Originally Posted by
acidfast7
I really appreciate the quality of the Osprey line of rucksucks. I'm just struck by how garish they tend to be. Great if I'm in the Alps and need to get found by air after an avalanche but not so good for a daily commute. Also, the colour-retention of the brightly coloured packs seems to fade after a few years.
Commuting in the US, that garish high visibility is a major plus, not a minus. Drivers here are so distracted (mostly self-induced), my wife and I have taken to wearing construction-type high-vis vests even when walking. We've found high-vis definitely effective in both situations.
We've also noticed how much anything high-vis fades. For my pannier/backpack, I found a high-vis rain cover online. Handy that I can remove it, so the bag looks "normal" for carrying a laptop, etc. to meetings. About a year old, just starting to fade.
The vests fade at aprx. 3-4 years; we also keep them under the seats of each truck, so we rotate those in to daily use and replace them when the old ones fade.