Seeking advice on how to pick a backpack (20-25L) for day hikes and all-day walking
Up until now I’ve been using a Fjallraven Kanken 17” Laptop backpack as a catch all for everything, and recently I’ve really begun to see how it’s not working for me. So now I’m looking for a day hike/walking all day bag and I’m having more difficulty than I’d expected.
I like to go on easy to moderate hikes, recently 2-3 miles but hoping to get back up to 5 now that the days are longer. Generally I try to avoid very steep hikes because I have bad knees. I also like to take a backpack when I go on longer walks or have days where I’m walking around a lot in an urban area.
Usually I’ll pack my 21 ounce Hydroflask, a protein bar, a portable charger, a jacket or sweatshirt, 1-2 sketchbooks (or one sketchbook and an ereader), some drawing pens, sunglasses, sunscreen, a small bag with my wallet and keys, and occasionally lunch. When I travel (and every so often at home) I’ll have a small camera bag in there too. So I’m not looking for something that can haul a lot of hiking or camping gear, but rather something that won’t cause pain from me walking around with a bunch of things that tend to concentrate toward the bottom of the bag.
This week I tried out an Osprey Daylite Plus backpack. I took a small load hiking on one day, walked around a flat area by a lake a different day, and fully filled it up going to an adult rec league I play in on a third day. The ventilation on the back was nice but the bag really irritated my lower back, particularly when I had a lighter load. My suspicion about this was that the weird handle kept me from tightening the bag enough against my body and it just meant the curve of it pushed into my lower back.
I tried going to REI and asking for help in their backpack department but the guy helping me wouldn’t measure my torso (my home measurement was 15”) and insisted my back pain was because I wasn’t transferring weight to my hips. He had me try on the Osprey Tempest, which I found uncomfortable because of how firm the back panel is. I also tried the REI Trail 25 and the Gregory Maya 20. The Maya was probably the most comfortable but it also felt like overkill for my purposes, and I couldn’t really tell what the hip belt was doing besides stabilizing the bag.
Anyway sorry for how long this is! Here are my actual questions:
* How do bag shape and torso length play into comfort with hiking backpacks?
* At what point is a hip belt actually necessary?
* What “level” of backpack do I need for my use case? (AKA how specialized)
For the record I’m a 5’7” mid-thirties woman with what I suspect is a short torso (home measurement was 15”).