Does Anybody Still Carry A Dana Design P ack?

“I'm just wondering this because of looking at Gleason's Mystery Ranch site and noticing that MR has shoulder harness upgrade systems for DD packs.

Just wondering if anyone knew of this and/or tried these MR upgrades on their DD pack?”

“Damn...their shoulder straps and hipbelts were already really comfortable...I can't imagine it getting better.”

“You can at fabric stores, like JoAnns, find webbing and black buckels for things like that. YOu may save yourself tons of money if you check there first. With warmest regards.....The helper Angel”

“Good intentions I'm sure, but you obviously haven't bought and used the cheap plastic buckles at Joanne Fabrics, SLH. Believe me, they aren't made to withstand very much stress.”

“My DD Longbed's straps and hip belt are mighty comfy, but these look like they are for older models that may not be so good.”

“It looks like a marketing gimmick to me. A piece of plastic right where your collarbones are will only guarantee that the shoulder pad will not conform to the curvature of your shoulders properly. Look at the picture. The one edge of the strap is digging in on the hiker. You can tell it doesn't conform properly. Second, why is the pack stability so bad that they have to resort to such things, or is it bad? Usually if a pack is unstable on top the frame is too weak to support the load and the top of the frame bounces. A strong frame eliminates that from happening. If the frame on these packs is strong enough to prevent stability problems then Gleason is just trying to create a market and put an idea in people's minds to sell them something they don't need to begin with. If they do need such a contraption then the pack has design problems that go beyond what a piece of plastic sewn to a shoulder strap will fix. Just my opinion from what I can see and read here.”

“Considering that Gleason has always put comfort at the forefront of his designs, I doubt that this is a marketing gimick or that it implies that there were design flaws in older model packs.

Apparently the plastic shank makes the lifter straps lift more of the shoulder strap off your shoulders than ones without the shank. Frankly, I don't see the strap digging into the dood'sshoulder.

I'll bet it's simply a better, or slightly better/comfortable shoulder strap...nothing more and nothing less.”

“Right near the guys neck the strap isn't taking on the angle of the guy's shoulder slope and top edge is digging in. This is a big problem I had with most packs, the straps were either too wide and dug into my neck or too stiff to conform right.”

“The top of the shoulder straps aren't supposed to rest on your shoulder...unless the lifters aren't adjusted properly. The whole intention of the lifter straps is to lift the top of the straps off your shoulders, taking packweight off your shoulders and redistributing that weight to your hips.

I can see that maybe if the dood didn't adjust the straps and had weight resting on his shoulders that the straps would be digging in, but I just don't see anything of the sort in the pic.”

“The guy is smiling so I guess he's pretty comfortable.”

“lol”

“You can buy the same buckles if you find the right place, but was just trying to help......thanks”