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  1. #1
    Registered User Crossup's Avatar
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    Default Osprey Airspeed suspension- Stratos vs Exos vs Levity

    The backstory- bought a Stratos 50 several years ago to go bikepacking but ended up backpacking including a 7 day stint last fall on the AT. At 40+lbs starting and 50 in mid hike(extra water and a bonus find of ripe pears) it took a bit of getting used to the shoulder weight and pack sliding down my skinny butt. By the end, at 37lbs the pack was part of my body and I found it easy to jog with it. That began a quest for a roomier back as well as lighter gear as I reached the obvious conclusions.
    After reading about the Levity, the demise of Exos belt pockets and the recent REI sale I ordered a Levity. Unfortunately, I managed to get a BS master at REI to help me instead of the usual fairly knowledgeable help. I was informed the Levity ONLY came in small and large and after measuring me to fit a LARGE, he then told me for the Levity I needed the small.

    The Levity arrived today. So I transferred my gear(doing 9 days in early June) from the Stratos to the Levity. Being a small its rated 57 liters so I was able to pack my bag inside instead of outside on the Stratos bag straps and just did get all my gear in it including a couple other normally packed outside items like my Klymat pad. Still a little shy of the capacity I really need to have everything inside as there is a bit more MH food to add(which would mean yet another external bag on the Stratos).
    I'm still trying to figure it out, but somehow the total weight is NOT adding up...too light. Not sure if its my scale or what, helium in the Levity frame maybe? My 21.5lb base weight is yielding a load of 25.5lbs yet I added 10lbs of food and clothing. Subtract 2 lbs saved on the pack itself and you see my confusion. Regardless of the numbers I'm feeling the Levity is getting a bum rap on its ablity to handle overloading at least from the comfort angle. YMMV but I'm slim and not shapely so finding the fit MUCH better than I thought a wide pack would be.

    Meanwhile I've noticed several things worthy of mention. First is the Levity frame is very broad in the hip area(4" wider even with a small Levity vs medium Stratos) and unlike the Stratos and Exos(wont have the 2017 model till tomorrow-but I've read this) it does not appear to have the hard spot in the middle area, although some have mentioned the seam being an irritation. While the belt system does not seem to grab the hips like the Stratos, its still seems to do a really good job of putting the weight on your hips.

    Next thing I noticed is the padding on the shoulder straps is not so much minimalist as confined to a much smaller area. In my case its obvious the small size places the bulk of the padding on my trapesius and back where it does not maximize comfort. Loosening the top strap does move it closer to the collar bone but at the cost of letting the pack sway around excessively. I think the lesson here is fit will be very important in carrying the packs rated capacity with maximum comfort.
    Other details- the mesh is smallest on the Stratos, much larger on the Exos(2108 but I think unchanged from 2107) and a bit larger on the Levity vs Stratos. Durability wise I think the Exos wins for the mesh.

    I'm going to post this in several installments so stay tuned.

  2. #2
    Registered User Crossup's Avatar
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    Along with the wide frame, the Levity has its belt/hip strap spaced out 9" wide (small size pack) vs the Stratos medium at 6.5". I think we all know everyone's back is more than 6.5" wide.
    The effect of this spacing is the Stratos rides further "off" your back/hip areas and has a much smaller contact point with the mesh suspension... while the Levity pulls you further into the mesh and the strap pull is straighter and more effective at keeping the pack on your hips.

    A side benefit of this design is you have less foam/strap trapping heat and sweat around your hips. The Stratos is supremely good at padding up any and all pressure points but at the cost of covering a lot of your body.

    Other things I noticed about the Levity- its a wide pack but really gets looking like a squirrel with its cheeks full of nuts when you add several drink bottles, to the tune of 20"+.


    Some reviews mention (also with the Exos) the front pocket exit holes being escape holes for things...the Levity has small straps there which can easily be tied directly to the frame to prevent that. The Stratos has small pockets with only top entry

    Also
    I suspect the side pockets may obstruct airflow if you only carry 20-30L of volume...but full up or loaded low, it should not be any issue. For those carrying low volume loads, I'd suggest carrying your bag uncompressed to fill out the Levity

    On the issue of the very lightweight material used for the internal bag and bladder pocket, I think I am worried more about snagging things hung off the outside of my battleship strong Stratos than the chance I'm going to snag the Levity at shoulder height. If you are a rough and tumble bruiser, the Levity may not be for you...but then neither should any number of tents, sleeping bags etc. For me having everything tucked into the pack is preferable to a smaller/tougher pack with lots of things hung off it. Regardless, I will agree with reviews that peg the Levity as the wrong pack for bushwacking and general rugged use off trail. For the AT in general, its not going to be an issue, but no doubt those who have done the whole trail will know of places where caution will be required.

    Pictures show: Airspeed suspension for the Stratos(white panel), then the Levity with its widely spaced belt. Levity stuffed to max capacity including 4x 20oz drink bottles and Frog Togs full rain suit and misc. junk in the front/side pockets. and a side shot showing the nice flow thru air passage.
    To re-iterate- I'm showing/testing with the exact same gear I use in/on the Stratos 50 so regardless of the true weight the volume and packout will be the exact same gear.


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  3. #3
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    In the battle of the pockets(a topic near and dear to me) the Stratos is king with 11...2 on the belt, 3 in the hat/lid, the bladder pocket, a front zip pocket(surrounded by a back access zipper to the main compartment), 2 more pockets on the bottom, including one sized to hold your sleeping bag(and one of which holds the supplied rain cover with room to spare) and two external(drink style, stretch) pockets.
    Then of course the main bag area could be #12...it also features a couple of loop/toggles to lift the bottom of the main area to allow more volume in the two bottom pockets in case you carry a lot in them. I generally use the loops which makes it much easier to get things out of the bottom pockets as they are not carrying the weight of everything above them. They are small loops but have held 40lbs with ease.

    My Stratos is a pre 2017 so likely has an extra top lid pocket but otherwise is representative of the Stratos. There are also permanent but adjustable straps for a pad or in my case my bag in a (waterproof)compression sack. Of course an ice ax strap and the fast and easy hiking pole straps. For most folks that all you need, however the total lack of external tie points means you have to get creative to hang extra stuff off the pack, which is what is driving me to the larger Exos and Levity. Too bad one can not have both lots of compartments and tie points.

    I will jump to the Levity since I wont have an Exos in my hands for a few more hours. The Levity has only one storage pocket in the hat, the bladder pocket and the two side pockets and the front pocket which has a nice top bellows flap to give it some volume while keeping things inside. In short if you like to compartmentalize, get a Stratos.
    Also missing are the ice ax and pole straps so one must create you own off the daisy chain loops on the front of the pack...its not likely anything you come up with will work as well as the Stratos/Exos solution but if you just want long term stowage, I'm sure it can be done.

    While neither the Exos nor Levity have rain covers the material seems to be rather water proof in the Levity, it also has drains in the external pockets.
    Which reminds me, my first real trip on the AT had me worrying about loosing a water bottle while scrabbling over rocks, etc so I decided to tether it to my pack. The Levity has two straps on the top edge of its side pockets which seem perfect for that job...so far I see no other purpose for them as there is nothing to tie them off to like the front exits can be closed by tying to the frame.

  4. #4
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    Exos in hand, first thing I checked was the frame width...its splits our 2 others, 12" Stratos, 13" Exos and 16" Levity. Generously padded straps even compared to the Stratos, however the padding is softer and likely does not spread the load as much as the Stratos. One thing common to the Exos/Levity is all the strap adjusters work easier than the Stratos, smooth and easy to control.
    BUT the biggest initial surprise is the Exos is one noisy mofo, creaks squeeks and groans. My Stratos will occasionally swish, the Levity seemed very quiet but every move with the Exos makes a least a little noise.
    While highly personal and dependant on many factors, right off the bat the Exos did NOT strike me as being nearly as good getting weight on to the pelvic area. The Levity seems to hug without needing much pressure from the straps. I'm going to give it some time but suspect the Exos is going to come up short on hip comfort and load transfer. In fact I'm wearing it loaded as I type and its not feeling comfortable, keep in mind, its carrying the exact same gear straight out of the Levity and even packed pretty much the same. Looking in the mirror, it appears things are higher up with a noticable bulge in the middle, the Levity looked more like it had a old man spread to it, with everything sitting low and wide. My bag dropped into the Levity but had to be pushed down into the Exos but at the bottom there was still room to get my tent in vertically against my back as it was in the Levity.
    One thing I noticed while loading was the Exos has a removable hat/lid/brain but its on a fixed length loop system which is very short, so while removable, it wont easily allow over stuffing the main compartment past the side height. The Stratos is adjustible although not removable and the Levity has more slack available to allow it to still cover an overload. The flap thing on the Exos might be worse in that respect although I can not see giving up using the brain.
    As to the Exos pocket count- 2 on the belt, 2 pouches on the straps, two on the brain, the hydration pocket and 3 external pouches, both bottle pockets being stretch and MUCH smaller than the Levity but similar to the Stratos but with front exits which like the Levity have loops which can be tied off to the frame to prevent unwanted ejections as well as what I call the tether loop on the top edge of the pocket.
    I'll end with these observations, but in a few hours I will post my(Exos) findings after a test flight around the neighborhood which is a 1.6mile loop with a few modest hills.

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    After a bit of time in harness I'm still not finding the Exos to be any more comfortable than my Stratos. Nothing is really wrong with either but the Levity just naturally wants to sit on the hips while the other two need to be strapped on to you to keep it from sliding down.
    I did find the Exos hat/brain could be positioned further back by having the attachment loops go around the frame instead of over it which allows more slack.
    Noticed a difference in the belt pockets- the Stratos pockets are on longer pads and therefore sit more in front vs the Exos which have them sitting back far enough to be nearly awkward. This also means to fit me, the Stratos belts are pretty much as short as possible while there is several inches left on the Exos belt.

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    In trying to understand why the Levity fits me so well I did some more measuring and comparing. Not mentioned before but the Levity (aluminum)frame material is MUCH smaller than the Exos and even the Stratos (in between the other two) and flexes more easily...the Exos in particular is very rigid. Strangely enough the small Levity frame is the same height(and top width)as the medium Exos but the Levity is nearly 2" narrower in the middle. There is also a subtle difference in the front to rear curvature between them, with the Levity having more depth at the bottom. So the net effect is the Levity starts to transfer weight on to your hips higher up as well as further around them. I'm really quite amazed at this(bet you couldnt tell) as I'm really rather shapeless and straight backed. I can not image any one with a real butt and some shape not finding the Levity to perch even better on their hips. If the Lumina is shaped like the Levity, women may not even bother with the belt
    I'm going to take the Levity on a walk before I have to return it and I'm almost hoping it does not work as well as it has so far as I'm very conflicted between the fit/comfort and the major lack of features. I will admit the Stratos wealth of pockets and access points has really spoiled me as when I do have to dig thru the Stratos I know it will a perpetual pain to need to do that so much more with the Levity and even the Exos. I have to imagine I'm in a minority when I lust after a Stratos made of Levity materals with the volume/shape of the Exos on the Levity suspsension.

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