BootsnAll Travel Community

I have the original Osprey Departure 40 pack circa 2000 and it's taken quite a beating over the years so I'm thinking about looking for a new pack. I'm not a fan of the Osprey Porter 46 because I don't like plain cordura on the backpanel (picky, picky - I know), so I was looking at the REI Vagabond 2.0. I remember seeing a couple of people on the boards who said they had an REI Vagabond pack, but I couldn't find any other positive or negative info out there on it.

So...does anyone have this pack and if so do you like it? I'm slightly concerned about the fabric not holding up very well. Any experience with this?

Thanks!

I have one.
The fabric has been fine. There have been no rips or tears. Everything is still in working order. I bought it...erm..about a year and a half ago. It's been to Africa, Europe, around the USA and so far so good.

I see on the website there's a new version which I haven't had my hands on. My son and several other friends and family members have the original version and I have the smaller Hitchhiker model. They're really awesome. After 2 years with nearly a year's time split between 6 or 8 countries, our son's only complaint was it still looked too shiny and new.

I just spent a few hours deciding between the Porter and the Vagabond 2.0

I really wanted to like the Vagabond and had long wanted to buy one, but I ended up going with the Porter.

The Vagabond has a real internal frame; the Porter has foam sheets that give it some structure but there's not a whole lot of support.

The Porter hugs your back (no frame) which probably means it will be uncomfortable in hot weather.

The Porter's hip belt has less padding; the shoulder straps do as well.

The carry handles on the Porter are more padded and thicker (top and side)

You can put more into the Porter. The Vagabond is definitely smaller. You can also put less; and its compression straps work really well to trim down the size of the pack (since there's no frame/plastic sheet, it can shrink). This really sold me on it. I found with the same amount of stuff the Vagabond was a little less compact than the Porter.

The Porter is a tiny bit lighter (no frame)

The Porter, when added with a shoulder strap, looks a lot more like a piece of luggage than the Vagabond. The Vagabond is on the hiking backpack side of the hybrid split and the Porter is on the luggage/duffel bag side.

The zipper on the main compartment of the Porter has thicker coils than the Vagabond.

I could not adjust the Vagabond to be comfortable on my back - I'm not sure why.

I found the Porter to be reasonably comfortable with about 15-20 pounds on my back, but I haven't walked around with it all day.

The Porter is pretty wide, it looks like a big box on your back when you carry it, like many travel backpacks, so aesthetically it doesn't look as nice as the Vagabond.

I recently bought both to try at home. I really like the Vagabond's smaller size and pockets (especially the zip open water bottle pocket). It was comfortable without much weight in it, but when I loaded it up over 15 lbs, the internal frame poked me right in the upper back. Very uncomfortable. However it fits my girlfriend perfectly (she is the same height as me), so she is going to keep it.

I still like the Porter 46, and it is very comfortable with a heavy load (I put in 25 lbs since I want to be able use it as a trekking pack while traveling). If you don't fill it to capacity, you can tighten down the compression wings and straps really well and the profile isn't much bigger than the vagabond.

So try them on with some weight to see how they fit you.