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REI Traverse 32 Backpack Review

REI Traverse 32 Backpack Review

The REI Traverse 32 is a versatile daypack designed for longer day hikes with features that lend themselves to four-season use. It is a top loader with a floating lid, a front stretch pocket, a side zipper in the main compartment, and two tiers of side compression straps that can be used to strap a foam pad or snowshoes to the outside of your pack. In addition, the pack features side pockets that anyone can get water bottles in and out, a capability shared by many of REI’s other backpacks, including the REI Flash Air 50.

Unfortunately, the Traverse 32’s sternum strap pops off easily when torqued. The same thing happens with the REI Traverse 60 (see our review). It’s possible to reseat with a little practice, but it’d be a time-consuming annoyance on a hike. It’s too bad because the Traverse 32 is otherwise a fantastic backpack, but this is a fatal flaw, and we can’t recommend it. There are two similar packs we’ve reviewed this year that I recommend instead: the Deuter Speedlite 30 and the Gregory Zulu 30.
  • Gender: Men’s (Women’s also available)
  • Weigh 2 lbs 9 oz
  • Access: top, side
  • Frame: Internal, 360-degree wire frame
  • Pockets: 7
  • Floating top lid: Yes
  • Load lifters: Yes
  • Hip belt pockets: Yes
  • Hydration Compatibility: Yes
  • Rain Cover: Yes
  • Materials: 300-denier recycled ripstop nylon
  • Pros: Easy-to-reach water bottle pockets, side zipper access, pack mods(moveable compression straps)
  • Cons: The sternum strap pops off and can be tricky to reseat quickly.

Backpack Storage and Organization

The front stretch pocket is primarily solid for durability, with stretch side panels that enable expansion.
The front stretch pocket is primarily solid for durability, with stretch side panels that enable expansion.

The Traverse 32 is a top-loading backpack with seven pockets: a stretch front pocket, two water bottle pockets, two hipbelt pockets, and two pockets in the floating lid, giving you lots of open and closed storage to organize your gear.

  • The front stretch pocket is mainly made of solid fabric for increased durability. It has stretch side panels to enable expansion while still providing drainage, and a top webbing strap secures its contents.
  • The side water bottle pockets are reachable because they’re positioned much lower and more forward behind the hipbelt instead of up along the sides of the pack bag. This is a signature feature on many of REI’s packs, and I can’t understand why other manufacturers haven’t copied it. It’s that good!
  • The hip belt pockets are large, have beefy YKK zippers, and are covered with solid fabric for durability. They can easily hold a smartphone.
  • The top lid has two pockets: one on top with a key fob and one underneath for a rain cover. The top lid is floating, meaning that it can be raised or lowered with four webbing straps. This allows you to secure gear to the pack underneath it, which is a great overload capability for carrying bulky items like rope, a foam pad, or a bear canister.
The water bottle pockets are exceptionally easy to reach because they’repositioned behind the hipbelt and not higher up on the sides of the backpack.
The water bottle pockets are exceptionally easy to reach because they’re positioned behind the hipbelt and not higher up on the sides of the backpack.

The main pack back also has a side zipper down the left side, making it very easy to extract gear buried deeply in the pack without taking everything out through the top. Side zippers like this are often found on winter packs and higher-volume backpacks, including hunting packs, and they’re a great convenience.

The side zipper provides direct access to the main compartment
The side zipper provides direct access to the main compartment

Backpack Frame and Suspension

The Traverse 32 is an internal frame backpack with a 360-degree perimeter wire frame that gives the pack a lively yet supportive feel. The hipbelt is permanently attached and anchored directly to the frame, so you get a very responsive carry with excellent load transfer to the hips and lumbar region of the pack.

The hip belt padding and lumbar padding are continuous eliminating pressure points.
The hip belt padding and lumbar padding are continuous eliminating pressure points

The pack’s load lifters are anchored at the top of the frame so you can pull the pack closer to you and align it better with your hips, while the pack’s sternum straps slide down a front rail, making adjusting very easy. Unfortunately, that sternum strap makes it very difficult to attach accessory pockets to the shoulder straps because there are no attachment points (vertical or horizontal) below the hose keeper loops higher up.

In addition, and this is a showstopper, the sternum strap sliders tend to pop off their rails when torqued, rendering the sternum strap useless. You can reseat them with a little practice, but it’s super annoying, and there’s no real workaround short of sewing on a replacement strap with your industrial sewing machine. It’s hard to believe that 1) this pack made it out of production with such a significant usability flaw and 2) that it continues to be sold without modification. This problem is also unique to this backpack – other manufacturers successfully use the same sternum strap adjustment.

The Traverse 32 comes with a rain cover.
The Traverse 32 comes with a rain cover.

External Attachments and Compression

The Traverse 32 has daisy chains and webbing loops sewn into the side seams of the pack, allowing you to move its side compression straps up or down along the length of the pack. This makes it very easy to reconfigure the side straps to carry bulky gear, like snowshoes or a foam pad, and lash them to the sides of the pack. REI calls these movable compression straps “pack mods”, and offers them on several of their other backpacks, although it’s a feature you can often implement using cords and some cordage on many backpacks.

It’s easy to move the side compression straps to carry snowshoes on the sides of the backpack
It’s easy to move the side compression straps to carry snowshoes on the sides of the backpack

Assessment (Not a recommendation)

The REI Traverse 32 is a well-designed backpack if you want one for higher-mileage hikes or winter hiking and snowshoeing. Its bottle pockets are exceptionally easy to use, and the side zipper access removes a lot of frustration when using a top-loading backpack with a top lid pocket or a roll top, where you have to unpack to find anything inside completely. However, as I noted above, the sternum strap is prone to popping off, difficult to reseat, making the backpack fatally flawed, in my opinion. There are two similar backpacks that I recommend instead: the Deuter Speedlite 30 and the Gregory Zulu 30, which have similar features and can also be used year-round.

View at REI

 

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9 comments

  1. Love your honesty man. You’re the only reviewer who write negative reviews. Looks like a good pack otherwise. But it’s off my wishlist now.

  2. my sternum strap works fine….

  3. Interesting on the sternum strap. This is my main pack for shoulder and winter seasons for the last 3 years and never had this happen before. Love this pack for carrying snowshoes.

  4. I had the same thing happen to me. Returned the pack and it happened on the second one I got as well. That really pissed me off.

  5. Lost my sternum strap four months after I bought the pack; no idea where or how. I made do with a bungee. The pack could be improved by making the lid removable, and by allowing the side pockets to be tightened more than just snapped. I often use the side pockets for my gloves and other items and the items tend to fall out when I bend over.

  6. I have not had that issue with the sternum strap.

  7. Interesting about the sternum strap. Last year I purchased the REI Flash 55 backpack and the exact same thing happened with mine. I brought it back to the store and one of the employees got the strap back on the rail, which I could not manage to do. Used it a couple more times until the strap came off yet again! I returned it after that and bought a difffernt brand.

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