Osprey Farpoint 40 Review: Does the Legend Hold Up?
Get the Farpoint 40 here: https://amzn.to/4lM1ATp
For nearly a decade, one backpack reigned supreme in the world of large carry-on one-bag travel. When I first discovered the one-bag community back in 2017, the Farpoint 40 was hailed as the undisputed champion, the go-to recommendation for anyone looking to ditch checked luggage. After years of hearing its praise for its carrying comfort, I had to find out for myself: Does the legend hold up? I have tested the Farpoint 40 for four weeks, and here’s the thing—this backpack is having an identity crisis. It wants to be everything: your carry-on, your hiking pack, your mobile closet. It’s built for people who want to pack their entire life into 40 liters and still be comfortable carrying it. The answer lies in the very thing that made it famous—a design that is both its greatest triumph and its most significant flaw. This is my review.
First Impressions: Carrying Comfort
My first impression of trying this backpack out was that the backpack’s carrying comfort is its most outstanding feature; it is exceptionally comfortable, even when fully loaded. I was able to carry a substantial amount of equipment, including a sizable 16-inch laptop, for extended periods without any back or shoulder strain. This bag looks and feels like it is a backpack built around a carrying system, and not the other way around. That’s a great thing if carrying comfort is key and you plan on doing occasional hikes or carrying heavier loads over longer distances, either on a daily basis or while traveling.
Suspension System
The suspension system is robust and well-designed, incorporating a 4mm peripheral frame, padded shoulder straps, a hip belt for load transfer, a sternum strap, and load lifters. The mesh-covered ridged foam AirScape back panel provides excellent ventilation. This heavy-duty harness is the key feature that separates the Farpoint from simpler, lighter travel packs, which often sacrifice this level of support to save weight, like for example Osprey’s own Daylite 44 that I also got in for review.
Design & Features
This new model makes one crucial change: the laptop sleeve is finally in the right place, against your back. But the core of the Farpoint remains the same: it’s a 40-liter, carry-on-sized pack that feels like it tries to be both a hiking backpack and a travel suitcase. The main compartment features a clamshell opening with lockable zippers, along with two internal compression straps and a mesh pocket. Furthermore, the pack includes a stowaway flap that conceals the entire harness system. This is a very useful feature for checking the bag or achieving a cleaner look by preventing straps from dangling all over the place. I really appreciate this, as it also protects the clips from being stepped on and breaking—an issue I had to repair myself on my Landmark 40.
Front Pocket
The design of the front pocket is, in my opinion, a notable drawback. It is a simple, unsecured “shove-it” pouch. It is better than the previous mesh iteration, but I would have preferred a large, zippable pocket, even though it packs completely flat. My guess is that this part of the bag is so bent that Osprey decided that either clothes or water bottles would be fitting inside this pocket.
Hip Belt
The hip belt, while essential for carrying comfort, can be cumbersome since it cannot be stowed away independently. When not in use, it hangs loosely. You can tuck it behind your back, but it becomes a bit of an uncomfortable bulge. Additionally, the pack lacks hip belt pockets. They do add some loops for attachment, so in theory, you could attach pouches to the hip belt to add that functionality. But the hip belt feels great on, and it’s designed to be used when carrying the backpack, so I’ll consider this just a minor nitpick.
Weight
Here’s the biggest trade-off: with an empty weight of 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg), the Farpoint 40 is considered a heavy backpack by many travelers. For perspective, some travel-focused packs of a similar volume, like Osprey’s Daylite 44, can be over a pound lighter, but they typically achieve this by using a much simpler harness and materials without a load-bearing hip belt. In my opinion, this should be considered a minor nitpick if you’re choosing the Farpoint over the lighter Daylite 44. You’re making that choice for the superior carrying system, and the price you pay is the extra weight.
Versatility & Use Cases
This bag is ideal for the one-bag traveler who needs a pack that can double as a comfortable daypack for all-day hikes or even minimalist hut-to-hut treks. While it has a hiking aesthetic, its clean design also works well in urban settings. For travel days involving long walks or immediate sightseeing with a heavy load, the robust carrying system is invaluable. It’s the most comfortable 40-liter travel pack I have ever used. For comparison, the Toolee Landmark 40 is similar, but its lack of load lifters makes it feel more back-heavy than the Farpoint’s secure, close-to-the-body carry. Ultimately, the Farpoint’s carrying comfort is its saving grace. While many one-bag travelers find it too large and heavy, the ability to comfortably carry a heavy load significantly improves the travel experience. This comfort makes the bag incredibly versatile, allowing it to double as a daypack for serious hikes or even minimalist hut-to-hut treks. In my opinion, this capability—knowing you can comfortably carry a heavier load—is what truly adds to the joy of traveling.
The Farpoint 55 System
Osprey also sells the Farpoint 55, which basically is this 40-liter pack with a 15-liter daypack. This daypack attaches to the main pack and is intended to be your personal item. This design might explain the Farpoint 40’s lack of external organization on its own. Without the companion daypack, accessing your gear on the go can be frustrating. A workaround is to place items in pouches near the top zippers; if you do this, getting them out isn’t too difficult, which can make passing through airline security a much smoother process.
Up agianst the competition
When compared to its main competitors, the Farpoint 40 holds its own. The Tortuga Travel Backpack Pro 40L offers great organization and comfort but at a much higher price. The Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L is more stylish but significantly less comfortable and also more expensive. The Daylite 44 is lighter and cheaper, but this comes at the cost of ruggedness and carrying comfort, featuring a simple strap for a hip belt. Perhaps its biggest competitor is the REI Ruckpack 40. This is because it offers a similar blend of a robust hiking-style harness and travel-friendly features at a comparable price point, and has gotten many favorable reviews too and also comes in a smaller 30 liter version as well.
Compared to my Toolee Landmark 40, a bag I’ve used for six years, the Farpoint feels bigger due to its taller frame. The Landmark has a unique and really great hardshell spacious top pocket and a hidden safety pocket beneath it accessed from the main compartment, but I always missed the load lifters that the Farpoint has, which is why I got it.
Ideal User Profile
So, who should get this bag? Basically, the Farpoint 40 is for you if you’re someone who actually walks around a lot with your luggage or wants it to double up as a hiking bag. If you tend to pack heavy with tech or camera gear, you’ll really appreciate the support! It’s also a fantastic choice if you want one bag for both travel and some light hiking. And let’s be honest, if you’re not trying to look like you’re heading to a board meeting, the casual hiking vibe won’t bother you.
But, it’s not for everyone. You might want to look elsewhere if you mostly do short city trips, with lighter loads and your bag lives in the hotel room. If you need a ton of pockets to keep everything organized, you’ll probably find this bag frustrating. In my opinion, the front shove-it pocket and the small top pocket are the largest drawbacks in terms of organization, and if you’re an ultralight enthusiast, it’s going to be way too heavy for your style.
Final Assessment
The Osprey Farpoint 40 isn’t some super stylish or groundbreaking backpack. It doesn’t have all the fancy bells and whistles that some other bags do, and it is also a lot cheaper than the more premium bags out there like the Tortuga Travel Backpack Pro and the Peak Design Travel Bag 45 liter. But what it does, it does perfectly: it carries heavy stuff comfortably. And in the world of one-bag traveling, sitting at the limits of maximum carry-on size, it really can carry a lot of stuff!
I’ve learned that at the end of a long day of traveling with a full pack, you don’t really care how your bag looks. You care about the convenience a bag provides: the easiness of stowing away the hip belt and shoulder straps, the carrying system, and the workaround with using the top part for quick access items.
What do you all think? Do you have this bag, or are you considering it? This is just my initial thought, and my long-term review will be released after 6-12 months, giving my real-life experiences with this bag. Let me know in the comments.
Get the Farpoint 40 here: https://amzn.to/4lM1ATp