With my resistance to ignoring the Levitys fit for me waning, I decided to check Backcountry Edges return policies and that was the final blow- they have the same 1 year, we dont care why or what condition policy as REI, plus return shipping is $4.99 using them or your cost if you can do better. So with a whole $5 on the line, I'm going to give it a shot.
Also will be taking Cmoulders advice and weather permitting do an day and overnight hike test next weekend, we'll see how much vertical I can get in.
This morning I played around with my Exos working on the fit and while still short of matching the comfort of the Levity, I did find I've been setting up too low which has about the same effect as having a pack that is too small. So I now have even more hope the Levity will be very comfortable, by getting the shoulder straps to wrap further around/down my front side with the bonus of moving the fixed sternum strap down too- pretty much my biggest complaint with the small sized pack I tested.