The REI Traverse 60 is a fully-featured multi-day backpack with an adjustable torso size, so you’ll be able to 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 out there in males’s and girls’s fashions at a really aggressive value.
Specs at a Look
- Body: Inner
- Adjustable Torso Size: Sure
- Entry: Prime, sleeping bag compartment, aspect 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 (additional 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 really helpful 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 accepted)
- Execs: Adjustable torso size, three entry strategies, plenty of pockets, non-compulsory fanny pack, rain cowl
- Cons: Heavier than earlier mannequin, hip belt webbing doesn’t at all times “catch”
Backpack Storage and Group
The REI Traverse 60 has a standard backpack design with a floating high lid with two zippered pockets aspect water bottle pockets, aspect gear pockets, an open entrance pocket, two hip belt pockets, and a rain cowl pocket, along with the primary compartment. It has three factors of entry:
- from the highest beneath the lid
- a hatch resulting in an non-compulsory sleeping bag compartment
- a aspect zipper that runs across the open entrance pocket.
The highest lid has two stacked zippered pockets which are good for holding navigation and private objects, 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 sweet for summit climbs or city resupplies whenever you don’t wish to drag your pack round with you.
The Traverse 60 has two pairs of aspect pockets: elasticated stretch pockets for holding water bottles and one other pair beneath the aspect compression straps for strapping gear to the aspect of the pack, corresponding to tent poles or fishing rods. I’ve seen this design used on different REI packs previously and it’s distinctive within the trade. Whereas it does add some weight, splitting the 2 capabilities, gear storage and bottle storage, makes a world of sense, particularly for the reason that water bottle pockets are actually reachable. A rain cowl is saved in one other small pocket beneath one these aspect gear pockets.
There’s an open entrance pocket on the skin of the primary compartment for storing moist gear or layers. The edges of the pocket are made with stretchy lycra to assist accommodate outsized or oddly formed objects and supply drainage. The highest of the pocket can be secured with a webbing strap and buckle to forestall objects from falling out.
The principle compartment has an inner hydration pocket and a hold loop to carry a reservoir, with left and proper aspect ports above the shoulder straps to run a hydration hose.
The hip belt pockets are fairly giant and are lengthy sufficient to suit 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 giant I can retailer all of the meals I wish to eat in the course of 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 manner down the inverted “U” to forestall 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’ll be able to lengthen or shorten the gap between the hip belt and the shoulder pads to be able to dial in a very good match. The changes can made wherever between 17″-21″ together with in between the 1-inch marks. The adjustment mechanism may 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 coated 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 circulate via the padding to assist preserve you cooler. Deuter backpacks use an analogous padding configuration on their larger quantity packs.
The shoulder straps on the boys’s mannequin are J-shaped and properly padded with a rail-based sternum strap that’s simple to reposition larger 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 simple 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 huge and pre-curved, offering glorious 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 sporting gloves and pull-forward webbing straps, so you may 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 a very good exterior attachment and compression system, so you’ll be able to lash cumbersome gear to the skin of the pack. It has two tiers of aspect compression straps that shut with buckles, making them simple to make use of in colder climate when sporting gloves. For instance, I like to connect my snowshoes to the perimeters of my pack in winter, and that’s simply finished 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 extra gear loops across the perimeter of the entrance stretch pocket in case you actually wish 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 responsibility as trekking pole holders, utilizing the highest aspect 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 | Prime, entrance, backside |
| Gregory Katmai 65 | 4 lbs 11.8 oz | Prime, backside, aspect |
| Osprey Aether 65 | 4 lbs 14.7 oz | Prime, entrance, backside |
| Osprey Aether Plus 70 | 5 lbs 8 oz | Prime, entrance, backside |
| Osprey Aether Professional 70 | 3 lbs 15 oz | Prime |
| Osprey Atmos AG 65 | 4 lb. 9 oz | Prime, 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 out there in a number of sizes, together with lengthy hip belt lengths which makes it accessible to folks of all sizes and shapes. Should you’re searching for one pack that may span all 4 seasons of the 12 months, it’s a wonderful candidate.
Disclosure: REI donated this backpack for evaluate
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