New Woven DCF, Improved Classic UL Pack: Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest Review

It’s tough to let go of an old friend. I’ve put some serious miles on my Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 40 Pack, romping from the Pacific Crest Trail to Iceland and Alaska, and the bag looks like it.

Somehow, HMG knew that many of these classic packs must be getting long in the tooth by now, and has rolled a refresh on its three core packs: the Windrider, Junction, and Southwest. All are now trimmed in a savvy pocket redesign, reworked straps, a sewn-through back panel, and most excitingly, a new woven Dyneema Composite Fabric design that promises to keep Challenge ULTRA fabrics on its toes.

I recently took the new Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55 pack to Patagonia to give it an honest thrashing (and compare it to my old pack in the process). Here’s what I found out about what’s fresh, what’s the same, and whether I’m ready to give up the original.

In short: The core Hyperlite Mountain Gear backpacking packs have received a well-deserved update. Compared with my trail-worn Southwest pack, the new version is much more durable — potentially more so than current ULTRA fabrics — and the updated feature set makes this pack a solid choice for ultralight backpacking.

Looking for a new backpacking pack? Check out GearJunkie’s Best Backpacking Backpacks and Ultralight Packs Buyer’s Guides. 

Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55 Backpack: Review

Stacked up side by side, my old Southwest and the new pack, it’s easy to tell that this fresh version is still certainly a Hyperlite pack. The bag is that classic bright white (at least for a while), full Dyneema construction that screams tough and versatile, but is not overbuilt.

I aimed to break in my new Southwest pack in good fashion, taking it out on Patagonia’s Huemel Circuit, a 40-mile trek through Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. This off-trail, on-trail venture traverses some rugged terrain on its way to the Patagonian Icefield, working across glaciers and a few tyrolean traverses. 

There’s no easy way to replicate thousands of miles of use in a quick manner, but this proved to be a challenge to every aspect that the Southwest promises to have improved upon: ease of use, versatility, and, more than anything, durability in a rugged environment.

A Fully Woven Dyneema Upgrade

It’s tough to understate how this new textile is big news in UL packs. For a few years now, Challenge ULTRA fabrics have gained a significant following. They offer a similar laminated textile to Dyneema Composite Fabric (DCF) but with an additional weave of ultra-strong UHMWPE fibers for added durability. 

This makes ULTRA slightly heavier than the commonly used weights of DCF, but the added durability has been used to great effect in ultralight packs. Despite a few early hiccups with internal delamination seen by thru-hikers (something that was remedied with the ULTRA X fabric, which added an extra cross-ply and a thicker laminated film), it’s a popular alternative to DCF for those who will really be putting miles on their packs.

The new Dyneema Woven Composite on these Hyperlite packs changes all of that. While most DCF material uses a 50-150–denier polyester face fabric, this new textile adds an additional layer of 200D woven Dyneema face fabric that adds impressive abrasion resistance — and does it at the weight of Hyperlite’s previous white 50D DCF material. 

New Material Passes the Test

Hyperlite already uses a 400D fully woven DCF on its NorthRim pack, a canyoneering pack that is expected to be beaten harshly. This new lightweight version is much more supple and is a serious contender to knock ULTRA materials off their pedestal. In the hand, the material is much softer than expected, but it feels super burly. 

My old Southwest has gained two very small holes. One is where the grommet that used to drain the pack body tore out, and the other is where the shoulder strap meets the extension collar. In both spots, the material has gone very thin and frayed. This has been many miles in the making, but it shows that unwoven DCF isn’t bombproof.

My new Southwest looks brand new after my off-trail trip in Patagonia, even after talus scrambling down to get onto a glacier and being dragged across tyrolean traverses. I intentionally roughhoused with this pack in a test of the new material, and I couldn’t get it to wilt. The woven pattern isn’t very raised, which gives me good hope that it will avoid snags. I’m going to keep running this pack to test long-term abrasion resistance.

Pocket and Compression Strap Redesign

The trio of classic Hyperlite packs also got a few tweaks on the exterior, starting with the large stuff pocket. This sleeve (solid Hardline Dyneema in the Southwest, mesh in the Windrider and Junction) is now pleated to expand further. The elastic binding is also more snug, holding items more securely.

The side bottle pockets are also lower in the front now, making for easier bottle access. During my time on the PCT with my Southwest, I got pretty good at snagging bottles from behind me, but that isn’t to say that it was easy. Compared side by side, the exit on the new design is much smoother for extracting a 1L Smartwater bottle. 

I’ll also mention that the hydration port has moved, and the internal mesh sleeve is gone. I’ve never run a bladder system in my pack, and it sounds like HMG has heard similar from others. The new hydration port is on the extension collar and is so seamless that I couldn’t even find it the first time around. 

One of my major gripes with my original pack was the routing of the side compression straps. These are sewn in and pass right over the side pockets, and impede access when cinched. No longer on the updated design, which adds both buckles to quickly loosen, as well as girth hitches to completely strip the straps when they aren’t needed.

Better Back Panel, Comfier Shoulder Straps

On my old Southwest, I eventually did run into a potentially pack-ending issue. The hip belt began to rip away from the back panel on the left side of the pack. While the brand reported that they wouldn’t be able to repair it, they did suggest giving it a go myself. With enough dental floss, Tenacious Tape, and Seam Grip, it’s stayed solid since the surgery.

The new packs sport a sewn-in back panel, which secures the thin foam pad to the exterior fabric. I’m not sure if this might have saved my pack, but it’s nice to see a more solidly secured back panel. I have seen some thru-hike-worn packs where the foam has begun to slip down, causing awkward bunching.

The shoulder straps have also been redesigned to add more curve around the neck. I heard complaints about this from my time sizing Hyperlite packs in a mountaineering shop, and it’s nice to see it fixed. There are also more frequent bar tacks to add more secure points along the strap. I run a bottle sleeve on my Southwest, and the added secure points are appreciated.

What Could Still Be Better? 

I’ve used many Hyperlite packs in my day, from my 40L Southwest to a frameless 35L Contour and a 70L Porter. I’ll maintain that Hyperlite’s frame system just works best under 50 L.

The twin aluminum frame stays do a good job of transferring the load from the shoulder straps, but since the frame doesn’t rise higher than the shoulder strap sewn-in point, you lose out on load lifters. In my opinion, these become a lot more useful as your carried weights near 35 pounds or more. 

The 55L version of the Southwest is a bit bigger than my trusty 40L, but the extra space didn’t go unappreciated. I needed to carry a harness, carabiners, and slings for a few tyrolean traverses on the Huemel, and this accommodated that all with ease.

The price of Hyperlite packs has always also been a hangup point for some hikers, but I’d argue that the new woven textile makes the worth-it arithmetic even easier. With even more durability, this pack will last longer and stretch your dollar even further.

Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55: Conclusion

The updated Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest, and indeed the other two original designs, are now much better versions with a leap forward in ultralight textile design and pack tweaking. The new Dyneema Woven Composite is going to seriously shake up the industry, and my Patagonia testing showed that it’s not just hype: this stuff is rugged and light.

In addition, the packs received a laundry list of other small adjustments that the brand has undoubtedly been tallying since they rolled out the original designs, and somehow, they addressed almost all of my quibbles with my 2018-vintage version. 

So the real question: Am I ready to give up my original Southwest? Not even close — but that’s not to say the new version isn’t that much better, just that my old pack isn’t ready to retire yet. Plus, I’ve got serious history with that bag.

The updated version promises to last even longer, and when I’m finally ready to hang up the old pack in the shed, the new Southwest will just be barely broken in. With that said, I’d argue that Hyperlite has successfully improved upon a now-classic.