Osprey Stratos 34 Pack | Performance

We’ve maybe become a little blasé about Osprey’s consistent excellence in terms of features, design and build quality, but they’re all present and correct in the newly revamped Stratos (men’s) and Sirius (women’s) pack ranges.

The essence of the Stratos remains the same – an all-round hiking and walking day-sack with a trampoline-stye suspended mesh back panel for cooling ventilation on hotter days – but it’s been subtly redesigned for 2017.

The most obvious change is the adoption of a wrap-around, continuous hip-belt / back panel design based on the the AntiGravity system used on Osprey’s larger packs. It’s hard to describe, but the pack does feel wrapped around your hips rather than just perched on them.

The air-gap’s been carefully moderated too and now has little impaction on either stability or the shape of the main compartment, which on some similar designs can get a little, well, banana shaped…

Generally we’ve found it comfortable and supportive, even with medium heavy light-packing loads, but we have found the tensioned inner seam of the suspended panel digs in to our back between the shoulder blades just enough to be a little intrusive.

To be fair, we suspect that’s about fit. The OM editorial test back is quite wide and you may not have the same issue. Try before buying is our advice. There is plenty of back length adjustability and the pack comes in two sizes as well.

Feature-tastic…

We can’t fault the Stratos when it comes to features. There are loads of pockets including a lid-substitute top one and two excellent, large-sized, easy-access belt ones all with big, glove-friendly pullers.

There’s a lower compartment for the main body with independent access too, though we never really used it. And speaking of the main compartment, huge zipped panel access makes it super easy to get things in and out.

One bonus for trekking pole users is the excellent Osprey Stow-on-the-Go™ trekking pole attachment system, which uses shock-cord on the shoulder strap to effectively tuck your poles away under your arm when they’re not needed.

No need to remove your pack to use it. No fiddling about with pole-tips and loops only to find you want to use the poles again two minutes later. It’s a little slice of genius.

Our only slight quibble is with the long-term durability of the stretch mesh side-pockets. As with similar designs, they don’t mix well with rock and abrasion, though Osprey has minimised the impact by making the lower sections from solid fabric.

Finally, the larger versions of the pack do equally well for light-packing use or bothying, while still being compact enough for general day use.