It’s time to evaluation my present backpack, the Osprey Kestrel 32. Having a backpack that matches correctly and is geared in direction of the actions you’ll be doing is essential when selecting a backpack. I took this pack on many hikes and treks throughout our very outdoorsy journey via Mongolia, Central Asia and the ‘Stans and I used to be very impressed with it.
We’ve now finished our epic 5 month journey, and right here’s what I can report about my backpack:
This backpack deserves excessive marks on this space. I stuffed this bag with 10kgs of drugs whereas trekking through the Mongolian steppe for 8 days, carrying every little thing from meals to firewood to sleeping baggage.
This pack sat good and comfortable on my hips and completely distributed the load between my shoulders and my waist. There’s a good quantity of padding on each the shoulder and hip straps as effectively.
Throughout a daily journey day, I barely even observed I used to be carrying a backpack as a result of it was so comfy.
I completely love the best way the Kestrel 32 is designed. I can’t stand top-loading backpacks as a result of you may by no means see what’s within the bag! This backpack is a panel loader, which implies it opens like a sea shell, permitting you to simply and shortly see every little thing in your bag, and cargo it up sooner.
The harness adjusts as effectively, utilizing a very robust Velcro, to make sure the right match. They’ve additionally added a again panel that enables air to flee out of your physique, which is ideal for if you’re trekking, climbing and even simply strolling. There’s nothing worse than having sweat dripping down your again whereas travelling!
On the again is a pocket excellent for a hydration system like a CamelBak.
The weight and measurement of this backpack is superb. Weighing in at just a bit over 2 lbs with 32 L of room for gear and capable of deal with as much as roughly 20 kgs of weight, what extra may you need?!
The Kestrel 32 is available in two totally different sizes: small/medium and medium/massive. In addition to 4 totally different colors: Fireplace Pink, Tarn, Conifer Inexperienced and Gray.
Osprey has added a mesh, stretchy, lycra pocket to the entrance of the bag, which stretches such as you wouldn’t consider! I put my footwear in there, maps, meals and anything that wouldn’t fairly match into my bag.
On the aspect, there are additionally 2 of the identical sort of pockets which might be excellent for water bottles, or in our case, the underside finish of Nick’s fishing rod.
On the waistband, there’s a little zip pocket on all sides. They’re the right measurement for placing belongings you’ll must have easy accessibility to when you’re on the transfer, ie: level and shoot digital camera, lip balm, iPhone, snacks, a lighter, medication, and so on.
Working alongside the mesh pocket on the entrance of the bag they’ve added one thing known as “entrance daisies” that are these excellent little loops that you could hook carabiners onto. I hooked water bottles off of the entrance of my bag, and typically footwear. It was very best.
There’s a spot proper close to the waist belt for storing trekking poles whereas on the go.
My favorite characteristic might be the compression straps on each side of the backpack. Not solely does it assist to maintain the pack comfortable towards your physique, nevertheless it permits for storing gadgets on the perimeters of your bag. On one aspect I had Nick’s fishing rod, and on the opposite aspect, I rolled up my jacket and strapped it in.
For those who have been doing any form of climbing the place ice was concerned, there are ice-pick loops on the base of the backpack. Nonetheless, I used the loops to safe the bottoms of my 1-liter water bottles.
The mesh, zip pocket on the high of the bag is a good place to place smaller gadgets that you simply don’t need getting misplaced in the primary compartment, ie: playing cards, headlamp, jewelry, and so on. There’s additionally a hideaway raincover.
For my part, there are 3 cons to this backpack.
The primary and most necessary is that the zippers can’t be locked collectively. You possibly can solely lock collectively the zipper ties which may simply be minimize open. That is ridiculous as a result of clearly, each traveller needs to have the ability to correctly lock their bag.
The second is that I might have favored to have one other pocket or two within the backpack for small gadgets. The one on high of the bag is helpful, however it will be good to have one or two which might be hid contained in the bag.
The third con is that not like the Osprey Farpoint Collection, the harness unit can’t be zipped away with a view to shield the backpack straps from injury, both from getting caught on one thing or from airline workers being a little bit too tough with the bag.
Other than that, every little thing is a “professional”.
I might suggest this backpack to anybody. Though the Kestrel collection is technically a males’s backpack, it labored for me. As a result of I’m tall (5’10”), the harness adjusted to suit my torso completely!
For those who plan to do any form of climbing, trekking, tenting or climbing, this backpack is right. For those who don’t plan on doing any form of outside actions, I nonetheless suppose this backpack has a great deal of options that the on a regular basis traveller may use as effectively.
An enormous bonus is its measurement. Technically, it’s sufficiently small to suit as a carry-on bag when flying. The fee can be fairly respectable: I received mine on sale on-line for about $90, however from the shop, it’s normally about $130.
It’s time everybody turned a lightweight traveller. Downsize your backpack and purchase the Osprey Kestrel 32, it’s the right measurement for any journey. Hopefully, this evaluation helped. Good luck discovering the right backpack for you. Click here to see the backpack on Amazon.
Replace: Since scripting this evaluation, we switched to Osprey Stratos 34 backpacks which served us very effectively on numerous hikes, together with the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
What sort of backpack do you employ? Would you suggest it? Why/why not? Share with us under!
