NEMO  Resolve 35 L Endless Promise Technical Active Pack - Men's

Got this in the mail yesterday based on online reviews and a YouTube video review on the 25 L version (and being insufficiently enthused after checking out about half a dozen 25-40 L daypacks at my local REI to buy something else). It is new enough on the market that the REI staffer I spoke to in suburban Chicago in late May 2024 wasn't even aware that the product existed. I plan to use it for day hikes, commuter bag, and general EDC, hopefully as a worthy successor to mky much-loved REI Lookout 40 from days of yore. I was able to use it as my commuter bag today. So far, I like a lot of the features, and am really excited to try it out on trail in two days. In the interim, I thought I'd provide a bit of "first thoughts" feedback. - I need to get used to the rather narrow hipbelt. I suspect long term it will be fine, but it's much smaller than I am accustomed to. (My fingers don't yet have the muscle memory to remember just how close together they need to be to tighten the belt and unbuckle the narrow clip.) - The hipbelt pockets are... odd. There's no closure at the top and the wings of the belt that they are mounted on are rather short. As such, I'm a little concerned that I'll lose something key, like a compass, vital/favorite snack, or knife, if I store such in these hipbelt pockets. For now, I'm probably going to limit what I put there to items the size of a stick of lip balm. - The shock cord and hook that serves as an internal compression strap is pretty nice, but not quite perfect. It is, of course, right up against the hydration sleeve and works well enough, and I love how it's easy to access from the size zipper. I do have two criticisms: a) the hook opening is very narrow and was a little difficult to get around the internal piece of daisy chain ("easy access" is only part of "easy to use") and b) I kinda wish it were about half an inch lower, as it barely was able to secure my Macbook Air that was resting on top of a jacket. - The sternum strap is strangely floppier than I'm accustomed to. This will probably be a non-issue given time, but for now it's just a bit weird. - The brain is definitely the biggest con at this point. Given the way the brain is secured to the fabric at the top of the back panel, if both a) the pack is not sufficiently full from front-to-back near the top of the main pouch and b) the brain is fairly full (especially if it contains denser objects, such as a laptop power cable or decent-sized power bank battery), it does not seem possible to keep the brain from falling down the front of the pack and exposing the opening of the main pack. Even pulling the two straps that secure the brain to the top of the pack to the point that the strap cannot be pulled any tighter through the tri-glides is insufficient to keep the brain from sliding down the pack's front. To me, this is worth taking off half a star despite the short time I've owned the pack, as there's going to be plenty of times that I want to carry less than a 2/3 or 3/4 full pack and would absent-mindedly put a couple heavier things (maybe a sandwich or an apple) in the brain. (I have had a similar problem with my 80 L REI pack's brain, but that's not a daypack and thus stands to reason that the pack will tend to be more full with either luxury items or more gear/consumables on longer trips.) The brain's zipper moves smoothly, but given its placement on the pack's rear side and the tendency thus far for the brain to fall down (and thus angling the zipper parallel to the ground with its flap acting as an upwardly exposed basin rather than a downward facing guard that covers the zipper), I worry about rain entering here. I will definitely need to play around with some paracord or shock cord to help prevent the brain from slipping down, but it may ultimately come at the sad, sad cost of the pack's clean aesthetic. - The shoulder strap pockets seem to be insufficiently stretchy or capacious to be much use except for something like a snack (even after unsnapping the one snap). - The side pockets on the main pack body are cool, but I wish they were angled so it would be easier to pull out (and re-stow) a water bottle. It's a little odd that a 35 L pack that's marketed as a larger daypack wouldn't have easy-reach pockets for taller water bottles (e.g. Smartwater, or 1 or 1.5 L Nalgene). - I knew this going in, but for a larger daypack, I'd prefer to have bottom straps (or bottom pocket) and a large stretch front shove-style pocket. - I love the adaptability of the shock cord compression straps, and that they can be used to secure some items in the side pockets (though this latter point makes me think that this pack is partly intended to stretch into an odd slot as a luxury-weight pack for lightweight or UL overnights). - The internal zip pocket is perfectly placed and aligns with the main side zipper. It took me a minute to figure this out at first blush (having seen it through the top cinch opening), but after I made the connection to the alignment with the side zipper, it totally made sense. - I'm up and down on the color, and the other color choice. There's some disagreement in at least one video review as to whether the main fabric is green or grey... it straddles the line, in my opinion, but it also mediates the dividing line between unattractive and attractive. - The shoulder straps are comfortable so far (about 15 lbs in commuting weight), and are nice and wide. The padding is billed as being a wicking material. That is as may be, but don't wear the pack with a cotton dress shirt and cotton undershirt (aka office base layer?) on a muggy Chicago summer day and expect to stay dry. See above comment about being excited to try it on trail for realsies. - The load lifters are a nice touch in theory, but I've not had enough in the pack to make them actually serve their purpose in a notable manner. I plan to update this review once I have more miles on this pack; in the meantime, I hope this is helpful to someone.

I bought this as a day hike+ pack and just for kicks i tried to fit my backpacking gear in it because it looked large. It fits all of my stuff just fine. For reference i dont use UL or extremely small stuff. Worth the money for sure.