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Backpacks

Load rating

Also called recommended load, carry capacity

What is a pack's load rating?

A load rating is the weight a pack maker says a pack carries well, usually given as a range in pounds. It describes the frame and hipbelt rather than the fabric, so exceeding it doesn't break the pack, it just moves the weight to your shoulders.

Load rating at a glance

Frameless packs
Up to about 20 lb
Lightweight framed
About 25 to 35 lb
Full suspension
40 lb and up

What the number describes

Every pack has a weight above which its suspension stops doing its job. The frame flexes, the hipbelt loses its grip on your pelvis, and the load quietly migrates to your shoulders. The load rating is the maker's estimate of where that happens, and it's usually printed as something like 25 to 40 lb.

It is not a structural limit

It is not a structural limit. Nothing tears at 41 lb. What changes is that the pack stops being pleasant, and the difference between a well-carried 35 lb and a badly carried 35 lb is larger than most people expect after four hours.

Reading it against the pack's own weight

Read it as a statement about the frame, then read the empty weight next to it. A 2 lb frameless pack rated to 20 lb and a 5 lb pack rated to 50 lb are answering different questions, and the right one depends entirely on your base weight rather than on which pack is better.

What this means when you're choosing

  • The rating alongside the pack's own empty weight, which the rating includes
  • Whether the frame is stays, a hoop or a sheet, since the number describes it
  • Your real loaded weight rather than your base weight

The common mistake

Reading it as a structural limit

Nothing breaks a pound over. What happens is the frame starts to flex, the hipbelt stops transferring, and the load quietly migrates onto your shoulders. You find out through your trapezius at mile eight rather than through a tear.

Common questions

What happens if I go over a pack's load rating?

The pack won't fail, but the hipbelt stops transferring properly and your shoulders take the difference. Ten pounds over is uncomfortable; twenty over turns a good pack into a bad one.

Should I buy a pack rated well above what I carry?

No, that's how people end up carrying a 5 lb pack for a 20 lb load. Match the rating to your realistic loaded weight, worst case included, and take the lightest pack that covers it.

Where this comes up

Guides on Tom's Hiking where load rating changes which product is right for you.

More in backpacks

Load lifters

Load lifters are the short straps running from the top of the shoulder harness back to the top of the pack frame. They pull the load in towards your body so it stops levering you backwards. They don't carry weight themselves.

Hipbelt

The hipbelt is the padded belt that wraps your pelvis and transfers pack weight onto your hips instead of your shoulders. On a loaded backpacking pack it should be carrying most of the weight, often quoted as 70 to 80 percent.

Framesheet

A framesheet is a sheet of stiff plastic in a pack's backpanel that spreads the load across your back and stops contents from poking through. It's lighter than a frame but gives you less vertical support.

Internal frame

An internal frame is the structure hidden inside a pack's backpanel, usually one or two aluminum stays or a perimeter hoop, that carries weight from the shoulders down to the hipbelt. It's what makes a pack load-bearing.

Suspended mesh backpanel

A suspended mesh backpanel stretches a taut mesh across a curved frame so the pack body sits away from your back with an air gap behind it. It's the coolest-running backpanel design and the one that holds the load furthest from your spine.

Pack lid

The lid, or brain, is the padded flap that covers the top of a top-loading pack, usually carrying one or two zipped pockets. A floating lid is one attached by adjustable straps so it can rise as the pack is overfilled.

Extension collar

An extension collar is the fabric tube above a top-loading pack's main compartment, closed by a drawcord. Rolled down it does nothing; pulled up it adds capacity, typically 5 to 10 liters beyond the pack's quoted volume.

Panel loader

A panel loader opens with a zip that runs around the front of the pack, so the whole compartment folds open like a suitcase. The alternative is a top loader, which you access through an opening at the top.

Shove-it pocket

A shove-it pocket is the open-topped stretch panel across the front of a pack. It has no zip, so you can push a wet jacket or a map into it one-handed while walking, and pull it out just as fast.

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