Proper weight distribution is much more important than you might assume. It is making your hiking more comfortable and it plays a great role in avoiding muscle injuries and fatigue. Also, even if you get the best one it won’t feel comfortable unless you learn how to pack it properly. This means that bulky stuff should be packed at the bottom of the bag as close to the frame as possible.
The food should also be placed here, except the food that you are planning to eat during the hike which should be placed in external pockets. Clothes should be compressed as much as possible and packed evenly on the sides of the backpack. Basically, you should make sure the weight is balanced on either side. Once you manage to pack your essentials you will notice that your body has a natural reflex to lean forward a bit. This doesn’t mean that the weight is not distributed properly, but it is just a natural reflex.
If you are hiking on a steeper terrain you will notice that your body tends to lean even more forward in order to retain its balance. The straps, however, are very important for proper weight distribution and they must be the right size. If they are too tight they might cause bad blood circulation which will result in fatigue. If they are too loose, the weight won’t be properly distributed and in the worst case you might end up with an injury. This leads us to the next point of explaining the straps.