One of the keys to a comfortable backpack is to get a pack that is the right size (small, medium or large) for you. Your torso length—not your height—is the key measurement; hip size can also be helpful.
Find Your Torso Length
- Have a friend locate the bony bump at the base of your neck, where the slope of your shoulder meets your neck. This is your 7th cervical (or C7) vertebra. Tilt your head forward to locate it more easily. This is the top of your torso length.
- Place your hands on top of your hips. The location on your spine between the tops of your hip bones is the bottom of your torso length. With your hands comfortably on your hips, it is the location your thumbs point to.
- Using a flexible tape measure, your friend should measure the distance between the C7 and an imaginary line drawn between your thumbs. You now should have your torso length.
Use your torso length measurement to find your best pack size. Generally, manufacturers size their pack frames something like this:
- Extra Small: Fits torsos up to 15 ½"
- Small: Fits torsos 16" to 17½"
- Medium/Regular: Fits torsos 18" to 19½"
- Large/Tall: Fits torsos 20" and up
On REI.com's product pages, you can find the torso range for each pack size listed under the Specs tab. If your measurement is right on the border (say, 17 ¾"), it's best to visit an REI store to try on both sizes of that pack.
REI typically carries adult packs sized to fit torso lengths as compact as 12" (10" for children) and as long as 23". If your measurement lies outside that range, you might require a custom-built pack.
Determine Your Hip Size
While less important than torso length, your hip measurement is useful to know. It's especially helpful if you are considering a pack that offers interchangeable hipbelts.
Take your tape measure and wrap it around the top of your hips, the "latitude line" where you can feel those 2 pointy bones just above the front pockets on your pants. A properly positioned hipbelt will straddle your hips about an inch above and below that line.
Now, learn about adjusting your pack for the optimum fit.
Ratings and Comments
Totally useless size equivalent chart for women trying to buy a pack made for women. Women. Remember women?
Funny. :) But don't women's packs use the same torso measurements, but offer a different fit than a men's pack?
http://hikinglady.com/the-gear/backpacks/womens-backpacks/
Hmm, http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/backpack.html does suggest that torso sizing differs.
Conflicting information on the Internet? Shock!
"GENERALLY, manufacturers size their pack frames SOMETHING LIKE THIS"
Did you miss that part?
No subtitles or closed-caption for Deaf/Hard of Hearing customers? :( It is not cool for being left out.
With all due respect (which is to say, not very much), you're just being a jerk. Subtitles? What on earth do you think the huge block of text on this very page is? I didn't even *look* at the video when I hit this page, since the text seemed so clear. However, when I saw your comment, I tried an experiment. I watched the video (which, note, I had not done before), but with the sound turned all the way down. Let's see. People hiking. Probably there's "blah blah blah you need to get the right sized pack to be happy blah blah" Oh, look. Circle on back of neck, labeled "C7." Just like the text says. And an arrow. There's the waist. Just like the text says. I believe they just showed me where to measure from and to, in order to find my torso size.
Then I watched it again with the sound turned up. Amazing! The narrator told me the same things the text below the video did, only with less detail. I learned nothing from the sound track: everything they told me I already knew from reading the text.
You could have posted a comment like "There aren't any subtitles or captioning for the video. Is there any information in it that's not covered in the text?" But you decided to try to lay a guilt trip on REI, even though, in point of fact, hearing-impaired people are being denied absolutely no information whatsoever. THAT is what is not cool. Shame on you.
Wow SeaDave, that was rather rude. It wasn't like she was ranting or anything, just making a suggestion; a suggestion I agree with. They may have given a useful tip that was missing from the text and she would not have know. It's just nice to offer closed caption for those who cannot hear. I'm surprise you would just bash her like that. Try walking a mile in her shoes.
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