For me, one of the most important considerations in choosing a pack is how much does it weigh empty? A while back I bought an LL Bean rucksack because of the overall design, and didn't check the weight of it. I've used it twice, and even only half loaded, it's too heavy - lesson learned. I looked at the some of the packs listed in this thread and some seem heavy-for-size to me, and other sites don't even list the weight of the pack, which is a red flag.