Buying a new Rucksack/Backpack

My first rucksack was an army surplus "Commando" rucksack, bought about 1953. The bag was made of dark green canvas, rubber coated on the inside. The frame was steel. The rucksack was heavy even when empty. It was pear shaped. It was tough. I spent twelve weeks touring the USA in 1963. The rucksack was thrown into Greyhound bus luggage lockers and survived ten thousand miles of being bounced around. I left the rucksack at my parents' house when I moved to Germany and 20 or so years after I was given it my father passed it on to the kid next door when the boy needed a rucksack to go to a Boy Scout camp. It's probably still in use. I packed my stuff in any old way. Some time later I learnt that the weight should be packed so that it was high on the shoulders. Adjustment was easy, you just tightened the carrying straps to raise it up. There was no waist belt.

(Mine was dark green. The photograph is from http://www.granniesloft.co.uk/ where it is or was for sale for £50.)

Time went on and my wife and I had ten rucksacks, most of them day sacks and four large ones. We've decided this year to go walking in the Pyrenees. We will be carrying our own gear and so wanted lighter rucksacks than the bigger ones and more volume than the day sacks. We have just bought two Deuter SLs - women's rucksacks that can be raised up and down on the frame, also backwards and forwards. Fitting the rucksack resembles a trip to Saville Row for a new suit. Fine tuning is the order of the day. The woman's rucksack is just for short people. We both are short. The amusing thought is will they be worth more than we paid for them in sixty years time?