Son is pushing 20 lbs and I am thinking about upgrading my carrier. He still fits in the Ergo, and it is a good carrier, but even then, after 30-60 minutes of carrying him I need a break.

I've heard the Deuter Kid Comfort II mentioned on this site before... so, who has one? How heavy is your kid? Have you taken him on some long hikes with this pack?

The Kid Comfort II is onsale at REI now and I'm awful tempted to drop the money on it. Hope I might hear some feedback from fellow dads here first -

Thanks

Roger

(edit: OK I can go for longer than 60 minutes... I usually walk him for an hour a night. But I want to take my kid out into the Gorge and some of the hikes there will not be kind to a middle-aged man with a heavy infant strapped to his chest. And my little guy does not seem likely to get any lighter)

My favorite carrier for the larger kids is BabyBjorn Comfort carrier. It is safe for 30+ lbs and I used it with Myers and loved it. www.babybjorn.com/us/products/baby-carri...ier/comfort-carrier/

I did end up buying the Deuter Kid Comfort II, months ago. (I forgot all about this thread ... something about sleep deprivation and taking care of an infant has kept me away from my favorite websites lately ). I got the backpack, plus all of the accessories (sun cover, rainfly, etc) shipped for $200 from rei-outlet.com.

My original reason for wanting the pack was that I felt the Ergo was putting too much weight on my shoulders. The Deuter puts its weight on my hips. Now, for some reason, I don't find the Ergo uncomfortable any more - maybe I just needed to toughen up.

However, we do find the Deuter very useful for some activities. Hiking is a big thing for us and we've taken our son in the Deuter on several hikes so far, in Olympic National Park as well as the Columbia Gorge. In fact this Saturday we are organizing a hike of Hamilton Mountain, on the Washington side of the gorge, with several of our new-parent friends, and the Deuter will be going with us. The single biggest plus about this pack is the way it distributes weight... the majority of the weight goes on your hips, and that makes it very comfortable to haul the baby on long hikes that feature some elevation gain.

Now, was it worth $200? Should I have saved the money and just toughed it out with the Ergo? Maybe... at the time I bought this, our son was just a few months old, I was very sleep deprived, and I can tell you I was in the mood to buy ANYTHING that made the new parenting experience easier. We haven't taken an overnight backpacking trip with our son yet, but if we do (we've talked about it), then the Deuter would definitely be superior to the Ergo in that context.

Deuter has upgraded their product line, the Kid Comfort III is now available, but you might find the KCII on sale in existing stock.