Black Diamond Beta Light 45 Review

Looking for a pack that bridges the difficult gap between beginner and advanced ultralight backpacks? The Black Diamond Beta Light 45 comes standard with all the features one would want in a pack but also has room to grow with the hiker when her skills are honed after many hard-won trail miles. Is your kit streamlined enough to carry without a hip belt? Leave that at home, along with other accessories, and turn the Beta Light 45 into a 19 oz trail segment devouring phenom while still keeping most of the pack's storage capacity.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

The Black Diamond Beta Light 45 is designed to hug the body tighter than some other ultralight packs, taking many design cues from trail running vests and smaller volume fastpacks. Instead of thick shoulder straps that are comfortable because of the foam padding embedded within them, you'll find much thinner but wider straps that attempt to spread the pressure over a larger area. Similarly, the twin sternum straps and shoulder straps have some included stretch to them. Webbing on the shoulder and hip belt are also of a smaller width than most to stay out of the way. Unlike a running vest, the Beta Light 45 includes reasonably well-designed load lifters to help you adjust how the load of the pack carries against your back, as well as both foam back padding and shaped aluminum stays to help keep the back area comfortable while also adding rigidity.

When moving over varied, rocky terrain or bushwhacking off-trail, this type of design may come as a huge advantage, as the Beta Light 45 isn't trying to fight against your upper body moving around while you find a helping rock outcropping or tree branch for balance.

But we have to concede that this concept works best for lighter loads. Our 35lb load out for hiking five sections of the Colorado Trail over the weekend was maybe the maximum we'd call comfortable. At that weight, you could feel the hip belt struggle to bear the load, causing the pack to sag a bit. Black Diamond specs. the max load to be 40lb.

Ease of Use

Most of the features found on the Black Diamond Beta Light 45 felt intuitive to use, to the point where we could put the pack on, adjust a few straps, and go confidently on our way. The Ultra 200 composite fabric is not at all floppy, and we appreciated that the pack would stay upright as we packed up our belongings before leaving camp. A smaller BV 450 bear canister will fit in the top half of the roll-top.

One standout feature is the massive center pocket, where we were able to fit six one-liter smart water bottles - an incredible capacity! The pocket is secured at the top with an additional triangle of fabric that snaps to the top strap for worry-free over-stuffing. That same top strap could be used to carry a bear canister outside of the pack, but wouldn't be as secure as a y-strap design.

Side pockets are also very voluminous, able to fit up to five smartwater bottles each. If you're storing something that fits below the top, like our stove, it can be further secured via the top elastic that tapers down the pocket itself. The cinch strap on the body of the pack can also be used to tie down longer items like collapsable trekking poles. The shoulder straps also have their own pockets: the left pocket can fit a hard-sided water bottle snugly, a smaller soft flask, or an accessory like sunglasses. The right shoulder strap has a banana-shaped zipped pocket that could fit a phone very snugly and a smaller, unsecured top made of a four-way stretchy material.

We employed the simple twin-bottom hooked Dynex lines to carry our sleeping pad — and even snowshoes! The hold inspired a ton of confidence. If anything, the line was a little too hard to tighten down with end of the day tired hands and we often unhooked it first to adjust.

Weight-to-Volume Ratio

We were impressed with the Black Diamond Beta Light 45 measured weight of 31.68 oz in its stock configuration, but even more so that it can be stripped down to only 19.0 oz by taking off the hip belt, back padding and stay and several of the cinch straps if the need for speed compels you to take on a long trail record.

We measured the internal volume at 40 liters when we rolled up the top 3x. External capacity is a very impressive 15 liters. The wide and tall center pocket can be stuffed with up to 6 liters of gear, and both side pockets can hold around four liters each, with the rest coming from the hip belt pockets.

We clocked the Beta Light 45 with a very respectable 0.70 oz/L weight-to-volume ratio. This is achieved with the minimal use of a thin but comfortable back foam padding, tapered down at the bottom to only exist where it comes in contact with your back, and the use of the durable-yet-light Ultra 200 fabric used for the main compartment.

Adjustability

Adjustability is a huge part of the story of the Black Diamond Beta Light 45, being one of the most modular packs in our lineup. With all the included accessories employed, it makes for a very capable ultralight pack that can go any distance for most users out of the box. As the skill set, confidence, and experience of the hiker grow, this pack can grow with them, allowing them to easily cast off features that they may not need as goals change to ever lighter loadouts and longer days.

This modularity also makes the Beta Light 45 reasonable to use on more demanding day trips, like when we went out on a snow climb in Rocky Mountain National Park. The side and bottom cinch straps can be rigged to hold an ice axe relatively well.

The Beta Light 45 currently comes in XS, S, M, and L sizes, which scale up in both torso length and waist circumference. What it currently lacks is a choice of hip belt sizing, and because the running-vest-inspired, J-shaped shoulder straps are sewn on, there's no way to customize them either.

Should You Buy the Black Diamond Beta Light 45?

No matter if you're a weekender or a thru-hiker who's seriously streamlining down to the mythical sub 10lb base weight, the Black Diamond Beta Light 45 makes a worthy pack. The running vest-inspired design will naturally be attractive to people who are — or would like to — go a little faster and lighter than your average trail user. The price does reflect a good return on value, especially because of the pack's ability to continue to grow and perform as you mature as an ultralight backpacker.

What Other Ultralight Backpacks Should You Consider?

If you would like to advance to the front of the line by getting a pack that's already FKT-ready with a stripped-down feature set and don't want or need the versatility the Black Diamond Beta Light 45 allows you, seriously look into the Mountain Laurel Designs Exodus 55L. It comes in at only 16.4 oz and 45 liters of internal space in the main compartment. Both the Ultralight Adventure Equipment Ultra Circuit and Durston Kakwa 55 have more conventional designs paired with a similar Ultra fabric as the Beta Light 45 for very light loadouts while also offering a good set of modular features.