The Platypus Sprinter XT 35
Platypus Sprinter XT 35 rucksack
Country of manufacture: pack, China; hydration reservoir, USA
Weight: 1,185g including water reservoir
Price: £130
Colour: molten lava (red)
Material: 210D PU-coated diamond ripstop nylon, 210D PU-coated Oxford nylon, YKK zips
Washing instructions: hand wash only with non-detergent soap and hang dry
The Sprinter XT 35 is a sturdy daysack with a capacity of 33 litres, with an additional 3 litres for the Platypus hydration reservoir, with which it came.
Platypus says it would also be suitable for ultra-lightweight backpacking, but we think you’d have to be pretty ruthless about what you pack.
It is clear a great deal of thought has gone into the pack’s design and it has a host of little touches that endeared it to us.
The Sprinter is shaped differently from most rucksacks: wider at the top than the bottom which, when you think about it, makes sense as the human torso is shaped like that too – usually.
In practice this makes the Sprinter XT 35 a dream to pack, with its wide, zipped top opening allowing easy viewing of what’s going in. The only drawback is that, unless it’s full or tightly compressed, the top part of the pack can look a bit floppy.
The material feels tough, with a diamond pattern in much of it, and the nylon is polyurethane coated to keep the rain out. Seams are taped too and the top zip, through which the main compartment is accessed, is a water-resistant YKK Aquaguard.
The Platypus pack is wider at the top than the bottom
Next to the main compartment and closest to the user’s back is a separate zipped compartment for the water reservoir. The compartment has two toggles on which to suspend the Big Zip SL which is supplied with a Slide Lock closure.
A neat innovation on the Big Zip SL is the bottom Quick Connect valve, which allows the tube to be disconnected and reconnected while the reservoir is full, allowing easier routing of the drink tube.
The pack allows four different routes for the drink tube, left or right, top or bottom.
In fact, customisation is a key design feature of the Sprinter XT 35.
The chassis of the backpack is an LDPE frame sheet with has a removable aluminium mono-stay if you prefer to save weight.
The ice-axe loop and walking-pole cords can all be stashed out of sight when not in use.
The hip belt, which has a padded section with a small zipped pocket, can be folded into the back section so only the webbing part is used. And for times when the hip belt could get in the way and at the airport for instance, the whole hip belt can be stashed away behind the back padding.
The compression straps, shoulder straps and hip belt all have well-thought-out systems to stash excess length. The spare length of the hip belt passes behind the belt’s mesh pockets.
The Quick Connect valve allows the drink tube to be detached from the bottom of the reservoir for easy routing
This prevents one of my pet hates: rucksack straps flapping everywhere in the wind.
As wells as the main compartment, there is a lid compartment with water-resistant lids, and two side and one central mesh pockets on the outside of the pack.
The lid also has helmet attachment loops.
In use, we packed the Sprinter XT 35 with a fair amount of gear, which it swallowed easily. The main compartment is surprisingly capacious but, as we said, has a slight tendency to sag a bit at the top end if not filled, though this is merely a cosmetic concern and doesn’t affect the performance.
It’s good to know that the rain is being kept out by the sturdy material, taped seams and the water-resistant zips. This also saves having to stash everything in waterproof liners or sacks.
The pack felt comfortable in use, even with a fair amount of weight in it. The hip belt and shoulder straps bore the weight well, and both are ventilated, with mesh covering and large air holes punched out of the foam.
The Platypus Sprinter XT 35 comes with a Big Zip SL reservoir
The shoulder straps each have two elastic loops to hold the drinking tube, as well as a plastic clip to hold the tube.
The back ventilation worked less well and we still ended up with sweaty-back syndrome when working hard uphill. This is not unusual and very few packs manage to deal with the problem adequately.
We liked the Sprinter XT 35. As you would expect from Platypus, it is built around the company’s hydration system, but is much more than that.
It is a capacious day sack that will cope with most single journeys and even, for the ruthless lightweight camper, a longer trip.
Its design features and quality of materials are impressive but, at £130, I suppose it should be. But it’s nice to use a rucksack that has had so much thought gone into those little touches that make this a versatile piece of kit.
More details are available on the Platypus website.
Details of stockists can be found on the First Ascent website.
Performance 31/35
Comfort 30/35
Design 9/10
Quality 9/10
Value for money 5/10
Total score: 84/100
