Down East Alice Pack 1606AC Pack Frame Review 1606 with Alley Cat Mod

Tactical Gear Tactical Gear
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Down East Alice Pack 1606AC Pack Frame Review 1606 with HellCat Mod.

Today, I took my newly-assembled ruck built on a 1606AC pack frame made by Down-East.

I made a 5.5 mile hike including climbing one ridge that constituted about an 800ft elevation change to summit. The pack was comfortable. I feel safe now on taking it on longer hikes.

Pluses include:

  1. Lighter Weight
  2. The ability to more easily mount a Molle Sleep System Carrier.
  3. The ability to easily mount Molle Shoulder Straps.
  4. The ability to easily mount a Molle Kidney Pad.
  5. Made to accomidate an across the pack compression strap.

Minuses include:

  1. A bit less air movement to the back.

Recommended Improvements:

  1. Make the bottom a couple of slots(about three inches) taller. This would give a few more inches adjustement for the Torso Length. I am lucky the pack works for me but it would not hurt for the pad to be an inch or so lower. It would also be nice to be able to engage the bottom two of the four MSSC Toggles.

Overall, the pluses easily outweight the minuses. The pack now moves with my body in a way it never did with the old GI frame. The load felt a part of me instead of apart from me. Definitely a comfort improvement and money well spent. My back and shoulders feel great.

If you arrange the Sleep System Carrier as I have and route your Kidney Pad and Shoulder Straps as I have, you can latch the two top metal toggles on the Molle SSC into the two shown slots on the frame. As seen in the pictures below:

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Thanks for the review. Do you have any pics of you wearing the pack? I ask because I am curious about how the shoulder straps sit on or over the shoulders when they tie into the frame?

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I will try and get a Pic of me and the pack sometime soon. The load lifters help and the MOLLE straps are an enormous improvement over the ALICE straps.

I went for an evening hike today and I could not get over how well the sholder straps carried the load. The built-in Scapula pad is very, very comfy.

It makes it seem like I am carrying half what I actually am.

This mod is an absolute no-brainer. It makes the ALICE pack wear like a modern pack. It feels like I am wearing an internal frame pack with better air flow.

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Sorry for the late update.

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What is the alley cat mod? Are those the alice shoulder straps, MOLLE straps, or Down East straps?

Thanks, Cold

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Actually I think it was called the Hellcat Mod by the guy over at TOS that originated it when it uses the stock aluminum frame.

I am going to call the one with the Down East 1606AC the Alley Cat because it is a true Alice and Molle hybrid and designed to achieve such.

The Sleep System Carrier and the Shoulder Straps and Kidney Pad are Woodland Molle USGI and the pack is a Woodland Medium Alice Ruck.

The frame really makes it all work like they were made for each other.

The Molle Kideny Pad and Molle Shoulder Straps are light-years ahead of the Alice straps and make an indescribable difference in comfort and the ability to cary the load with minimal shoulder fatigue.