Gregory

Citro 30L H2O Plus Backpack

Good Potential - But Some Obvious Misses

First - the positives. In terms of the body sizing, specifically the hip belt and shoulder straps, absolutely nailed that aspect. The pack is comfortable and well-fitted to a larger torso like mine. Build quality, materials/workmanship etc. are all satisfactory, as you'd expect from Gregory. I understand it is a conventional day pack, not necessarily a purpose-built MTB hydro which is what I purchased it for. Notwithstanding that, pockets/storage are just a bit sparse and limited compared to what I'd consider ideal - comparing it, for example, to an Endo 15 or something like that (which I also own). I have two main complaints with the pack. First, torso length is not adjustable. The Endo and other Gregory packs have an adjustable hip belt that you can shorten or lengthen. I have a very long torso, so many "one size fits all" packs don't work for me. The hip belt rides way too high. On this Citro, it is big enough overall that I can get the hip belt more or less where it needs to be by angling it down slightly towards the front. But being able to lengthen the pack an inch or two and really dial in that fit would be awesome. My second complaint, which in my mind is really unforgivable and is the main reason I rated the pack so low (2 stars), is the hydration tube. Seriously people! Many customers have complained about this and Gregory still hasn't fixed it. The tube they provide is WAY, WAY TOO SHORT!!! Even for a standard size pack the extension is barely long enough to fit a small to average size person. But on a so-called "plus size" pack, to provide such an incredibly short tube is just stupid. Sorry, but that's my assessment. I had to pirate a longer tube from another pack and MacGyver my own extension long enough to go through the right side shoulder strap guides, cross my chest, and clip into the magnet on the left shoulder strap. I needed at least 8 INCHES more tubing to make it barely long enough to do that, almost a foot in fact. R&D, Sales, Marketing....surely there must be somebody at Gregory who gives a s**t about intelligently designed products and could fix this instantly. DO BETTER GREGORY! If it weren't for the short tube issue, and to a lesser extent the hip belt torso length adjustment issue, this would be a 5 star pack all day long.