Burly External FramePack Carries 300+ Pounds: Seek Outside Goshawk 2.0 Backpack Review

You’d be hard-pressed to make a pack that appeals to me more than an abrasion-resistant, water-resistant, external frame pack that leverages lightweight materials to actually haul and haul well. It’s an approach to pack design that I like to call ultrahauling. And there are few companies I trust more to tackle that approach to pack design than Seek Outside.

So, when I heard that Seek Outside was releasing a 2.0 of its Goshawk 4800, a pack that has spent more time at the top of my rotation than any other over the last year, I quickly detoured along a 2,000-mile road trip to stop at the company’s headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo. 

I’ve taken Seek Outside’s larger 103L version on many an adventure. However, for 2025, the smaller, 79L Goshawk 4800 2.0 is sporting some big updates: a more streamlined frame, a few add-ons, new accessories, and a potentially controversial fabric changeup. 

Over the last 6 months, I’ve taken the 4800 paddling, hiking, rucking, hot tent camping, foraging, slot canyon scrambling — pretty much everything that doesn’t involve getting enough time off work to go hunting with it. Here are my impressions.

In short: The Goshawk 4800 2.0 ($625) is a highly durable, lightweight external frame pack built for long hauls in the backcountry. It is modular and customizable, and designed to distribute loads evenly and easily. It comes in two options, made from water-resistant-treated UltraGrid or waterproof Ultra 200X fabrics. With an 80L volume, this pack might have my favorite load-hauling frame on the market — though not without a few caveats.

Seek Outside Goshawk 2.0 Review

Each year, twice a year, I drive a few thousand miles from outside Chicago to wherever I’ll be fighting wildfires for the season. This year, I drove over 2,000 miles to the Tahoe National Forest. Still, I was more than happy to take a few hundred-mile detour when I heard that Seek Outside was rereleasing one of its most popular backpacks, the Goshawk 4800, which GearJunkie previously reviewed in 2018.

Seek Outside sits right at the confluence of hunting and backpacking. Its modus operandi is to leverage strong yet lightweight materials to create four-season shelters, packs, and stoves that are relatively lightweight despite being overbuilt and modular.

Versatility and premium materials, handmade in Grand Junction, are the brand’s stock in trade. Few items showcase this better than the Goshawk. I’ve been carrying the massive 6300 version for over a year, when I heard about the Goshawk 4800 2.0 pack. It has new materials, a free accessory, a revamped frame, and, according to the brand, a lighter overall weight, without compromising the performance I’ve grown to expect.

So, I detoured my tour to Tahoe to visit Seek Outside’s production floor, see its new product lineup, and get my hands on the most exciting new pack I’ve seen in a while. After half a year’s worth of rucking, paddling, and hiking in everything from sandstone canyons to alpine forests, I’ve got loads of good impressions about the Goshawk 4800 2.0 — and a few critiques.

Frame by Frame

If you’re new to external frame packs, it’s simple. Unlike internal frames, which simply incorporate a frame, external frames are completely designed around an independent frame. This allows them to support more weight. Seek Outside’s design also enables you to swap different packs on the frame or strap odd loads directly to it. 

Seek Outside’s Revolution frame is an aluminum U with cross stays. Where most companies give a max carry weight for packs, Seek Outside proclaims, “Our frame will support over 300 pounds in vertical load.  YOUR max load will be determined by your body, not by the pack.”

My kind of marketing. 

The Revolution leverages UltraGrid for a suspension system that, even after testing dozens of backpacks, remains in my top three for comfort and capability. It isn’t as flexible as Mystery Ranch’s frames. It isn’t as cushy and nonslip as KUIU’s. However, it transfers weight better than either, and it is far more customizable.

Additionally, with the latest iteration’s single-buckle hip belt (as opposed to the old double-belt), the Revolution’s suspension is more robust and streamlined.

Most external frame pack manufacturers offer a few frame sizes. Seek Outside offers six hip belt sizes in two colors, removable lumbar cushion pads, and frame extensions that enable you to adjust the frame’s length — accommodating torsos from 15 to 24 inches. 

Seek Outside makes ordering packs sans frame easy, as well. And once you have a frame, you can simply hot swap packs. Granted, the Revolution’s gatekeeper and webbing-based attachment system offers numerous ways to strap things to the frame and secure different bags, but it can be clunky. Still, in classic Seek Outside fashion, its customizability is unrivaled.

Making of a Goshawk

Several months ago, I helped biologists survey actual goshawk populations in the Tahoe National Forest. One ornithologist described Goshawks as “absolute units,” raptors bigger than anything else in the area, but with a compact wingspan that made them more maneuverable within areas of dense canopy.

An absolute, maneuverable unit. That’s a pretty good description for the eponymous pack I was using to carry my camera gear during that survey. The Goshawk line is a crossover between a hunting and a backpacking pack. It’s a rolltop with two side pockets and details that put it in a class of its own.

Layout & Design

The Goshawk 2.0 comes in two sizes: big and huge. The Goshawk 4800 version is 79L (though it can be reasonably rolled down to haul loads as low as 35 L). The 6300, meanwhile, ranges from around 60-103 L. Notably, this doesn’t include the volume of the side pockets or what you can strap between the pack and frame.

Unlike many roll tops, the Goshawk also has a water-resistant zipper along the front left side. It’s an easy frontal opening system that has offered fantastic water resistance, even during my rainiest hikes. 

The side pockets are massive, easily capable of swallowing tall Nalgenes with room to spare. They also feature a chinchable shock-cord-and-lock system and water drainage holes.

Notably, they’re very tall — an intentional compromise toward carrying hunting equipment (and an unintentionally great feature for photographers). Normally, this would make getting water bottles in and out of them a pain. However, you can easily attach Seek Outside’s water bottle holsters to the Revolution’s hip belt, negating that downside. 

The Goshawk does lack any front shove-it pocket, a backpacking pack staple. However, Seek Outside offers tons of accessories, including the included Talon, to boost external storage (more on those in a bit).

Weight

Most people hear the words “external framepack” and think heavy. However, the Goshawk 4800 is actually fairly light for its volume. With a minimum weight of 3 pounds, 8 ounces, it’s competitive with or outright lighter than many of the packs on GearJunkie’s guide to the Best Backpacking Packs.

And when you consider that it has a 79L capacity, its weight becomes even more attractive. The largest packs on that list are the Gregory Baltoro 75 and Mountain Hardwear AMG 75 (both 75 L), which weigh 4 pounds, 13 ounces.

Materials

Most of my experience with this line was with the behemoth Goshawk 6300. It’s my go-to winter and paddling pack. Clad in Ultra 400X, it’s a composite of UHMWPE and high-tenacity polyester, with a waterproof film backing. It’s among the most lauded new backpack fabrics. It has best-in-class abrasion resistance and tear strength. 

The waterproofness of Ultra packs depends on their seam sealing and the water resistance of their zippers. However, the fabric itself can handle just about any kind of splash or rainfall. Full dunking is a bridge too far, though.

Long-term, on the scale of years, UV and abrasion can cause the waterproof film backing in UltraX series fabrics to delaminate (particularly in the lighter weights) and high-stress seams to degrade. Still, the face fabric will take an absolute beating for years to come.

So, it was a surprise that the 4800 wouldn’t come in Ultra 400X. The 2025 2.0 version comes in two fabrics, Ultra 200X and UltraGrid, with the side pockets swapped from UltraGrid to UltraStretch mesh.

The pockets are easy to understand. UltraStretch offers a fantastic compromise between stretch and abrasion resistance. However, I was curious about the body fabric change-up. The 4800 is a smaller pack. Ultra 400X might be overkill, but what’s wrong with a little overkill? 

As it turns out, Seek Outside wanted more color options than 400X offers. After all, black fabric can get hot quickly. The Ultra 200X was lighter in both color and weight. The UltraGrid, meanwhile, while nowhere as abrasion-resistant as UltraX fabrics, is quieter (great for hunters), brings down the price by $55, and is a quality ripstop fabric that offers more longevity (great for backpackers).

In the Field

I spent a year putting the 6300 and the old Revolution frame through their paces before I touched the Goshawk 4800. It was my go-to training platform for wildland firefighting. I rucked with up to 150 pounds through the mountains of Eastern Nevada. It was also my main paddling and winter backpacking platform — especially when I was carrying a hot tent. 

The 4800 wasn’t given any easier trials. Fighting fires in the Tahoe National Forest requires hiking steep and unforgiving country. Training with both the old and new Revolution frames, side by side, brought into sharp relief how much the new hip belt changed the frame’s feel.

I could dial in the old one’s belt a bit more. However, its smaller double buckle system had sharper corners. The new single-buckle system bites less. It’s also easier to adjust and is considerably simpler to operate while wearing gloves.

As for the 4800’s fabric change, I’ve yet to notice a real difference in performance. I’ve dragged it along sandstone shores while paddling the canyons of Lake Powell. I’ve watched puddles form and drain off it while kayaking, only to find everything still dry inside. It’s even been a heavy-duty roll-top for my multiday firefighting gear. 

I’ve carried the Goshawk while portaging a canoe a mile through mountains. I lived out of it for a cross-country road trip. Hell, I surveyed and photographed nests of the very bird it was named after, while schlepping off-trail in drainages choked with tan oak and mosquitoes. And I can’t say I’d rather have taken any other bag.

Accessories Galore

A good third of the value of a Seek Outside pack is its compatible accessories. This is true for most external frame packs. Seek Outside’s accessories library is shorter than the likes of Mystery Ranch and Stone Glacier. However, it’s still well-rounded and versatile.

With the 2025 relaunch of several of its backpacks, the company now includes its regular removable lid and Talon. However, they also offer an alternative lid, the Mesa, which can convert into a waist pack. And unlike most convertible lids, it’s built for comfort.

The Mesa doesn’t quite stand up to the comfort of Mystery Ranch’s external frame backpack-convertible lids. But Seek Outside does offer a 20L storage accessory, the Merlin, which can be attached to any of its packs to expand frontal storage, worn as an independent daypack, or mounted to the Revolution frame for heavier loads.

Seek Outside also offers different versions of the Talon, its frontal storage and compression compartment: mesh and three different colors of UltraGrid. They also offer bottle holsters, hip belt pockets, extra gatekeeper straps, and two different sizes of load shelves — for securing awkward loads to the frame. The company even offers a bow hitch for hunters looking to keep their hands free while hiking.

Overall, Seek Outside’s accessory lineup is well-designed, and the gatekeeper attachment system offers a variety of ways to hitch anything to the Revolution frame.

Small Gripes

The biggest exclusionary feature of this pack is its price tag, which ranges from $581 to $636, depending on the chosen fabric and features. It’s a hefty, though justified, price. You only need to buy one frame, and Seek Outside makes it easy and relatively cost-effective to order other packs, which you can hot swap as needed.

For someone who just takes the occasional 2-4–day, fair-weather backpacking trips, the Goshawk is likely overkill. It also lacks the classic frontal shove-it pockets — escewing them in favor of accessories that can secure a wider range of gear (albeit with more fiddling). And not offering the Goshawk in 400X is a loss for those looking for the highest durability. 

A personal pet peeve: The side pockets don’t have a cutout to allow you to run gatekeeper straps under them, if you prefer, to make getting items in and out of the pockets easier. Six months, and these are my worst complaints.

Seek Outside Goshawk 2800 2.0: Carrying Conclusions

The Goshawk 4800 has become my favorite all-rounder pack. It’s among the most comfortable I’ve ever used. It handles the heaviest loads better than any other pack I’ve used. It’s easily the most versatile pack system I’ve tested. 

Furthermore, when I stopped in Grand Junction, I saw the small team that handcrafts each pack. I saw the signature of Paula, who sewed my pack, on the tag between the seams. And I noted how consistently good the stitching was on every pack on the floor. 

This pack is great for packrafting, backpacking, kayaking, surveying, canoeing, wildlife photography, and hunting. About the only times I wouldn’t be happy to default to carrying the Goshawk 4800 are when I’m in a narrow canyon, on a cliff, or just enjoying a day hike. Even that last one has an asterisk. I often just swap a different Seek Outside pack (such as the Silverton) onto the same frame for day trips

The Goshawk 4800 is one of those rare examples of a jack of all trades that truly can haul damn near everything, darn near everywhere, with next-level comfort. Whatever the adventure — after you shed a tear or two for the up-front investment — you’d be hard-pressed to find an adventure the 4800 won’t handle, with flying colors, better than many more task-tailored backpacks.