ADC+ (45L) Review By Jim Sutherland

ADC+ (45L) Review

By Jim Sutherland

My name is Jim Sutherland, I work as a bike guide for much of spring and summer, here in Scotland.  I have been a Six Moon Designs ambassador for five years or so and thoroughly enjoy using our shelters and packs for the activities they were designed for, as well as taking them outside of the envelope in the mountains on my bike!

Last year I was lucky enough to receive a new All Day Carry + (ADC+) in time for a family trip to Iceland and for the last few weeks of my guiding season.  This season I have used my ADC+ whilst away guiding since April.

What I hope to do in this short piece is to share with readers some of my favourite features of this fantastic pack and some of the refinements that I have made.

First of all this is a pack which is totally fit for my purpose of travel and work.  My ADC+ has withstood many, many days of being packed into a guide van in a variety of weathers then carried out by me to my accommodation or site without a single failure.

I love how I can lay my ADC+ open and flat while packing for a trip.  This lets me clearly see what I need to stow and where it is going to go.  Just remember to lay the waistbelt out first to avoid a bump and also that your ADC+ will get heavier as you fill it so don’t balance it on a tiny surface or it will topple - I know this!

Inside the main compartment we have two zipped mesh pockets.  I use the lower one for items I might not need such as spare riding gloves, buff and items I want sight of in case they leak such as my travel wash or chamois cream.  I put my personal toiletries wash bag in the upper mesh pocket as I have learned that this is still accessible when my ADC+ is zipped up and in the van. Just remember to zip the main compartment closed at the top left looking at the bag. This is so
handy if I want to brush my teeth again during the day when on the road, or grab
painkillers.

The other side of the main compartment has been cleverly designed to work with our Six Moon Design large packing pods.  I colour code mine as follows: green for biking clothes, black for socks & underwear and purple for shirts and T-shirts.  Lay them flat with the heaviest one at the bottom.  You don’t even have to zip the pods all the way around, just leave the longest side open so you can access items without struggling with zippers.  Next comes my jeans, trousers and jackets which get folded and placed on top of the pods.  Finally criss-cross the silky smooth compression straps over everything.  The ADC+ can now close and I find it sometimes is best to push the two parts together when zipping up.

Books, maps, pens, chargers and other electrical items can be allocated their own outside pocket or sleeve.  I particularly like being able to clip my car keys to the key on a strap and zip it away safely for the week.

For most of the week when guiding I have my ADC+ in ‘handle mode’ with the shoulder straps zipped away in their sleeves.  I don’t take off the waist belt but just wrap it around the body and clip it.  This way if I am going up a lot of stairs or a long way to a hotel room I can quickly change to ‘backpack mode’ by unzipping the shoulder straps in about twenty seconds.

So in summary I believe that the ADC+ is a superb backpack for travel use.  I’ve seen it compared to many other brands of travel packs from around the world and it has way more features, style and ease of use.