Backpack Assessment: Osprey Kestrel 32
It’s time to assessment my present backpack, the Osprey Kestrel 32. Having a backpack that matches correctly and is geared in the 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 by Mongolia, Central Asia and the ‘Stans and I used to be very impressed with it.
We’ve now completed 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 by the Mongolian steppe for 8 days, carrying every thing from meals to firewood to sleeping baggage.
This pack sat good and cushty on my hips and completely distributed the burden between my shoulders and my waist. There’s a good quantity of padding on each the shoulder and hip straps as properly.
Throughout a daily journey day, I barely even observed I used to be sporting 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 thing in your bag, and cargo it up quicker.
The harness adjusts as properly, utilizing a very sturdy Velcro, to make sure the proper match. They’ve additionally added a again panel that permits air to flee out of your physique, which is ideal for while you’re trekking, mountain climbing and even simply strolling. There’s nothing worse than having sweat dripping down your again whereas travelling!
On the again is a pocket good for a hydration system like a CamelBak.
The weight and dimension of this backpack is wonderful. 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 completely different sizes: small/medium and medium/massive. In addition to 4 completely different colors: Hearth Purple, 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 imagine! I put my sneakers in there, maps, meals and the rest that wouldn’t fairly match into my bag.
On the facet, there are additionally 2 of the identical kind of pockets which are good 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 both sides. They’re the proper dimension for placing stuff you’ll must have quick access to when you’re on the transfer, ie: level and shoot digital camera, lip balm, iPhone, snacks, a lighter, medication, and so forth.
Operating alongside the mesh pocket on the entrance of the bag they’ve added one thing referred to as “entrance daisies” that are these good little loops you can hook carabiners onto. I hooked water bottles off of the entrance of my bag, and typically sneakers. It was ultimate.
There’s a spot proper close to the waist belt for storing trekking poles whereas on the go.
My favorite function might be the compression straps on each side of the backpack. Not solely does it assist to maintain the pack cosy towards your physique, however it permits for storing objects on the edges of your bag. On one facet I had Nick’s fishing rod, and on the opposite facet, I rolled up my jacket and strapped it in.
In the event you had been doing any kind 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 objects that you simply don’t need getting misplaced in the primary compartment, ie: playing cards, headlamp, jewelry, and so forth. There’s additionally a hideaway raincover.
In my view, 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 desires to have the ability to correctly lock their bag.
The second is that I’d have favored to have one other pocket or two within the backpack for small objects. The one on high of the bag is helpful, however it could be good to have one or two which are hid contained in the bag.
The third con is that not like the Osprey Farpoint Sequence, the harness unit can’t be zipped away as a way to shield the backpack straps from harm, both from getting caught on one thing or from airline employees being a little bit too tough with the bag.
Aside from that, every thing is a “professional”.
I’d advocate this backpack to anybody. Regardless that 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!
In the event you plan to do any kind of climbing, trekking, tenting or mountain climbing, this backpack is good. In the event you don’t plan on doing any kind of outside actions, I nonetheless suppose this backpack has a great deal of options that the on a regular basis traveller may use as properly.
An enormous bonus is its dimension. Technically, it’s sufficiently small to suit as a carry-on bag when flying. The associated 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 light-weight traveller. Downsize your backpack and purchase the Osprey Kestrel 32, it’s the proper dimension for any journey. Hopefully, this assessment helped. Good luck discovering the proper backpack for you. Click on right here to see the backpack on Amazon.
Replace: Since scripting this assessment, we switched to Osprey Stratos 34 backpacks which served us very properly on varied hikes, together with the Inca Path to Machu Picchu.
What sort of backpack do you utilize? Would you advocate it? Why/why not? Share with us beneath!
