What backpack should I buy?

It's more complicated than you might think. Also, first, a disclaimer: any advice I offer you is superseded by your own comfort and needs. I am offering 'textbook' recommendations, but if something conflicts with that, your overriding priority is whatever works best for your unique situation and preferences.

Why trust anything Alex says in the first place?

I've worked at MEC (= the Canadian REI for the American audiences out there), a prominent Canadian outdoor goods and apparel retailer, since the middle of the pandemic in late 2021. Through my experience on the sales floor and frankly ridiculous obsession with everything to do with backpacks since as far back as 2015, I have amassed a stupid level of knowledge on backpack materials, manufacturing processes, and ergonomics. I've found that while there are some very good backpack review channels on YouTube, (for example, Bo Ismono is very comprehensive), they are not for everyone. Especially when it comes to looking for 'normal,' budget-friendly backpacks. The posts I write here are meant, as far as I can make it, for everyone, without any influence coming from ad money or sponsorships.

No, MEC is not paying me to write any of this. I am not writing any of this as a representative of that company.

What is this backpack for?

When you're looking for a backpack, you should be thinking about whether this is for one of three broad use cases:

Everyday

The everyday backpack is self-explanatory. I would recommend anything between 15-25L in capacity (most backpacks are rated according to litres or cubic inches), depending on what you need to bring to work. If you're blessed with an office that offers a cafeteria and free coffee, maybe you don't need more much more than a laptop and a charger. Perhaps your commute is also short or involves minimal walking In that case, you may get away with a laptop bag or shoulder bag between 5-10L instead, or a cute lil' Fjallraven Kanken.

Most people think you should just use whatever appeals to you aesthetically and is offered at a very low price. You could get lucky and find an excellent, comfortable, durable backpack like this. However, in my time working on the MEC retail floor, I've found that more often than not your free work backpack or the cheapest thing you can get from Wal-Mart has some major deficiencies in all areas except price.

This is not to say you have to buy some expensive bougie thing, and indeed there are many good backpacks that are under 100 CAD (70 USD) that are exceptional products. I will explain in a later post what your options are in different price categories. But I would caution against treating this most afterthought of consumer products as purely an afterthought. A good backpack can actually make your life a tiny bit easier on a daily basis.

Outdoor adventure

Ergonomics matter a lot more for these types of backpacks. They can divided into roughly six categories:

  1. Day hiking
  2. Multi-day backpacking (Europeans usually call this “trekking”)
  3. Mountain biking
  4. Alpine climbing and mountaineering
  5. Running vests and fastpacking packs for ultrarunning.

I will focus almost exclusively on just the first and second categories here. Buying a backpack like these are very specific to their individual use case, and also your own body. Compared to the situation in the 1970s and 1980s, ergonomic developments have become rather advanced.

In the case of backpacking/trekking packs, your backpack is one of the “big four” of backpacking/trekking (the backpack, the sleeping bag, the sleeping pad, the tent or other shelter), and the container of your “Mountaineering Ten Essentials.” Therefore your backpack is a mission critical aspect of your gear list and should be ideally comfortably adapted to your own body, and reasonably failure-proof. If you're not used to it, imagine that you're trying on a pair of hiking boots, but rather for your feet, it's for the entire rest of your body.

Many such backpacks comes in men's (the manufacturer usually doesn't mention this in such detail, but applies to the vast majority of people assigned male at birth) and women's (assigned female at birth) fit versions. You, the female customer, are blessed with identical pricing and don't have to pay the dreaded 'pink tax.' The most significant and generally non-overlapping difference is torso height and torso volume. I therefore recommend you start off with trying on the “men's” backpack if you are AMAB and the “women's” backpacks if you are AFAB.

Due to inflation over the past few years, the best backpacks for these use cases have exploded in price. However, there are still some models that are reasonably affordable, and MEC/REI offers store brand models that may be worth your consideration.

Urban adventure travel

Since the lifting of the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, urban adventure travel has skyrocketed in popularity. Many people are now in the throes of a revived interest in backpacking through Europe and Southeast Asia, or hut-to-hut (i.e. between staffed mountain huts with amenities, like the E12 in the Alps or many lovely routes in Norway) or shelter-to-shelter (e.g. the Camino in France and Spain, or Shikoku Temples Pilgrimage in Japan). If you're doing the latter kind of trip, a large daypack (about 25L in capacity) or a small backpacking pack (30-45L) is ideal. But if it's not about hiking at all, and just sticking to cities and beaches? You may wish to have an urban travel backpack instead.

These backpacks are extremely popular, and offer the carrying comfort of a framed hiking backpack with the convenience of a suitcase-style wide-access clamshell zipper. Even if the travel is not so 'adventurous,' I recommend these types for all kinds of air travel. Most models are designed to fit the standard 56cm x 33cm x 23cm / 22” x 14” x 9” carry-on sizer of United, Delta, Air Canada, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, etc. However, as people flock to carry-on only “onebag” travel to avoid the cost and inconvenience of checked baggage, you may find that the overhead bins are increasingly stuffed. I will write a later post explaining some options for dealing with this issue.

Thankfully, these backpacks are (relatively) inexpensive, especially compared to their outdoor adventure brethren. New models are being developed for personal item-only travel, for very experienced air travellers who can get away with the tyrannical restrictions of budget airlines like Frontier or Spirit.

I ain't readin' all of that

Tomorrow, I'll write a post that just gives my top two recommendations for each category, a budget-friendly option and a more expensive option, that should work for nearly everyone. Stay tuned.