Black Diamond Saga 40 Jetforce
What we liked …
Super clean design, great strap ergonomics, and the less hassle an electric system gives you over cannisters.
What we didn’t …
Awkward battery pack location and only 40L, making it tight for multiple-night trips. Also, lack of any sort of hydration system fixings/apertures.
The Verdict
Our Rating
4 out of 5 - with some definite pros and cons to consider…
The Short Read…
While on test over the last few seasons, the Black Diamond Jetforce has proven to be reliable (in test deployments), relatively capacious (though with an odd internal space shape), with several excellent ergonomic features.
The Long read …
The Saga 40 Jetforce is Black Diamonds’ largest avalanche airbag pack, using an electric fan to inflate the bag.
Despite being called the Saga 40, it actually comes in two sizes, both almost identical weight but the S/M is listed as 38L, while the M/L is listed at 40L, and in two colours: black, and red. The S-M is 3.4kg while the M-L is 3.5kg.
I’ve had this pack for four seasons now, using it regularly when off-piste and for day- or 1-2 night hut tours.
Black Diamond use an electric powered jet fan to inflating the air bag very quickly. The trigger system is well designed, not a T-handle like many other bags but a symmetrical alloy cylinder, presumably making it easier to get a good grip on it in any orientation. That handle has easy-to-see LED indicators telling you it’s on, and how many inflations remain. The system gives audible indicators when turning on and off (‘off’ is a subtle ‘chirp’, whereas ‘on’ is a second-long burst of the fan, which will make everyone jump if you do that in a crowd!). Also, that battery keeps a charge for ages - like, not decreasing after almost 2 years in a cupboard over covid.
The inflatable bag is re-stowed after inflation pretty simply - relocate one zip head and stuff the bag back in.
Note: A significant problem with the design is that a large side flap that should burst open only when you pull the trigger does so when the bag is packed very full. That flap is elasticated and so is under quite a bit of tension when the bag is full. Once the volume of contents has reached the point where it does start to pop open, it can’t be made to stay closed again. This should not impede the actual inflation at all, if you needed it, but the packed bag can basically start to fall out. Again, this is not an issue when the bag is ‘normally’ filled, but it does limit the amount of stuff you can put in it. And it’d 40L, so I don’t mark it down a lot for this, and some other standout features do make up for it somewhat. This flap can be seen in the picture below.
The side-flap that will keep popping open when the bag is ‘over-filled’
You might debate whether anyone needs 4-5 inflations on one charge but this is what it delivers (the exact number being slightly temperature dependent) – and I think this gives two extremely desirable safety features; (1) to be able to practice multiple times, quickly and at zero cost, and (2) allows some false-positive triggers while out riding, meaning there’s less need to spend time trying to calculate whether this particular slide you are in is big enough to warrant pulling…just pull it.
The cost here is in weight and volume. The battery is noticeable - in weight, volume and how it makes the internal space a bit awkward - however the pack’s ergonomics somewhat make up for this.
The bag feels super-comfy on. It comes with something called “Swing Arm” shoulder straps, which in practice mean cantilevered shoulder straps that adjust length to cope with any side-leaning you might be doing, and will keep a much more even pressure across both shoulders as your body moves. It seems to give the effect of the pack feeling noticeably lighter on your back than a normal type of pack.
You cannot switch the bag-activation mechanism between shoulder straps, it’s fixed on the left side.
The pack design overall is super clean, very few projections, hooks, loops or other straps on the outside.
Volume-wise, if you are a very light packer then you might just be able to handle multiple-night trips with the 40L, staying in huts, but it’s gonna be tight, especially if you need to pack something bulky like a sleeping-bag, or rope. For longer trips, I feel it really needs at least another 5 litres. It can handle a single big day with glacier kit, ski and boot crampons, a rope inside etc, though again, it’s pretty tight.
It’s not designed to be waterproof, so best to avoid riding in the pouring rain.
Access to the main storage compartment is excellent, via both rear-entry and top zips, with a very usefully-large additional top pocket, with built-in internal pocket. There is a very small zipped side pocket, lower, right, accessible with the bag on, but the zip placement is vertical, rather than horizontal at the top of the pocket, meaning something could potentially fall out when the zip is pulled down to open.
There is a big avi tools front-pocket as well, with a super-easy access velcro and zip. Some people have claimed that pocket is not deep enough for long shovel handles but I’ve not had any issues there – getting poles, shovel, handle, snow-saw and skins in is no trouble, with plenty of room.
Annoyingly, there is no allowance for any kind of hydration system - i.e. water bags kept inside the pack with hoses over your shoulder, say - which is a pain as you have to take your bag off and dig around for your water bottle. You can keep a water sack inside, of course, but to get the hose out you’d need to punch a hole in the fabric above where the shoulder strap meets the body, not ideal.
The helmet carry clips are very brittle and I broke one in short order, but this was replaced fairly speedily and free of charge by Black Diamond.
There is only one very small hip belt gear pocket, which is only just big enough for a small smartphone.
One joy is the lack of hassle at airports compared to cannister bags – with no documentation needing to be presented. That’s not to say you won’t be pulled over – the presence of wires, cables and the motor has caused some questioning by some airport x-ray staff – we even had one request in Kyrgyzstan to ‘remove the motor’! Not possible but luckily they lost interest and moved on to some other unfortunate traveller.
Overall it’s definitely not a perfect design - with the side flap popping open issue - but I’d still strongly recommend the Jetforce due to all it’s other ergonomics. Plus, the electric activation system might be it’s biggest selling point – electric multi-pull systems having some clear advantages over one pull cannister-systems, that’s as long as you’re happy dealing with the extra weight, which this pack does manage to mitigate somewhat.
Words and photos: Andy B