Reviews by User: Hoju (1)

I recently purchased the Catalyst 60 and took it on an hike through some pretty rough terrain. I barely noticed I was even carrying full pack. It's extremely comfortable. Also, I had plenty of room to carry my camp gear and 80m of climbing rope. However, it does have a few downsides. First, the internal water reservoir sleeve is too small to carry a 3 Liter Camelbak pouch (or a 2L insulated Camelbak). So if you want to use a large reservoir, you can't use the included sleeve. Second, the hip belt sticks down a lot farther than the bottom of the pack and so you always have to lay the pack down or prop it up against a tree when you stop. This may seem minor but I noticed that after only a few stops, the hip belt was getting pretty dirty. Third, and speaking of the hip belt, I too am too tall to use the hip belt included on the large Catalyst 60. I'm 6' 2" with a 32" waist but the large hip belt only cinches down to a 36". The North Face says that it has interchangeable belts and so I sent them my large one and they sent me a medium one. BUT, they didn't send me a medium Catalyst 60 belt; just some generic pivotal hip belt. I called TNF about this and it turns out they don't have any in stock but said they'd send me one as soon as they got one. That was back in 11/06. I have called them numerous times since then and have always gotten the same response, "keep waiting." Finally, I called them yesterday and they said they'd have one made for me in their factory but that I would have to wait an extra month.... I mean c'mon, what kind of company offers a product and a service that takes five/six months to fulfill? In the meantime, I'm using the crappy generic hip belt. But even with that belt, the backpack feels pretty good. All in all, the backpack is great, especially when you can use the Catalyst 60 hip belt. I just wish TNF would get its act together.

I recently purchased the Catalyst 60 and took it on an hike through some pretty rough terrain. I barely noticed I was even carrying full pack. It's extremely comfortable. Also, I had plenty of room to carry my camp gear and 80m of climbing rope. However, it does have a few downsides. First, the internal water reservoir sleeve is too small to carry a 3 Liter Camelbak pouch (or a 2L insulated Camelbak). So if you want to use a large reservoir, you can't use the included sleeve. Second, the hip belt sticks down a lot farther than the bottom of the pack and so you always have to lay the pack down or prop it up against a tree when you stop. This may seem minor but I noticed that after only a few stops, the hip belt was getting pretty dirty. Third, and speaking of the hip belt, I too am too tall to use the hip belt included on the large Catalyst 60. I'm 6' 2" with a 32" waist but the large hip belt only cinches down to a 36". The North Face says that it has interchangeable belts and so I sent them my large one and they sent me a medium one. BUT, they didn't send me a medium Catalyst 60 belt; just some generic pivotal hip belt. I called TNF about this and it turns out they don't have any in stock but said they'd send me one as soon as they got one. That was back in 11/06. I have called them numerous times since then and have always gotten the same response, "keep waiting." Finally, I called them yesterday and they said they'd have one made for me in their factory but that I would have to wait an extra month.... I mean c'mon, what kind of company offers a product and a service that takes five/six months to fulfill? In the meantime, I'm using the crappy generic hip belt. But even with that belt, the backpack feels pretty good. All in all, the backpack is great, especially when you can use the Catalyst 60 hip belt. I just wish TNF would get its act together.