ULA Dragonfly 36L: what are your experience with thiner less padded straps
Hey Dragonfly lovers out there!
I've just received my 2nd ULA Dragonfly this week, the 36L Patchless version in white Ultra.
I already have the Patchless Pass-thru Ultra 30L in black, i've ordered it directly from ULA a few months ago but being based in Europe, i've paid a huge amount in shipping fees and taxes for it (I didn't know about Outdoorline at the time).
I absolutely love the bag though and wanted to get the larger version for one bag travel and an upcoming trip i have in July. I've finally ordered it via Outdoorline (the only ULA retailer in Europe as far as i know) to avoid paying that much taxes and shipping costs again.
I was chatting with the Outdoorline team over emails before and they told me that they were ordering a new stock from ULA so i assumed the bag would come with the more padded straps as it is the new standard for all Dragonfly now. I even brought that up to the team by email before, asking if the bag would well come with the more padded straps and they told me they weren't aware about the new padding on the straps but that they were always getting the newest products, so they assumed i'd get the bag i wanted, so i've ordered it about a month later when it was finally back in stock.
The bag finally arrived this week and my first impression is that it is absolutely gorgeous and i loooove the white Ultra (wasn't sure how i'd like it in person but it's really nice). My only disappointment came when comparing it to my 30L version and realized that the straps on the 36L are sadly less padded. I've tried the bag empty and it feels super comfortable (even more than my 30L empty which is weird but i'm assuming it's because the size of the 36L seems to be fitting my frame better). Now my real concern is how it will perform when fully loaded and if it might get super uncomfortable.
For those who have the 36L with less padded straps, what is your experience when it comes to comfort? How does it perform for you when carrying the bag empty vs fully loaded?
I've contacted Outdoorline and they said they were not aware about the Dragonfly having more padded straps now (well that's quite strange because we did talk about this in a previous email conversation). They said they can't compare the straps on both bags (the black 36L version they have in stock, i'm assuming these are from the new stock they recently got from ULA) and the white one because they don't have anymore in stock (I'm kinda assuming they gave me one from an old stock they had lying around but can't be certain). They also said that i could return the bag or exchange it with the black version (at my own costs). I already have the 30L in black so i'm not interested to get the 36L in black as well.
What would you do in my case? At the price these bags are, i'd really like to be fully satisfied with my purchase, but returning this bag would be at my own costs and i wouldn't be able to get the white version anymore. I'd really appreciate to hear about the comfort experience from folks who have the 36L with less padded straps to see if keeping it could be my best option, or if i'd better return it and hope to be able to get my hands on a white version with more padding in future. Unfortunately that would mean not to have the bag for my upcoming trip in July and loose another 20€ in shipping costs for returning the bag.