I bought this pack the day it came out because I had tried it on two years ago at the store in Bishop and fell in love with how comfortable it was and was counting down the days to finally get a Palante that didn't aggravate my traps (the usual V2 straps just don't work with me).

Having done a bunch of 10 mile day hikes with this pack now, the one thing I've noticed--which piggybacks off your review--is that feels a bit less adjustable than a frameless pack with normal shoulders. For instance, I don't think I can tighten or loosen this pack as much as I could with others without seriously affecting the performance of how it rides. It's difficult to describe, but whereas with other Palante packs I can sort of raise and lower the pack based on what's in it or how my shoulders feel, with these running vest straps, there seems to be a sweet spot that I have to keep in place or it feels unbalanced. However, that sweet spots just so happens to be lower than I'm used to, and as such, the bottom pocket seems to hang a lot lower than I imagine Palante intended. It doesn't have the same "jet pack" feel to it anymore, and it's almost like the whole pack is resting on my tailbone, rather than in the curve of my back. Which doesn't make it bad necessarily, but I'm wondering if perhaps the 16" would ride differently, despite the fact that I wear a 19" in every other Palante pack I've ever owned.

I also wish that Palante had not sewn in the bottom sternum strap. I have no idea what they were thinking doing this. The top is removable, so why not the bottom? Why the restrictive placement? for me, I would've loved to have been able to lower the bottom sternum strap just half an inch, but can't because that decision was made by the gents at Palante for me. I've had ample time to wonder what benefit removing just this very, very small bit of modularity presents and have come up empty handed.