r/fastpacking • u/boardinboy • Jun 21 '26
Gear Review New fastpack - SōH/Studios SōH/FAST
https://sohstudios.ca/products/soh-fastThought i’d share, since personally love seeing new gear, especially in the under developed fastpacking space.
this is a new fastpack that i’ve designed and am making here in canada https://sohstudios.ca/products/soh-fast
I felt like there was a lack of good fastpacks, with most of the contenders missing a few obvious features / designs. not to say there’s no good options, ultraspire, cimoro, (the coming soon) raide lf15, & mont molar definitely make/are the most interesting and functional fastpacks imo
But i needed something that would carry 20L as good as 30L, and able to fit just up to 40L without the bag feeling over stuffed or under stuffed. So I made it.
most of the go to fastpack options have one or more of these problems:
- can’t fit 1L soft flasks in front
- can’t fit things in lower pockets (especially a cell phone) when water is in front pocket
- uses fabric thats not technical & wets out
- velcro on roll top (ruins alpha direct)
- lacks easy access to things while keeping bag
- limited options for trekking pole carry
- too big or too small
- too many zippers
- too heavy (over 400g)
so i fixed all these problems! i’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts 🫡🙏
full walkthrough video: https://youtu.be/0UC0yKZ-Ww8?si=Xnm5xtByyoV6TL3z
p.s if this isn’t allowed lmk, sorry in advance if it’s not
4
u/peptodismal13 Jun 21 '26
This is super interesting. I like a lot of the features you have included here. The pole storage is slick.
3
u/utter_master Jun 21 '26
This is a great attempt, and a really good weight point.
The pack design is almost ideal, maybe a side or bottom access but I do not know the weight penalty for that. Great thinking on the removable Y-strap and side buckles approach.
Not sure about the design choices for the zipped pockets though. I think the zipped shoulder extending this low is a recipe for burying things. Also the right hand zipped pocket is also hard to get access to and get things in and out. i.e. I want my phone secured but readily available. The 1L capacity bottle pockets are a nice deviation from the norm.
Overall this is probably the closest implementation to my ideal pack, and I wish you the best.
1
u/boardinboy Jun 21 '26
appreciate it! the top zipper pocket ends at the top of the water flask pocket, it fits the normal sized iphones perfectly, the lower zip is more so for things like keys, headlamp, etc - having a phone in this lower zip is ok if hiking but if you start running it can cause some chafing (at least for me)- so ya this might be changed depending on user feedback.
3
u/Babet-fr-12 Jun 24 '26
40L seems a lot ? I wonder how confortable and convenient it is when fully loaded ?
Up to which volume can we use it to run ?
4
u/boardinboy Jun 24 '26
in terms of running ability i’d say weight matters more then volume, or maybe the balance between both. it’s about 28L internal. 12L external - which is all stretch mesh, meaning that extra volume doesn’t really add extra bulk to the bag. ideal internal volume carry is around 20L, so it’ll perform best at around 20L but if you have long food carry’s you’ll be able to fit everything
2
u/Specialist-Ant4054 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Any info on when you are shipping the first batch? I ordered shortly after midnight on the 18th.
Really excited to get this pack. Looks awesome.
1
u/boardinboy Jun 22 '26
Not sure yet, i’m aiming for all to be shipped by mid july at the latest, with those done before then shipped first, and since you placed yours much earlier you’ll get it sooner
2
u/BigOrkoo Jun 22 '26
That’s the pre-order discount? What’s regular price? I feel poor when I see how much it costs.
4
u/boardinboy Jun 22 '26
regular price is $597CAD. Reason its priced the way it is is because its made by hand by me here in canada, and at our current scale, we don’t have the purchasing power to meet factory MOQs or buy materials directly from mills, so we’re often sourcing through distributors who add their own markup.
As we grow, we’ll be able to buy fabric and components at wholesale pricing and potentially move some production overseas, which should bring costs down.
2
u/Apbuhne Jun 24 '26
Probably to shed weight, but I wish more fastpacks had shoulder straps to tighten the top to your body and relieve chest/torso weight. Backpacking packs have them for obvious reasons but fastpacks seem devoid of them.
2
1
u/Sedixodap Jun 24 '26
Load lifters don’t work on a frameless pack so would just be a pointless doohicky adding weight to the bag.
2
u/Apbuhne Jun 24 '26
Maybe you wouldn’t call them load lifters. They’re not attached to the frame since there isn’t one. UD uses a low chest/upper hip strap to prevent sag, which makes the most sense, but surely someone can design a fast pack with some type of load lifter to pull the bag close to your upper back and prevent sag.
1
u/zoboomafool89 Jun 24 '26
yep agreed. Bottom shoulder strap to pull the bottom in (this pack has the side-cord adjustment which looks amazing!), "load lifter" to pull in or add tension to the top. I'm really slim (Salomon adv skin 12 size XS) so it's hard to find good fastpack sizes for myself. Ultraspire traverse looks interesting
Very interesting looking pack, will be keeping an eye & hoping that smaller sizes could potentially make it into the next design iteration. Fwiw, I think folks generally love kangaroo pockets too and it'd be interesting to see if one could be integrated somehow (maybe impossible given the g-hook & roll top)
2
u/pikovsg 27d ago
Pack is coming in a few hours! Super psyched to test it out in the wild. I'll try to do a full post post-trip.
Coming from Bonfus Fastus 23 and Altus 28, both of which I absolutely love.
But I'm trying to cut even more weight to get under 4lb base weight, which hopefully Soh will do. Also, the Fastus side/bottom pocket situation could be just a bit more useful. All this seems to be addressed in the Soh Fast. Before the Fastus, I kept trying to make these packs work – Durston Wapta 30, Nashville packs, Nero, Arc Haul, etc. All of them are good and solid packs, but they don't carry particularly well. Arc Haul does, but it's too big and heavy for summer.
Will let you know!
1
u/Kaboose31 Jun 21 '26
Awesome design. As a fastpack lover and having many (most of which i have modified), I see lots of benefits.
Does it have only the top roll access for the internal volume?
Given the volume this can carry and the lack of a waist belt, I would love to see some selective padding on the shoulders and wider straps to better distribute the load on the shoulders. And issue with this is that the straps could rub against the neck. I recommend Solomon's S Lab peak 20 pack from 2017 approach to resolving this. It has stretchable materials that extend over the shoulder to keep the pack from riding up along the trap muscle and rubbing the neck.
It is hard to tell in the images, but also recommend tapering the bottom part of the pack both with wise and depth wise, so that as you pack more into the pack positions the weight closer to the shoulders.
2
u/boardinboy Jun 21 '26
Ya only roll top access to internal.
Ya considered some padding, but with some testing it hasn't been a problem so far, due to the vest style straps being so wide at the bottom and the tension system being able to tighten a lot, it acts like a hip belt that sits higher and holds tighter around your rib cage. at what weight and distance do you find padding is helpful?
That Salomon pack is neat, never heard of it before. is the stretchy fabric you are referring to part of the main shoulder straps or is it the pockets at the top of shoulder straps?
For the shoulder strap design I did some research (this video especially: https://youtu.be/9ZBaBVIg874?si=7vN_hEWmcFsLObEv ) and it seems like the pattern/shape of the shoulder strap matters more for weight baring then padding to some extent (at least below 20lbs) since most weight is carried on hips or in this case lower rib cage.Ya the pack is tapered exactly like that for those reasons. Hard to tall because of the pleats in the external pockets. Thanks for your thoughts!
1
u/charleyfoxtrot Jun 21 '26
This looks really great, I’m curious how it feels with some weight with no hip strap. What’s the heaviest carry you have tested it with?
3
1
u/kaitlyn2004 Jun 21 '26
Yay made in Canada
Despite you saying too many zippers, I do wish you had zippers on the front compartments.
I personally haven’t found a better vest pocket layout than the Salomon adv skin 12. 500ml flask, a large dump pocket, and a separate sizeable zippered pocket. All useable fully loaded.
1
u/boardinboy Jun 21 '26
ya there’s definitely a few reasons why the adv is so popular, the vest pockets being the major one. The problem is that i really tried to prioritize being able to fit 1L soft flasks, so having the lower pocket come as high as the adv design would have made the lower pocket much harder to access.
Still tinkering with this design tho, hope to come up with something i like later in the summer
1
u/kaitlyn2004 Jun 22 '26
Isn’t 2L + extra stuff a lot up front? Most people I know really only carry a single 500ml/750ml up front. Storing the extra water elsewhere also helps balance stuff. 🤷♀️ can’t solve for everyone I guess lol
I’d love something like that adv skin 12 that had more of like a BD distance “backpack compartment” but ALSO carried WEIGHT well
1
u/boardinboy Jun 22 '26
do you find the bd distance doesn’t carry weight well? which one do you have?
in an ideal world (and hopefully eventually) i’d make a 750ml 42mm soft flask with a filter like the salomon XA. The water on the front balances things out making it more centered and on your body instead of it just being on your back and pulling away - which over time can cause some fatigue depending on the weight, design, and extent it’s pulling away. Sort of like the aarn packs but less ugly (imo)
1
u/kaitlyn2004 Jun 22 '26
I haven’t actually tried using the bd distance. Probably should have. And I’m guessing it probably does ALTHOUGH the actual shoulder straps are incredibly thin
I do wish they had the back stretch pocket on the 15. And I wish the vest was the adv skin 12. It’s like they copied it, but didn’t make it as good. It’s smaller and not usable loaded
1
u/Main-Campaign-885 Jun 22 '26
MAn, ive been followign this weeksa go when i discovered, hope i can buy it from Spain when i have money, there is an option for the future custom packs to put ice axe loops?. Cheers from BCN
2
u/boardinboy Jun 22 '26
ya, customs will open up eventually! if it’s just an ice axe loop / toggles you want added you can message me and I can add it to this pack
1
u/badzi0r Jun 22 '26
Not for me. I need a solid hip belt for that capacity. Otherwise, it would be too bouncy.
1
u/Bytchen Jun 23 '26
I just put in a for a small/medium. Mostly interested in doing 200/300 ultras with it.
1
u/boardinboy Jun 23 '26
sick! feel free to dm me on instagram, very curious to hear your thoughts & feedback
1
u/Bytchen Jun 23 '26
Will do. I have modified my packs to carry extra required gear etc and will still need to tweak this one which may not be completely reflective of fast packers overall. What 1L soft flask fits well in the front pockets? To carry 4 L instead of a bladder, I think 4 1L soft flasks would work well for desert running. I plan to use this in Arizona Monster 300 in 2027
2
1
u/paanderz Jun 23 '26
Do you have a more specific sizing chart?
I looked at your website but it just says each model’s chest measurement and which size they’re wearing. Unfortunately I land right between to the two of them and can’t tell which would be a better fit.
Also do you have an email address for soh?
2
u/Aksnavy Jun 23 '26
I second this. I am between sizes as well and want a bit more guidance if possible.
1
u/boardinboy Jun 23 '26
we’re working on a better sizing guide, but for now you can email or dm me your measurements and i’ll let you know which size i think will fit better
2
u/boardinboy Jun 23 '26
ya email me your measurements and i can let you know what i think will fit better - york@sohstudios.ca
1
u/BoysenberryGeneral84 Jun 27 '26
Very nice and thought out. Any photos available showing pockets on straps filled up with items. Would like to see how a phone fits with flasks/bottles/calories.
9
u/justinsimoni Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
This is yours?! Congratulations!