Osprey Stratos 36 Backpack Review

The Osprey Stratos 36 is a ventilated and adjustable size backpack that’s appropriate for lengthy day hikes, multi-sport adventures, and even light-weight backpacking journeys. It has a suspended mesh again panel and seamless wrap-around hip belt that make it cool and comfy to hold, with a light-weight body that gives very good load switch to your hips. While this mixture makes it potential to hold heavy hundreds with ease, the Stratos 36 additionally has a considerate assortment of pockets and storage entry strategies that set it other than equally sized backpacks.

Specs at a Glance

• Gender: Men’s (the corresponding girls’s mannequin known as the Osprey Sirrus 36)
• Volume: 36L (additionally obtainable in 44L, 34L, and 24L sizes)
• Weight:  3 lbs 4.4 oz, precise (3 lbs 4.8 oz spec)
• Pockets: 9, plus the primary compartment
• Access: Top lid, lengthy aspect zipper, backside pockets (2)
• Frame: Aluminum, wire perimeter
• Ventilated: Yes
• Adjustable Torso Length: Yes
• Hydration appropriate: Yes
• Sleeping Bag compartment: Yes
• Rain cowl included: Yes
• Max beneficial load: 30 lbs
• One dimension w/ torso size of 18-22″
• Materials: Recycled 210d and 420d nylon w/ PFC & PFAS-free DWR

Backpack Frame and Suspension

The Stratos 36 is a ventilated and adjustable-length backpack with a seamless mesh again panel and hipbelt that present a snug and back-hugging match. Ventilated backpacks have a cavity positioned behind your torso that encourages airflow to maintain you cooler and dry the perspiration that makes your shirt damp. They work fairly properly and are a fascinating characteristic on a day pack should you hike in scorching or humid climate. On the Stratos 36, the mesh again panel is suspended over the backpack’s wire perimeter body, making a kind of trampoline that acts as a shock absorber to cushion your again and hips as you hike.

The mesh flows repeatedly from the again of the pack into the hipbelt, offering a body-hugging match. Besides elevated consolation and management, this helps remove any slippage of the hipbelt down your pants, so it stays in your hips for max effectivity and cargo switch.

The Stratos 36 can be an adjustable-length backpack, which implies you’ll be able to dial it to suit your precise torso size, even should you usually match between sizes. You do that by elevating or reducing the shoulder straps in relation to the hipbelt in order that the shoulder pads frivolously contact the tops of your shoulders when the backpack is absolutely loaded. The aim is to let your hips and legs carry nearly all of the burden in your backpack as a result of they’re the strongest muscle groups in your physique, whereas your shoulders maintain the pack positioned near your again and middle of gravity.

The shoulder pads are linked collectively within the again to one thing known as a yoke. The yoke is linked to the mesh again panel and built-in hip belt with utilizing a ladder lock adjustment system (the earlier mannequin used velcro), so you’ll be able to  elevate or decrease the shoulder pads. Raising the pads makes the gap between the hip belt and the shoulder pads longer whereas reducing them makes the gap shorter.

The Stratos’ shoulder straps have the identical snug and moisture-wicking padding because the hip belt. They’re additionally S-shaped and comfy for males or girls. The pack has load lifters which are anchored to the body in addition to the shoulder pads. These are used to tug the pack ahead and into higher alignment along with your hips if it’s pulling you backward. The shoulder straps even have two hydration loops sewn to the entrance to seize a hose, and sternum straps that may be moved up and down on a “rail”, for ease of adjustment.

Backpack Organization and Storage

The Stratos 36 is loaded with 9 pockets to maintain your stuff organized, along with the primary compartment which might be accessed from the highest or by a aspect zipper. Having all these pockets and entry strategies makes the Stratos 36 an distinctive backpack should you want a pack for multi-sports adventures as a result of you’ll be able to separate the gear you want for various actions. There are:

• 2 pockets within the prime lid
• 2 aspect water bottle pockets
• 2 hip belt pockets
• 1 entrance stash pocket
• 1 sleeping bag pocket
• 1 rain cowl pocket

The Stratos 36 has a set prime lid with a large prime pocket and a second zippered mesh pocket beneath, that has a key fob inside. The incontrovertible fact that the lid is sewn to the body is nice as a result of it doesn’t droop awkwardly or droop sideways the way in which that some floating lids do on bigger quantity packs. The prime lid pocket is giant sufficient to retailer hats, gloves, maps, and navigation gear, whereas the mesh pocket beneath is nice for storing your keys, pockets, and sundries the place you’ll be able to nonetheless see them once you open the pack.

There are two aspect mesh water bottle pockets which are deep sufficient to carry 1L Nalgene or Smartwater bottles. Both pockets have a compression strap that may run contained in the pocket or on the surface should you discover that simpler to make use of. The aspect pocket mesh within reason sturdy however is just not the finely woven mesh that Osprey makes use of on their dearer, higher-capacity packs. That implies that the Stratos 36’s mesh is more likely to get ripped up should you catch it on a department, however you may as well simply  patch the outlet with Tenacious Tape (see How to Repair Backpack Mesh Pockets with Tenacious Tape.)

The hipbelt has two giant zippered pockets which are sufficiently big to retailer a Smartphone and a number of other snack bars. They each have strong material faces, which is my desire as a result of they’re extra sturdy than pockets with mesh fronts and supply higher safety for electronics from the climate or impacts.

There’s a separate sleeping bag compartment below the primary pocket, which is accessed by an exterior zipper protected by a rain flap. The sleeping bag compartment is a floating shelf held in place by toggles, which may undo if you wish to be part of it to the primary compartment above to create a bigger and steady space for storing.

The Stratos 36 comes with a rain cowl which is saved in one other pocket on the backside of the pack. This pocket has a drain gap and is giant sufficient that you would be able to retailer a small water filter and rolled-up gentle bottle, like a Platypus inside. That’s the place I maintain mine for the reason that pack doesn’t have a entrance stretch mesh pocket to retailer moist gadgets.

There’s additionally a big pocket with a vertical zipper on the entrance of the pack which is nice for storing a jacket or different gadgets you need quick access to. I had a bit of bother adapting to it since I’m so used to having an open mesh pocket on the entrance of a backpack. But this lengthy pocket can be utilized in various ways in which an open mesh pocket can’t be. For instance, you’ll be able to retailer your whole further layers for an extended hike together with a puffy jacket, rain gear, hats and gloves; crampons or microspikes or each; climbing gear; backcountry ski gear; and emergency shelter, splint, and first assist equipment, and so forth.

In addition to all of those exterior pockets, the primary compartment has a full-length hydration sleeve with a central hydration port, so you’ll be able to run the dampen both shoulder pad. The major compartment might be accessed from the highest, by a drawstring opening, or from the aspect, by an extended aspect zipper. That aspect zipper is especially useful once you wish to pull one thing out of the underside of the pack, like a heat jacket or your rest room paper, when it’s packed close to the underside of the primary compartment. This is a fairly uncommon characteristic on a pack of this dimension however is tremendous helpful in colder climate.

External Attachments and Compression

The Stratos 36 has two tiers of aspect compression straps, that are good for securing tall objects like fishing rods the aspect of the pack. The prime compression straps shut with a quick-release buckle, which additionally makes it simpler to connect snowshoes to the perimeters of the pack for winter climbing. The pack additionally has an ice ax loop with a shaft holder, the basic Osprey stow-and-go trekking pole holder, and a pair of sleeping pad straps beneath the sleeping bag pocket. It actually is loaded with helpful options.

Comparable Daypacks

Recommendation

The Osprey Stratos 36 is an distinctive backpack that can be utilized for day climbing, winter climbing, hut-to-hut journeys, multi-sport adventures, and even light-weight in a single day journeys. While the Stratos has a snug ventilated and adjustable size body and quite a few pockets and organizational options, the factor that actually stands out for me about this pack is its capacity to hold heavy hundreds with relative ease. You can load it up with digital camera gear, climbing gear, or winter traction aids and carry them with ease. If you’re on the lookout for a flexible mid-size backpack that can be utilized year-round for a variety of actions, I’d positively suggest the Osprey Stratos 36.

Disclosure: The writer bought this backpack.

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