- In this video,
we're gonna be taking a look at the Osprey Fairview,
the women's version of the previously
unisex Osprey Farpoint.
I'm Tom the founder of Pack Hacker
and we share our travel tips and tricks.
We do guides and reviews just like this one.
If you're new here, consider subscribing.
Rebecca, one of our contributors
and a vlogger over at her own channel 'Always a Friday'
has been using the Fairview and
testing it out for the past couple months.
In addition to that,
she used the Farpoint for about a
year of perpetual travel on the road.
I'm excited to get in and share our thoughts with you.
Let's jump right in.
[upbeat music playing]
The Fairview is Osprey's new travel backpack
designed specifically for women and
having traveled with the Farpoint for
about a year and a half,
we were super excited to get our hands on this one.
The Osprey Fairview comes in three different sizes,
the 40 liter, the 55 liter, and the 70 liter.
We are trying the 40 liter as it's
the only one that fits in within carry-on specifications,
the best way to travel.
Ever since the Fairview has come out,
Osprey started referring to the Farpoint
as the men's version which is interesting
as it is marketed towards men and women at the time.
We're really intrigued to see just
how different the Fairview can be,
especially considering that it's
designed specifically for women.
[upbeat music playing]
Now to put it bluntly, the Fairview isn't
the most fashionable, chic bag around
but that is exactly why it's sold as
a travel backpack and not a fashion statement.
This does have some great advantages though.
You're not afraid to put it on the floor,
you're not afraid to get it dirty or
worried it would scuff.
This bag is built for travel and we love that.
The Fairview 40 comes in two different colors,
the rainforest green and misty gray.
Now I really feel that we have to give
Osprey credit for their color choices here
and not getting stuck in the trap
of pink and purple for a women's bag.
These colors are extremely practical too
and don't show up any dirt like lighter options.
This pack has a great, lightweight peripheral frame
and weighs in at only 3.17 pounds or 1.44 kilograms.
At maximum dimensions, this bag is 21 inches in length,
14 inches in width, and nine inches in depth.
The main material on this bag is
210D nylon mini hex diamond ripstop.
It's pretty durable stuff and it's
designed to resist any rips and tears.
Now this Fairview has a clean bill of health
after being used for three months and still looks great.
However, it is not impossible to rip or tear.
If it does get any nicks or tears,
the ripstop material should stop it
from getting any bigger which is really great.
[upbeat music playing]
While the Osprey Fairview is designed
specifically for women,
on their website it doesn't note the exact differences. But
after testing the Farpoint for over a year
and testing the Fairview for the past few months,
this is what we've found out.
First the shoulder straps.
They are much narrower but just as padded
but most importantly,
rather than coming straight over your shoulder
they come around, curve in, and go back out.
This makes it much easier for carrying
on a narrower frame.
The hip belt on the Fairview is
also designed to specifically fit most women's bodies.
The curve is much more pronounced
and it sits a lot better under your rib cage
and over your hip.
We've also noted that it is slightly
more padded than the Farpoint as well.
Another change that we noticed is
the way the sternum strap locks away.
This isn't specifically for women we don't think
but it is an update on the bag.
It actually clips in and locks away
whereas on the Farpoint there's an
elastic band to hold it into place.
These differences may seem minor
and somewhat insignificant but after
testing both the Farpoint and the Fairview at full weight,
there are noticeable changes in
the way this bag has been adapted for women's bodies.
Every small adaptation from the Farpoint
comes together to create a vastly different carry.
[upbeat music playing]
When it comes to a clamshell bag like the Osprey Fairview,
there are few more important qualities than a good zip.
Luckily the Osprey has big, chunky YKK 10RC zips.
The main and front compartment of the bag
also have lockable zips.
They come together for you to put a padlock through
which gives you some extra reassurance.
For extra security,
the compression straps across the
front of the bag pull material over the zips
making them invisible and impossible to open.
Of course these also help to compress the bag as well.
These straps can also come in very handy
for securing different things in
these mesh pockets as well.
For example, like a water bottle or a tripod.
The only downside is when this bag is very full
these mesh pockets, there's not much room to put things in.
However, they are still big enough
for a small bottle of water or a pack of chocolates.
The Osprey Fairview also includes
a shoulder bag strap which you can
connect to your bag by clipping
it onto these two external loops here.
However, we do recommend that you
carry this bag on your back.
The thing is, this bag is just too big
and heavy at full capacity to use as a shoulder bag but
it's there if you want to use it.
One of our favorite things about this bag
is that you can hide away the straps.
All you do, it's really easy,
you un-velcro it at the bottom,
pull it out, unravel it, and then just zip it up
all the way around.
This allows you to hide away the
shoulder straps and the hip belt
which is perfect when you're traveling
and to put it away on the train or a plane.
[upbeat music playing]
The main compartment of this bag
opens fully and you can fit a boatload of stuff in here.
Now while you don't need to use packing cubes
for this kind of design,
we do recommend using it just for the added organization.
On the other side of the main compartment,
you have a zipped mesh pocket.
It's not great for putting in anything too bulky
but we did find it perfect for putting in our Cocoon Grid-It.
Moving onto the front compartment,
at first glance it does look quite big but
when the bag is at full capacity
it does get quite tight.
However, the front compartment
does come with an excellent padded laptop sleeve
which is big enough for laptops up to 15 inches
and there is also a little mesh pocket here too
which is perfect if you have any tablets
or kindles or notebooks, things like that.
In our opinion,
one downside to having the laptop sleeve
at the front of the bag is that
the weight distribution isn't ideal.
Having the heaviest item in your bag
so far away from your back is not great.
There is also a small zipped pocket at the top of the bag.
This is actually quite big.
You can fit a lot of stuff in there
and it's perfect for stuff that
you need quick, easy access to like a wallet
or passports, things like that.
The only issue is when the bag is full,
it becomes really difficult to do up
because the curved edges here.
So that can be quite a pain.
[upbeat music playing]
We have only been testing the Osprey Fairview
for three months now but we have
nothing to report here so far.
No scuffs, no nicks, no marks, nothing.
We love that Osprey have decided
to bring out a woman specific travel bag and
we encourage other bag makers to take note.
That being said though,
we are still slightly confused
that Osprey - having originally sold
the Farpoint as a unisex bag - to then
without making any changes have it towards men.
The differences between the Farpoint and Fairview
are minimal at first but after you've
been carrying this bag at full capacity,
you can achieve a level of comfort
that just isn't available with the men's version.
For the travel conscious women out there,
by no means do you have to go and
buy a woman specific travel bag now but
carrying the Osprey Fairview was a pleasant surprise.
Now moving onto some pros of this pack -
it's designed specifically for women and that is so great.
We also love the colors that are available.
This bag comes with a great hideaway strap system too.
Now moving onto some of the cons -
the laptop compartment at the front
of the bag isn't ideal for weight distribution.
The front pocket of this bag is
a bit tricky to do up at full capacity.
Lastly, the front compartment space
is limited when the main compartment is full.
[upbeat music playing]
The Osprey Fairview is still everything
we like about the Farpoint.
Great for one bag travel, neat hideaway strap system,
and available worldwide; just
designed specifically for women.
Osprey knew they had the right formula
and just with a few small adjustments
like the straps and the hip belt,
they've created a great, comfortable carry for women.
Thanks for taking a look at our
review on the Osprey Fairview.
Be sure to head over to packhacker.com/newsletter.
Sign up for that newsletter and never miss an update.
- Ever since the Fair-.
So moving on.
Brilliant!
[upbeat music playing]