Flagstaff outdoor store, huh. I bought a $40 pack from a discount bin there six years ago that's still going strong. Maybe the problem isn't the brand or the price, but how you're packing it. 35 pounds in a day pack is a lot, and if you're shoving tools in without any padding or packing the weight wrong, you're asking for a seam failure no matter what you paid. I've seen guys overload cheap frames and blame the manufacturer, when it's really about using the right bag for the load.

Man I remember watching my buddy try to do a criss cross pattern with regular tape and he ended up with a huge mess of loops everywhere. Definitely learned from his mistake too, kinda like @the_jason said.

Ngl that's how most city jobs are going lately.

You ever had someone argue with you for ten minutes before finally letting you look at it?

Whoa wait, your knife snapped at the bolster? I've seen them break at the tip before but the bolster is supposed to be the strongest part of the whole blade. That's wild.