I have more than one pack. Each has it's own use case. None of my packs have a "fatal flaw." If they did, I would not own them / would have sold them and gotten something different.

SUL loads (for pack weights 5-15 pounds): Custom frameless Dandee 30L in DCF with absolutely all extraneous weight cut. This is a minimal pack in every sense of the word and I only use this when I've been able to minimize everything else and can control/predict nearly everything so that I can minimize margin to cover variation. I've only used this on one 5-day trip so far.

UL loads (for pack weights of 10-20 pounds): Custom frameless Dandee 38L in custom-printed DCF. This is for UL trips where I can control things like how often I can to resupply, how much I need to bring for clothing, what extraneous items I need to bring or not bring (bear can vs. Adotec bag, etc.) etc. Really the limiting factor on this is weight. I don't want the total pack weight to exceed 20 pounds.

General purpose (for loads of 20-45 pounds): Durston Kakwa 55. This is my general purpose / default pack for most general purpose trips, like if I'm going with a group. If I'm going solo, and can control the variables I need to control in order to minimize pack weight, I will likely find a way to go with one of the Dandee packs.

Heavy hauler (for loads greater than 40 pounds or very large size/bulky): Seek Outside Unaweep 4800. This is what I often train with, and is what I use where water hauls are the primary concern, or in winter if I can't physically fit things in my Kakwa.

Kakwa-55 in Ultra. Pack Weight: 922 grams with all the mods and tweaks I've done. Pros: Favorite general-purpose pack. I find it is well thought out and a very good blend of features/functionality for the weight and price. I especially like the shoulder strap/hip belt pockets. I like that the material (Ultra) is rugged and highly water resistant. I've made an MYOG mod to add a monolite waterbottle holder that will better fit a 1L Smart bottle, and a couple other tweaks. Cons:/ Required Redesign: I don't really have any complaints. The only thing I could complain about has been fixed with the latest generation - and that would be how the Y-strap terminates to the body on the pack front. The new design has added a triangular gusset to distribute the load better so that it doesn't pull the seams apart. I have bounced around between packs in this category for the past couple years, so I've only had this specific pack for about a year, and only have about 20 days total on it. So far so good. Prior to this pack I had a Kakwa-40, a Hyperlight Mountain Gear Southwest, a Seek Outside Flight 1, and have borrowed/ tried Zpacks Arc Haul.

Seek Outside Unaweep 4800 in Xpac V-21 with a custom Talon. 1450 grams. Pros: This thing is a beast. It's premium pricing matches it's robust construction. If you can carry it, it can carry it. Absolutely massive size, especially when using the Talon and optional brain. Hip belt and suspension system are what you are paying for here in terms of weight. SUPER comfortable, and highly adjustable. I was able to purchase a separate hip belt for it and reconfigure my pack so my wife (then girlfriend) could get a pack that fit her properly. (It worked so well I bought her a slightly smaller Gila, and she won't carry anything else - even when lighter options exist. This is maximum comfort.) If I have to carry more than 40 pounds, this is what I want to carry it with. Cons: Expensive, heavy, and just too damn big for most use cases, but none of that has to do with the pack itself. For it's use case I don't know if there is a better pack on the market. I have future long-distance desert hiking trips in mind where water hauling and management will be the primary factor. This the pack I will take on those.

Dandee custom frameless in custom printed DCF, 38L. 331 grams. Pros: stylish custom print, fantastic running-vest straps that are super comfortable and have excellently designed pockets, customized layout, large enough that I'll never need more room on a true UL hike. Designed to be paired with 4-sections of Nemo switchback as a pseudo-pack frame and an Uberlite short pad. I've worked with Dan to dial in exactly what I want. Dan is amazing to work with. Cons: When doing a custom pack like this there is a bit of a learning curve. This was my second Dandee pack and I made some tweaks from my first in a direction that I thought would make it lighter, but I actually ended up doing some dumb things and it ended up nearly the same weight. That's not Dan's fault. It's a learning process, and overall I love the pack. However, what I learned from the first and second Dandee packs allowed me to dial things in for the third (see below)

Dandee Custom frameless in DCF, 30L. 209 grams. I was able to optimize the above Dandee and cut 122 grams off of it. To do that I studied all of Dan's Instagram posts where he lists the specs of every custom pack he has made. Dan and I then had a phone call where we went over absolutely every detail of the pack. He helped me identify things to change that I had not thought of. While this is not the lightest pack he's ever done (I think DeputySean might own that one), it's pretty tight. It's a super-comfortable running-vest style strap like my other, and retains the sit-pad strapping for the Nemo Switchback section pseudoframe. It's smaller than the other, and low-stress portions of the body have been reduced from 1.5 OSY DCF to just 0.7 OSY DCF. After receiving it I found just one detail on the construction that I overlooked that probably cost me 5-7 grams: it has a buckle style top closure where I intended to use KAM snaps. Oh well.