression was to compare the feel of the Citro (and later the Zulu) to a Koala bear hugging your back (I’ve since learned that others have also described them that way). The Zulu just feels like a slightly larger Koala cub.
I tried climbing up steep inclines, and even climbed an extension ladder with the Zulu on, finding that it offered no binding, resistance or impediment to my legs’ motion. (All of this makes me wonder what the new Zulu LT 24 (a more minimalist Zulu) might be like.)
The Zulu30’s water bottle pockets easily fit a liter bottle.
I loaded two full one liter water bottles in the side pockets and loaded the Zulu’s main compartment with as many filled water containers as would fit in it. That water-filled pack brought the total weight to 26 pounds, which is probably as much weight as you could realistically cram into the Zulu 30. Honestly, I don’t know how you’d ever get 40 pounds of gear into this 30 liter pack unless you were carrying sandbags or depleted uranium. In use I noticed that, even as my body felt this heavier than normal load (I’m a day hiker these days) almost all the weight was transferred to my hips and my lumbar was fine.
Pack Weight Isn’t Actually Important
I mentioned that Gregory always gets high marks for its load carrying comfort, but because reviewers have to say something negative they usually note that Gregory packs are slightly heavier than comparison packs. Very, very slightly heavier – a mere 2 ounces heavier in the case of the Citro 24, which is the weight of a snack bar! This is unfair.
We often forget that weight isn’t important per se. Weight is just a proxy for the energy you have to expend carrying a load, or for the pain that the carried pack may cause over the course of a day (mostly to your back and shoulders). Of course, pain will also make you tired. It’s difficult to objectively measure pain, but easy to measure weight, so that’s what writers usually do, but that’s not what counts. What counts is energy expended (tiredness) and/or pain.
Suppose that a pack itself weighed 30 pounds, but you weren’t either tired or in pain after schlepping it all day with a load. And another pack weighed only ½ pound, but it made your back and shoulders hurt, and therefore also made you fatigued by the end of the day, when carrying the same load. Clearly the heavier pack would be more desirable.
Now let’s look at the energy required to carry an incremental pound of weight. Well, a 180 pound person burns approximately 100 calories per mile while hiking on a flat surface. A 200 pound person burns about 110 calories per mile. The incremental calories per pound per mile is (110-100)/(200-180) = 10/20 = 1/2 calories/pound/mile. For context, a single peanut contains 5 calories. Basically, the energy needed to carry an extra pound for a mile is what the lawyers call de minimus, which is a fancy Latin term for “negligible.”
Finally, consider the common experience of most seasoned hikers (myself included): pack weight doesn’t matter too much until you reach a certain threshold. For someone with an arthritic neck, that may be 10 pounds or less; for a young, fit hiker that may be in excess of 40 pounds. But in any case, a pound – let alone two ounces – is more or less immaterial.
Pros, Cons, and Neutrals
Pros: The ability of both the Citro and Zulu packs to carry loads appropriate for their size comfortably is outstanding. Their price is very competitive, and they are widely available. They don’t constrict your movement while hiking.
Cons: With items in them, the top outside pocket of both packs become floppy weights that interfere a little with opening the main compartment panel.
Neutrals: I personally would prefer more external pockets located low on the pack. But the existing pocket layout is quite useable — I just use zippered pouches and put them in the front stuff pouch.
Bottom Line
The Zulu 30 turned out to be an ideal pack when I need to carry a bit more volume than usual. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Modern internal frame packs have been around for over a half-century, and materials science has advanced by leaps and bounds during that period. For packs to become and remain as popular as Gregory’s are among hikers of all levels, the surprise would be if they did not perform extremely well.
Reviewed: Gregory Zulu 30 for Day Hiking originally appeared on Gear Institute.