Review: Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 and 45+5 SL Backpacks

Ultralight Backpacks
Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5
$250, 55L/3,356 c.i., 2 lbs. 15 oz./1.33kg
Deuter Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL
$250, 50L/3,051 c.i., 2 lbs. 11 oz./1.21kg
One adjustable size in both models
Aircontact Ultra 50+5: rei.com
Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL: rei.com

To put Deuter’s updated-for-2024 Aircontact Ultra 50+5 ultralight backpack through the paces, I took it on a pair of quite rugged but also quite different backpacking trips this spring: a three-day hike through southern Utah’s Owl and Fish canyons with a max weight of about 30 pounds in the pack, and six days and about 60 miles backpacking the Grand Canyon’s Gems Route, repeatedly carrying extra water—and starting out with more than 40 pounds inside, including over 10 pounds of water and 11 pounds of food. As I expected, those trips revealed much about the Aircontact Ultra backpacks and why they might appeal to lightweight and ultralight backpackers.

First, I must acknowledge that 40 pounds significantly exceeds Deuter’s recommended max weight for these packs: I knew that but wanted to gauge the Aircontact Ultra’s comfort by exceeding its weight capacity and then seeing when it starts feeling comfortable as my pack weight decreased each day—as I sometimes do with packs in this weight class because, almost inevitably, many backpackers overload ultralight packs at the outset of a trip, or at various points during a long-distance hike, accepting a day or more of compromised comfort for the benefit of having a pack that’s lighter and will be adequately comfortable for most of the trip. I’ve done that countless times.


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The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 harness.
The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 harness.

In the Grand Canyon, having more than 40 pounds/18.1 kilos in the Aircontact Ultra 50+5 was certainly not “comfortable.” But nor was it all that bad. On that first day, we backpacked about six miles of rough dirt road just to reach the South Bass Trailhead, and then descended the often steep, loose, and rugged South Bass Trail for some 3,400 feet before turning onto the Tonto Trail—logging nearly 15 hard miles that day. Rather than feeling destroyed from severely overloading this pack, I simply felt some discomfort, predictably in my hips and shoulders, but no lingering soreness.

While I certainly wouldn’t recommend overloading this pack that severely, I think some long-distance and other avid backpackers could do the same for a day or two without major consequences. (Strong caveat: I sure don’t promise that result for everyone or even most people.)

Truer to the intended use of these packs, on the Owl and Fish canyons loop, the Aircontact Ultra 50+5 felt immediately comfortable starting out with that trip’s max weight of about 30 pounds/13.6 kilos inside—in line with Deuter’s recommended maximum load of 26 to 33 pounds/11.8 to 15 kilos—and it remained comfortable throughout that three-day hike. As Deuter’s max load recommendation implies, any pack’s max load comfort will vary between individual users, of course.

In Owl and Fish as well as the Grand Canyon, the pack delivered a stable carry going up and down very steep, loose trails, thanks to a spring steel wire frame and a framesheet that offers slight flex, meaning it moves a bit with your torso while providing some structural support. The hipbelt fins and shoulder straps rotate to absorb your body’s movement, helping to steady the pack while hiking.

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The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 hipbelt.
The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 hipbelt.

Unlike the simple, wide, entirely flexible fabric hipbelts found in some (usually lighter) packs in this category—which rely on the belt’s width to distribute pack weight over the hips—the Aircontact Ultra’sflexible hipbelt features a bit of structure to help support some of the weight that the pack frame distributes to the belt. For 2024, Deuter altered the hipbelt foam to meet bluesign environmentally responsible standards and improve the ergonomic fit at the lumbar. I suspect those design elements helped prevent my hips from really hurting when I overloaded the pack in the Grand Canyon.

The three-dimensional, perforated spacer mesh in the back panel, lumbar pad, shoulder straps, and hipbelt rebounds when not weighted, pulling air into the mesh as you move—creating nice ventilation and cushioning. Another smart change made with the 2024 models is that Deuter carved out the center of the back pad to improve air flow, achieving that objective without compromising comfort at all. That was noticeable on hot days of hard hiking in the Grand Canyon.

I had used and reviewed the previous iteration of Deuter’s Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL on a five-day backpacking trip in the Wind River Range and on a three-day hike on the 22-mile Death Hollow Loop in southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. That enabled me to compare the fit of these two packs and changes made in the 2024 versions.

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The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 with main compartment open.
The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 with main compartment open.

TheAircontact Ultra 50+5is made for torsos ranging from 17 to 24 inches/43 to 61 centimeters, according to Deuter. (Learn how to measure your torso in my “5 Expert Tips for Buying the Right Backpacking Pack.”) The Ultra 45+5 SL is for women and anyone with a torso measuring 14 to 22 inches/35 to 56 centimeters.

Deuter’s three-position torso-length adjustment system, located behind the back pad, is one of the easiest adjustment systems to access and change that I’ve seen. With these packs, it provides about 1.5 inches/3.8 centimeters of fit range—that’s not much compared with, say, the Osprey men’s Exos 58 and women’s Eja 58, packs nearly identical to the Aircontact Ultra 50+5 in capacity, weight, and price, which have four inches of adjustable fit range.

I got the previous version of the Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL on Deuter’s recommendation for my 18-inch torso length and it fits me well enough: The hipbelt has plenty of adjustment range, but I found the shoulder straps near their fit limit for me; anyone with a torso over 18 inches or a bigger chest and torso than me (see next paragraph) should go for the Aircontact Ultra 50+5. With the new Aircontact Ultra 50+5, my torso seems to fall near the bottom end of its fit range: As mentioned above, it carried comfortably for me with the recommended max load and, impressively, wasn’t terrible when I overloaded it.

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The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 lid pocket.
The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 lid pocket.

The long and short is that my torso is on the cusp between those two packs, leading me to two conclusions: first, that anyone near the limits of either pack’s stated fit range may not find it comfortable; and second, that the Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL fits my 18-inch torso a little better than the Aircontact Ultra 50+5—with the caveat that the Ultra 45+5’s shoulder straps are almost fully extended (very near their limit) with my 38-inch chest and five-foot, eight-inch, 152-pound build.

The top-loading Aircontact Ultra 50+5’s main compartment had enough space for my six days of food and five liters of water starting out in the Grand Canyon, with compact, ultralight gear (including my sleeping bag and solo tent), but also an ultralight camp chair. I had nearly filled the smaller Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL with gear and food for three-day trips but managed to squeeze five days of food into it in the Winds.

The modular, side Z-compression straps can be repositioned to girth hitch and buckle across the front of the pack, a cool feature that lets you attach a larger piece of gear, like a tent or foam pad, or simply compress the pack (if under-filled) across its front.

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The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 ultralight backpack.
The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 ultralight backpack in the Grand Canyon.

If you’re really counting grams, the removable, floating lid and its straps can be left behind to shave about three ounces/85 grams, and the drawcord top closure for the main compartment has a flap that snaps down to cover it—one of the 2024 additions. But I think that lid pocket, with very good volume for a midsized, ultralight pack, justifies its minimal weight with the space and quick access it provides.

The six external pockets include a large stretch-mesh front pocket that can swallow a wet rainfly and jacket and stretch-mesh side pockets that hold a liter bottle. Deuter increased the angle of those side pockets to make them a bit easier to reach inside while wearing the pack, compared with the previous generation of Aircontact Ultra’s (like the 45+5 SL I’ve reviewed), but it’s still a bit of a contortionist act. The two half-liter, zippered hipbelt pockets each hold four or more bars or a smartphone with room to spare.

The 175-denier polyamide ripstop Ultra HD fabric helps minimize the pack’s weight while making it as durable as many backpacking packs in its weight class. Deuter uses durable water-repellent finishes (DWRs) that are harmless to human and animal health and free of toxic PFAS “forever” chemicals.

Other packs in the series include the Aircontact Ultra 40+5 and Aircontact Ultra 35+5 SL (both $240).

Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 and Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL

Comfort/Support
Fit
Access
Features
Weight-to-Performance
Durability

The Verdict

Although still ranking among the heaviest ultralight backpacking packs, the updated-for-2024 versions of the Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 and Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL carry 30 to 35 pounds comfortably and sport smart features in a package that will especially appeal to backpackers who often straddle the gray zone between lightweight and ultralight.

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BUY IT NOW

You can support my work on this blog, at no cost to you, by clicking any of these affiliate links to purchase a Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 backpack at rei.com, or a Deuter Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL backpack at rei.com, or any model in the Aircontact Ultra series at rei.com or backcountry.com, including some of last year’s models at sale prices while stock lasts.

See my picks for “The 10 Best Backpacking Packs” and “The Best Ultralight Backpacks,” my “5 Expert Tips For Buying the Right Backpacking Pack,” and all of my reviews of backpacks, backpacking gear, ultralight backpacks, and ultralight backpacking gear at The Big Outside.

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Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned backpacker, you’ll learn new tricks for making all of your trips go better in my “12 Expert Tips for Planning a Backpacking Trip,” A Practical Guide to Lightweight and Ultralight Backpacking,” and “How to Know How Hard a Hike Will Be.” With a paid subscription to The Big Outside, you can read all of those three stories for free; if you don’t have a subscription, you can download the e-guide versions of “12 Expert Tips for Planning a Backpacking Trip,” the lightweight and ultralight backpacking guide, and “How to Know How Hard a Hike Will Be.”

NOTE: I tested gear for Backpacker magazine for 20 years. At The Big Outside, I review only what I consider the best outdoor gear and apparel. See The Big Outside’s Gear Reviews page for categorized menus of all gear reviews and expert buying tips.

—Michael Lanza

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