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.