I don't want to drop a bunch of cash on something that will ultimately make me wish I'd dropped more cash up front. Same token, I'd rather not spend more than I need. The MOLLE set up seems fairly nice in that it can be expanded relatively easily and is based on a (presumably) lighter wieght polymer frame.

Sounds like fun Ireash!

I have several packs. Mostly day and three day packs. I have an old REI pack thats similar to my old alice pack and it works great.

"Should" being the operative word <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Was looking at three day packs too, but get the feeling they may be a bit small for the needs of 6 people.

The Maxpedition Vulture II is pretty much a 3-Day pack, right?

Alice packs when rigged right are not bad and they are large. The MOLLE that you posted has a tendency to break at the plastic frame attachments. Generally can be fised with some tape but who wants to be in that situation.

The old saying buy right cry once, buy bad cry twice comes to mind.

Seems like it has about 1/2 the volume of the GI MOLLE II ruchsack set up.

It depends on how many people will be wearing packs. One of my favorite larger 3 day packs isn't expensive. The Kelty Redwing 3100. Internal frame. I paid about 50 bucks for mine.

Man, the lizard is a good looking one. We don't have a lot of them around here except the Mountain Boomer and Horny Toad. Have not seen either in a while, guess the pesticides are starting to get the populations low.

Hmm...that's a downer Sumo. Claims to be rated for 150#. But no, I'd rather not have something break on me if we're fleeing a Godzilla attack.

Tyr Tactical 5-day is big enough and doesn't have a frame to break, but is probably way out of your price range.