I originally purchased this backpack wanting to use it for college and day hiking. The panel load design and frame sheet in the back panel make it a little inconvenient for school, but AWESOME for hiking. The framesheet can be removed, but doesn't really make the bag less supported, I think this is from the foam in the sidewalls for the straight-jacket compression. The tuck away hip-belt is both convenient, and comfortable. The backpack is just the right size, lets me carry my fleece, raingear, food, emergency stuff, and my geology tools. Not too much in the lines of organization, but there is a little mesh pocket on the inside of the panel flap near the top, and another external pocket on the exterior top of the pack which holds food rather nicely. The compression is superb. Also as a highpoint of the backpack, it fits nicely under the bench seats of those 15 passenger vans I'm sure many of you are familiar with. The only thing that kind of bugs me is sometimes your elbows hit your Nalgene bottles because they are tilted forward, but that does make them easy to get out on your own without having to take off the pack, which is nice. I havent had a chance to use the ski carry system, but it looks pretty nice too. The detachable hydration system is nice I guess, I wouldn't consider that feature to be extremely important while comparing other packs though. All in all, I'd recommend it; its very comfortable and has some really nice features.