Instinct Eklipse 12L Trail Running Race Pack review
Context
As I mentioned in my CCC 2024 debrief, the Salomon Adv Skin 12L trail backpack I had been using for some time did not suit me anymore, and therefore I needed a new backpack.
While "touring" the UTMB Trail village, I stumbled upon the Instinct booth - they were selling backpacks, I had a quick look and liked the overall design. Then a guy from Instinct exchanged with me - as he was mentioning "when I designed the backpack, ...", I figured out he was the creator - and indeed it was Sean Van Court (I looked up his name afterwards).
The choice
I went for the 12 liters version of the Eklipse backpack.
Few things that convinced me:
- the rear pocket has many compartments allowing to cleanly organise things
- the pockets for food is clearly separated from the flask's one, which avoids struggling when sliding the flask back in
- the zipped pockets on each side are super useful and close to the torso
- the zipped pockets on the shoulders are also nice for small items such as keys or portal remote.
Here's the beast:
What I also liked is that the flasks are 600 ml (compared with the usuall 500 ml), and the valves are a lot more practical: I always had an issue with the Salomon ones when placing them in a rear pocket, where there would be water leak because the valves were too soft. No such problem with the Instinct ones, they stay firm and do not leak water.
The verdict
I used the backpack on a few runs, but the real test was on a long run in my
"elevation corner" as I call it, in the Perseigne forest - around 30 kms and
1000m of elevation, and a duration between 3h30 and 4h.
This is a good session to test food and drinks, and having those in the
backpack.
And to say that the backpack did deliver is an understatement - a lot more comfortable than the Adv Skin, I could easily bring with me 4 flasks: 2 at the front and 2 in the back, using the "slide pocket" and having the flasks placed horizontally on top of each other.
So I'm really super happy with this bag, and will use it during my next trail race, which is the Hivernale des Templiers in early December.