Help me choose between two city backpacks?

Posted by: a-dogg

Help me choose between two city backpacks? - 12/13/16 12:01 AM

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!
Posted by: aimless

Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? - 12/13/16 12:28 AM

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.
Posted by: PerryMK

Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? - 12/13/16 05:10 AM

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.
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? - 12/13/16 03:09 PM

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!).
Posted by: mogleygull

Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? - 05/20/19 05:50 AM

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.
Posted by: LeoB

Re: Help me choose between two city backpacks? - 12/06/20 06:39 PM

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!