My wife ordered this bag for me online as an anniversary gift. I never had the pleasure of seeing the bag in person before receiving it.  Upon first opening the box I was excited to see what was inside.  The first thing that caught me by surprise was the overall weight of the box itself.  Without even opening it yet I could tell this bag was considerably lighter than my other backpack and that was was only 33 L of total storage space.  This bag is more than double the capacity of that bag and quite a bit lighter.

Before putting the bag on I inspected everything it had to offer.  The quality of the material and construction of the bag are top notch, the shoulder straps are well padded and the adjustable hip belt rocks.  The Osprey bags come with an external compartment for your water bag and 2 side mesh pockets that both have top and side entry points for water bottles.  The minimalistic design drew me most, some bags have a tendency to be over complicated with a thousand straps and loops.  Unless you are trekking through the Himalayas I have never found a need for all of that.

This bag has an adjustable torso strap that is easy to use and torso lengths are designated on the bag itself.  I really like this because I often go hiking with friends or family members that need to borrow my gear.  Not all of us are the same height and this bag can be used by someone much smaller than me.  An internal compression strap accompanied by 2 external side compression straps help secure your gear it keep it centered and stiff so it is not shifting around while you are on the go.

I loaded the bag full with as much of my gear as I could squeeze in it, just to test it out and realized I either needed more gear or this bag was huge.  For me this is awesome, we have a 2 year old daughter and my wife is pregnant with our second daughter.  I will be carrying most of the gear and this bag makes it easy for me to carry most of the load.  On solo hikes I can see the need to be mindful and only bring what I need.  I can see it already, filling that empty space with a bunch of stuff that I don't need, but having the space when you need it is a huge plus.  Keeps you from needing all those unnecessary straps and loops that I mentioned earlier.