Backpack Reviews

The Granite Gear Crown2 60 Backpack is one of the lightest weight multi-day backpacks available that is specifically designed for women with gender-specific shoulder straps and a hip belt. It’s one of the main reasons I bought this backpack, in addition to its light weight. I’ve never been impressed with …

The Osprey Renn 50 is a women’s-specific multi-day backpack with an adjustable and ventilated frame. Weighing just 3.31 pounds (53 oz), it’s lightweight, comfortable, and easy-to-use with plenty of pockets to stay organized. Priced at $155, it’s also surprisingly affordable considering how fully featured it is. If you’re on the …

The 2019 Granite Gear Crown2 60 Backpack (which is colored black with red highlights) is available in both the men’s and women’s sizes, with gender-specific shoulder straps and hip belts. Weighing 39.7 oz fully configured, it can be modified in several ways, bringing its weight down to 30.4 oz, depending …

The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Shoulder Pocket is the best pocket I’ve found for carrying a smartphone, camera, or a Garmin inReach Explorer+ strapped to my backpack shoulder pads, where I can easily access them during a hike. This accessory pocket is easy to attach to any backpack with a vertical …

The MassDrop x Granite Gear x60 is a roll top backpack with an optional top lid and an adjustable length hip belt. Weighing 23.2 to 40.2 ounces (depending on the configuration), it has a max load of 30-35 pounds. The X60 is a modified version of Granite Gear Crown2 60 …

The Granite Gear Vapor Trail 60 is a remake of a vintage ultralight-style backpack that was retired about ten years ago and is no longer made. At one time, the Vapor Trail  was the most popular backpack used by thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail. REI decided to reissue it as …

The Deuter Aircontact Lite 65+10 is an adjustable-length backpack that’s good for multi-day or extended backpacking trips when you need to carry more gear and supplies. Weighing just 4 lbs 6 oz, its surprisingly lightweight for a pack that can comfortably haul 50 pound loads.  Despite it’s lightweight, the  Aircontact …

The Gregory Zulu 55 (2019 model) is a ventilated, adjustable frame backpack that’s loaded with features but still fairly light, weighing in at 3 lbs 10 oz. While the Zulu and its female sibling, the Gregory Jade 53, have been on the market for many years, the new models have …

The Granite Gear Blaze 60 is a multi-day backpack with an adjustable length torso and hip belt, so you can get a personalized fit. Weighing 3 lbs, the Blaze 60 is optimized for hauling heavy and bulky gear, including the ability to carry a bear canister on top of the …

The REI Flash 55 Backpack is an ultralight, roll-top backpack with an optional top lid pocket. Weighing 2 lbs 10 oz, it has a ventilated back to help keep your shirt dry in warm weather and numerous pockets and straps, called “packmods”, that can be removed or reconfigured to lighten it …

The Deuter Rise Lite 26 SL is a women’s specific winter backpack that’s ideal for winter day trips, such as skiing, snowboarding, hiking, climbing and snowshoeing. Being a women’s specific backpack, the torso length and width are designed for a smaller female frame as compared to a men’s pack and …

The Gregory Packs Octal 55 is an ultralight backpack with a ventilated frame that helps evaporate back sweat and keep your shirt dry when hiking. Weighing 2 lbs 10 oz, it’s also one of a very small handful of female specific ultralight backpacks today, with shoulder straps and a specially curved …

The Gossamer Gear Silverback 55 is a refined and highly functional multi-day backpack that can easily configured in different ways for different kinds of trips, from long distance thru-hiking to multi-day backpacks, on and off-trail. This is the second iteration of the Silverback and it’s undergone some major changes, on balance …

The Hyperlite Mountain Gear 2400 Southwest Backpack is a 40L pack (with an additional 9.8L of external storage) that is suitable for ultralight backpacking trips, off trail hiking through dense vegetation, or winter day hikes when you need to carry extra clothing layers. Made with Hyperlite Mountain Gear’s (HMG) ultralight dyneema composite fabric (DCF), …