Utilitarian, Strong, No frills...the best.

I recently decided to add an addition to our ever expanding collection of babywearing parphanalia, In my searches for a framed back pack style carrier I came across many brands.

I quickly nixed the evenflo's and the gerry's and really felt that I was looking for something with more gravy. I have to say I stumbled across three carriers at a local consignment shop, one of them was the kid carrier by Tough Traveller. It seemed rather plain looking compared to the Kelty on the shelf beside it.

We inspected them over all and decided to test each one out with our 15 mos old tall thin son.

First we popped him into the Kid Carrier..it was simple to navigate you do not even need an instruction book to figure it out, the straps all make sense and are placed in easy to manouver spots.

My husband is a tall guy..this carrier is officially rated for only the 5'-6' set..he measures in a 6'3 and albeit the shoulder padding on the straps *could* be more ample it was sufficient. I noted that this carrier had a good headrest should your child fall asleep in it..and it seemed very light even without a baby in it..both good features.

Next we tried the kelty and it was definatly more fancy..it was poofier and had more *frills* and bells and whistles and seemed rather plasticy In my opinion :-)It was also alot more heavy.

My son hated the harness straps they were very padded and seemed to annoy him and when he sat in the carrier it was not very supportful looking, I could imagine should he have fallen asleep he might have been quite slumped in there. My husband complained about the lack of sternum strap and the shoulders obviously did not fit right they seemed to twist.

Overall we elected to go with the Tough Traveller, upon calling the company to see if parts were still available they were more than willing to help me! and advised me that all components and accessories were availble for the pack I had bought, despite the fact that it was over 7 years old! This is truly a company that stands behind what they sell! I was stunned to know the model was that old, I mean it had *some* wear, but surely it did not look its age at all.

I am guessing that Tough Traveller found a design that works and stuck with it. It does not need to be all fancy and poofy to be practical..and comfort and ease of use is key in my books..and I found this pack to be the safest of all I had looked at ..I checked out Evenflo, MEC, Kelty, and some other lesser brands, it lends credence to the saying "less is more"

Overall we are very happy initially and will be putting it to the full test soon and I will update accordingly.