REI Co-op  Trail 40 Pack - Men's

I got this bag in Red because I love the color and also for visibility. I got several compliments on the look and style of it. This pack is very functional with several little pockets, spots for my trekking poles, jacket outside the top, and sleeping pad on the bottom. The little rings sewn in are convenient for things that need drying. I did a 3 day hiking/camping trip and this bag was great for my gear (hammock system rather than tent). This bag is also VERY comfortable...no sore spots on my waist or shoulders. The reason why I am giving 4 stars rather than 5 is because after the food was gone, I had some space and because there are NO internal nor external compression straps, the gear was weighted down rather than in the middle of my back...though it was irritating, it wasn't enough to make me dislike this bag. I still love it. However with internal and external straps this bag would have been PERFECT!!!.

This pack offers some interesting design ideas, but in the end it just didn't work out. The side pockets are really nice, almost to a fault. They're so generous, it's easy to stuff them full enough that they snag (and rip) on brush when bushwhacking. I also liked the large mesh pocket on back. The interior storage was bizarre, though. No potential good came of the truly weird bungie-strapped interior pocket. The bungies were a hassle to deal with in the main compartment, and the pocket they were supposed to cinch down seemed totally useless for day-hiking. The flap pocket was awkward to use, too, and required a lot of attention to zippers when digging through for stuff. Oh, and why was a dedicated pocket, with zipper, added for the rain cover? The full length zippers on the sides seemed like a cool feature, but I honestly never had cause to be thankful for them on the trail, rendering them little more than a nice marketing bullet. The trekking pole attachment thingies were kind of nice when used with poles, but not quite so nice for other things (eg, ice axe). Getting a 3-liter bladder in and out of the exterior pocket was never easy, and the shoulder straps had a web loop on one side but an elastic loop on the other side, which forced me to put my water hose on the "wrong" (elastic) side and move my GPS to the "wrong" (web) side as well. The real deal-breaker though was that this pack hurt. Wearing it for 20 or 25 miles a day proved painful enough, especially given the other design flaws, that I ended up returning it after a dozen or so attempts to make peace with the purchase. For perspective, I'd bought the Trail 40 to replace my (>2000-mile) worn-out Lookout 40, after REI discontinued that line. By some stroke of luck, as I was wrestling with whether to return the Trail 40, an updated Lookout 40 showed up in the REI Outlet! That settled it. Back to (the newer, improved version of) what worked before.