Customer Reviews

Kelty FC 1.0 Child Carrier (Black, One Size)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First off, I love Kelty products--I had a nice Kelty backpack that I used to trek around Africa years ago. This child carrier is no different in terms of quality. It is adjustable, comfortable, and best of all, my 1 year old loves sitting in it. I never have liked strollers, and the baby bjorn was OK, but obviously useful only for smaller kids. This backpack is great and I anticipate using it for some time, at least until my child outgrows it. Definitely recommended. I don't know how much "better" the 2.0 or 3.0 versions are--the only real advantage I can see is that one of them comes with a sunshield, which would be nice to have. I know you can also buy the sunshield separately...or just put a hat on your kid.

I bought this for a major road trip our family took. We spent 18 days on the road, drove 4300 miles, and hiked 2-5 mile on most of those days. Our baby spent anywhere between 2 and 6 hours in the carrier on about 12 of those days. She never complained when she was in it. She wouldn't even ask for a bottle. We had to remember to bottle her on schedule to make sure she didn't get dehydrated. Normally, she lets us know loudly when it's time.

She seemed to really enjoy being up high, and liked looking around at the scenery. Every time she would see me start setting it up, she would get excited. From her perspective, it was perfect. She was so comfortable in it that she would even nap up there.

For me, it was surprisingly comfortable. I could wear it for hours with no problem - I would forget I was wearing it. I wish the there was more storage on the belt - there is only the small zippered mesh pouch, but that's minor. You have to take it off or have someone else help to get stuff in or out of the backpack. The mesh back is great. Even at 90+ deg temps, it doesn't feel much hotter than not wearing a pack.

One drawback is that the high position of the child does raise your center of gravity. This makes you less stable than a carrier that keeps the baby lower on your back. I felt like I had to be very careful hiking on steep slopes. This is a trade-off though. I don't think my little one would have tolerated the carrier for hour after hour if all she had to look at was my sweaty back! I expected this and minimized hiking on steep slopes during the trip.

Overall, this carrier was key to us having an awesome vacation. The baby loved the trip, and was actually less trouble on the trip than her older brothers!

I love this thing! Now I can work around the house without having the to hold everything out at arms length like I would while using the bjorn. Also now I can put my 15 month old in the carrier and put the new born in the bjorn and my 3 year old on my shoulders if we go hiking or walking around somewhere in which we dont want to mess around with keeping the kids out of stuff they shouldnt get into. With all the kids on I feel like daddy voltron! Now if they could make a double decker or a version where you add on a front carrier like a harness you would put on a pack mule.

You can tell whoever designed this understands backpacks. It is highly adjustable, size-wise, and the part of the bag that contacts your back is mesh, which lets air circulate to your back and keeps it from sweating. The material seems pretty durable, and the kick stand is just a great feature.

Pros: Highly, highly, adjustable, but you need to check the directions. There are a LOT of straps on this thing. Straps that adjust the fit around your child's thighs, how high up in the carrier they sit, how their shoulder pads fit, the height of your shoulder straps related to the hip belt, etc. I also like that there is a bag behind the "cockpit" to store things, which let us leave a diaper bag in the car.

Cons: The bag behind the cockpit is surprisingly small. I think it looks bigger on the outside, but when you're actually trying to fit things in it you realize it's probably similar spacewise to a pocketbook. So you can fit some diapers, wipes, and maybe a change of baby clothes or two, but not much more than that. Also, and maybe this is just backpack-ery wishes, I really wish there were more places to lash stuff onto. I had to get pretty creative when I carabiner-ed a water bottle onto it, and I also wish there was some place to put a baby bottle. You can probably come up with a solution on your own, but I found the lack of a bottle holder, baby or water, surprising.

Additional notes: Some people have problems getting this off an on with one person. They describe a method in the directions that is pretty helpful, but honestly if you're pretty strong and use the two handles on the top of the bag to help you it's not much of a problem. If you do have a an issue, definitely check out the method described in the booklet - it built up my confidence and now I just sort of muscle it on. Definitely practice sans baby a couple times, if only to adjust your own fit.

Keep in mind if your kid weighs 25 pounds your kid is going to weigh 25 pounds. No amount of perfect weight distribution is going to make that any lighter, so keep in mind that in can get tiring. Also, the carrier does what it can to distribute the weight in comfortable ways, but if it's a long day at some point your hips hurt and your shoulders ache, especially if you're not used to backpacking. Similarly, because you have to adjust the carrier to your own fit, you'll find it gets a bit annoying to switch turns with anyone, because you'll have to adjust the straps for each person. Yes, you could just use another person's settings, but after about 30 minutes you'll shoulders may hate you for it. These are all problems that will plague any child carrier, so just keep that in mind.

Also, there is a neat accessory you can purchase which is basically a wide angle mirror on a retractable line. I ended up DIYing one together myself with an old ID badge reel and a dollar-store blind spot mirror I had lying around the house, but in either case I found having the ability to check on my son was very helpful. Would recommend procuring one if possible.

All in all, this carrier is dirt cheap for what it does; if you're looking for a child carrier on a budget, this is the one you want.

I tried on every Kelty kid carrier they make and also some Deuter kid carriers, and went with the Kelty FC 1.0 for the combination of weight, comfort, and price. I'm having a little bit of buyer's remorse and think that I should have gone with the FC 2.0 because it has a little bit more padding - but then again, it also weighs more. Oh, and I've also heard that the sun hood does not fit the 1.0. Huge bummer if that is true because I really want to buy the sun hood. All in all, I'm very happy with the FC 1.0 because it was a great price, it's very light, and I can get the baby in and out WAAAAAAY easier than the Deuter (although the Deuter did feel like a superior product - a medium amount more comfort for baby, and just a little bit more comfortable for me).

The FC 1.0 works extremely well for a short walking trip. You can get the baby in and out quite quickly, and the pain of wearing the backpack doesn't set in until about 3-miles.

You will need the sun hood if you live somewhere where there is a lot of sun exposure.

I ordered this backback for my 5'2" daughter to carry our 18 lb grandson in. My 6'3" son-in-law had it strapped on and was so pleased he wanted to go wake the baby up to put him in. My son-in-law is a hunting guide who says this pack is more comfortable than his regular pack and he's ready to take his son mountain lion tracking. My daughter also says the pack is comfortable on her and she likes the various pockets for baby essentials. This pack is a hit!

This is a well-made, stylish, sturdy carrier. The thing that surprises everyone is how light it is empty. It is also very adjustable. My wife is 5'7" and I am 6'4". We set the waist belt at the highest setting for her and the lowest setting for me and it works fine. Our daughter is 22# and loves riding in it. Whenever she sees it, she wants to hop in and go for a ride. It is a little tricky to get all the fasteners that hold her in out fo the way so that her feet don't catch on them when you put her in, but it's easy to learn to tuck them out of the way first. She will often fall asleep in it because I guess the motion of being carried is soothing to her.

On longer hikes, it does start to hurt your shoulders after a few hours, but that is probably just me not getting in shape to use it yet. It has plenty of storage space. We can carry diaper stuff, snacks, a water bottle and more in the large pouch for longer hikes. But we also use it frequently to walk the dogs. A carrier is the only way we've found to walk 2 dogs with a little one.

We also bought the sun/rain hood, but haven't used it yet. When not being used, it fits perfectly in the large flat pocket on the bottom of the carrier (right behind the small of your back when you're wearing it). The lining in the passenger seat is comfy, and it's easy to adjust the shoulder straps and seat height for the child. The pack is a little bulky to store, as the automatic kick stand bracket doesn't fold very flat to the pack, unless you loosen the inner straps that tighten the frame, and even then it doesn't fold truly flat. We've never tried other packs (upgraded from a Baby Bjorn), so I can't compare, but I think it's a great buy and has extended our traveling capabilities with our little girl. And I know from buying camping/hiking stuff that the Kelty name is well-respected.

I have a backpack carrier that is very simple and old. I was hoping to upgrade to something with more bells and whistles and something that would look and feel like a cadillac :)
I bought this based on user reviews and read most of them. I was super excited to get this product and enjoy it......... although once I got it, it was not the case. :( It looks beautiful and probably very comfortable for the baby/child. I tried and tried to make this product comfortable and enjoyable for me and never did. I even had my husband try it out and he thought it was very uncomfortable. I am 5'6 and thought that this backpack really threw my center of gravity off. The belt strap did not give the backpack any stability and was uncomfortable. The shoulder straps dug into my front of my shoulders and was not comfortable. My husband complained of the same things but was mostly unhappy that it threw off our center of gravity so bad- I tried it both with my 18 lb son and my daughter who is almost 3 and we were not happy with either........ returning this product :(

I bought this so I could take my eleven-month-old grandson with me on my daily one-hour hike. I have been using it daily for a month and am very impressed with it. Some years back (30+) I had a back pack for my children that was serviceable but not nearly as comfortable or as safe as this Kelty product. The frame easily distributes the weight and the straps keep my grandson secure. The most important point, however, is that he loves it. Right after breakfast he goes to the backpack and tries to climb in. Even when he is fussy, riding in the backpack puts him in a good mood. He has not cried once as we walk up hills and through woods. He sits high and can see in all directions. He likes it better than the stroller his parents usually use. I have no qualms in recommending this product. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

This is a great kid carrier! I know the kelty name from purchasing previous products, so I was okay with buying this. But it's much better than I thought it would be! My 6'2" husband and I (5'10") both use the backpack without any pain. My son loves it - he can see all around, and can still move to point and wave. The backpack puts him at the perfect level to play with my pony tail too. Other reviews say the sun hood doesn't fit this backpack, but we haven't had a problem with it at all. In fact, we wouldn't be able to use this backpack without the sun hood because my son has such pale skin! The straps are padded well enough that we can wear it for 6 hours without pain and my son is happy the whole time. The only suggestion for improvement that I would make is - when he falls asleep his head leans forward in a funny position (I'll be taking a suggestion from another review and making a "pillow" to fix this). We love this backpack and use it all the time!