Zpacks Super Nero Ultra 50L Backpack Review

Eleven-ounce pack. Yes, eleven (11) ounces. Okay, maybe you want to add a few accessories or use different straps. Call it a 15-ounce pack with features. But, the mad lads over at Zpacks have made another stupid light pack in the Super Nero, which boasts 37 internal liters for a 10.55oz minimum trail weight. 

There’s more to this pack than a number on the scale, but if there’s one feature to catch your attention, it’s the cutting-edge weight that the Zpacks Super Nero can be configured to.

Zpacks Super Nero Ultra 50L Backpack At-A-Glance

Making as much use of the net mesh pocket as possible. A little stretch would be appreciated, but it works fine without.

MSRP: $269 – $379

•  Base Price: $269
• Webbing Hipbelt: +$10
• Padded Hipbelt: +$60
• Vest Straps: +$50

Configured Weights:

• Lightest trail configuration (main body, small straps only): 10.55 oz
• Heaviest trail configuration (all options + vest strap, padded belt): 20.3 oz

Itemized Weights:

• Main body: 8.75 oz
• Standard straps, no sternum strap: 2.3 oz*
• Standard straps, with sternum strap: 2.6 oz*
• Vest straps, with mounting hardware and double sternum strap: 6.4 oz*
• Small / Women’s Straps with sternum: 2.1 oz (per Zpacks; I did not test these)*
• Back pad / removable sit pad: 1.0 oz
• Back pad lashing / attachment bungee: .25 oz
• Bottom lashing cord: 0.1 oz per pair
• Side compression lashing: 0.2 oz per pair
• Top strap: 0.3 oz
• Webbing hip belt: 1.2 oz*
• Padded hip belt, medium: 3.0 oz (per Zpacks; I did not test these)*
• Padded hip belt, large: 3.3 oz (per Zpacks; I did not test these)*

*These items have long webbing that could be trimmed for modest weight savings, depending on personal preference and body shape. Don’t expect to save more than half an ounce altogether, though.

Materials:

• Main pack body: Ultra 100X (black for back panel. Blue, black, or grey for front panel)
• Bottle pockets: Ultra 100X (black)
• Front pocket: Non-stretch net mesh
• Shoulder straps, outside face: Ultra 100X (black)
• Shoulder straps, inside face: ⅛” 3D spacer mesh
• Shoulder straps, padding: unspecified foam

Dimensions:

• Volume: 50L
  • 37L internal
  • 2.5L each side pocket
  • 8L center pocket
• Side Bottle Pockets: Fit 2x 1L Smartwater (or similar) bottles
• Shoulder Straps: 3” wide standard straps

exiting the wilderness portion of the UHT. you can see a pair of gloves sticking out of the vest pocket, something I take on and off multiple times a day. Having them close at hand is very convenient.

Intended Use

The Zpacks Super Nero is a cutting-edge companion for the super ultralight hikers of the world. It will perform best when total pack weight is below 18 pounds, meaning most hikers will need a sub-9-pound base weight for longer trips.

Circumstance of Review

This pack accompanied me on a series of “recovery hikes” from my summer long trails. In this case, lots of 20-mile days in the Colorado and Utah mountains. It also got me through a late-season hike of the 100-mile Uinta Highline Trail. To better match the pack’s design, I cut my base weight down to just 8 pounds for most of the trips.

Zpacks Super Nero Ultra 50L Backpack Features

Superlight, Frameless Design

In its lightest configuration, the Super Nero weighs just under 11 ounces. This is an incredible feat for any overnight-worthy backpack — even more so for one with 37 liters of internal storage. There are a lot of narrowly cut corners to achieve this. Some are obvious, like the lack of a frame, and others are less so, like the use of minimal plastic hardware and webbing. If you’re looking for the lightest by any means, this is almost as close as you can get.

Modular Strap System

The shoulder straps of the new Nero backpack line are removable rather than being sewn directly into the pack body. This not only allows damaged or dead straps to be replaced, but it also gives the option to have different strap designs. Currently Zpacks stocks just two strap types: standard J straps and a running-vest-style “harness,” but the possibilities are endless. I ordered both to compare and frequently switched them out to better suit the occasion.

Modular Accessory System

Despite its lightness, there is room to adjust and customize this pack. The top strap can be configured as a single or as a “bear can” Y strap. The standard shoulder straps accept clip-on accessories such as bottle holders and zippered pouches. All the external compression, such as the included side bungees and bottom “pad holders,” can be removed or reconfigured as well.

The pack is also hip belt optional. If you want stability or a little more support, there are webbing hipbelts and padded hip belts available. The back pad is also fully removable, being held in with a diamond-shaped lashing of shock cord rather than a sewn-in sleeve or pocket.

Rocking an absurd 6.5-pound base weight on the Colorado Trail. when the pack is underfilled, having the side compression straps is nice. Otherwise, I prefer to do without them on most packs.

Zpacks Super Nero Ultra 50L Backpack Pros

Cutting-Edge Low Weight

In the ultralight segment of the market, weight is king. Zpacks has certainly tried their best to trim down every last piece of hardware, webbing, and foam for the absolute lightest pack. There are very few things that can be done to trim the weight down even further.

If reducing storage volume for more weight savings is of interest, Zpacks makes two other sizes in the Nero series (the 30L sub-Nero and the 40L Nero). 

Another avenue is reducing the pack fabric weight. The Ultra100X is already super light for a pack fabric at 3.3oz/square yard. It is still plenty strong and surprisingly abrasion resistant. Taking a step down to something like <2oz silnylon or 1.5oz DCF would save a few ounces but make an extremely noticeable difference in abrasion and rip resistance. I consider this tier of weight savings “Ultralight Icarus:” too audacious for all but the most elite hikers.

Vest Straps for Fast and Technical Hiking

I switched between the standard and the vest straps a number of times. While the standard straps were perfectly adequate for super light loads and casual day hiking, I ultimately preferred the heavier but more featured vest straps for my solo backpacking. I thought they carried and distributed my pack weight better than the standard straps (more on why the standard underperformed below), and provided a lot of convenient storage for snacks, devices, and bottles. I particularly liked the stability that the high-contact area provided for steep, technical hiking. The double sternum straps help keep the weight in place better, without the need for a hipbelt.

High Volume for Bulky Gear

While the pack has a nominal volume of 50L, the main body internal volume is listed by Zpacks as 37L. The “other” 13 liters come from the side bottle pockets and front pocket. Even so, 37 internal liters is pretty big for an 11-ounce, primarily hip-beltless design. Filling this bag to the brim probably means it is being overloaded to some degree, especially if there’s a high proportion of heavy items like food and water. 

I wanted the extra space of the Super Nero over its smaller siblings for the sake of the bulky but light gear that shoulder season brings. On my October thru of the Uinta Highline Trail, the possibility of sub 20-degree nights and daytime highs in the low 40s meant I packed a bit more insulation than usual in the form of a zero-degree quilt, a puffy jacket, and a more substantial sleeping pad.

The weight premium over my standard summer kit is less than a pound, but it probably increased my packed volume by some 8-10L.

Taped Seams for High Waterproofness

When unboxing the Super Nero, I was pleasantly surprised to notice seam tape on the main pack body. Very few packs under 1.5 pounds have taped seams, as it usually comes at a weight premium between 1 and 2.5 ounces, depending on the number of seams and pack volume.

Taped seams complement waterproof, laminate fabrics well, covering up the microscopic line of holes made by stitching. Taped packs are almost entirely waterproof when new and remain highly resistant as they age.

A secret benefit of tape is that it actually makes the seams significantly stronger and less likely to stretch or delaminate. Delamination is the primary failure method of Ultra fabrics, and as such the manufacturer (Challenge Outdoors) actually recommends taping for most applications.

Adjustable Belt and Shoulder Strap Position

The bottom corners of the Nero’s back panel feature a series of three webbing loops. Spaced about 1 inch apart, each loop can be used to mount the hip belt and/or the shoulder straps. In effect, this makes the torso length adjustable by 2 inches for the standard straps and hip belts.

The vest straps have two connection points at this location, which makes them adjustable by only 1 inch (the two straps should be mounted to different locations and, therefore, only have one remaining loop to move to).

The complicated attachment system at the bottom of the pack. The series of webbing loops are used for both the chest straps and hip belts, which can lead to crowding.

Zpacks Super Nero Ultra 50L Backpack Cons

Straps are Not Very Comfortable

Both strap styles for the Nero feature very minimal effective padding.

The situation is considerably worse, and frankly stupid, in the standard straps. While they feature fairly standard 3/8″ thick by 3” wide padding for the length of the strap, their ability to actually compress and pad the body is significantly hampered by their chosen accessory and sternum strap mounting system.

Nearly every pack on the market uses 3/4-inch wide true webbing, sewn “daisy chain” style with bartacks at spacious intervals. Zpacks has instead sewn two layers of weak grosgrain on top of each other. The bottom layer is 7/8-inch wide and sewn fully around the perimeter, while the narrower 1/2-inch top layer is sewn daisy chain / bartack interval style. While I’m sure this saves some amount of weight, the effect on the padding is disastrous. All this extra stitching essentially pre-compresses the foam, meaning it cannot move and rebound to provide real cushioning. 

I found this diminished padding to really only be usable in the long term for sub-15-pound total pack weights, something unachievable for all but the most extreme ultralight hikers. I would much rather see them skip the accessory mounting system and “edge mount” their sternum straps, similar to what many running vests do. 

The “standard” straps and their excessive stitching. I don’t think they stack up well, comfort-wise, to most packs, but they are impressively light.

The poor padding is accomplished differently on the vest-style straps. These actually only provide foam padding on top of the shoulder. The neckline and torso portion of the pack use only spacer mesh, a more minimal and less supportive fabric-based padding.

Thankfully, the foam portion of the vests is only interrupted by one small grosgrain piece to mount a toggle for some sort of accessory. This allows the foam to do its job and provide padding where the most weight is transferred. The spacer mesh used below is surprisingly comfortable, in part due to the fact there is more surface area balancing out the lower padding amount. Using only spacer mesh also has the key benefit of being decently breathable. I find this important in full-coverage vest straps, as sweat and heat can build up significantly when a closed-cell foam or waterproof pack fabric is introduced.

With the vest straps, I found the comfortable load limit to be more in the 18 – 20-pound range. I occasionally overloaded to 22 – 24 pounds, which was much harder to tolerate for long periods.

Vest Strap Pockets Can be Conflicting

The vest straps feature three pockets on each side: one zippered pocket accessed horizontally by the sternum strap, a tall open-top pocket, and an additional lower-cut top access pocket that fits in between. Having three separate chambers is nice for keeping things organized, but in practice I found it hard to use multiple at once.

All three of these pockets sit on top of each other around the ribcage. I often found that once a pocket was about half full (say, putting a phone in the zippered pocket), using the other two became difficult. The existing bulk made it hard to slide new objects past the others. If the pockets were more spread out across the torso or underarm areas, this would be less of a problem. 

Other Vest Strap Design Misses

In addition to the pocket issues, I found some other minor gripes with the vest straps. They use two separate lengths of 1/2-inch webbing to attach the bottom of the straps. Balancing the tightness between the two was difficult, and positioning them incorrectly often led to outer ribcage chafe.

I also found the “collar” that wraps around the neck to be useless. No matter how I configured it, it was always floppy and unloaded. At best it seemed to do nothing, at worst it could conflict with hooded layers or cause additional chafe.

I have long suspected these wrap-around harnesses are only useful for extremely large front loads or when sewn fully into the extension collar of the pack. The Super Nero confirmed this for me.

Using the Super Nero as a summit pack. The range of motion and compressibility made it great for a quick overnight hike in and summit of “Colorado’s hardest 14er.”

No Small Padded Belt Options

On a larger volume pack that may get overloaded occasionally, having a padded hip belt can help ease the weight on the shoulders. Unfortunately, they do not make a padded hip belt small enough for my gaunt waist and hips. Their “medium” padded belt has a minimum diameter of 30 inches, much smaller than the 26 – 28-inch minimum I personally need.

I find the omission of a small hip belt odd, especially considering their inclusion of small/women’s size shoulder straps and their target demographic of endurance athletes who tend to run lean. 

While I ordered a webbing hipbelt to go with my Super Nero, expecting it to transfer any weight comfortably is unrealistic. The belt should be viewed more as a boost in lateral stability. I found this extra piece unnecessary when used with the vest straps however, so I stuck to going hip-beltless most of the time.

Limited Total Pack Weight

The minimally padded shoulder straps and hip-beltless-first design means most people will find a practical limit in the 15 – 18-pound range. Most people consider the limit on frameless packs to be about 20 pounds regardless due to human anatomy, so there isn’t huge room for improvement here. It would be nice if the padding could be improved to make those long food carries just a bit more comfortable, though.

Questionable Use of Plastic Hardware and Grosgrain

As noted above, the use of grosgrain on the shoulder straps is a pretty questionable compromise in function. Grosgrain, sometimes called “ribbon,” is lighter but considerably less strong than typical webbing. I have a hard time wrapping my head around using it for important structural mounting, such as sternum strap connections, or to attach hardware for compression straps.

Speaking of hardware, Zpacks chose some of the smallest, daintiest hardware for buckles and ladder locks I have ever seen on a mass-produced pack. Of particular concern was the locking mechanism for the replaceable shoulder straps, which use a glorified safety pin to keep them in place.

I did not experience any failure or even indication of wear in my few hundred miles of testing, but I never quite got the peace of mind with them I would have liked. 

The vest straps at the “yoke.” notice the safety pin like device that prevents the webbing from passing through the plastic hardware. On the other attachment points, you will see extensive use of narrow grosgrain and smaller than average plastic hardware.

Net Mesh is Prone to Snags and Tears

The outside pockets of a backpack are typically made of either pack cloth, stretch mesh, or net mesh. Zpacks uses net mesh on most of their packs. It is non-elastic and open, theoretically allowing drying and drainage while staying light at 3.5oz/square yard. Most stretch meshes are considerably heavier and, in some aspects, less durable.

In practice, the net mesh left me disappointed. The idea of gear drying in these outside pockets is optimistic since they get so bunched up that you would have to take off your pack and rotate your rain jacket or other gear regularly to expose new sections to air. The extreme openness of the mesh makes it so much more prone to snags than opaque pack fabrics or even tighter-knit stretch meshes, nullifying its high strength.

Net mesh still has its advocates, but personally, I prefer a pack cloth or stretch mesh depending on the application. I wish this was a customizable property of the pack rather than a standard feature.

Overall Value

The Super Nero is an absurdly light pack that makes a few compromises on comfort and long-term durability to achieve its feather-light weight. It exists to cut base weights by any means and is best for experienced, ultralight-focused hikers.

At $270 in its base configuration, it is actually on the cheaper side for premium, frameless, ultralight packs. Selecting a lot of accessories and add-ons will quickly raise the price towards the top of the bracket.

Shop the Zpacks Super Nero 50

A Few Comparison Items

Nashville Packs Cutaway

• MSRP: $356
• Weight: 17.4 oz

Pa’lante Desert Pack

• MSRP: $300
• Weight: 20.9 oz

Durston Gear Wapta

• MSRP: $280
• Weight: 16.9 oz

The Zpacks Super Nero Ultra 50L Backpack was donated for purpose of review