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Anyone have one of these? I had seen them before and didn't know what to think of them. But the more I read and looked at them, the more I began to be interested in this pack.

I haven't actually read a bad review about them, I hear they're very roomy and need to be packed properly, but everyone who owns them seems to like them.

Only advisories I've heard are stay away from the Rothco and Fox Tactical (aka chinese crap clones) versions. They claim to be "better then mil-spec" yet offer up no specifications on the nylon denier, plastic and metal buckle spec, etc, etc. One of the retailers on Youtube swears that they are what they claim and insists because people order them, they must be good.

I've never heard a good review about the chinese knock offs, only the mil-surp ones.

Just wondering how much these go for in your area. Cheapest I've found them are about 50 bucks on eBay used, in poor condition, significantly more if they're in better shape.

Yeap - I have one
To me, one of the best rucksacks the US ever made. I´m sorry he never made it into service but that molle stuff.
The CFP-90 has a hugh capacity, you can make a sleeping bag fit into the (seperate) bottom. Also I like that extra radio bag pack on top. I can recommand that but would never buy any "copy"

Yes, the CFP-90 is a very sturdy pack and very versatile. I agree with Housil that it was very shortlived compared to the MOLLE stuff. Long ago there was one person in my National Guard unit that bought one out of his own pocket and really liked it over the ALICE packs that we were issued. There are some things that you have to consider with the CFP-90. One is the metal strips in the external frame have to be conformed to your back to feel really comfortable. You have to actually take them out and bend them slightly and second you have to get a good fit to the backpad and shoulder straps. You have to try it on and have someone adjust the pad to your height, that way it will prevent neck and shoulder strain. Once all those are done you can wear the pack all day without feeling worn out.

You can find slightly used packs for a good price in a lot of Army-Navy stores and Ebay, be patient and keep looking.

Come to think of it I did see a complete set the other day at a local surplus store for $129.99 with patrol pack. It looked like it was hardly used but if it was original I don't know. If there are mil spec or cheap China copies out there then shy away from them. ROTHCO being real notorious!

i got given one of these packs a few years ago,by a usaf friend(dont know how he came by it)i found it to be to big for my needs and passed it down the line ,i wish i had kept it because it had some nice ideas i didnt understand. i dont know if it was geniune,it looked solid and heavy and i think it was made by specialist plastic products or parts??? (i vaguely remember) .

Fdsman,

I did some checking around the 'web and looked at some info I had in my reading collection. The CPF-90 pack idea was formulated out of a WWII USMC Jungle pack model in 1942 which a final version came out in 1943. The main pack was a one piece design with a detachable patrol pack on top. There were two versions: one was a "duck hunter" camouflage for the USMC and then there was a standard OD version for the Army. Both versions were "no frills" and did not look comfortable but the USMC had a system where the pack suspension could be hooked into a web belt and suspenders thereby lighten the strain on shoulders and the neck. Another fact was that the pack could not be fashioned into a "stand alone" pack for raids or patrolling. Both designs were cancelled after 1945, so if you can find any WWII USMC jungle packs that are in good condition you can see where the CFP-90 design came from.

Now fast forward to the 1980's and the DoD was looking around at the civilian products to replace the aging ALICE. LOWE Alpine had some good rock solid packs and somebody merged one with the WWII design. Around 1986-88 the first prototype CFP-90's came out and unfortunately the first runs had really bad design flaws so around 1989-90 the second versions came out with better materials but problems still arose, so that is why during the 1990's you see ALICE packs still being used with CFP-90's. I also read the sleeping bag compartment on the bottom of the CFP-90's was really too small for the older cotton canvas sleeping bags and the pack itself was very limted for winter time use as you could not put alot of winter gear into the pack without running out of space.

If you find one in really good condition, get it! From what I have seen so far on the "net there are some after market knock offs (fully complete) for $129.99 but you can't get one in original woodland camo.

Is there any way to tell what pack revision you're looking at? There are several genuine ones on eBay but none have any more info then who the manufacturer is.

the one i had was made by specialty plastics products,but i dont remember the address

The biggest complaint I've heard about the genuine ones is the plastic piece that attaches to the sliding adjustment for shoulder strap height has been known to break.



Several people have recommended fabricating a new piece out of aluminum or steel with slots cut for attaching straps.

FDSman,

You right about the plastic part breaking all the time. That was one of several complaints that the CFP-90 had over its lifetime. There are several ways you can correct this:

1) Contact Low Alpine and see what company the recommend for parts, from what I have read and discovered Low Alpine will not repair the product but maybe they would recommend a company that can sell you replacement parts. Try "googling" the name and see what comes up. Several blogs I scanned over last night have old posts so you might have to dig around and find a number for them.
2) Try and see if there are some older damaged packs out there you can cannibalize for parts, be sure to get two of something.
3) Look around for a cobbler shop or a sewing place near you. They might be able to fashion a replacement part out of leather or a thicker piece of plastic. If you go with leather try a 2 inch or 1 inch doubled up and have some slots sewn directly into the leather for the shoulder straps. I didn't see any comments about using steel or aluminum, so I can't recommend anything.
4) This is the most direct way, from what I've read, ditch the plastic part and have a cobbler or tailor sew the shoulder straps directly on the pack but adjust the pack exactly to your height and where the pack fits comfortably on you. Once this is done, that's it, you can't adjust the pack any more.

Also on your comment of which version somebody has. Well, according to some blogs the early versions made by Low Alpine had a brown bottom and a patrol pack that sat directly on top of the main flap. The later versions had a green bottom and the patrol pack was lowered farther down on the front pack. The reason being as the troops complained that the patrol pack slid forward and slammed into the back of your head if you had to get down into the prone firing position with the pack on so the second versions had the pack lowered to where it would not do this. As far as who had the production contract, sodjer got it right; Specialty Plastics Production had the contract for both versions but after 2001 they changed their company name to Specialty Defense Systems, Inc. and had the biggest, and only, MOLLE contract for the DoD. There was some crossover between first and second generation CFP-90's so if you have one or are going to buy one, look for the manufacturing tag it should have all the details there. As for a genuine one, well, according to what I've read if the pack breaks on the pastic part, the seams blow out or the carrying handle rips out then you have a genuine one.

During the course of the CFP-90, the problems associated with the first versions were not correctly solved and some problems still passed on to the second models. As far as finding some on line, try get the buyer to show a photo of the manufacturing tag. It's probably the easiest. Hope this helps.

Treesuit wrote:FDSman,

You right about the plastic part breaking all the time. That was one of several complaints that the CFP-90 had over its lifetime. There are several ways you can correct this:

1) Contact Low Alpine and see what company the recommend for parts, from what I have read and discovered Low Alpine will not repair the product but maybe they would recommend a company that can sell you replacement parts. Try "googling" the name and see what comes up. Several blogs I scanned over last night have old posts so you might have to dig around and find a number for them.
2) Try and see if there are some older damaged packs out there you can cannibalize for parts, be sure to get two of something.
3) Look around for a cobbler shop or a sewing place near you. They might be able to fashion a replacement part out of leather or a thicker piece of plastic. If you go with leather try a 2 inch or 1 inch doubled up and have some slots sewn directly into the leather for the shoulder straps. I didn't see any comments about using steel or aluminum, so I can't recommend anything.
4) This is the most direct way, from what I've read, ditch the plastic part and have a cobbler or tailor sew the shoulder straps directly on the pack but adjust the pack exactly to your height and where the pack fits comfortably on you. Once this is done, that's it, you can't adjust the pack any more.

Also on your comment of which version somebody has. Well, according to some blogs the early versions made by Low Alpine had a brown bottom and a patrol pack that sat directly on top of the main flap. The later versions had a green bottom and the patrol pack was lowered farther down on the front pack. The reason being as the troops complained that the patrol pack slid forward and slammed into the back of your head if you had to get down into the prone firing position with the pack on so the second versions had the pack lowered to where it would not do this. As far as who had the production contract, sodjer got it right; Specialty Plastics Production had the contract for both versions but after 2001 they changed their company name to Specialty Defense Systems, Inc. and had the biggest, and only, MOLLE contract for the DoD. There was some crossover between first and second generation CFP-90's so if you have one or are going to buy one, look for the manufacturing tag it should have all the details there. As for a genuine one, well, according to what I've read if the pack breaks on the pastic part, the seams blow out or the carrying handle rips out then you have a genuine one.

During the course of the CFP-90, the problems associated with the first versions were not correctly solved and some problems still passed on to the second models. As far as finding some on line, try get the buyer to show a photo of the manufacturing tag. It's probably the easiest. Hope this helps.

If the genuine packs breaks like that, I can't imagine how a Rothco or other chinese clone pack would do...