Posts tagged hiking pack

Deuter Hiking / Trekking Pack

We bought our packs a little while ago. When first looking into “what bag to go backpacking with” we received a range of different opinions. Your standard travel backpack is the obvious choice, however many people prefer to take a suitcase. It seems that those who use a suitcase to live out of while travelling feel very strongly about this. We toyed with the idea for a while, but to be honest we are both the “on the move” type of people, and both felt that backpacks would suit us better.

Once we had decided on backpacks, we had to figure out what sort we wanted. We quickly learned that we had two options – a hiking/trekking backpack, or a travel backpack. While they both essentially do the same job, they are both different in their own way. The hiking packs have a single opening at the top of the pack. Everything that you remove from the pack must come out of this hole. This means if you want the pair of shoes from the bottom, you have to pull everything out of the pack. The benefit to these packs is that they are more waterproof, and generally tougher than the travel packs as they are designed to see a lot more of the outdoors.

Then we have the travel backpacks. These are designed specifically for people to live out of while backpacking. I personally see them as a half way point between a suitcase and a hiking pack. They are a backpack with a harness system, however the full front section zips open like a suitcase (obviously designs differ between brands). This allows you much better access to what is in your pack, so you don’t have to pull out all of your gear when you need something from the bottom. We decided on the travel backpack.

Now that we had made this choice, it was time to hunt one down. Of everyone we had spoken to, and everything I had read about them on the Internet, the most important part of buying a backpack is the fit. Don’t worry about the features, don’t worry about the colour. Just make sure the damn thing fits. The last thing you want to be doing on the other side of the world is abusing your backpack for the pain it is causing you.

Osprey Waypoint Travel Backpack

We spent three days in the city trying to figure out what we wanted. Those of you that know Jess and I know that we are pretty organised people. We tried about every travel pack on in Adelaide, with weight, and shortlisted them. Why weight? The packs sit differently on your back when you actually have weight in them, and it also helps you to realise how heavy they will be once you stuff them full of clothes and other things. By the end of the first day we had 8 packs on the so called “shortlist”. The shortlist was pretty much the 8 packs that we found comfortable, and they were different between myself and Jess.

Once we had that shortlist and went home to talk and think about it all, we were able to cross off one pack, because it was blatantly too expensive ($1000AUD for two of them), and then cross off two because they had bad reviews on the Internet, and their quality clearly wasn’t that great. We wanted to buy something that would last not only this trip, but for our future trips too (whatever they may be).

Long story short, after another day of shortlisting (down to three), and then making our decision at home, we ended up purchasing the Osprey Waypoint Travel backpacks. Jess has a 60L, and I have an 80L. I could have got away with the 60L, but I figured a little extra space on the way home for presents might help. Three of the packs I could wear with the same level of comfort. One had more features but a greater price tag, the other was made of a less durable material. Jess really found the Osprey comfortable, so I figured we would buy them at the same place to hopefully get a better deal.

We shopped around on price for the packs during the whole process – money saved on a pack is an extra night in Zurich. To be honest all of the local travel stores in Adelaide are very competitive with the same prices on the Internet. I have seen a few places online that sell for a bit cheaper, but we ended up buying our packs from Paddy Palin’s on Rundle St, Adelaide and they gave us some discount – myself for being a Defence employee, and for Jess being a teacher, so it all worked out for us in the end.