Lowe Alpine Eclipse 45:55 (2014)

The new Lowe Alpine Eclipse 45:55 has a mesh covering over a padded back panel with a wire frame to add stability to the load, and this is stiff enough to allow fairly casual packing without items digging into your back or the sack ‘barrelling’ too much. The back panel has shallow air channels while the shoulder straps and hipbelt are perforated to increase airflow. The shoulder straps are quite narrow where they attach to the body of the sack to allow them to move and adapt to the shoulder size of the user. The carry is neat, stable and comfy: ideal for moving fast, scrambling or hillwalking. The body of the Lowe Alpine Eclipse 45:55 has one main compartment with zipped side entry and a floating lid. I’m not a huge fan of floating lids as they so easily drop forward and allow water into the main compartment; that said this is no worse than others. I do like the deep snow-lock extension to the main compartment, though, and I also like the large stretch mesh pockets on the side and front of the pack. The side compression straps are well-designed too. You get a small phone pocket on one of the shoulder straps plus two pockets on the hipbelt for a GPS receiver. The lid pocket is nice and large too. The 1169g weight includes a removable 96g rain cover.

Specifications:

Capacity 44-55 litres

Weight 1169g

Internal compartments 1

External zipped pockets 4

Wand pockets? yes

Compression straps? yes

Men’s (unisex) back length 46cm

Women’s back length none

Website www.lowealpine.com

Verdict

The Lowe Alpine Eclipse 45:55 is a very well-priced sack with mostly excellent features, including good compression straps and stretch pockets.

Review by Graham Thompson

First published in Trail magazine September 2014