Comment by PaulDavisThe1st

While I would not disagree with many of the points made in TFA, I think this is a bad example to demonstrate the problem the author is trying to address.

Why? Over the last twenty years, many high end backpack designs have moved towards lighter weight materials and construction, because of trends in the world of backpacking.

This means that even in the high end segment of the market, comparing packs to ones from decades ago can be misleading - they are working with different design goals.

None of this eliminates the points about cheaper materials and construction at the lower end of the market, but it does make things a bit more complex than they need to be if a different example was used to illustrate all this.