The North Face Recon is a very sleek and functional urban pack. It is a frequent sight at college campuses everywhere and should just about have it’s own plug in the campus tours as well. Coming in at 19 different colors/combos the Recon holds the most variance of styles and is guaranteed to offer a style for everyone. While not a large pack (main compartment 1520 cu in, secondary compartment 330 cu in), the North Face Recon offers sufficient space for the majority of people out there.

The North Face Recon is constructed out of 420D Nylon (main body) and 1680D Nylon (bottom). 420D Nylon works fine strength-wise, but won’t hold up to rugged or harsh conditions. Luckily, this pack takes most of its beating on the bottom where the beefy 1680D construction should ensure a long-lasting bottom portion of this pack. Looking over this pack the stitching is fine, although no hints of double-stitching can be found anywhere. It’ll hold it’s own, but don’t count on being able to push it to the max. Since this pack is made of all nylon it is decently water-resistant and you can safely put this pack under a faucet for a minute without worrying about your belongings getting all soggy. This water-resistance also makes cleaning the outside much easier. All the zippers on this pack are tried and true YKK built to last. The Northface Recon is made in Vietnam, but was one of the better made non-USA made packs.

The pouch layout of the Recon is fairly standard. Peeking into the main compartment of the Recon you’ll notice a very conventional, and not the most safe/secure, laptop holding sub-pouch. It’s comforting to see a 1″ nylon fastex top fastener for your laptop. I much prefer this to a simple hook and loop fastener featured in one of the other packs. The laptop compartment can accomodate a 17″ laptop, although it will be a tight squeeze. As a general rule of thumb, all laptop compartments double as a hydration bladder compartment and the Recon functions just as well with a hydration bladder in the laptop compartment as a laptop. Moving around the pack some more are your standard assortment of pouches. An organizer pouch, snack pouch, ect. One interesting thing on this pack are the dual water-bottle pouches on the outside. I suppose North Face caters to both right and left-handers by placing a water bottle pouch on each side, although they might just be advocating their customers have extra water. It may have been more useful to replace one of those pouches with a zippable pouch that can double as another accessory pocket (to hold your laptop charger perhaps?) as well as a water bottle holder. I can’t say I found much use for the external cargo net on the front of the pack, although many people use it to stuff a spare piece of clothing. It’s convenient for quickly stowing larger objects, or dirtier ones that you wouldn’t want to gunk up the insides with. On the right shoulder strap is a handy compression pouch. It’s perfect for your cellphone or keys. Located above that is a cable/wire/hydration hose router which is always a nice touch. A very useful feature on the bottom of the Recon are some compression straps. They allow the user to adjust how far out they want the bottom of the pack to be able to go. This sets up the pack so that it doesn’t slouch as easily or fall over all the time. A very welcomed feature on the Recon is the rigid internal frame sheet in the back. This adds to the comfort of the pack and helps it maintain it’s shape while under load.

For both men and women comfort with the North Face Recon stands at the pinnacle. With a standard load none of the other packs came close to the Recon in the comfort department. Although the shoulder straps are fairly thin, their width spread the load very well. To supplement heavier loads a sternum strap and concealable waist strap are included. These show their worth with heavier loads (such as a few large textbooks along with your laptop), although still couldn’t make the Recon retain its spot as king in the comfort department with heavier loads.

Pros:

• Cargo net
• YKK zippers
• Depth adjuster
• Laptop top keeper
• Internal frame sheet
• Sternum strap
• Tuck away waist strap
• Dual water bottle pockets
• Shoulder strap routers
• Zipper pulls
• GREAT with light loads
• 17″ laptop ok (bit tight)
• 1680D Ballistic Nylon (bottom)

Cons:

• 420D Nylon construction
• Not much laptop padding
• Single stitched
• Small holder on shoulder strap

MSRP: $79
Buy Now: North Face Recon for $69 (no tax + ships free)
Links: TheNorthFace.com (Product Page)

RELATED: Day Pack Reviews: The Roundup

My quest led me to see if makers of high end enthusiast and professional backpacks offered anything for the average Joe. The companies were The North Face, High Sierra, Camelbak, and Tactical Tailor. The North Face has been making rugged outdoors enthusiast products for decades and seemed like a good place to start. High Sierra is another classic outdoors company that routinely provides packs and bags to professionals requiring ruggedness and function. The innovative Camelbak has always been there for the sportsman with their hydration system. Their packs are not only outdoors qualified, but battle proven around the world. The last company, Tactical Tailor is a smaller company than the others, but is known exceptionally well in military and government circles for their tough gear.

The Packs

Starting from the left to the right we have: The North Face: Recon, Camelbak: Urban Assault, Camelbak: Urban Assault XL, High Sierra: Grid, and Tactical Tailor: Enhanced Day Pack

Testing Method
The standard/control for this pack comparison is going to be the Recon backpack from The North Face. The Recon is an extremely popular backpack and has many great qualities. While not as obviously rugged as our other models, we felt it would display the differences between a more mainstream backpack and our overbuilt rugged packs.

Grading is based on a few different criteria on a scale of 1-10:

• Construction: Many cheap backpacks are constructed “just good enough” and the poor effort put into them shows. Blown seams, ripped stitches, as well as inferior materials can all lead to many annoyances in a backpack. We’ve taken a look at the materials used in the construction of our test packs, how durable the stitching is, down to the brands of the zippers.
• Design: All of our test packs had to meet a few criteria to be included in our tests. Since we are a tech blog, every pack had to accommodate a laptop. Along with the laptop compatibility we graded these packs on how well they stored your everyday gadgets such as mp3 players and phones.
• Comfort: One of the most commonly overlooked part of a backpack is how comfortable it really is. Seeing as it’s difficult to load up a backpack at a store this often taken for granted. We tested the ability of our packs to stay comfortable with both average light and heavy loads. Thanks to special correspondent Lauren Steussy we were also able to include any comfort/fit differences for women.
• Price/value: You can have the best pack in the world, but if it’s priced too high what difference does it make? Each pack will be graded on just how much it’s worth the price as well.

The Round-Up
Well here we are at the end of our journey and ready for the judges. Grading is based on a 1-10 scale. Here’s what the scale denotes:

• 1 – poor
• 2 – not great
• 5 – average
• 9 – excellent
• 10 – perfect

The Northface Recon
This pack exhibited much user friendliness. While not the best in utility due to the smaller size, for what it will carry the trip will be a comfortable one. With a price of $79, good design, moderate construction, and excellent comfort the Recon deserves respectable marks.

• Construction: 6
• Design: 7
• Comfort: 9
• Value: 6
• Overall: 28

High Sierra Grid
The Grid can easily be summed up as a well-rounded pack. With good looks, a good amount of pockets, and a comfortable fit the Grid was a pleasure to use. The construction of this pack is a bit disappointing, so if you need something near bomb-proof unfortunately the Grid will have to pass. For a light-weight pack at only $70, the Grid is a favorite.

• Construction: 5
• Design: 7
• Comfort: 8
• Value: 7
• Overall: 27

Tactical Tailor Enhanced Day Pack
The Tactical Tailor Enhanced Day Pack exceeded everyone’s expectations and came out the leader of the pack with ease. With a simple, yet functional design, extreme comfort, near bomb-proof construction, and plenty of cargo room the Enhanced Day Pack is a near-perfect buy at $97.75 for anyone looking for a pack.

• Construction: 9
• Design: 8
• Comfort 9
• Value: 8
• Overall: 34

Camelbak Urban Assault
The Urban Assault is the most ferocious and action packed pack in our lineup. With many pockets and hidden features to impress, the potential utility of this pack is mammoth. If you’re looking for a pack that can carry a good deal and is average sized the Urban Assault ready for your mission, but at the price of $159.

• Construction: 7
• Design: 7
• Comfort: 4
• Value: 5
• Overall: 23

Camelbak Urban Assault XL
This behemoth of a pack is sure to carry whatever you need. Armed with large pockets, and secure connections you can count on this pack should you need to go out for a few days. Don’t underestimate what you can stash in this pack, but be prepared to feel it at the end of the day. The large offerings of this pack come at a large price of $179.

• Construction: 7
• Design: 7
• Comfort: 4
• Value: 5
• Overall: 23