In response to oarframe, I think you need to see and experience John's frames in person. John and many others may share a different view of perfection. To quote Antoine de Saint-Exupery, "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." I have one of John's frames and use it regularly, around 30 to 50 times a year, to run all kinds of rivers. We run remote hike in runs like the Gunnison Gorge, and Black Canyon. We run extended multiday trips like Cataract, the Grand and the Dirty Devil. John has mastered his set up. He can load his boat with his kitchen, food for four for 6 days, a fire pan and wood, drinking water, his overnight gear, and all the other gear(safety/repair/first-aid) into his Hyside mini-me and not look overloaded. In fact every trip we go on where there is a big boat, for us that means bigger than 10.5 feet long, the rower of said raft generally is in awe of what John's frames can do. I have seen him convert around 20 big boaters into mini-mers. In fact Hyside has focused on his frame in the last catalog and according to them because of John's frames Delta CO is currently the World Capital for Mini-mes. His frames are also bomb proof, at 14 lbs he has found away to make them almost indestructible. I love my frame and he is currently building me one for my new mini-max. The best part is the frame is so collapsable that two people can carry the frame, the boat, the raft/fishing gear, and even overnight gear. We can be anywhere in only one load. But, they aren't for everyone. Which is good for me, because if everyone had one it would be much harder to get to rivers void of people.
On a side note, John used his frame and mini-me to do a 30 day self support (meaning he carried his own gear and food) down the grand at 40,000 cfs.