A Better Way to Suffer: GORUCK Rucker 4.0 Review

Rucking requires little instruction: put weight on your back and walk. It’s a simple core activity. Do we really need a specific backpack? Part of the rucking ethos is not letting anything stop you, gear included.

No, you don’t need a rucking backpack; any pack will do. However, a rucking training pack has several advantages, mainly durability. Rucking loads, especially for the smaller volume required when using metal weights, can easily exceed the weight many outdoor packs can handle. And rucking packs often mate with flat rucking steel rucking plates, which keep the load compact and right next to the back.

I trained with the GORUCK Rucker 4.0 backpack and a few matching Ruck Plates for 3 months, hiking both undulating terrain and enduring hill repeats. After nay-saying the need for rucking specific packs, I appreciated the GORUCK training system.

In short: The GORUCK Rucker 4.0 and Ruck Plates improved my rucking experience immensely. Having a dense, flat plate secured as close to my back as possible improved my walking posture and comfort. I could hike both flat and hilly terrain with a torso position that felt much more normal, comfortable, and effective than when using an alpine climbing pack. And the positive effect was multiplied as the weight increased. The GORUCK Rucker 4.0 is way more rugged than any of my “normal” outdoor packs, promising a very long life of hard use.

GORUCK Rucker 4.0 Details

The Rucker 4.0 has a simple, rectangular form and comes in 15L, 20L, and 25L capacities. The main material is 1000d CORDURA nylon, and the back panel and underside of the shoulder straps are 210d high-tenacity CORDURA nylon. And 10mm-thick EVA foam lines the back panel.

A wraparound YKK zipper with silent, glove-compatible zipper pulls made of parachute cord allows the Rucker 4.0 to lay completely open and flat. Inside, there are two GORUCK Ruck Plate-specific pockets on the back panel and two other pockets on the front panel, all secured with Velcro. GORUCK includes a D-ring at the top of the back panel to support a hydration bladder, and there is an exit port for the hose.

Generously padded shoulder straps have an adjustable and removable sternum strap. The 15L Rucker 4.0 has 3-inch shoulder straps, and the 20L and 25L versions have 3.5-inch straps. Surprisingly, there is no hip belt, but GORUCK offers it as an accessory for the two largest sizes.

The Rucker 4.0’s exterior has plentiful MOLLE attachment points on the front and sides. The front has a hi-viz reflective stripe and a Velcro swath for patches. My 20L version had grab handles on the top, bottom, and sides. The entire pack is water-resistant.

My 20L test sample weighs a verified 3.6 pounds. The Rucker 4.0 was absolutely the most rugged and bomber-feeling pack I had ever received. GORUCK overbuilt it for any other purpose. The brand has faith in this construction, as it offers a lifetime “Scars” guarantee; if you break it, they fix it.

GORUCK offers the Rucker 4.0 in seven different color schemes. I tested the Rucker 4.0 most of the time with one 30-pound and one 10-pound GORUCK Plate, each in its own pocket.

How Much Better Is a Rucking-Specific Training Pack?

First off, it was shocking to me that GORUCK didn’t include a hip belt for a backpack that carries big loads. As soon as I donned the Rucker 4.0 and started marching off into the 45-acre wilderness preserve behind my house, I was just as shocked that I didn’t need a hip belt.

After decades of cinching a hip belt as tightly as I could stand to get the weight off my shoulders and onto my legs, it was an astounding discovery. And in a way, adding a hip belt would have impeded mobility.

Improved Posture

The way the GORUCK Rucker 4.0 and Ruck Plates hold the entire compact training load right against the back, super-securely, so there is no movement, is why it doesn’t need a hip belt. It’s also why I now believe a rucking-specific pack that uses plates like this one will improve the activity immensely.

With the load as close to the back as possible and being dense and thus compact (specifically in the front-to-back dimension) meant that I didn’t feel the need to counterbalance the load by pitching forward at the hips or, worse, from the lumbar spine.

The 40-pound load I normally used was pushing straight down from my shoulder girdle, through my spine, to my hips. I could walk with an almost perfectly straight posture; it was so different than walking with even my most carefully packed backpacking or alpine climbing pack.

Not only was the weight right up against my spine, allowing the upright posture, but there was also no real leverage of the weight pulling my shoulder girdle backward. This is because the GORUCK plates were thin, so there was hardly any lever effect. The 30-pound plate is 1¼” thick, while the 10-pound plate is 3/8″ thick. The Rucker 4.0 held them tightly against each other in specific pockets.

Comfort

The densely and thickly padded shoulder straps felt comfortable, and the EVA foam was dense enough to never bottom out, even if I hopped down with all the weight in the pack. For me, the sternum strap was integral to comfort as it kept the shoulder straps in the correct position and the pack stable.

This was regardless of how aggressively I was moving. In a way, the sternum strap and fixated shoulder straps performed part of the stabilizing function that a hip belt normally does.

I thought the stiff weight plates would be uncomfortable, but this wasn’t the case. I never noticed the plates themselves; I only felt the load they provided. The foam in the back panel kept the plates from gouging or smashing anything on my back.

Better Gait

The lack of a hip belt also contributed to my natural, unencumbered gait. I’d forgotten what it was like to swing my leg freely at my hip while carrying a big load. Normally, a hip belt would affect my natural leg swing. And high-stepping was not even in the same ballpark; it was so much easier without a hip belt.

I also enjoyed the small and thin form factor. At 11.5″ x 18″ x 5.5″, it was never in the way while negotiating tight trails. The pack left much of my lower back uncovered, which, along with the lack of a hip belt, felt cooler than a regular climbing pack in the Texas summer.

Conclusions on the GORUCK Rucker 4.0

It is hard for me to get across how surprised I was that a rucking-specific pack would perform so much better than a regular backpack. I’m a gear grouch, so I felt like brands were cashing in on the growth of functional fitness. But this pack proved me wrong.

The GORUCK Rucker 4.0 and matching Ruck Plates significantly improved a training activity I had done for decades. I’m sure other rucking packs with similar systems can provide similar results.

I also appreciated the extreme durability. GORUCK built the Rucker 4.0 like a tank ready for battle, revealing its military roots. Overbuilding the pack has no negative effects on rucking, and GORUCK went to town in both material selection and construction. The only packs I’ve ever tested with similar robustness were giant 70L-plus behemoths for crossing glaciers without outside support or hauling big wall gear.

If I had consistently carried the same 40-pound load in the smaller alpine climbing or day packs I’d used before, I’m positive that one would have failed. I rotated climbing packs to spread the wear.

But I’m lucky in this regard; hardly anyone else would have the luxury of an endless supply of packs. Using a larger pack designed for this weight would be cumbersome and potentially get in the way.

The one negative that stands out is the MSRP of $255 for the 20L version. The 40 pounds of Ruck Plates cost a total of $195, bringing the grand total to $450. This may be hard to justify for many. What you are paying for outside of the performance and ruggedness is a lifetime warranty and made-in-America status.

Amortizing the number of rucking sessions I’ve done in the last 3 months, how much better I felt while doing so, and predicting the hours I’ll be rucking in the future helps me justify the cost.