The pack is an excellent lightweight entity, that makes use of light materials and a minimalist design, for a pack that seamlessly conforms to your back, for superb comfort and conformability. It’s meant for everyday adventures, with enough capacity, features and pockets for long forays into the backcountry. The feathery light pack all but disappears while being worn, and it uses nylon fabric, a softly padded and flexible back, and comes with their excellent Antidote Reservoir.

CamelBak Charge 450
The Charge 450 is made with 70D ripstop and 210D nylon that has been coated with Polyurethane for water resistance, and utilizes their Lightweight Exoskeleton (LE) back panel and Ultra-light 3D mesh Independent Suspension system with a 25 mm wide 840D lightweight tape hip belt with cargo pockets. The main compartment is accompanied by a front pocket, an upper padded media pocket, a XC helmet pouch, a rear hydration compartment, and two pouches on the hip belt. The main compartment is roomy, and the useful clamshell opening makes it easy to access items. The main zipper is long enough that you can grab things that are stashed part way down, without having to open and unclip everything. The front pocket has space for multiple items, and the media pocket is perfect for an iPhone or a small point-and-shoot camera. I liked having the separate rear hydration compartment, as it keeps things isolated, and makes it easier to take the reservoir in and out while the pack is still fully loaded. It has two lower compression straps, and another set with a quick-release buckle that pulls down from the helmet pouch. The pack has a 12.5 liter capacity, and includes their 100 oz (3 L) Antidote reservoir with the Quick Link hose connection system. The pack comes in three colors, Lime Punch/Graphite (tested), Formula One/Frost Grey and Moroccan Blue/Frost Grey, weighs in at 450 grams.

Impressions The Charge 450 and its smaller brethren the Charge 250, are part of their LE series, which uses the LE or Lightweight Exoskeleton back panel, and lighter materials and designs for the ultimate in weight savings. The LE panel has a skeleton like set of padded strips on the back, which help soften the load and keep it comfortable on the back. The shoulder harness system is thinly padded and slightly stretchy, and has an inner soft mesh material, a center honeycomb substructure and an outer blend of nylon and a mesh fabirc. Although the shoulders were comfortable and worked well, the slider adjustment for the sternum strap seemed to bind on its webbing, and during usage, it bunched up the harness material where it pulls from.

The pack is really comfortable, since it wraps around and conforms to your body, and sort of pops into every nook and cranny of your back. The lightweight makes it enjoyable to wear on a ride, as the pack; minus its contents; pretty much weighs nothing. When loaded, the pack carries the weight well, and it stays centered into your back, with the load tucked in tightly. Like all CamelBak packs, it has an excellent set of pockets, and the helmet slot was quite handy to carry jackets and apparel items. The pockets were all useful, and the main compartment had a functional shape for easy stowage of gear, and the front pocket had plenty of room for lots of items. The little pouches on the hip belt were perfect for gel packs and small energy bars, which was handy so the pack didn’t need to be removed to grab the munchies. The compression straps worked well, and helped pull the load into the pack and keep things from jostling around. The pack does have some mild hip lift on uber steep and bumpy terrain, and it was most notable when going over drop-offs and big ledges.

The way the pack carries its weight is through the synergy of the shoulder system and hip belt with the extremely flexible and conformable LE back panel. If the pack is overstuffed, it starts to lose some of the useful wrap around characteristics, and bows out slightly along the panel edges, so it works best not to max out its capacity. The helmet slot or pouch works excellently to carry any extra gear, and helps keep the pack from getting bloated, although it makes folding over the clamshell opening more cumbersome.

One odd thing is that the pack gets a layer of moisture that gets trapped between the hydration reservoir and LE back panel material, and it happens in both warm and cold conditions. It doesn’t make the pack uncomfortable or damp; it just looks sort of strange? The pack doesn’t really have any major ventilation system due to the thickness of the LE skeleton strips, and since the coated material doesn’t absorb much sweat or water, and the strip’s sizes are minor, the moisture dissipates or stays on the apparel side of things, so you don’t get a clammy back from the pack. So far, the material has been durable, which is amazing since it seems fragile, and the addition of the polyurethane coating helps with both water resistance and toughness.

Antidote Reservoir The new Antidote reservoir (70 and 100oz) is pretty amazing, and Camelbak has done a full redesign of the unit, adding many features and functionality, and has caught up to the competition’s innovations. The 90 degree bite valve worked quite nicely, and was easy to draw, and didn’t leak, although the shutoff lever was sometimes tough to turn on and off while wearing gloves. The screw cap for the fill port takes only a quarter turn to open or close, and it does not get stuck and require brute force to open, and the fill port has a wider diameter hole for easier filling and cleaning. The baffle helps lessen the stack height or thickness, to keep the reservoir from bowing out when it’s full. They added an auto shutoff quick disconnect, named the Quick Link, which allow you to disconnect the reservoir from the drink hose, which facilitates cleaning, filling and drying.

The fill port has a handle which hooks into the drop slot of the packs zippered rearward hydration pouch, helping to keep it stable and secure. Hidden on the fill port’s sides are two plastic drying arms, which pop out and hold the reservoir open for drying, which is done with it hung upside down.

Measured Specs:

• Pack weight – 463.7 grams
• Antidote weight -199.9 grams
• Size – 17″ x 9″ x 6″

Bottom Line The Camelbak Charge 450 is an excellent lightweight and comfortable pack, which has enough capacity and pockets for a multi-hour ride. The LE back panel and the 3D shoulder strap system worked in synergy to create a pack that is extremely flexible and conforms to the back like its vacuum packed against it. For its small size and plethora of lightweight materials in its construction, the pack carries a load quite nicely, without feeling like a burden on the back. It has some hip lift on some terrain, isn’t at its best if overstuffed and the sternum strap pulls poorly from the sliders on shoulder strap’s webbing.

The Charge 450 is comfy, highly flexible and conformable, and its feathery lightness and design make it seemingly disappear on your back.

Strengths

• Lightweight
• Comfortable
• Flexible and conformable
• Helmet pouch
• Antidote reservoir: quick connect, dryer arms, 1/4 turn cap, reduced stack height

Weaknesses

• Sternum strap pulling off shoulder harness
• Mild hip lift on some terrain
• Shouldn’t be overstuffed

Overall Rating: 4/5