Osprey Stratos 32 - First Look

 

Osprey Stratos 32- First Look

Price: £75.00

Weight: 1300 grammes (medium)

Features AirCore tensioned vented back panel, front and side stretch woven pockets, top load access with fixed top pocket, internal hydration sleeve with dual side hydration ports, zippered access backpanel hydration storage, large side pockets with main body access in left pocket, sewn-in contoured spacer mesh harness, spacer mesh hip-bet with pockets, side straps, dual ice axe loops.Top tensioner straps. Available in three back lengths S/M/L with capacities of 30, 32 and 34 litres respectively.

Fantastic detailing and quality, affordable compared to the Atmos. Doesn't carry quite as well as an Atmos.

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The Concept Osprey's fast-moving Atmos day pack with its ventilated back system and flexible titanium/alloy frame was one of our favourite bits of kit last year. It manages the neat trick of carrying lighter than it feels thanks to an excellent back system and harness.

The Stratos is Osprey's new day-sac aimed more at hill and mountain walkers and at a more affordable price level. That means you still get a vented back system and neat detail touches, but the spec is slightly less techy. The back struts are glass fibre composite rather than ti for example and the straps and belts use mesh instead of the Atmos's ubercool perforated foam.

So, think competitively priced all-round daysac and you won't go far wrong.

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Features One of the things we like about Osprey is that they've thought about details and the Stratos 32 is no exception to the rule. The basis for the pack is an AireCore mesh back panel that holds the pack away from your back, but being Osprey, they've also allowed you to hang a spare hydration system in the cavity if you want to - there's a 'proper' hydration pocket inside the pack as well.

Then there's stuff like the one-handed chest streap snap bucke, the extra opening in one of the side panels that means you don't need to use the top opening in many situations, three handy stretch pockets with the side ones angled so you can use them without removing the pack, neat shock-corded ice-axe loops and so on.

One feature we do like is that the whole range is available in different back lengths, so you can match your back length, even with a small capacity pack. Neat. You even get mesh pockets on the hip-belt and, typically Osprey, they've even reversed the zipper pull direction from the Atmos to make it easier to check they're properly closed.

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In Action We've been using the Stratos 32 and it's smaller brother the Stratos 24 - see below - for a few weeks now and we're generally impressed. First off, the build quality is just as you'd expect from Osprey and you get loads of neat details like the dual density foam shoulder straps with the seams rolled onto the front of the pack to minimise abrasion damage.

There are top tensioners on the shoulders, which is unusual for a day sac and a conventional lid opening with pocket. Even the key clip in the lid has been thought about - it's red so it stands out against the black pocket and is easy to spot. The micro-gridded ripstop fabric feels good and tough too.

Loaded up and ready to go, the Stratos 32 doesn't quite have the instant comfort of the equivalent Atmos. The mesh hip-belt is mesh rather than perforated foam and somehow it doesn't sit quite as well though it's still a very decent carry and you can feel the load being transferred to the tensioned mesh of the back system. It didn't, like some vented back systems, feel as if it was pulling away from our back either.

We found a bit of fiddling with the shoulder adjustments and judicious tensioning made a big difference, so if you're trying before buying, do make sure the pack is adjusted to suit you.

The detailing we liked. We could use the side stretch pockets without taking the pack off, the belt mesh pockets are great for snacks or maybe a compact camera and the side pocket access was great for dragging out a jacket from the bottom of the sac without having to faff around with the top pocket opening.

The stretchy back pocket easily swallowed a softshell jacket and we like the quick and easy shockcord ice axe / pole loops. No problems with the simple compression straps either.

Quibbles? Threading a hydration tube through the central outlet was fiddly and while the pull into the centre belt fastening works brilliantly, it leaves a world of excess strappage in its wake - do they really need to be that long? - and well, that's about it really.

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Initial Verdict

Comfortable and supportive with brilliant detailing and great build quality. It doesn't carry quite as well as the Atmos, but then it doesn't cost quite as much either and you still get the benefits of Osprey's attention to detail. It's also ideal for anyone who has trouble finding a day pack to match their back length, what with the three size options.

We'd also expect the ventilated back system to work well in hotter weather, but given that it's still February, that's a guess rather than a certainty. All in all, a very nice day sac that should suit all-round hill and mountain walkers.

Osprey Stratos 24 - Quick Look (£60.00) We've also been using the smaller Stratos 24 which is both smaller than the 32 - duh - but also differs in that it uses a panel-loading design like the Atmos series rather than a traditional top-loading with lid design like big brother. All our observations on build and features also hold true for the 24 and it shares the 32's basic details, however we found it significantly less comfortable and even after some careful adjustment, the corners of the base of the frame tended to press uncomfortably into our lower back. Another tester found exactly the same problem. The 24 is about an inch narrower than the 32 at this point, but it seems to be enough to make a difference. By contrast, the frame on the Atmos is far wider and has a more pronounced curve. The Stratos 32 measures approximately 11 inches across its base, the 24 just 10 inches while an Atmos 35 is closer to 13 inches in the same area. We're not saying that the Stratos 24 is a bad pack, but we'd strongly suggest that you try if before buying.

Osprey web site

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