Summary

Osprey Farpoint 55 is designed and marketed as a “travel & trekking” backpack. We bought it for traveling (not on a trail) because of its versatility and it’s built-in day pack. After years of lugging around roller suitcases down cobble stone sidewalks and busy urban streets it made since to try a backpack instead of traditional luggage.

We carried this pack for 2 weeks and across 6 countries in Europe. Get our full breakdown and opinion below.

Quality

Osprey is a company that’s been around for a while and have a fairly good history of building quality packs. This pack is no different. Build quality and material choices are good. We pushed the limits of the pack with capacity and weight over the course of 2 weeks of traveling. Pulling on zippers, cinching straps, lots of buckling and banging the bag into numerous obstacles while on my back didn’t resort in any issues. The material selected is quite sturdy and easy to clean off after dragging a bag through the dirt or checking it on an airplane.

Both the main pack zipper and day pack zipper have the ability to use a TSA lock for added security while traveling. You can also remove the daypack from the back and buckle it to the front chest straps to wear it on the front. Looks weird but for the ultimate in preventing pick pocketing it can be handy.

Performance

The Osprey Farpoint performs well. Carries a large load and distributes the weight to your hips with afairly large hip belt. The daypack is secured with a zipper and straps. A storable fall can be zipped up to hide the shoulder straps and hip belt. This allows you to carry the bag like a giant duffle bag and prevents less damage when checking the bag at the airport. A very nice feature to have in my opinion.

The only issue I noticed was while wearing the daypack for 10+ hours a day for 2 weeks left many of my t-shirts with noticeable wear in the lower back area. This could be the result of the t-shirt material but the day packs has a fairly firm mesh material for the back panel. The material was designed for airflow but creates a lot of friction with your back. From my experience the small daypack still gives you a sweaty back even when it’s only 65 degrees fahrenheit outside.

The size of Farpoint 55 liter pack is carry on compliant for most airline carriers. We got through American Airlines, British Airways and Veuling without much problem. We were asked to fit it in the measuring box at the gate once and I could successfully jam it in (with the daypack bag already removed as a ‘handbag’ carry on). One additional thing to note is the bag is water-resistant but not waterproof so you might want to have a good pack cover for those random down pours to keep your clothes dry inside.

Value

This is not a cheap backpack. It retails for $230 but is easily found for around $180 at the time of writing this article. You can find any run of the meal roller bag for around $50 or similar sized but not as well designed backpacks for less than $100. The Osprey Farpoint 55 isn’t a bargain bag at the end of the day. If you plan to put in a lot of urban backpacking or travel by foot then you’ll find the investment easily worth it. For the average traveler who does the occasional trip once a year or always takes an uber from the airport to the hotel, then this will be a waisted investment.

Manufacturer Information

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