Review: Mammut Neon Gear 45; or: Let’s face it, I’m in love

As the title sort of suggests, this is officially the day I may have found the love of my life, and don’t judge me when I say this might last forever. “Oh that’s nice sweetheart, when do we get to meet him?” “He’s right here on my back.”

It’s the Mammut Neon Gear 45. I’ve been looking for exactly the climbing backpack I want for months now, I became super judgemental, but it was worth it.

What was I looking for: tidiness. I wanted a backpack that I can completely open and tadaaa, there is everything, nice, clean, in order. A backpack I could fit all my shit in: Shoes, helmet, quickdraws, carabiners, rope, jacket, bottle, girlstuff. There is a german expression that can roughly be translated to: egg- laying cottonmilkpig. That’s what I was looking for.

What did I find: tidiness. a backpack that I can completely open and tadaaa, there is everything, nice, clean, in order. A backpack I can fit all my shit in: Shoes, helmet, quickdraws, carabiners, rope, jacket, bottle, girlstuff. There is a german expression that can roughly be translated to: egg- laying cottonmilkpig. That’s what I found.

And here’s a picture of it you could just as well have found on Google.

LOOK AT IT! FUCKING LOOK THE FUCK AT IT.

Well looks ok to you, doesn’t it? So it did to me, but it’s even better.

Let me go through all the stuff climbers carry around and tell you how they fit in here:

– shoes: zippered pocket that avoids velcro sticking to stuff

– gear: Gear loops at the top of the backpag that hold about 12 quickdraw each, or whatever you wanna clip on there

– rope: that’s the part I love most. There is a rope bag included that you can just completely pull out and put on the ground, and when you tie it together, it turns out to have the exact size you need to fit it in the bagpack without pushing and cursing. If you have lots of other stuff to carry with you, like clothing, fat jackets etc, you can just as well take the rope out and attach it to the lid, which has an extra attachement. awesome.

– harness, helmet, waterbottle: All fit into the bag without a mess.

– chaklbag: there is an extra little bag clipped into the bag that you can unclip if you don’t like it, and it’s completely closed, so you don’t get your chalk all over your stuff. I wouldn’t care, since I got chalk all over my stuff anyways, but I guess you could also put bananas in there. Or a sausage.

– stuff: all the little stuff you carry around, like money, phone, sunscreen, you name it, suprisingly somehow fits into the two pockets on top of the backpack. I guess it’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside (Yeah, that’s a Dr. Who reference, NERDS)

Sounds good, huh? Of course you have to carry it around with you, and here comes a little meh. It’s not suuuuper comfy. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t hurt or anything, but you can tell the focus of this backpack lies on functionality, not on comfort. But there is one tiny little feature I like: When you shorten the shoulder straps, usually you have to pull DOWN the loose ends at the bottom of the straps, right? On this backpack, you pull them UP. The buckles are reversed. Fancy.

I’m a material girl and I can assure you, the material here is a beast. Looks very solid to me. Time will show though.

Another thing I sort of want to criticize is the very very very pure design. Not that I don’t like the look of it.  But the manual that came along also includes the features of the Neon Light and the Neon Speed, and there is stuff, like a zippered volume expansion on the front side, that I would have loved on my Neon Gear. But nevermind, I get it, it’s for the LIGHT PEOPLE. I am one of the GEAR PEOPLE now.

Now for the price: As I told you, I’ve been looking for the right backpack for almost an eternity. I know the prices. And I can assure you that the 120 Euros I paid is a good one. It’s suprisingly cheap for a Mammut product, and you gotta keep in mind how long those backpacks usually last. Long. They last long. Longer than you.