I purchased one of those $200 packs that they sell at Copia and took it on a trip with 5 other people.  To the person everyone agreed that was the most uncomfortable pack they had ever carried. When I got home I did a little pack research.  At the time I had a loop in the woods that was 3 miles around with a couple of hills that the dog and I did daily.  I had 3 packs I wanted to evaluate. They were ( in order of comfort) Cabela’s external frame pack,  Woods Mason pack, the $200. Pack. I loaded up the packs with 60 lbs and each day I would carry a different pack.  Each pack was carried at least 2 times and never the same pack 2 days in a row. The first thing I noticed was the $200 pack always made my hips hurt and to a lesser extent the Woods pack did.  The frame pack never made my hips hurt and it did a better job of transferring weight off my shoulders. I found that the $200 and the Woods packs hung down below the waist belt and rested on my rump.  This pushed on my rump mussels and made my hips hurt.  The tighter the waist belt the harder it pushed and the more my hips hurt.  I found that if I packed the Woods pack with a couple of smaller items in the bottom and left the waist belt off there was less pressure on my rump and less hip pain.  I sold the $200 pack for $100 and was glad to be rid of it. Two years later I needed another pack for a upcoming trip so I purchased a used pack from an outfitter.  It did not have stays like the Woods pack and carried like a ball on my back but as long as I did not use the waist belt it did not hurt my hips.  Last year I did my first base camp trip in a long time and with a 10 year old.  I wanted a table or two to use in camp.  In trying things out at home I cut 2 pieces of 3/16 plywood that just fit against the padding in the side of the pack that goes against my back. I loaded the pack up and went for a walk.  Wow that pack carried better but it still sat on my rump.  I cut a piece of 1” thick styrene and used double sided tape to attach it to the pad that came in the pack so it rested on the small of my back. This pack is now more comfortable than the Woods pack. On the nest trip I only had one piece of plywood and it still carried fine. I have found that the waist belts on all of the canoe packs I have carried DO NOT TRANSFER WEIGHT there just a pain in the A$$ and not worth the time to fasten them.