The REI Traverse 60 is a fully-featured multi-day backpack with an adjustable torso size, so you may dial in a personalised match. It has a great deal of pockets and reconfigurable attachment factors that make it appropriate for year-round adventures with a function set that’s extremely aggressive with different brand-name backpacks. Weighing 4 lbs 10 oz, it’s obtainable in males’s and girls’s fashions at a really aggressive worth.
Specs at a Look
- Body: Inner
- Adjustable Torso Size: Sure
- Entry: High, sleeping bag compartment, facet zipper
- Weight: 4 lbs 10 oz (dimension medium)
- Pockets: 10 + foremost
- Load lifters: Sure
- Hydration suitable: Sure
- Rain cowl included: Sure
- Detachable day pack: Sure (further straps weigh 2.4 oz)
- Bear canister compatibility: all bear vault sizes match horizontally, together with the BV500.
- Torso vary: a number of sizes avail. from 17″-21″
- Hip belt sizing: 28-55″ (a number of sizes avail from 32-46″)
- Max beneficial load: 35 lbs
- Supplies: Shell: 210-denier ripstop nylon and 400-denier recycled nylon; lining: 200-denier recycled polyester; raincover: 70-denier recycled nylon (all bluesign accredited)
- Professionals: Adjustable torso size, three entry strategies, a number of pockets, elective fanny pack, rain cowl
- Cons: Heavier than earlier mannequin, hip belt webbing doesn’t all the time “catch”
Backpack Storage and Group
The REI Traverse 60 has a standard backpack design with a floating high lid with two zippered pockets facet water bottle pockets, facet gear pockets, an open entrance pocket, two hip belt pockets, and a rain cowl pocket, along with the principle compartment. It has three factors of entry:
- from the highest underneath the lid
- a hatch resulting in an elective sleeping bag compartment
- a facet zipper that runs across the open entrance pocket.
The highest lid has two stacked zippered pockets which are good for holding navigation and private gadgets, together with keys with the pack key fob. The underside of the lid holds one other pair of shoulder straps that may be connected to the lid to create a fanny pack, which is nice for summit climbs or city resupplies once you don’t need to drag your pack round with you.
The Traverse 60 has two pairs of facet pockets: elasticated stretch pockets for holding water bottles and one other pair beneath the facet compression straps for strapping gear to the facet of the pack, corresponding to tent poles or fishing rods. I’ve seen this design used on different REI packs up to now and it’s distinctive within the trade. Whereas it does add some weight, splitting the 2 features, gear storage and bottle storage, makes a world of sense, particularly for the reason that water bottle pockets are really reachable. A rain cowl is saved in one other small pocket beneath one these facet gear pockets.
There’s an open entrance pocket on the surface of the principle compartment for storing moist gear or layers. The perimeters of the pocket are made with stretchy lycra to assist accommodate outsized or oddly formed gadgets and supply drainage. The highest of the pocket can be secured with a webbing strap and buckle to stop gadgets from falling out.
The primary compartment has an inner hydration pocket and a hold loop to carry a reservoir, with left and proper facet ports above the shoulder straps to run a hydration hose.
The hip belt pockets are fairly massive and are lengthy sufficient to suit mountain climbing path maps. One of many pockets is confronted with extremely stretchable, however non-mesh stable material, whereas the opposite is confronted with the identical ripstop nylon used elsewhere on the pack. These pocket are so massive I can retailer all of the meals I need to eat throughout the day (after breakfast and earlier than dinner) into them.
Backpack Body and Suspension
The REI Traverse 60 is an inner body backpack that consists of a U-shaped perimeter-style steel rod that slots into the hip belt to switch load to your hips. There’s additionally a horizontal keep half means down the inverted “U” to stop the again of the pack from barreling into your again if you must carry a tough curved object like a bear canister inside.
The Traverse 60 has an adjustable torso size so you may lengthen or shorten the gap between the hip belt and the shoulder pads as a way to dial in an excellent match. The changes can made wherever between 17″-21″ together with in between the 1-inch marks. The adjustment mechanism could be very easy and requires sliding a webbing strap up or down the again panel earlier than locking it in place on the required torso size.
The again of the shoulder straps and the hip belt are closely padded and lined with breathable mesh the place they arrive involved along with your shoulder blades and the again of your hips. Whereas the pack doesn’t have a ventilated suspended mesh again panel there are air flow channels the place air can circulation via the padding to assist maintain you cooler. Deuter backpacks use an identical padding configuration on their greater quantity packs.
The shoulder straps on the boys’s mannequin are J-shaped and effectively padded with a rail-based sternum strap that’s straightforward to reposition greater or decrease alongside the shoulder straps. The sternum strap on my pack tended to slide when tightened as a result of the webbing did no reliably catch in its triglide buckle. That is straightforward to repair nevertheless, by tying a knot within the webbing strap or poking a security pin into it on the desired size.
Lastly, the hip belt is kind of extensive and pre-curved, offering wonderful load switch to the hips. The hip belt has a beefy heart buckle which makes the pack simpler to make use of in winter when carrying gloves and pull-forward webbing straps, so you will get a pleasant cosy match with out a lot effort. As soon as tightened it stays put and the additional padding retains it positioned in your iliac crest.
Exterior Attachments and Compression
The Traverse 60 has an excellent exterior attachment and compression system, so you may lash cumbersome gear to the surface of the pack. It has two tiers of facet compression straps that shut with buckles, making them straightforward to make use of in colder climate when carrying gloves. For instance, I like to connect my snowshoes to the perimeters of my pack in winter, and that’s simply carried out on the Traverse 60.
As well as, the pack comes with a pair of sleeping pad straps, that run over the sleeping bag pocket entrance. These are simply detachable if not wanted since they’re girth hitched to gear loops on the base of the pack.
There are 4 further gear loops across the perimeter of the entrance stretch pocket when you actually need to get fancy and carry a photo voltaic panel or another cumbersome merchandise. As well as, there are pair ice axe loops which may serve double obligation as trekking pole holders, utilizing the highest facet compression strap to safe the shafts.
Comparability Desk
Comparability of the Traverse 60 with different backpacks that we suggest on this weight/quantity bracket.
| Make and Mannequin | Weight | Entry |
|---|---|---|
| Gregory Baltoro 65 | 4 lbs 14.4. oz | High, entrance, backside |
| Gregory Katmai 65 | 4 lbs 11.8 oz | High, backside, facet |
| Osprey Aether 65 | 4 lbs 14.7 oz | High, entrance, backside |
| Osprey Aether Plus 70 | 5 lbs 8 oz | High, entrance, backside |
| Osprey Aether Professional 70 | 3 lbs 15 oz | High |
| Osprey Atmos AG 65 | 4 lb. 9 oz | High, backside, 2 sides |
Advice
The REI Traverse 60 is a superb multi-day inner body backpacking pack that has loads of storage and pockets to prepare your in a single day backpacking gear. It’s durably made and has an adjustable size torso, so that you get a extra exact match than most fixed-length backpacks. The Traverse 60 can be obtainable in a number of sizes, together with lengthy hip belt lengths which makes it accessible to folks of all sizes and styles. For those who’re on the lookout for one pack that may span all 4 seasons of the 12 months, it’s a wonderful candidate.
Disclosure: REI donated this backpack for evaluation
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