YETI  Skala 40 L Pack - Women's

This backpack is so comfortable! It’s easy to adjust so the shoulder and hip straps sit properly. The material is lightweight and the pockets are accessible. Love it!

This pack is perfect for an overnighter. It’s a little big for a day pack unless you’re carrying a decent amount of things. I really like the open zipper function to access the main compartment, it’s a serious irritation when I want something and have to dig around in my bag for it because it’s moved down to the bottom of my bag. This pack is highly adjustable for the torso, shoulders, hip and chest. It was very comfortable. The pockets on the hip strap are great and actually useful for holding a phone and snacks. Negative feature is the water bladder space, in my photo, I’m showing a standard sized bladder and it’s a bit wide for the space. Not awful once it’s full of water and fills out but still a bit tight. While I received this product free to test, the cost of the pack is likely due to the name brand, so as expected, a bit higher. However, I do like it and it has a lot of great features.

The sizing and fit of this pack are wonderful. My first use was for a single overnight trip while 22 weeks pregnant—and it was still plenty comfortable! I really like the central zipper as it helped me locate items quickly and without much digging. The white color so far has been stain resistant, but it makes me nervous so I would otherwise opt for a color I don’t feel so concerned about showing wear over time. It was about 80 degrees during the day when we hiked and I found the pack to fit so well and be ventilated enough that I didn’t notice extra warmth from it.

More pros than cons for this Yeti backpack. Pros: substantial padding, waist pockets great for stashing snacks, top handle, tall bottle storage options, adjustable harness, beefy zippers, many attachment points and heavy duty materials. Cons: one large opening so you have to lay the pack down to really get into it. Would love some storage pockets in the main compartment. I feel like the one large opening will be something people either love or hate. It is an interesting design. Can be functional if you get use to the design.

I admit to buying lesser quality packs in the past and I thought back and shoulder discomfort was just part of the deal while using a pack. This pack is so supremely comfortable, it’s a game changer for me. Lots of straps for adjusting which I still need to spend more time getting just the right fit for me, but it’s already so easy to carry around. There is a lot of capacity and so many little side pockets to have things easily accessible without a lot of digging around inside the pack. My favorite is the small storage area right at the waist, so convenient! I haven’t had it very long yet but I suspect it will be durable since the trail I walked on had lots of blackberry brambles and while catching on the pack it showed absolutely no snags at all. I’d also use this for travel and can imagine being able to dash through an airport with this on my back. Five stars!

My wife used this over a few weeks hiking with our daughters. She loved the quality of the materials. The backpack has a very sturdy and strong feel to it. It feels like it will not rip or tear easily. It also sheds a little bit of water, but in a rainstorm, you may still want to have a rain cover. The way the pack opens all the way straight down the middle was also a huge plus and makes packing super easy. The opening is also great during hikes when you may need something deeper in the pack. You don't have to remove everything to get to things. The size was really good for a full-day hike, and if you pack very light, you could possibly do a weekend backpacking trip. All of the adjustments are very easy and straightforward to do. The integrated hydration pack holder is great, as we always bring our water bladders on longer hikes. The only issue my wife had was with the strap fit. Regardless of how we adjusted the harness, the shoulder straps dug into the sides of her chest. She has similar issues with other packs, but this one was more noticeable and uncomfortable for longer durations. We struggled with rating this pack because of the discomfort my wife had. But for most people, this pack would feel fine, and with all of the features it has, it is still a very great backpack. She loved that she could fit her max-screen-size phone in the hip zippered pockets! Overall she would recommend this pack to friends and family.