At Deuter site they describe their Aircontact Core series as “comfort at its core”. My guess is there is more about it regarding the word core in the name.
They have built this new series that is by features and weight in between their Aircontact X and Aircontact Ultra. So formally, Aircontact Core is moderately heavy as compared to Aircontact X. But the Core series has far more features than the ultralight Aircontact Ultra series.
In my view, this, together with the volume range, is what makes them “core packs”.
First thing first, what is Deuter Aircontact series?
This series of Deuter has been around forever. I would describe it as one out of two the most important series of this brand. The other is Deuter Futura series of course.
As of the moment of writing this text, there are at least five sub-series of these packs on the market. Those three mentioned above are launched for the season 2022, and it is possible that they will replace some of the existing series.
For example, my guess is that Deuter Aircontact Pro series might disappear soon. This is because the new Deuter Aircontact X includes all the features of the Aircontact Pro packs, plus a lot more. But I might be wrong of course.
But they also have Deuter Aircontact Lite, plus older packs that are simply with the name Deuter Aircontact, you will see them on Amazon.
How many packs there are in the Deuter Aircontact Core series?
There are currently 8 backpacks in the Deuter Aircontact Core series, in the range from 35+10 to 70+10 liters. They build them as gender specific packs, so you will see some of them with the letters SL in the name. These are built for women and for people with a smaller body size in general.
If you are curios about the number +10 in the name, this is explained in my separate text so just follow the link to read more.
Who are Deuter Aircontact Core packs for?
From the volumes mentioned above you realize that they are available in the mid-size range and also in the range of moderately large packs.
So you can use the smallest of them as excellent day packs. The largest of them are suitable for any sort of hiking or backpacking tour where you have to carry a lot of stuff or simply bulky stuff.
The mentioned gender-specific design makes them suitable for both men and women.
What are the most important features of Deuter Aircontact Core packs?
As mentioned in the subtitle above, this is not an overview of all the features of these excellent packs, this is only about the most important once.
Design that keeps the pack close to the body
Deuter has many back panel designs, and the keyword in the name of these backpacks is ‘aircontact’. This essentially mean that the packs are built to stay in contact with a user’s body, while still allowing for some air flow.
The picture below shows some of the details so you can realize how advanced this all looks:
These packs are for the load of up to 20 kg. Note that they actually give the recommended load of 15-20 kg, and this even for the smallest packs in the series.
I find this a bit strange, but my guess is that this implies that the pack will best sit on your back and best rest on your hips if it is with enough load. With less load the effect might not be the same. This may have something to do with the stiffness of the dual foam used on the hip belt (see the picture) and with some other details.
So this is a design for heavier loads, but bear in mind these are not ventilated packs. If this is what you need please check their Futura series, and read more in my text about such ventilated designs in general.
Adjustable torso length
They use what they call the Vari Slide Back Length Adjustment. Details are visible in one of the pictures above. This is a very easy to use continuous system so you can position the torso length at any length within a given range.
Three access points
- You have a top access with an expandable collar and a floating type adjustable lid.
- There is also a J-shaped zippered access on the front. This makes it different from Deuter Aircontact X packs where this is an U-shaped zipper.
- There is also the usual zippered bottom compartment, with an inner zippered divider.
Modular Strap System design
This means that the various compression straps are removable. So you can reduce the weight a bit, but this also mean that you can forget some and also lose some.
Some unique features
Of course the overall shape of these packs is completely new, these are true new packs on the market. But there are also some unique features that are shared with the packs from the Aircontact X series.
- This is about removable hip belt pockets. This holds only for the largest packs in the series, the Core 60+10, Core 70+10, Core 55+10 SL, and Core 65+10 SL.
- But this is not all, one of the hip belt pockets is expandable. It becomes very large when expanded and it can accommodate a large water bottle. The picture below shows some details:
In smaller packs from the Aircontact Core series, you have the design which is the same as in the Deuter Aircontact Ultra packs.
What is missing in Deuter Aircontact Core packs?
Here are a few features that are missing:
- There is no rain cover included. Note that you have it with Deuter Aircontact X packs.
- There are no upper side bellows zippered pockets. They are available in Deuter Aircontact X packs.
- There are no bottom straps. But all straps are removable, this is what is described as modular design. So you can use any pair from some other place on the pack and attach on the bottom. However, these bottom straps are available in Deuter Aircontact X packs.
- There is no day pack which is available in Deuter Aircontact X packs.
What makes Aircontact Core packs different from Deuter Aircontact Ultra series?
I mentioned that Aircontact Core packs are in between the Aircontact X and Aircontact Ultra series. You have already seen a few things that are available in Aircontact X and not in Aircontact Core.
Nevertheless, Aircontact Core packs are full of great features, yet this is not so with the Aircontact Ultra which could be described as a minimalist option. This is what makes that series so light.
To realize this, you can compare Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 pack that weighs 1.21 kg, with Deuter Aircontact Core 50+10 that weighs 2.16 kg.
Note also that Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 has this +5 in the name, so it offers less volume, and its recommended carry weight is 12-15 kg.
Deuter Aircontact Ultra packs have only top access, there is no bottom compartment. The hip belt pockets are not removable. The torso length is not fully adjustable.
There are no separate upper compression straps, you have one long zig-zagging side strap on each side. The ventilation in this design is even more reduced.
Final thoughts
In summary, the Deuter Aircontact Core Backpacks series is closer to the Aircontact X series regarding features but some of them are missing indeed.
However, in absolute sense these packs look much lighter when compared to the X series. For example, the Aircontact Core 70+10 weighs 2.53 kg. Compare this with the Deuter Aircontact X 70+15 that weighs 3.18 kg.
On the other hand, this Core series has far more features than the Aircontact Ultra series. But the question is if you really need all these features or not.
It may be useful also to consider the volume to weight ratio for all three series. So see what some of these packs give:
- Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 pack has volume to weight VW ratio of 50 liters/kg. Its actual weight is 1.21 kg.
- Deuter Aircontact Core 50+10 pack has VW ratio of 28 liters/kg. So this is indeed a far heavier pack, it weighs 2.16 kg.
- Deuter Aircontact X 60+15 pack has VW ratio of 24 liters/kg, and this is the smallest in the series. Note also that the largest pack in the series, the Aircontact X 80+15 pack has VW of 28 liters/kg. So this makes it effectively the same as the Core 50+10 pack.
All in all, the Deuter Aircontact Core series is much lighter than the Deuter Aircontact X series, but it is much heavier than the Deuter Aircontact Ultra series.
The Core series can be understood also as a ‘core’ series with respect to volume range. This is because Aircontact Ultra packs are smaller (but they overlap in volume with the Core packs), and Deuter Aircontact X packs are much bigger.
Thank you for reading. Let me know if you have questions, there is a comment box below. Have a nice day.
Hi, I am Jovo, the founder of this OutdoorsFAQs site and several other outdoor sites. I have been mountaineering for almost 40 years already, and I have created this site to use as a reference for various questions that I receive in my sites. Being a theoretical physicist by profession, I tend to base my answers on facts and on my own personal experience.