Macpac not as good as it used to be

The Miklat is a interesting pack, although I personally feel it could have done with slightly more padding. Its a good travel pack, used it for three months backpacking around Vietnam and Europe. Was small enough to store inside buses which was nice. Also wore it several times fully loaded on short tramps in Italy. If I was planning on a two or three day hike in New Zealand it probably would not be my choice due to lack of a proper harness.

In reply to most of the responses. My daypack was purchased in 2002 and is NZ made. My point is that I am hard on my gear and paid a premium then expecting Macpac to continue to honour their (up to then) fantastic customer service. Sadly since then Macpac has declined in both quality and service. You may as well buy Kathmandu or equivalent products. If you want something particularly durable suggest you search for some NZ made Macpac on Trademe. It will often be better than the new stuff!

True that - I recently scored an as new pair of Macpac shorts (the old school show off yer thighs made in NZ ones) for $10 on Trademe. Now, if only I could find another pair...

I agree, their quality has declined a lot over the past 5 years. I am afraid that to compete in the NZ market they have to compromise on quality, if you only sell a tramper 1 pack every 10 years you are not going to last long. Moutain designs are also going down this route, volume over quality. Macpac gear has always been on the heavy side, but that was one of their strong points as the weight came from good quality material. Presently I have Macpac, Vaude, Outdoor Research, MSR, Exped and Marmot gear. I buy my gear by use not name, if it is good I will buy it, so you will never see me outfitted completely from one shop. Have we got soft, remember even it the late 80's-90's people wore no brand polypro, bush shirts and buller boots. Maybe we expect too much from our gear.

Oh, and the (not so) nice feel of a good itchy black bush singlet! And John Bull boots weighed down with a perimeter of tricounis.

nice feel of a good itchy black bush singlet! I still wear one of those in the winter. Will continue to do so till its worn out or I am which ever comes first.

Are there any relatively cheap woollen bush-shirts available these days? I thought I wanted one a few years ago, but the only one I could find was from a brand like Norsewear (not sure if it was that or something else) and it was on the order of hundreds of dollars. Not cheap enough to get me experimenting. I'm pretty sure I remember that sort of thing being much more affordable in the 80s when there was less imported competition, but I also wasn't old enough at the time to pay much attention.

Swandri still make them. Couple of hundred bucks depending on the model, or you could try the farming chains ?. CRT/PGG will search nationwide. Swandri have an outlet in Chch & advertise free postage within NZ & cheap rates to Oz. Maybe even army surplus stores if you want cheaper good-seconds ?.

Every time I'm in Nelson I pop into 'Savemart' second hand clothing and check for woollen shirts etc. Don't know if this is a 'chain' store but it is a cut above your Salvation Army store or equivalent being a vast warehouse of freshly laundered clothing. Have picked up virtually brand new fleeces and bush shirts for maybe $10. I like a wool/cotton mix shirt which seem to be virtually non-existent these days but have found them at Savemart.

A genuine Swandri costs about $300 now. Every late 80's -early 90s NZ army soldier would have one as they were so much better (warmer) than the trash they gave us to wear. I had a knee length green one that saw me through 5 years in the army and 4 years tramping at university. I sold it about 2 years ago for $120, which is more than I paid for it in the first place. I also had an early gore tex jacket in the services because the jackets they gave you were terrible, hot PVC. My mate sent it to me from the UK.