Arc'teryx Arro 22

Last October I finally got my hands on an Arc’teryx Arro 22. I had searched for months trying to find one. I have never seen one in a store and one dealer thought the pack had been discontinued. Online retailers were always sold out. I finally found one from a dealer on eBay. The Arro is my go to daypack and I have literally used it every day for the past year.

Design

The Arro is marketed as an urban commuter pack with watertight construction and a 22L capacity. The main compartment has a hydration sleeve. Both the main compartment and the kangaroo pocket have waterproof zippers. The pack has an asymmetrical design with one side pocket having a velcro closure to secure smaller items and the other side having a larger pocket with an elastic band for water bottles or other larger items. The top of the pack features an offset carry handle and an opening for a hydration tube that has a button closure. The button closure seems a little unnecessary. Using more fabric overlap for the hydration slot would probably keep water out just as well.

Materials

The materials used on the Arro 22 are top notch. The pack is indeed waterproof and very abrasion resistant. The zippers move easily enough unlike some waterproof zippers. The only real complaint I have is with the rubber coated nylon material that is used on gearloop on the back and on the shoulder straps. The material seems to fray on the edges. In most places this doesn’t affect its performance except that this material is used to attach the padded part of the straps to the adjustable webbing. The lateral pull when wearing the pack has started to tear the material. I have emailed Arc’teryx about this. Hopefully I will hear back from them soon and I can send in the pack to get repaired. UPDATE: Arcteryx got back to me and I sent the pack back for repairs and they replaced the rubber material with webbing. It has been solid since.

Modifications

The zippers on the main compartment came with standard metal zipper pulls which would jingle while I walked. I opted to cut these off and make up some Goruck style zipper pulls using some 550 cord sheathing and some 1/4in. heat shrink tubing. The shoulder straps have a built in sternum strap that can be adjusted by pulling out the plastic tubing and moving the strap up or down. I found I rarely used the sternum strap and removed it, but I could not remove the plastic tubing without having to cut the ends of so that I could slip it out. Inside the top of the kangaroo pocket there is a plastic clip that I replaced with a S-Biner.

Final Thoughts

Every Arc’teryx product I have ever owned has been of the absolute best quality. Except for the issue with the rubber-coated nylon material starting to tear, this pack lives up to the Arc’teryx name.