The Osprey Farpoint 40 lasted longer than my serious relationship

As we get Outside the home, the hardware obsessed WIRED Reviews The team writes about our favorite bags and EDCs. Today, review Louryn Strampe raves about his Osprey Farpoint 40 backpack. You can also read other Baggage screening stories Or CABLE the writers share their choice.

When planning our During a 20-day trip to Asia in 2018, my then-boyfriend was adamant that neither of us would check bags. As a proud overpacker, this intention both shocked and horrified me. I like options and I hate cutting things down. I wanted to bring 30 pairs of shoes and 348 pairs of underwear; I certainly didn’t want to painstakingly build a capsule wardrobe and strategically compile packing cubes. In the end, though, I accepted the one-pack trip, and the Osprey Farpoint 40 quickly converted me to legitimately loving the light travel life.

If you want the perfect backpack, or the most durable suitcase, or the best tote to carry your toteables, my colleagues have many recommendations are worth going through. But if you’re looking for a bag that makes transportation (on the plane, train, or automobile) and transportation (from hotel to hotel again) a perfectly painless experience, the Farpoint is my favorite.

During this nearly three-week trip in 2018, my boyfriend and I were constantly on the move, visiting Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Busan, Seoul, and Hong Kong. We took several flights and trains, and stayed in spacious rooms and cramped quarters. Over the next few years, I took my Osprey Farpoint to the east and west coasts of the United States. He lived with me in three houses, joined me on dozens of road trips, and stayed with me in hundreds of hotels. I’ve used it for trips up to three weeks long and as quick as a single night. I’ve thrown it down stairs, sat on it on the subway, used it to shield my head from the rain, stuffed it into overloaded vehicle trunks, and filled it to the brim almost every time I take it anywhere. It still works as well as it did on its first trip.

Needless to say, this bag is cavernous. Its 40 liter capacity allows you to pack it to the point of being too heavy to carry, but I’ve never had a problem carrying it on a plane, thanks in part to the compression straps that help slim your figure. (According to Osprey’s website, the Farpoint meets national carry-on size requirements.) And it offers so many pockets that they’re hard to keep track of.

The outer shell has two mesh spaces perfect for shoes or water bottles, plus a smaller compartment where I like to store my keys and passport. The pack itself has two main compartments, the first of which is a laptop compartment, complemented by a zipped sleeve ideal for an e-reader or tablet. The larger body pocket has two built-in compression straps to help you achieve that “sit on top of the suitcase to zip it” effect once you’re ready to zip it up. On the opposite side there is another zippered mesh pocket that covers the entire shell, which I use to store my socks, underwear, toiletries, and other items that I need close at hand but don’t want mixed up with my clothes.

Somehow, the Farpoint not only makes it possible to carry everything I could possibly need, but also allows me to carry it comfortably. Yes, when you wear a padded Farpoint to the brim, you will look like a turtle coming out from under a shell. But you won’t need to move slowly, thanks to its stabilizing design. The shoulder straps and hips are padded and there are clip straps for your hips and chest. The chest strap also has a built-in whistle, which won’t necessarily improve your comfort, but it can come in handy if you’re hiking. (I mainly use the whistle for fun or to bother my campmates at festivals.)

Despite its comfort features, depending on your height, you might still find the frame large and unstructured. I’m 5’1″, and sometimes I feel like I might fall when carrying the Farpoint as a backpack. Luckily, the backpack’s straps, harness, and hip belt can be stored in a hidden zippered panel, allowing it to double as a duffel bag. Just be sure to test the bag packed both ways before leaving the house.

The zippers on this bag are magical. After being severely overpacked on several occasions, I really don’t understand how the zippers manage to close and stay that way for hours or days. They close so easily and are lockable, to boot. It is also extremely breathable. I took it with me on some of the hottest, stickiest adventures of my life, and somehow my back stayed ventilated, even when I was dripping with sweat, trying to read a map in a new language, or navigating to a campsite in a summer thunderstorm.

Osprey has made some changes to the Farpoint since I bought mine in 2018. The new Farpoint bags have slightly different dimensions, are lighter and less padded, and have a shorter hip belt and an upward-facing laptop sleeve. Overall, I would consider the differences be nominal and unlikely to affect how you use it.

There is also a female version of this pack, the Fairviewwhich is similar, but with a smaller frame. I like it, but it’s not designed for women with larger busts, and it’s just not as comfortable to wear as the Farpoint. Both the Farpoint and Fairview are compatible with the Osprey Farpoint Backpackwhich could be useful for very long trips if you don’t limit yourself to just one bag. I don’t love all the color choices for either bag, but for something this awesome, I would wear it in the least pleasant shade I can conjure up.

What I’ve learned in my six years of carrying this backpack around the world is that it’s durable, while still showing the signs of a life well lived. It still has my “carry-on approved” sticker from my flight to Hong Kong. Its outer pocket is stained from the hundreds of times I dropped it on the ground while pitching a tent. The chest strap is frayed at the seam because I’m holding on to it while disoriented and overstimulated in a new place. I imagine that one day I will pass it on or perhaps donate it, and I have no doubt that it will serve its next user as well as it has served me. But that day isn’t coming anytime soon, because I’m going on vacation tomorrow and I haven’t started packing yet.

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