Osprey Farpoint 40 Review: Worst Backpack Ever Made

Background

I've had the Farpoint 40 for several years. I've carried it through airports, gone on road trips, and lived out of it. It is the older model before the redesign. However, they are very similar. I looked at the new one to see if there any improvements - they are the same except for minor changes. Mainly, they relocated the laptop sleeve to the back. Redesign or not, this is a TERRIBLE backpack, and I'll explain why.

Lack of Usable Space

This is my main issue - it's almost like constricted the interior space as much as possible in the name of appearance. Osprey likes photos, and they like to put high quality images of their backpacks on their website looking all perfect. The bottom of this pack curves backward at the bottom (see image) for no reason. Like why not come straight down? It reduces space at the bottom so things have to push out further up, and it kind of angles down your back. I'm not racing, and I'm not going for aerodynamic. Why can't it just go straight down in the back and give me that additional space?

I have routinely overfilled this backpack with very few items. If you're going somewhere in the winter, forget it. I understand that it's a 40 liter pack, but it could hold way more than that and be the same size. It thick in the middle and then gets smaller at both ends. I just don't understand how anyone would design a backpack like this. It's way smaller than it should be for the size that it is.

Water Bottle Holders on the Front?

Why put them on the front? You fill the pack up, it gets tight and sticks out and then you get this:

In this picture it's not completely full, and it gets way worse when full. Even if I could somehow jam my water bottle in there, I couldn't get to it because it's literally as far away from me as possible. This is absolutely asinine. I would have to take the backpack off just to get to my water bottle. Water bottle holders should be on the side. Then you can get to your drink, it fits even when packed, and it works. Putting them on the front like the Farpoint 40 - blows my mind.

Useless Frontal Area

I think the newer one has this too, but it has this big pouch in the front, and I end up just stuffing my dirty clothes in there as I continue on my travels. That's all I use it for.

Non-Functional Compression Straps

It appears to have compression straps, but they are an illusion. They are not actually compression straps, they just start at the front and go across the front. They don't extend around the sides as compression straps would so that you can compress the load in the pack. They are only useful for strapping a coat onto the front of the pack, and honestly, they just get in the way.

So Many Good Reviews Online

What really gets me is this backpack has so many good reviews, everybody seems to love it. What happened to the honesty? Just travel with it for a little while and be honest about how they designed it. Even people who bought it and posted a review on amazon have rated it really well, and that just goes to show that you can't really trust these ratings.

If something looks nice and is nicely presented, they will rate it well. I've read a lot of online blog posts about this pack, and I've yet to see a negative post about it.

This acts like it's the best backpack ever made:

https://nocamerabag.com/blog/review-osprey-farpoint-40-carry-on-backpack

Another one that praises it:

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/travel/travel-backpack/osprey-farpoint-40

It goes on and on. The things all these reviewers have in common - they get paid when you buy one through their link. So they will not say anything bad about it because they want you to buy one. Most of these reviews are all the same - they go through the features, talk about them a little bit, and then say it's a great backpack. This is just a problem with online reviews in general. It's hard to get any honest opinions.

Only Good Part

The only good thing about this backpack is that it hasn't torn up yet. The shoulder straps are okay and have stayed attached so far, but that's it. I feel like the shoulder straps and the hip belt are great. It distributes the weight and the shoulder straps are robustly attached.