Osprey  Talon 44 Pack - Men's

Let's go back in time, to the year 2000. You walk into an REI and tell the sales associate you want something that's a day pack for long day hikes, to hold the usual items, maybe some extra food, clothing. But you also want something that can double as a backpack, for light overnight trips, maybe 2 days if you go minimal in temperate weather. The sales associate has a stone look on their face. "I'm sorry, but packs don't work like that. You either buy a day pack. Or you buy a back pack. The are not similar, enough, and they likely never will be." You walk out of the store, disappointed. Time warp back to the 2020's, and you're in an REI, where the sales associate doesn't blink at your request, and takes you to...you got it, this pack. There are similar sized and styled packs out there, even some by Osprey. But I can't think of many that really split the difference right down the middle as this pack. It has daypack features like non-rigid frame, quite light-weight, relatively small size, and able to cinch down if needed to compress it, and no real bulk. But backpack features like a dedicated sleeping bag compartment, a large enough padded hip belt, a top lid (brain), and adjustable torso size. If you're like a LOT of people out there, who like to go on long day hikes, or with a kid, or partner, or a dog, or in winter or sketchy weather when you'll need to carry extra stuff. This pack is perfect. It also does pretty well on just a regular half-day hike, as it's not very bulky. All the same, there are a LOT of people out there who don't want to go on epic backpack trips. 5-10 miles from the trail head for one night is plenty, this pack is the perfect size for that. So much so, this could be your only pack. There aren't a heck of a lot of packs you can say that about. The one thing I will caution people about, due to its mostly daypack origins in the frame (the Talon is a day pack line-up, but this 44 is not like the others in many ways), this pack, while very comfortable with 20 or so pounds in it, is not built for a heavy load. You start to get 30+ pounds in it and it's going to feel like you're carrying sandbags and water bottles. There are more technical type packs out there for example designed just for that purpose about this volume. But those don't double as good day packs well just the same.

The product description describes the "Talon 44 was designed with ultralight multi-day adventures and travelers in mind.", and for that reason I have to citizen this pack. Backpacking packs generally fall into two camps, ultralight and minimal, or bulky and overbuilt. Unfortunately falls into the latter camp. For the small/medium being just 42 liters, I'm surprised it weighs nearly three pounds, the is actually heavier that the previous version of this pack that I read reviews for. What I do like about it is that it's made of bluesign-approved recycled material, the trekking pile holding feature is convenient, and the combination of the Airscape backpanel and hop pads feel nice with how they hug your body. What I do care for with the pack is that it just has too much going on with it. The side stretch panels annoying with the compression straps that just get in the way and make it difficult to insert/remove 1 liter plastic bottles from them. The pack was clearly intended for the use of a hydration bladder. The bottom access panel is useless once you place add a pack liner to the bag and I'm afraid the zipper hardware is going to tear a hole in the sleeping bag. The combination of the brain and cinch cord access make it a pain to access the main compartment. And lastly, there are straps everywhere and it's not made clear what connects to what. I ultimately decided to return this to REI and and instead purchased a much more minimalist and lighter pack from another company which had a well thought out design for a ultralight multi-day backpacker.