Editors Note: This update filed by Grannygear from Southern California.

OK, following our Out of the Box report, let us take a more detailed look at this nicely featured pack and then I will give my thoughts so far.

It has a very respectable carrying capacity in the main cargo compartment. To make that even more versatile, there is an expandable section that is accessed with a zipper around the outside of the pack.

There is a hidden helmet cover that comes out of a zipped compartment and snaps to loops on the outside of the pack.

As well, a full rain cover is zipped into a very bottom outside pocket and nicely covers the pack, but not with a helmet attached.

There is a small stash pouch inside the inner cover next to the bladder and the bladder itself opens fully to allow for easy filling, ice cubes, and cleaning. To close it, fold over the flap, slide the clip onto the folded end of the flap and completely across the seam. Then the bladder is held upright in its pouch by a Velcro strap.

One tiny, but nice touch, is the snap that is sewn into the main compartment zipper pulls. It prevents the zippers from opening accidentally and dumping all the contents out.

Add the outside mesh pockets and the EXP Air is a well set up pack. Is it perfect? No. We will get to that, but first, the Aircomfort mesh panel and the wings…is that for real? Absolutely! My hope was that it would keep the pack flat and balanced when full of water and gear and it does that very well. Besides the cooling effects that the space between the pack and your back provides (and that is surprisingly noticeable), when I had 100oz in the bladder, lots of snacks, a first aid kit, shock pump, tire pump, tools, windbreaker and long sleeve jersey in there, the pack rode just as flat and stable on my back as it did nearly empty. Kudos to Deuter! In fact, I could see the bladder full of water where it expanded the pack wall, but it never quite touched the mesh panel. I think the pack actually rode better full than empty-ish.

What would I change? Well, I would not mind a bit more of an inner segmentation to the storage instead of one, big compartment. Or maybe straps to hold a tire pump in place.

There are times that the wings (made of spring steel behind padding) bug me. I will notice them riding against me and kinda’ digging in, but then that feeling will pass and I will ride for the rest of the day before I think about it again. If one was more wide bodied at the waist than I, then the wings could be bothersome, but fit is a very personal thing.

I have not quite come to terms with the bite valve. You need to get about in the middle of the valve with your teeth to get good flow, unlike the Camelbak one which needs only a slight bite at the edge of the valve.

As much as I like the little snaps on the zipper pulls I show in the picture, I can’t help but wonder why they were not added to the zipper pulls for the small outside pouch and the helmet cover compartment. The pulls are right next to each other when both are closed up and the small pouch would be the most likely to contain easily lost items like tools or other smaller valuables. Just a thought.

I am very pleased with this pack and I got just what I wanted out of the Aircomfort feature. For those looking for a medium to large size pack for longer days or light commuting, the Deuter Race EXP Air will get the job done.