Outdoors & Fitness · Head-to-head
Tortuga Pro Backpack 40L vs Osprey Farpoint 40
Which should you buy? Our verdict on both, pulled from our full The Best Travel Backpacks: 4 Compared (and One to Skip) comparison.
The Tortuga wins because it pairs a full suitcase-style opening and a 16 inch laptop compartment with a suspension that is specified like a hiking pack, inside dimensions that sit under the common 22 x 14 x 9 in limit. The Osprey is built around a pack-style framed harness and costs less, but it is a plainer bag with less organisation.
Tortuga Pro Backpack 40L
Buy itA full 40 L clamshell bag with a height-adjustable harness and an included weight-bearing hip belt, in the slimmest shell of the four.
- Published at 22 x 14 x 8 in (55 x 35 x 20 cm) for 40 L, which is the shallowest depth in this group.
- The suspension is specified in full: height-adjustable shoulder straps, load lifters, a sternum strap, a frame sheet and a padded hip belt that Tortuga sizes for 23 to 68 inch hips.
- Front-loading clamshell opening plus a separate electronics compartment with suspended, fleece-lined sleeves for a 16 inch laptop and a 12.9 inch tablet.
- At 4.4 lb (2 kg) empty it is one of the heavier bags here, which matters on airlines that weigh cabin bags.
- It is one of the most expensive bags here.
- The warranty covers defects for what Tortuga calls the practical lifetime of the product, and excludes wear and tear, airline damage and secondhand purchases.
Osprey Farpoint 40
Buy itA 40 L travel pack with a wire frame and a padded hipbelt, closer to a hiking pack than the luggage-style bags here.
- Built around Osprey's LightWire frame and a padded hipbelt that ties into it, the most hiking-pack carry system in this group.
- The harness and hipbelt zip away behind a panel when the bag is checked or lifted into a bin.
- Covered by Osprey's All Mighty Guarantee, which is built around repair of damage as well as defects.
- It is a deeper bag than the Tortuga, so check its published dimensions against stricter international and low-cost carry-on limits.
- Organisation is basic: one large front-panel compartment with compression straps and a laptop sleeve, so plan on packing cubes.
- The fabric is lighter cloth than the coated sailcloth on the Tortuga and the 400D shell on the Peak Design.
Side by side
| Tortuga Pro Backpack 40L | Osprey Farpoint 40 | |
|---|---|---|
| Our verdict | Buy | Buy |
| Best for | One-bag travellers who carry a laptop and want suitcase-style packing with a harness that can be fitted to their torso. | Travellers who will walk real distances with the bag and want pack-grade suspension without paying premium money. |
| Price tier | $$ · premium | $ · mid-range |
The bottom line
Our overall pick is the Tortuga Pro Backpack 40L - A full 40 L clamshell bag with a height-adjustable harness and an included weight-bearing hip belt, in the slimmest shell of the four. Choose the Osprey Farpoint 40 instead if travellers who will walk real distances with the bag and want pack-grade suspension without paying premium money.
Want the full picture, including the other options we compared and the popular one we'd skip? Read the complete The Best Travel Backpacks: 4 Compared (and One to Skip).