Granite Gear Blaze 60 Review

The Granite Gear Blaze 60 has one of the lowest weight-to-volume ratios in our test, yet it carries heavy loads phenomenally. With all the right pockets in all the right places, this pack is a force to be reckoned with. It's no wonder that Granite Gear has had a good reputation with long-distance hikers.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

This pack's tremendous suspension can take on almost any food and gear packing list. The Air Current frame supports a monster load and has channels for warm air to escape, making it one of the more breathable back panels in our test — even without a trampoline-style harness.

The foam used in the back panel, lumbar area, and hip belts is firm to support the weight of a heavy pack but soft enough to be comfortable. The plastic frame sheet flexes easily to move well with your body but resists buckling when pressured by downward force. As a result, the pack feels solid on your back without any shifting or slouching.

The hip belt does a good job of supporting a heavily loaded pack, even without the sturdy frame structure that some other hip belts have. The shoulder straps also do a great job of distributing the weight of a heavy pack. However, with the lack of breathable mesh, we found both the shoulder straps and the hip belt to be somewhat sweaty on warm days.

Ease of Use

The Granite Gear Blaze is loaded with features and built for the avid hiker. It includes many great features, such as extra large hip belt pockets, a stretchy mesh stuff-it pocket, huge side water bottle pockets, a removable top lid, and a long-hidden front access zipper.

The internal volume of the Blaze 60 is 55 liters. If you count the total volume, including exterior pockets, the actual amount of gear you can store is much higher than Granite Gear's advertised 60 liters.

The hip belt pockets on this pack are among the most spacious in our lineup. We used them for a slew of things we wanted to keep handy and available for the hike, like a map & compass, bars, chapstick, headlamp, and even a large phone or small camera.

The side water bottle pockets are also enormous, easily fitting two Smartwater bottles each. A shock cord cinches up the lip to keep everything inside from flopping around or falling out. The side pockets have so much space that we stored our 750-milliliter pot and a Smartwater bottle in one for a good portion of our testing. The stretchy mesh front pocket is narrow at the top, making accessing things inside a little tricky, but it has great capacity. We used it for stuffing our rain gear, pack cover, or light layers.

Three compression straps go across the front of the pack to keep the load tidy and are great for lashing anything from a closed-cell foam pad to bulky layers or wet socks. Each side of the pack also has three different compression straps. Again, great for keeping the load secured and for holding tent poles in place.

The long, hidden front access zipper runs up most of the front of the pack to the side of the stretchy mesh pocket. Some users will love this feature, giving quick access to items in the main compartment of the Blaze without having to unpack everything from the top. The heavy gauge zipper is strong enough to still pack items tightly against it without causing it to burst open.

The top lid is simple, with a single zippered pocket. While not the largest brain we tested, it stores toiletries bags, snacks, and our dirty items bag. For some trips, when you don't need or want the lid, it can be easily removed, and under the lid, the main compartment has a cinch and roll style closure with two crossing compression straps to lock down the top securely. The lid can also be used as a waist pack when combined with the waist belt or as a chest pack for even more access to things while on the go.

Weight

Weighing in at a scant three pounds, this is one of the lightest weight packs in our comparison. We like to compare weight to pack volume to understand how dry pack weight correlates to overall carrying capacity. The Blaze has one of the lowest weight-to-volume ratios in our lineup. Normally, how much weight a pack will comfortably carry directly correlates to the pack weight; heavier packs support heavier loads. However, with this pack, that isn't the case. It's a true workhorse when you need it, and also a light, elegant, practically featherweight pack, beaten only by seriously ultralight packs.

Granite Gear does a great job of adding durability to the pack in places you need it while keeping things otherwise simple to reduce excess weight further. The Robic fabric is both lightweight and tear-resistant. This pack carries well whether you are loading it down with heavy climbing gear or heading out with a fresh resupply of food and water for a long desert crossing on the PCT.

Adjustability

The A.C. (Air Current) frame comes in three sizes for short, regular, and long torso lengths. Each one of these sizes has four separate shoulder strap attachment points. This makes it simple to adjust the torso length to get the right fit. The hip belt can also expand or compress to fit waist sizes from 26 to 42 inches.

The velcro attachment system made it difficult to remove the RE-FIT waist belt. This makes adjusting the sizing of the hip belt tricky. However, you shouldn't need to do this often, so it isn't a huge deal. Overall, this pack has great adjustability and is very easy to get a great fit.

Should You Buy the Granite Gear Blaze 60?

The Blaze 60 is a well-priced backpacking backpack that's lightweight, comfortable, and full of features. Not only is it a solid workhorse of a bag, but it also has a great set of functional features useful to all different types of hikers. Considering how well this pack carries heavy loads and how little it weighs, it's a fantastic pack for most backpackers, from beginners to experienced thru-hikers.

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