First: We're Deuter ambassadors and we received the two packs I'm writing about as part of the program.
Second: There are affiliate links in this post. These help support moosefish.com and let me pretend I won't be going to an office to make a living for the rest of my life.
Third: This is some level three gear geekery. We're talking the kinds of info you won't get from anyone that hasn't been briefed in the finer points of Deuter backpack engineering.
Now that you're prepared for what's to come here we go.
I'm comparing two generations of the Futura Pro 34 and specifically the waist belts. Yes, I know nobody thinks about the waist belt until you've got the pack fully loaded and you're trying to make miles and that doesn't happen in the store, but here's what's changed and why you should seek out an upgraded pack.
The Deuter waist belt on a number of packs, including the Futura Pro, has dramatically improved. The big change is the ECL. Oh, not a Deuter ambassador? ECL is the "Ergonomic Comfort Lock," but that's a mouthful so I'm going to stick with ECL. The ECL is a seam that's sewn into the waist belt designed to create spot where your hip bone can fit.
What's changed is the foam above the ECL seam is a little thicker and where it rests on your hip bone is a little deeper. When you buckle the belt and pull it tight there is much less potential for slippage than on previous waist belts. This means there's better load transfer to your hips and less need to rely on the shoulder straps to carry weight. Less weight on your shoulders results in less fatigue with a heavy load.
Don't worry, you don't need to have visible hip bones for this to work (thankfully, or I'd be out of luck) and the feature is available on a variety of Deuter packs, not just the Futura Pro packs.
Whether you need a new pack or you want to march into your favorite sporting goods store to impress the salespeople are looking for a replacement for your non-ECL pack it's worth your time to throw a new Deuter pack on your back and find out how much you'll love the ECL. And don't forget: ECL stands for Ergonomic Comfort Lock. (I'm repeating it more for me than for you since I keep forgetting.)
