Owner's Manual 2007 i Owner's Manual Unconditional Lifetime Warranty We challenge you to find any company in any industry that stands behind their products like we do. Badlands offers the only Unconditional lifetime Warranty you will find. No excuses, no B.S. It does not matter who's fault it was, we will fix it for free forever to the best of our ability. If it is our fault we will promptly replace it. If it is not the best piece of equipment you have ever owned we will give you back your money--no questions, no kidding. Badlands 753 W. 1700 S. Salt Lake City, UT 84104 1.800.386.7839 www.badlandspacks.com Owner's Manual ii Table Introduction of Contents 1 1-2 2 3 4 Performance, Quality, Comfort Warranty Suspension Frame System Care and Feeding of Your Pack Waterproofing Your Pack Adjusting & Fitting Your Pack Internal Frames No Internal Frames 6 8 9 9 12 FAQs Load Your Pack Properly Hydration The Badlands Packs Nano Monster Fanny Superday Hypervent Diablo Ultra Day 2200 2800 4500 13 14 16 18 18 19 21 23 24 26 27 29 31 1 Introduction Introduction *If you are reading this while in the store, it's time to buck up little hunter and treat yourself to a truly outstanding piece of equipment. So place both hands firmly on the pack and head for the register right now. First off we would like to commend you on your keen sense of value and quality, also your ability to hide credit card receipts from your spouse. You have just purchased the finest hunting pack on the market, and since it will last you for the rest of your life, we thought it would be a good idea for you to get acquainted with its features. So what exactly sets Badlands apart from all the others? Four things: Performance, Quality, comfort and Warranty. Oh yes and let's not forget innovation, durability, customer service, suPerior design, so maybe a few more than four. Performance No other pack company on the planet understands the dynamics of carrying large loads better than Badlands. Our packs are designed to work with your natural center of gravity, allowing you to effectively haul anything you need through the most technical terrain you can find. Introduction Quality We encourage you--OK we outright plead with you to look thoroughly throughout our packs and those of other companies, compare them stitch for stitch. Start where it really counts--the inside. Do those other companies seal and tape every seam on the pack ? Do they use Kevlar thread in high stress areas? Do they run all their webbing straps through at least two seams? We could go on forever, but once you start looking closely you will understand what we mean. comfort If a pack does not allow you to carry your gear comfortably all day long, what's the point ? You might as well throw everything in a burlap sack and sling it over your shoulder. Well nobody wants no stinkin' burlap. That is why all of our packs incorporate state-of-the-art molded foam suspensions that contour to every curve of your body, providing you with the best fit possible. Better fit means better circulation. Better circulation means more energy. More energy leads to better job performance on Monday. Better job performance leads to pay raises, and pay raises lead to more love and admiration from friends and family. See how it all ties together? (You can thank us later). Warranty We challenge you to find any company in any industry that stands behind their products like we do. Badlands offers the only Unconditional lifetime Warranty you will find. No 2 3 Introduction excuses, no B.S. It does not matter who's fault it was, we will fix it for free forever to the best of our ability. If it is our fault we will promptly replace it. If it is not the best piece of equipment you have ever owned we will give you back your money--no questions, no kidding. susPension Your Badlands pack is the result of 12 years of R&D in the field and design room. We are constantly experimenting with the newest and most cutting-edge materials available. The few that meet our unbelievably high standards are combined with the best design and manufacturing techniques known to man. Badlands Contour­Good "No other pack company in the world even thinks about these issues." Our pack suspensions are produced with a proprietary foam formula, which has very high levels of a substance called EVA. It is the additive which gives foam its ability to hold a set. The more EVA the better it conforms to your body, and the better it conforms to your body the better the packs Flat­Bad performance will be. Trust us when we tell you that "no other pack company in the world even thinks about these issues." Hold up your new pack and notice the curves (mmmm, curves) in the foam. These are not just randomly placed for aesthetics but The others Introduction are based on countless plaster molds we have made of people's bodies, which may sound a bit weird, however, it is the best way possible to truly understand the human form. When designing our packs we emulated these shapes in order to produce a carry system which would not ride on top of your body, but would contour around it perfectly. If you are one of those people who gravitates toward products that represent the latest in design technology, or you just sweat a lot, you probably chose one of our new Hypervent Series. This suspension bridges the gap between the cool venting characteristics of an external frame pack with the comfort and performance of an internal frame. This system will also contour perfectly to you body while simultaneously dousing your back with fresh cool air. frame system There are only certain parts of the body that were designed to carry weight efficiently; the hip bones being the best of those. That is why all Badlands packs were designed to transfer loads, not to your spine, but around your waist where it belongs. The most effective way to accomplish this is with an internal frame system, which acts as a secondary spine, thus taking the pressure off of yours. This is good news since most spinal injuries are compression oriented. You can quickly see what we mean by trying on your pack with a load of about 15 to 20 pounds and pulling on the load lifter straps. Magically the shoulder straps will come off your shoulders, and the load will be transferred to your 4 Hypervent Series. Hot air out­cold air in. Weight off your shoulder and down to your hips. All via the load lifters. 5 Introduction hips. We will cover the adjustment of your pack later in this manual. (Please note: only pack models equipped with internal frames have the Load Lifter Feature). Other Badlands models utilize a frame made from T-6 aircraft quality aluminum (2200 series and 2800 series) which can be easily formed to fit your unique shape. For you trouble makers who say "go big or go home" and chose our 4500 series: all we can say is "welcome player." Since we knew the person who owns this pack had full intentions of coming home with far more weight than they left with, we equipped it with a frame made from poly carbonate, pound for pound some of the strongest material in the universe. It is molded into an "I­Beam shape," which provides a phenomenal amount of longitudinal stiffness and allows for a great deal of torsional flex as well. It is the closest replication of the human spine we have found. With some of our smaller day packs, having an internal frame is simply overkill (even for us), so we have equipped them with ergonomically designed hip belts and shoulder straps to bare the burden. Our philosophy is and always has been, "the suspension is the most important part of any back pack." All the pockets in the world mean nothing if the pack carries like garbage. So, next time your buddy shows up at camp with a camo book bag and tries to tell you what a great pack he has because it has a pocket for his tooth brush and hair gel, just nod your head in Polycarbonate stays support & transfer weight, yet torsionally flexible just like the human spine. Care & Feeding of Your Pack a condescending manner and keep setting up your tent. Heat exhaustion and dehydration (we will cover hydration later) are the quickest ways there are to drain your body of its energy. That in mind, all Badlands packs were designed with extensive venting abilities. Some models go so far that we dubbed them the "Hypervent Series." These packs utilize a concave frame system which allows cool air to constantly flow between you and the pack. Other models perform very effectively through a series of perforations and molded vents. Which ever pack you chose, you were right. 6 Care & Feeding of Your Pack Just because you now own the toughest pack ever made, it does not mean you should neglect it. Like with all equipment, salt, mud and dirt will accelerate the aging process, wear out zippers and will cause the fabrics to be less supple and quiet. Even though we will fix these obvious abuses for you at no charge, that is not going to help you in the field if something fails. Even though our warranty is the best there is, Our warranty is the best there is... 7 Caring For Your Pack it does not cover air lifting a seamstress and a sewing machine to your camp. However, if you happen to have a very long extension cord (say 5 miles long) we will discuss the possibilities. With this in mind, when the season is over, place your pack in the tub with warm water and some sent free laundry detergent and let it soak for a while. Rinse it and hang it upside down so it can air dry. This is the perfect time to inspect the pack for any lose strap or signs of problems. do not place yoUr pack in the Washing machine or the dryer. Your Badlands pack has an extremely honed survival instinct, and believe us--in a fight the washer will lose every time. storing your Pack After each time the pack is used, turn it upside down and shake out all the crumbs and other remnants of all things edible. During a long cold winter, mice will smell those little morsels. (FYI, we only have one documented case were a mouse has unzipped the pack to enter.) Once again any holes chewed in the pack will be fixed for free, but we require you to track down the vermin that caused the damage and pull out all of his teeth and send them to us, which can be quite time consuming. Waterproofing Your Pack 8 Wa t e r p r o o f i n g Yo u r Pa c k If you have not yet noticed you have purchased a Badlands pack, which right out of the chute means you have a piece of equipment that was designed with every contingency and possible scenario taken into consideration. However, unless it is made of rubber nothing is water proof forever. Meaning, if it is sewn as packs are, they will eventually absorb water through the seams and zippers, even though they have all been sealed and taped. The reason why is that the threads used to hold it together act like small wicks, which absorb water and eventually soak through to your gear. In our experience, you have about a three hour window of heavy rain until this occurs. About 50 times longer than most other packs. So what about the other 5 hours? We thought you might ask. Since this has been one of the most common questions we get, we decided to do something about it. In the past you had to go to the shoe department and purchase a waterproofing spray, this worked fine, however it left your pack smelling like some third world chemical plant (a smell which happens to Badlands Waterproofing spray. Smells like dirt! 9 Adjusting & Fitting Your Pack leave most deer and elk scratching their heads and wondering "how could someone be so stupid?") Not wanting to be the laughing stocks of the antlered world, we developed a new water proofing spray which has no chemicals and actually smells like dirt. Just spray it on your pack and voilà. It masks any scent your pack may have, while keeping your gear dry. It also works nicely on clothing and boots. Shameless plug? You bet it is, and the Badlands spray is available at any of our dealers. So next time somebody says you smell like a "dirt bag" you can thank us. Waterproofing spray also works nicely on clothing and boots. Adjusting & Fitting Your Pack A pack is like anything else you wear on your body. It must fit correctly in order to be comfortable. Follow these guidelines carefully to ensure that each strap and buckle is adjusted accordingly, and it will pay huge dividends. fitting your Pack if it has an internal frame: (4500, 2200, 2800, hyPervent models) Step One: Load your pack with 10 to 15 lbs.. Adjusting & Fitting Your Pack This will allow the pack to sit firmly on your body and will provide you the most accurate representation of how it will carry in the field. Step two: Throw the pack on and pull 1 the shoulder strap adjustment straps (1) downward at about a 15 lbs 30 degree angle- backwards (see diagram). This will cause the hip belt to rise on 4&5 your body. Once the center of the belt is level with your hipbones (or as they call it in the med ...