Peak Design Outdoor Backpack Review

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Peak Design has always been a company that doesn’t accept the status quo when it comes to bags and camera accessories, constantly looking for ways to improve and innovate. Having tackled camera-carrying bags, straps, and clips, travel bags, stuff sacks, and mobile phone cases and mounts, the team recently turned its attention to outdoor-activity-specific backpacks and slings. In this Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 45L Review, I’ll go over some of my favorite features after real-world testing.

Peak Design Outdoor Backpack Harness Fit and Comfort

Let’s start with a crucial element of any backpack meant to be worn for extended periods of time: the fit and carrying comfort. You can have the best-designed backpack in the world with every feature you want, but if it’s uncomfortable to wear while hiking, it’s never going to be used. Small daypacks can get away with light-duty straps because they rarely carry much weight, but the Outdoor Backpack’s 45L (expandable to 55.5L) capacity rating means it can be loaded up for a gear-heavy day or a lightweight weekend.

Here’s what I look for when evaluating a hiking backpack’s harness system: a natural wrap around the shoulders, easy adjustability in torso height, waist, and sternum straps, padding that is comfortable without being bulky, and good load distribution between my hips and shoulders. The Peak Design Outdoor Backpack did an excellent job meeting my criteria. Torso-length adjustability is very important to me as I’m blessed with a torso that fits almost nothing perfectly, so I was thrilled to see that Peak Design included a system that uses g-hooks to adjust the shoulder straps for torsos from 17–20″. Unfortunately, the longest length is still a smidge too short for me to perfectly position the waist strap on my hips without fully extending the shoulder straps. This won’t be a problem for the majority of users, though. The waist strap comes with a nice adjustment feature for moving the pads in or out into one of two positions, which is great for more slender folks.

I really enjoyed the double sternum straps because they let you fine-tune the distribution of the shoulder straps across your chest and shoulders. Like most things on the Outdoor Backpack 45L, you can adjust their locations along webbing loops spanning the shoulder straps. One downside is that the sternum strap clips are much more fiddly to attach and detach than something like a magnetic attachment or clip. Honestly, this is probably the biggest miss of the entire pack, being almost impossible to attach with gloves on in winter, so keep that in mind if you are constantly taking your pack off.

The Peak Design Outdoor Backpack’s shoulder straps do a great job of wrapping around your shoulders and fitting nicely on your chest. They were designed similarly to a running vest with wider padding, and I think this was a great decision. The padding strikes the right balance between flexible and cushioned, distributing weight well. It also has holes and is covered with mesh, which helps with breathability. Moving to the hip belt, the pads are nicely shaped to hug your hips and help shift the weight of the bag towards your center of mass. Padding similar to—or maybe identical to—the shoulder straps continues here and avoids being too bulky or rigid, either of which can get in the way on the trail. As is typical with Peak Design, high-quality custom metal hardware lets you adjust the strap length by pulling towards the front, which is always the superior setup. I also enjoyed the ease of use of the buckle, which only requires pushing it in instead of the traditional double-sided buckle.

On a number of hikes and ski tours, I paid attention to how the Outdoor Backpack carried, and the best thing I can say about it is that I barely thought about it. Given that this was Peak Design’s first attempt at this style of bag—and considering that even many long-time pack makers still struggle with load carrying on occasion—I’m even more impressed. The bag moved well with me as I sidestepped up some awkward early-season skin tracks on my skis and never felt in the way. Part of this is because of the well-designed load compression that I’ll discuss later, but a lot is attributed to the thoughtful harness design. The pivoting hip belt attachment is another contributor to the bag’s wearability. Overall, I found the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 45L to be a comfortable and effective means of carrying gear on the trail and into the backcountry.

Organization and Customization on the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack

Typical of Peak Design products, the Outdoor Backpack has so many features that this would be a 50-page review if I went in-depth into all of them. See Peak Design’s excellent video for an overview of every included feature:

To keep things reasonable, I’ll focus on some of my favorites in terms of organization and customization. Peak Design really wanted to make this a pack that could adapt to many uses, and it shows in a number of areas. There are attachment points all over and a good assortment of pockets and open storage options. The main compartment can be accessed either from the roll top or the U-shaped zippered back panel, giving you options to fit your preference. Let’s dive in.

Starting with external organization, a large kangaroo pouch, two “water-bottle” pockets, and two large side pockets give you plenty of places to organize items without putting them inside the main compartment. Peak Design calls these Flex Pockets, and the high-quality mesh combined with smart gusseting allows large and small items to be both secure and easy to access. I love that the outer pockets hold shorter, thicker bottles like classic Nalgenes well, while the taller pockets accommodate tall bottles or things like light stands equally well. They also work with poles and taller items when combined with the elastic Gear Loops. For larger external storage, the kangaroo pouch under the front panel is an excellent spot for stashing a wet rain jacket, a down mid-layer, or ski touring climbing skins. Because the panel also cinches down the roll top access, it’s fairly secure, but if the bag is somewhat empty, I wouldn’t store anything there that you don’t want to risk losing. Smaller items could sneak out of the upper sides.

For more secure storage on the outside, the front panel has zippers on either side for less bulky items you want to keep accessible. Each pocket includes a loop for the included key tether. On the hip belt, there is a zippered pocket on one side that is nice and stretchy and an open stretch pocket on the other side. This is a great combo for quick-grab snacks and items like lip balm or sunscreen. The Peak Design Outdoor Backpack includes loop rails (Cord Rails) along various areas of the bag, making it easy to attach gear straps where you want them rather than being stuck with predetermined locations. The bag comes with four elastic gear straps (Gear Loops) and two long string gear straps (Carry Cords), which can be used in multiple configurations. I used the two long ones to zigzag along the sides to compress the bag when it wasn’t fully loaded. This feature increases the versatility of the pack. The four elastic gear straps were well-placed by default, keeping the outer Flex Pockets secure and providing an option to secure tall items like poles at the top. That said, I wish it came with two more elastic straps and two more Carry Cords to take full advantage of the bottom gear loops for attaching a sleeping pad, tripod, or similar gear.

Accessing the main compartment on the Outdoor Backpack 45L can be done in two ways. First, you can open the magnetic roll top and reach in for your gear. This is where Peak Design’s Packing Cubes or Ultralight Packing Cubes come in handy because you’re reaching into a large, unorganized space. (Side note: I’ve tried many packing cubes, and Peak Design’s remain the best. They are easy to access, great for separating clean and dirty items, and expandable for variable capacity. The new Ultralight Packing Cubes are simpler and less expensive, but I prefer their full-featured options.) Returning to the main compartment access, Peak Design created a novel method called Ultracinch for quickly securing or opening the roll top. Pulling the loop at the top releases the cords to unfurl the top, while closing it involves rolling the top, throwing the cords over it, and pulling the cord strap from the front. It sounds more complicated than it is, but it’s intuitive in practice.

Alternatively, you can access the main compartment through the large, U-shaped dual zipper on the back panel. This is my preferred method because I like seeing everything at once, organizing it, and putting it back in its place. The back panel access is also ideal when using one of Peak Design’s Camera Cubes, which can be secured to the internal loops to transform the bag into a semi-permanent camera bag. There is one small zippered pocket inside the main compartment for extra organization. I kept the optional rain fly there since I’ll know when I need to keep it on the outside for quicker access and prefer it out of the way most of the time. Overall, the Outdoor Backpack 45L has a versatile and effective combination of external and internal organization, making it suitable for a wide variety of carrying situations. I never felt like I needed a completely different layout than the one provided.

Final Thoughts on the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack

The Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 45L is an impressive first foray into outdoor-specific packs by a company known for its thoughtful, innovative design. The harness system excels in comfort and adjustability, with features like double sternum straps, a pivoting hip belt, and breathable padding that distribute weight effectively for all-day wear. Its organization and customization options are equally stellar, with numerous external pockets, gear attachment points, and versatile access to the main compartment. The roll-top design and back panel access add flexibility, while thoughtful details like Ultracinch closures and modular compatibility with Camera and Packing Cubes enhance its usability.

While the pack’s torso length adjustability may not suit those with very long torsos, and the sternum strap clips can be a bit fiddly, these are minor drawbacks in an otherwise standout design. Whether you’re hiking, skiing, or exploring the backcountry, the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 45L is a reliable, feature-rich companion that balances functionality, durability, and comfort beautifully. For more info or to check one out for yourself visit peakdesign.com or amazon.com.