Granite Gear’s Crown3 60 is the much-anticipated replace to the favored Crown2 mannequin launched in 2017. The brand new mannequin retains key options, like good compression straps and deep pockets, whereas introducing extra methods to customise the pack for the kind of load you’re carrying. Additionally new this 12 months is the flexibility to rework the highest lid right into a fanny pack or a chest pack.
The Crown3 60 is out there in unisex and ladies’s match and is priced competitively.
Granite Gear Crown3 60 At-a-Look
MSRP: $239.95
Quantity: 60L
Sizes: Unisex, Ladies’s Match
Torso: Brief (15-18” torso), Common (18-21” torso), Lengthy* (21-24” torso)
Hip belt: Unisex: 26-42″ Ladies’s: 24-40″
Weight (Ladies’s and Unisex Common): 2.6 lbs
Load limits: 25 lbs with out body sheet, 35 lbs with body sheet, 43 lbs with body sheet and aluminum keep (offered individually)
Materials: Robic Excessive-tenacity nylon (100D and 210D) with Barrier DWR
*Lengthy not out there in ladies’s match
Ladies’s | Males’s/Unisex
Meant Use
The Granite Gear Crown3 60 pack is designed for multi-day backpacking. The pack may be modified to a sub-two lbs pack for ultralight hikers, or may be bolstered to hold hundreds as much as 45 lbs.
Circumstances of Overview
I put my Granite Gear Crown3 60 by means of the ringer, mountain climbing 250 miles of Te Araroa on New Zealand’s South Island. It received scraped by tree trunks and thorny bushes, splattered with mud, poured on, and handled to the extreme UV rays of the southern New Zealand summer time. I opted for the ladies’s match and a brief torso measurement.
Options

Able to journey as my carry-on with the highest lid transformed to a fanny pack.
Adjustable Load Restrict: The Crown3 60 may be modified for ultralight, reasonable, or heavier hundreds. For lighter hundreds, the interior plastic body sheet may be eliminated. This may even shave some ounces off the burden of the pack itself. In the meantime, for additional reinforcement to hold hundreds heavier than 35 lbs, insert a U-shaped aluminum keep (offered individually).
Re-Match Adjustable Hip Belt: The hip belt may be lengthened or shortened through a velcro accordion-fold design on the center. That manner the hip belt pockets can all the time be positioned in the direction of the entrance of your hips, and there are shorter webbing straps on the entrance closure.
Detachable Lid: The lid of the pack may be simply eliminated, together with the strap clips. Its straps are additionally lengthy sufficient {that a} bear canister may be match beneath (on the high of the primary physique of the pack).
The lid is designed to be transformed right into a lumbar pack by clipping it over the eliminated hip belt. Alternatively, it may be hooked up to the shoulder straps and worn throughout the chest.
Pockets: The Crown3 60 incorporates a stretch mesh entrance pocket, two massive aspect pockets with cinch closures, and two zippered pockets on the hip belt.
Consolation & Match
General I discovered the Crown3 60 to be fairly snug. The shoulder straps and hip belt use strong dual-density foam and have a easy design, which I discovered actually snug.
The molded foam again panel felt agency and inflexible initially, however I quickly received used to it. I used to be skeptical concerning the air flow, however the again panel is patterned with channels that assist physique warmth escape. My again would nonetheless get sweaty on hotter days, however the cloth on the again panel by no means moist by means of.
Sadly, I used to be on the high restrict of the torso measurement on the quick pack and skilled some discomfort when carrying a heavier load. The load lifters have been utterly horizontal on me, and I needed to preserve them cinched tight always. It will have been good to have a second higher fixture level for the load lifters. I additionally couldn’t successfully make use of the second chest strap and in the end left it at dwelling.
Granite Gear Crown3 60 Professionals

The Re-Match hip belt may be shortened or lengthened on the midpoint, and can be used to transform the highest lid right into a fanny pack.
Adjustability
Greater than the rest, the adjustable hip belt drew me to this pack. Our our bodies shift and alter all through the day, to say nothing of modifications that occur over months and years. Having a pack that may comfortably shift with me is necessary.
I’ve a slender waist and must cinch most packs to their tightest, ending up with lengths of webbing dangling down and my total waist being enclosed by foam. On the opposite finish, my pals with wider hips complain about by no means with the ability to attain the hip belt pockets on their packs and having the webbing digging into their pores and skin as an alternative of the consolation of froth padding.
The Re-Match hip belt is designed to be adjusted in the course of the belt, the place it rests behind your again. Due to this, hikers with a wider vary of waist sizes can profit from the complete protection of froth padding across the hips, whereas additionally preserving the hip belt pockets to the entrance of the hips.
Pockets
The pockets on the Crown3 60 are massive and well-designed. I appreciated the massive, deep aspect pockets most of all. They’ll match two water bottles and may be cinched tight. This meant I may tilt and bend over with out worrying that something would fall out.
Nonetheless, the cinch twine ends are located alongside the again panel and would generally irritate me. The pockets have a slight angle to them for fast entry to a water bottle whereas on the transfer, however I discovered I merely didn’t have the shoulder flexibility to handle it. As a substitute I saved my bottle in an adjunct pouch on the entrance of the shoulder strap (offered individually).
The mesh pocket on the entrance of the pack can be actually deep and had a great quantity of stretch, in addition to a pair compression straps to maintain objects in place. I simply stuffed my moist tent into that pocket a couple of occasions.
The hip belt pockets have a great construction and I used to be capable of open the zippers one-handed. I match a couple of snack bars into one pocket and the opposite one was capable of maintain my sun shades, chapstick, and a pair different small objects. I didn’t preserve my telephone within the hip belt pocket, nevertheless it matches nicely sufficient.
Sturdiness
I’m impressed with the sturdiness of the materials on the Crown3 60. There have been loads of occasions the place I needed to grate towards rocks, scrape below logs, or bash by means of thorny bushes. The mesh by no means received torn and the material solely exhibits minimal abrasion on the aspect pockets.
Granite Gear Crown3 60 Cons
Water Repellent, Not Waterproof
The Crown3 60 has a DWR handled cloth, which provides respectable water repellency. Nonetheless, filth and oils will degrade the DWR remedy decreasing the water resistance over time. Repeatedly washing the pack will assist keep the DWR, however that isn’t a simple factor to do on a thru-hike. Furthermore, as this wasn’t designed as a water-resistant pack, it isn’t seam taped.
I saved my pack lined with a rubbish bag to guard the contents from moisture, or you should purchase an ultralight pack cowl from Granite Gear.
Sizing
Inclusive sizing continues to be a battle with ladies’s mountain climbing gear. Whereas the Males’s pack is out there in three torso lengths (quick, common, lengthy), the ladies’s match is barely out there in brief and common. The Re-Match hip belt is certainly a novel method to extra inclusive sizing, however the most 40-inch size on the ladies’s match nonetheless isn’t satisfactory to accommodate many ladies’s hips.
Sustainability
Lately, most gear firms combine sustainability into their philosophy and enterprise practices. In distinction, Granite Gear doesn’t have a lot transparency surrounding their sustainability initiatives.
This isn’t to say Granite Gear doesn’t have any sustainability initiatives — the model does companion with some path and out of doors organizations and plans to section out PFAS in its DWR coatings beginning this fall, as an example — nevertheless it’s laborious to search out significant details about these applications, making it robust for the buyer to make really knowledgeable choices.
Last Ideas
The Granite Gear Crown3 60 is a competitively-priced, versatile, mid-weight pack that’s nice for long-distance hikers who aren’t fairly able to shave all of the grams. It strikes a steadiness between the feature-heavy backpacks offered in most out of doors shops and the smooth minimalist light-weight packs from smaller manufacturers.
The flexibility to customise the pack for various anticipated hundreds is the place the Crown3 60 actually shines, providing up a one-size matches all design that may be stripped down for ultralight hundreds or that may be beefed as much as accommodate heavier gear.
Store the Ladies’s Granite Gear Crown3 60
Store the Males’s/Unisex Granite Gear Crown3 60
Comparable Backpacks
REI Co-op Flash 55 Ladies’s | Males’s
MSRP: $199
Gregory Side 55 / Side 58
MSRP: $249
Osprey Eja / Exos 58
MSRP: $260
The Granite Gear Crown3 60 was donated for objective of overview
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