Review: F-Stop Tilopa BC

For many years, I resisted accepting commercial sponsorships, not wanting to be beholden to any one brand or company. Recently, however, I agreed to a sponsorship from backpack manufacturer F-Stop. What convinced me was their approach to pack design and the access to personnel within the company who are genuinely interested in creating useful products for working photographers and listening to advice from users.

I commit to you, my readers, that my reviews of any product will be honest and unvarnished. And, while there’s a lot to like about F-Stop‘s products, I’ll also share with you those things I feel could use some improvement.

My first encounter with the company was through Colby Brown, F-Stop’s events manager and a professional photographer in his own right. Colby reached out to several working photographers, offering a test drive of the company’s packs. This takes courage and I was impressed with the company’s “put your money where your mouth is” attitude.

By now you may have seen other reviews from fellow photographers in the group so I won’t bore you with more technical details and close-up shots. Instead, I’ll share my personal experience with the Tilopa and its more rugged version, the Tilopa BC on a couple of recent trips.

In the past, when asked to recommend a camera pack, I always inquired how and where the pack will be used. To those who wanted an outdoor pack usable on long hikes where comfort and room for non-photo gear are essential, my response was always: “get a real backpack” (as opposed to a dedicated camera pack). While camera packs offer a wealth of features for storing, accessing, and protecting camera gear, they are rarely designed for more demanding outdoor use, nor leave much room for other needs. Some years ago, after trying multiple models, I gave up on camera packs and since carried my equipment in padded pouches or wrapped in items of clothing stuffed in a trail-worthy hiker’s backpack from a leading outdoor manufacturer. F-Stop will have to impress to get me to switch. To a large extent, they did.

The most useful thing about F-Stop’s packs is that the camera storage compartment, dubbed “ICU” (for Internal Camera Unit), is separate from the pack itself and comes in a variety of sizes, allowing you to decide how much space to dedicated to cameras and lenses vs. other equipment. I found the small ICU to be the most useful on long hikes, fitting camera with a couple of zooms and leaving me with a lot of space in the Tilopa pack for just about anything else I need. When working close to my vehicle, the large ICU fits just about anything I may need in the field and still leaves some room for an extra layer of clothing, food, or water.

I originally tested the base model of the Tilopa. To be honest, I found it did not quite meet my needs. The large padded cushion on the back allowed for no ventilation and made for a sweaty hike under the desert sun in the Maze district of Canyonlands National Park. Stranger still (for an outdoor pack), the original Tilopa had no provisions for carrying a water bladder or other essential outdoor gear (such as ice axe loops).

After discussing my concerns with F-Stop, they sent me the new Tilopa BC (for “BackCountry”) to see if it would better fit my needs. Indeed, there is a lot to like about this rugged pack. I used it on a recent frosty hike through the canyons surrounding Cedar Mesa and this time I knew this is a pack I was going to keep. It is certainly not perfect but, of the camera packs I tried so far, it comes closest to a “real” hiking pack.

More specifically, some of the things I liked most:

• Stylish design and color choices, including my favorite “Foliage Green”
• Plenty of room for non-photo equipment, when used with the small or medium ICU
• Comfortable suspension. The BC’s metal staves keep the back of the pack slightly arched and very rigid, making it very comfortable to carry. It also clings well to my back and feels safe when scrambling and maintaining balance on precarious ledges.
• The back, while still cushioned, is more rigid and designed with vents for better air flow (an improvement over the original Tilopa)
• Plenty of compression straps for lashing gear to the outside of the pack
• Ice axe can be attached to the side of the pack using flexible straps at the bottom
• Tripod easily attached to back or side of the pack using simple and well-placed straps. This is an area other camera pack manufacturers needlessly over-engineer their solutions, using rubberized slings (which lose their elasticity over time) or strange pockets for the tripod feet, forcing the top of the tripod to stick above the top of the pack. F-Stop placed a strap at the top and a strap at the bottom and that’s all you really need. The tripod stays secure, is easy to attach and remove, and doesn’t protrude over the top of the pack where it may become tangled in tree branches.

While F-Stop did an excellent job redesigning the pack for more demanding outdoor users. Still, a few quirks remain:

• While the original Tilopa had no provisions for a water bladder, the BC has a flap to thread the mouthpiece and keep it fastened to the right shoulder strap. Curiously, though, there is no sleeve to place the bladder in inside the pack. I ended up laying it on top of the ICU but was worried the whole time that it might spring a leak and soak my camera gear
• The pack is not light. At over 5lbs for empty pack+ICU, it is up there with much larger hiking packs. There is a lot of room to cut weight, though, and I hope F-Stop will continue to refine and trim it
• One of my favorite features in the original Tilopa was the little pocket on the hipbelt. For some reason, this useful feature is missing from the BC in favor of needlessly beefy cushioned hipbelts

Overall, though, the pack allows carrying lots of gear very comfortably, leaves plenty of room for gear and food to allow for long day hikes, and provides all the conveniences of a camera pack, including easy access to camera gear, lots of little pockets for gadgets and, for the more urban user: a laptop sleeve.

While I’m not quite ready to give up my “real” packs when it comes to challenging hikes, more technical routes, or overnight trips, the Tilopa BC had proven itself a worthy companion for just about anything else.

If you wish to order your own Tilopa BC or a different F-Stop pack, follow this link.

Tags: backpack, F-Stop, guy tal, hiking, Tilopa

Category: Business, Product Recommendations