Hi,
I've done some reading but just wanted to throw this post out here to see if anyone else had a similar issue or any suggestions.
I have an old Gregory Palisade medium that fits great and is super comfortable, but it weights a ton. So a while back I bought an Osprey Aether medium to save a couple lbs and it was a good deal. It fits me well but the shoulder pads are very stiff and dig into my collar bone and bruise them badly after just one day. I always revert back to my Palisade. I've since lightened my base weight a good bit and decided to get a new pack. Using Osprey's sizing guide I'm between a small and medium torso length.
I bought an Exos 58 medium which seems to fit ok until I loaded it up and went on my first hike. That's when I realized the waist belt would not cinch down tight enough on my waist. I'm a pretty small guy and there was just no room left for me to cinch the waist belt up any tighter. So a lot of the load was on my shoulders and uncomfortable.
I then bought an Exos 58 small which tightened up great around the waist but I soon realized it was riding above my hip bones, not on them. I also noticed that the shoulder straps are so small there is no padding in contact with the front of my shoulders, its all above and behind my shoulders not being utilized.
Seems like I'm not the right shape for this pack? The two key features that sold me on this pack were the weight and the trampoline style back. The Palisade and Aether seemed to cook my back in the summer and I was really looking forward to using the Exos. So I guess I'm in the market for any other packs in this weight range, hopefully with a similar back style, and around the same price - less than $150. My packed weight, before food and water, is around 17 lbs I think. If anyone has suggestions.