Osprey Farpoint 70, a good travel backpack

Hello 🙂

This is a personal review of the Osprey Farpoint 70L. I have this backpack for almost 2 years, I bought it and I want to precise that I have nothing to do with Osprey.

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Firstly, this is a backpack for the traveler and the Farpoint/Fairview family from Osprey is composed of 2 lines, Farpoint is specially designed for men and Fairview is designed for women.

Picture from Osprey©

In this review, you’ll read about the 55L and the 70L because they are extremely similar. I have the men’s version, the women’s version has some slight differences to follow the shape of the body, but it should also apply to those. The 40L and 80L have the same materials and general design but they are a standalone backpack, unlike the others.

I have the Osprey Farpoint 70 in the smallest version that is 68L in total. There are 2 versions of each of the backpacks above, depending on your height and physicality.
It is composed by the mother backpack which is 53L (55L in the bigger version) and the daily backpack which is 15L. And that’s the main reason why bought this backpack! Let me explain. When you travel you need at least 2 backpacks:

1. A big one, where to put almost everything: clothes, sleeping bag, toiletry bag, tent etc. You should bring with you just when you change location, from a city to another city, for example, or when you change your place for the night. You leave it at the hostel, hotel room or wherever you sleep.
2. A small one, where you put your essentials for a day out, and your valuable things if you don’t want to leave them in the hostel. It permits you to go around without a big backpack on your shoulder.

I chose the 70 version because the 55 is exactly the same but slightly smaller, the differences are about 20grams and 3cm. The day-backpack is the same as the 70L version.
Plus, at that time I wasn’t exactly a minimalist traveler like now :S.

Here the two versions’ specs:

FARPOINT 55

S/M – M/L
Cubic Inches 3173 – 3356
Liters 52 – 55
Pounds 3.75 – 3.92
Kilograms 1.69 – 1.76
Inches 25h x 13w x 13d
Centimeters 65h x 32w x 32d
LOAD RANGE 20-50 lb | 9-23 kg

FARPOINT 70

S/M – M/L
Cubic Inches 4089 – 4272
Liters 67 – 70
Lb 3.75 – 3.92
Kilograms 1.71 – 1.78
Inches 26h x 13w x 13d
Centimeters 65h x 33w x 34d
LOAD RANGE 20-50 lb | 9-23 kg

FARPOINT 70 PROS

 

1. 1. A lot of space, and I mean a lot, even too much!

      

      Empty…

      

      …completely empty…

      

      …tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, winter ski gloves, first aid kit…

      

      …and all of my clothes for all seasons 🙂 and fit everything, without any organization and cubes!

   2. The weight is very low, just 1.71kg (3.75 lb or 60.3oz). Thanks to the aluminum frame used and lightweight fabrics.
   3. Everything is well-built and durable, from the fabric to the buckles, it seems it will last for years and years.

      

      Thanks to this aluminum frame the load run down to your hips (where should go)

      

   4. I love the lockable zippers. They are well-built and strong, and you can close your backpack and leave it at the hostel or check in on the plane without worrying. There are in both backpacks, one each!
      
   5. There’s an ID panel.
      
   6. Even though the fabric material is really thin and light, is extremely durable and strong. I used and put everywhere and it’s still perfect (apart from the color, see later). The main material is the well-known “210D Nylon Mini Hex Diamond Ripstop”, the right material for a backpack thought for travel and not hiking or trekking, strong enough to carry a lot of load (up to 23kg, 50lbs or 800oz) but still light. There’s “600D Packcloth” in the upper and lower part, more rugged and heavy.
   7. I love the aesthetic, especially in the black color. It’s slim and minimal with a nice hexagonal fabric texture.
   8. I like also the design, the mother backpack is simply a case with two handles and the shoulder straps, that’s it. There are hidden fabric-wire where to attach something, like a bottle of water on the sides and a tent or a sleeping bag beneath.

      

      The fabric of the backpack does like this just because it’s completely empty

   9. Very well-padded handles. Maybe they are even too padded!

      

      The side handle

      

      The upper handle, very thick! Both of them!

   10. Hidden shoulder straps. You can close the straps inside a special pocket and you have a kind-of-duffel, perfect for check-in luggage. So, all the laces and buckles will be inside, in a secure place.
       

FARPOINT 70 CONS

1. There’s a studied connection between the two backpacks when you put the daypack in front and the main backpack on the back, but, unfortunately, the connection isn’t working too well, for two reasons.
   One: the length of the buckle is too short.
   Two: The buckles’ attacks on the shoulder in the main backpack are too backward.
   The result is the daily backpack weight too much on the shoulder. In fact, I prefer to put the daily backpack in the front like any normal backpack with the shoulder straps, though it is very annoying.

   

   Picture from Osprey©

2. When you have only the daypack on your back the laces on the shoulder straps are free to move around, so they rub the arms. It seems nothing but when you walk for a lot of kilometers every day is quite annoying. A little elastic on the laces can resolve the problem (mostly normal cheap daypack have it).
3. Inside the daypack, there is one very annoying thing. When you close the zip of the pocket every time it clashes with the Velcro strap-on of the other biggest pocket. Why is it directly above the zip? The result is the fabric of the strap-on is damaged, obviously.
   
4. Lack of organization in the mother backpack. But this is very personal, sometimes is better have just a big case where to put a lot of things, I suggest you to use the cubes to organize your stuff (I don’t have, that’s my problem, probably). There’s just one big mesh pocket, thought for dirty clothes (I think).
   
5. Within the daypack, there’s a (not-suspended) pocket for the notebook. The problem is that is maximum 15″, and not 15,6″. Now, I never used ’cause my notebook is a 17″ but I tried a friend’s one which is a normal 15.6″ and it fits very badly, as you can see in the picture. The notebook force the fabric, so it means that after a while there will be some problem there. But if you have one of the new superslim 15.6″ notebook should be ok. If you have a smaller one it’s okay for sure :).

   

   Without the notebook

   

   With the notebook (notice the fabric outside)

6. In the daily pack, the external mesh pockets are useless because they aren’t elastic. When the pack is full there isn’t space for anything. I use it only when I have the backpack in front to put my hands, and it was just sufficient for the thickness of my hands (sometimes they doesn’t fit, too). I hoped I was able to put it some little water bottle, but not at all.
7. Personally, I prefer to spend some euro more and have a waterproof backpack. Anyway, a waterproof cover including could be pleasant. I had to buy a cover and I put it beneath the main backpack in the “hidden pocket”.
   
8. The color goes away thanks to the sun. Just on the part of the material called “600D Packcloth”. In my case happened only on the daily backpack ’cause I used a lot under the sun, for hikes and city walking. In the mother backpack, I don’t have this problem just because it wasn’t exposed too much under the sun, and anyway the 600D material is much less present. You can see the problem in the next pictures.
   

   

   Where the sun beats, the color goes away (upper part)

9. It is a problem but not like the others. I knew this problem when I bought it, it’s just worse than I thought. When you attached the daily backpack at the main backpack the weight is very backward, and I mean very backward. This means that carry your backpack is not comfortable at all, better put it on front. To resolve a bit, try to put the heavy things on the mother backpack, possibly down and close to your back.
   Plus, when there’s hot weather, have the back and also the chest with a backpack is not very pleasant, your all torso will sweat a lot :S.

   

   Anyway, the pairing between the 2 backpacks is perfect

   

   There’s a secure-lock to keep the daypack on the mother bag

   

   The Osprey Farpoint 70

I never used the backpack for multi-day trekking, if I’ll do, I’ll update this review :). My usual use of the total backpack was between trains, buses, and airplanes with some walk for half-day.
I used the daypack for day-hikes and weekend-away backpack. It works pretty well, mostly because it’s extremely lightweight.

In the end, I like very much the backpack, but can be improved a bit. For the price you can find around, it’s more than worth it!

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Useful links:

https://www.osprey.com/user_manuals/OM_FarpointFairview_F17_ENG.pdf

https://www.ospreyeurope.com/shop/media/wysiwyg/UK_OM/OM_Farpoint_S16_ENG.pdf

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Always curious, keep exploring, Wo/a\nder

Francesco

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