In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:
You really do dislike "sucky tubes" don't you Dan? Was a it a traumatic accident with a curly-wurly straw when you were little or something?
On a couple of packs I have they do have little hip-belt pockets and I was surprised at how useful I found them - having previously survived 30+ years without them and never thinking "I really need a pocket on my hip-belt!" But once you have them, particularly on walking packs as opposed to climbing, you can put all sorts of things in them and soon get quite used to it. A little monocular is one thing I took once, almost by chance, but with it in the hip-belt pocket easy to grab, I watched more birds and other wildlife for longer on that walk than I would normally.
Like rain covers, it does seem an Osprey thing to have lots of natty little features on the pack, but I think Osprey do design well that there is no or minimal weight increase due to them.