Gear Review
Landjoff Caving Packs
Speleo 28 & Speleo 22
Darren Drums
Located in Bulgaria, Landjoff is a professional producer of equipment for caving and canyoneering gear. You can purchase any of their products direct by going to http://landjoff.com, however you will have high shipping costs if you live in the USA. If you are here in the United States you can find a selection of their products including cave packs and suits from West Virginia Underground at:
https://www.wvunderground.net/brands/landjoff/. West Virginia Underground offers reasonable priority mail shipping.
My husband and I are both extremely active cavers here in the TAG region. We do a lot of survey trips, multi drops, thru trips, photos trips, camp trips, deep pits, wet caving, etc… For over three years now we have been using Landjoff packs and have found that they hold up extremely well in the various TAG caving conditions. We have even used our Landjoff packs canyoneering in Utah. Jason has been using the Speleo 28 which is 28 liters. It measures in at H55cm x D25 and weighs only 580g. It is made out of heavy duty 680/m2 PVC, 1100 dtex, has duraflex buckles and has adjustable webbing shoulder straps to wear it as a pack on your back. It is a cylinder/circular shape and includes brass eyelets for water drainage on the bottom. Also included on the sides of the pack are two carry handles for those times when you don’t want to carry it on your back and it closes using a drawstring. I have been using the little sister to the Speleo 28, the Speleo 22. The difference is it is only 22 liters, it is H55cm x D22.5cm and weights 540g. It is made out of the same materials as the Speleo 28 but is shorter. Being only 5’ 1” the Speleo 28 sits too high on my back and rides up the back of my neck so the Speleo 22 is perfect for me. Both packs have continued to impress us and hold up in the extreme caving conditions we have put them through. While caving, we also attach the packs to a belt strap using the pack lanyard and a carabiner while pulling them through crawlways with ease. I believe the cylinder shape allows for much easier dragging thru a cave and rarely does it get stuck. Another added benefit to these cave packs is if and when you do wear thru it, you can cut it into nice sized PVC rope pads. The landjoff packs come in multiple colors such as: Red, Blue, Orange, Yellow, and Green.
Both Jason and I also carry a Darren Drum in our Landjoff packs. Darren Drums come in three sizes; 3.5 liter, 6 liter and 15 liter. Both the 3.5 and 6 liter drums fit nicely in both the Speleo 28 and Speleo 22 packs with ease. I have been carrying not only snacks and dry clothing but also camera gear and survey equipment in my drums and have never had an issue with them leaking as each drum comes with a o-ring seal in the lid. The 3.5 liter is great for short trips where you really only need a few things. The 6 liter has been great for longer cave trips where you not only need snacks but also an extra dry layer, wet suit top or survey gear. We have even used the 15 liter size to carry a drill and bolting equipment into caves, but this one does not fit into the Landjoff packs. All three sizes of the Darren Drums can be purchased thru Inner Mountain Outfitters located near LaFayette, Georgia or by going to their web site at www.innermountainoutfitters.com.
