Scoop

Backpack Reviews

The Best Bag for Your Back (and buck)

By Jason Gurvitz

A travel backpack will make or break your trip. Most people don't realize that until it's too late, moaning and groaning on the streets of a foreign city as they wander looking for a hostel. If they've bought the wrong pack, they're feeling that all too common pinching in the shoulders, the aching back. It seemed so comfortable trying it on in the air-conditioned store back home. On top of that, their mouth is beyond dry because they don't have a place on their bag to put a water bottle. Their thoughts go from seeking adventure to simply collapsing. So buy the right pack, and find both your hostel and some adventure.

Whenever you try on a bag for the first time, the most important consideration is how it feels on your hips and shoulders. Ask the salesperson to throw some weight inside it. Figure from 8-20 pounds. Then walk around the store and imagine adding doubling the weight (will you really pack as little as you plan, and how much will you want to buy abroad?) The weight must be supported around the hips, not at the shoulders. Adjust it to fit snug and if it feels awkward in any way, go to another bag. If it doesn't immediately feel like something you could sleep with on your back or walk with for hours on end, then it's not the bag for you. It should be love at first sight, since this pack will be carrying everything that is not physically on you. You'll thank yourself later.

We've done a little trekking of our own with four bags to give you the lowdown one some of the best models on the market. With these packs you can forget you even have one on in the first place. These are packs for every situation, whether you're museum hopping in Europe's capitals, photographing zebra in Africa, or trekking through the orangutang preserves of Sumatra.

Patagonia • Eaglecreek

Gregory • Jansport