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#197157 - 12/13/16 12:01 AM Help me choose between two city backpacks?
a-dogg Offline
newbie

Registered: 12/12/16
Posts: 2
I've narrowed it down to the eBags TLS Mother Lode Weekender and the Osprey Porter 46.

Does anyone have feelings on one over the other? I'd primarily be using this as a suitcase replacement in the city, not hiking in the woods.

Thanks!


Edited by aimless (12/13/16 12:25 AM)
Edit Reason: removed hot links to amazon

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#197158 - 12/13/16 12:28 AM Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? [Re: a-dogg]
aimless Online   content
Moderator

Registered: 02/05/03
Posts: 3292
Loc: Portland, OR
Go to the Rick Steves website (you get three guesses what the URL is) and look at his two backpack/suitcases. They are both good packs and worth considering for the use you propose.

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#197167 - 12/13/16 05:10 AM Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? [Re: a-dogg]
PerryMK Online   content
member

Registered: 01/18/02
Posts: 1391
Loc: Florida panhandle
I don't know anything about the Osprey other than its a fine brand. Rick Steves has some interesting looking items also but I've never actually seen his bags so can't comment. I often use his travel guides though.

I have an eBags similar to what you are looking at (mine is an older model with wheels). If its a city bag, I like wheels. Maybe I'm getting old. It's a well made bag and while I've only used it as a backpack once (streets weren't amenable to wheels) it wasn't uncomfortable for the mile or so I had to walk. It's not a hiking pack though; it's a city pack.

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#197178 - 12/13/16 03:09 PM Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? [Re: PerryMK]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
I'm still using an REI convertible backpack that I bought back in 1992 and, at 25 years old, still looks like new, despite lots of travel. It has stays and a hipbelt. The shoulder straps and hipbelt can be hidden inside a fabric panel. This makes the pack look like a respectable suitcase should you want to visit a "higher class" hotel and, more important, protects the shoulder straps and hipbelt from getting caught in luggage conveyor machinery. It is carryon size for all the airlines I've encountered so far.

I have no idea if REI still carries such a pack, but it's worth looking!

EDIT, LATER: Note that this is specifically a travel pack; I use a much lighter pack for backpacking (which, here in the US, is wilderness trekking). That one is too fragile to subject to airline luggage handlers (whom I've seen at work, horrors!).


Edited by OregonMouse (12/14/16 10:59 AM)
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

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#203050 - 05/20/19 05:50 AM Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? [Re: a-dogg]
mogleygull Offline
newbie

Registered: 05/20/19
Posts: 1
I've been with Osprey one during my St. Petersburg touring and can definitely say that I'm in love with it! I borrowed it but soon will definitely take one just for me and my wife.


Edited by aimless (05/20/19 12:13 PM)

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#205067 - 12/06/20 06:39 PM Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? [Re: mogleygull]
LeoB Offline
newbie

Registered: 12/03/20
Posts: 7
Originally Posted By mogleygull
I've been with Osprey one during my St. Petersburg touring and can definitely say that I'm in love with it! I borrowed it but soon will definitely take one just for me and my wife.

I had the Osprey backpack. And I also loved it!

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