A good day pack, some small quibbles - Osprey Kestrel 32 L Mens Backpack

I had high hopes for the Kestrel 32, given its rave reviews online. Mostly, I was satisfied by the design. I especially liked the front loading, which for some reason is not present in the bigger Kestrel packs (why???). The integrated rain shell is a plus, although I haven't had to test it yet. I like the fact that the compression straps have opposable buckles, so you can use them to fasten your snowshoes or sleeping pad to the back of the pack. Also, the hip strap pockets are very handy. Also, love the loops for hiking poles (be careful, while they're great when walking, putting poles in the loops makes setting down the pack a pain). All in all, a good day pack.

While mostly satisfied, I have two cribs. (1) The webbings on the sides are WAY too shallow, and awkwardly placed with respect to the compression straps. The straps are too low to fasten over bottles, so they must go under. Once the compression straps are tightened, you get at most four inches of webbing to stick your bottles in, which is too short for any quart-sized bottle. Recently, one of my bottles plopped out into a fast-flowing stream when I had to bend down, so I've taken to fastening my bottles with paracord to the pack. (2) I wish there were a couple more zip pockets, in addition to the one at the top. There's no place right now to keep a map handy, for example.

And oh, there's a third one, which is more a disappointment than a crib. According to Osprey, having the water reservoir outside the pack means you can refill without having to open and dig through the main compartment. Not true. Once you take the empty reservoir out and fill it up, there's no way you can slide it in without messing around the main compartment, if the main compartment is packed. You see, as you empty the water, the stuff in the main compartment expands, so when you fill the bladder up, there's no space to put it in. This is of course not a deal breaker, just something I had expected from Osprey's claims.

This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.