Customer Reviews The North Face Recon

I've had this backpack for over a year now and use it primarily when travelling for business. I love the abundance of pockets for safely transporting laptop, iPad, kindle as well as tiny connectors and cables that get lost in other backpacks. I dislike that fact that it has a rounded bottom and will not sit properly when put down. It is always falling over. I thought I could live with this when I bought it but it is extremely annoying. Also a slight inconvenience is the fact that there is no comfortable way to carry this on your suitcase. It would be awesome if there was a strap or sleeve that would allow it to attach to your carryon handle. I know it's a backpack and can be worn properly but when travelling in a suit jacket and getting on and off airplanes it would be nice to have an option. Overall it's a good backpack.

I love the amount of storage available, I use it for school and for short trips. It is very sturdy and I can tell it is long lasting. I also LOVE the front pocket that is lined with soft material for my phone- that is one of my favorite parts. The only not so great part is that I do often get back pain from all backpacks, so I feel that North Face could work to make the backpack a tad bit more comfortable, especially for people with back pain.

I love the look of this bag. The pockets are great but I couldn't reach my water bottle while wearing the bag... but that might be a personal problem. The one thing that bugs me is the hard back of the bag. It makes it where you can't sit it down on its bottom which makes it really inconvenient... it didn't bother me while wearing like I thought it would.

This is my second Recon bag. The first is still in daily use after 5+ years. The design has been updated to accommodate laptops making the back hard for protection but, the bag does tend to tip over. When used on the back, not an issue and lightweight. If you have an older design you will notice less space in the main compartment. However, the additional lined interior pockets more than make up for this.

I am very happy with the initial quality of the pack. The materials seem rugged as well as the sewing and the zippers are very adequate and smooth. I received it about a week ago and immediately took it on a camping trip where I managed to pack a wool blanket, full size towel, toiletry bag, 32 oz water bottle, extra shirt, Bose mini SoundLink speaker, knife, bug spray, sunscreen, extra cash, two pill bottles, deck of cards, headphones, boonie hat, and headlamp along with more small nick-nacks like a pen, lighter, eye drops and nail clippers. I didn't even use the front stash pocket. It is deceptively large, nice looking and comfortable to carry. Although, I identify two potential problems. 1) the plastic back panel that gives the pack rigidity seems a bit long (shown in pictures). With repeated use and setting the bag down I can see the material wearing out exposing the panel. 2) there are two types of mesh on the front stash pocket. There is a stretchyand a more porous, rigid one that the compression straps are attached to with no reinforcement. With repeated use I could see the mesh ripping. With these potential issues I am still very pleased with the bag. The North Face claims their bags are built to last and if this one doesn't I am certain it will be because of one or both of these design flaws.

Its more of an orangey red colour, but overall still a very good backpack

I am a college student using this backpack strictly for school. Pros Love all the pockets and awesome internal organization pockets Nice big reinforced bottle holders Cons The plastic back support makes this backpack uncomfortable and bulky and not easily manageable, I cut mine out and the backpack is 10x more comfortable and sits upright without falling over now

I bought mine in 2006. It was stolen 2 days ago. In between it served as my every day carry (EDC) pack to work (construction) and computer pack, overnight bag for travelling, to the library, to the shooting range, day hiking and as a second bag when kayaking/camping. One of the lanyards for the zippers wore out a few months ago - well after 11 yrs what did I expect? :) Temporarily replaced it with a large paper clip. The front nylon mesh gets used a lot but the elastic wore out right away. It was a great place to put something damp - like a rain jacket. It was just a tad small for my 17" laptop but it fit. Also just large enough for my collapsible .22LR to take to the range. I put tools on the side cinch straps for ready access and my survival/first aid in the small pocket. The side mesh pockets are straight up instead of angled forward (this may have changed in the newer version) and were great for storing everything from a water bottle to misc. items. It had a lot of small pockets inside the second main pocket for items like pens/batteries/cords, etc. Most of them were superfluous for me. I may buy again or look for a slightly larger bag for my needs.

I really like the colors of this bag. I love all of the compartments. I've been using this backpack for school and some light travel for just over a year. There are no tears, fading, or any damage whatsoever, it is very durable. When I first got this bag, I noticed it was very stiff but was hoping it would loosen up but to this day, it is still stiff in the part against your back and in the shoulder straps. The padding is still stiff and I don't notice any benefit with the FlexVent. The bag itself is light, but once you put a notebook and a pencil case in it, it starts weighing more. The computer sleeve is slightly too small for my HP Envy laptop but with a little wiggling, it slides right in just enough for the bag to zip. Once you add a computer, the bag gets extremely heavy and can hurt your shoulders. For me, on a regular school day, I will have my laptop, chargers, one spiral notebook, a pencil pouch, odd things that I keep in my bag (gum, snacks, hair ties, etc.), and a water bottle. If I try to put anything else in my bag, I have to push and shove to get it in there. It seems very tight considering I only have a thing laptop and one spiral notebook. If you need to take a lot of textbooks to class, you will end up carrying them. One thing that really grinds my gears about this bag is that it has the hardest time sitting up on its base. I will have it full with everything I need for the day but it will not sit up on its base by itself, it always needs to be leaning against something or just laying on its back. Mine always ends up sliding and falling onto its back, even when I am putting my items in it! Really annoying, especially when you are in a rush and the bag is not participating. It gets the job done, though. Great quality and color.

i loved the backpack but its a little stiff, i think i need to break it in and use it for a while. the only thing i don't really like is that there are a lot of tassels to tighten the straps. its great for outdoors and hiking but for work or school the straps and tassels get in the way

This is a great backpack!!! - and I'm a tough critic. I shopped around heavily and nothing compares for all-around-daily-use. As a Brooklynite (no car) I use it daily for carrying every-thing for work commute, lugging around workout gear/professional gear, air-travel/weekend get-aways, and getting groceries/supplies. Simply put, it's my man-purse with extra cargo space for business and travel. I use the backpack so much it (they) become too grungy to be "presentable" so every few years I buy a new one - donating my old (after cleaning it best I can). I've gone through 2 and will likely replace my third soon. Owning several generations of this backpack design, I've seen it evolve over time and get better with each version. Still, one improvement I'm waiting for Northface to implement would be making the interior with a "high-contrast" bright colored material (like professional camera equipment bags do) as that the (typically) black interior makes finding things an unnecessary struggle - and as my "man-purse with extra cargo room", you can imagine that finding all those little things fast gets frustrating - particularly in low light environments. - fixing this is easily engineered by using bright "high contrast" colors for interior materials (hint hint Northface). Note: I have consistently busted the front chest strap on all my bags. The chest-strap has an elastic component which makes it more comfortable but doesn't hold up over time - a fix for this could/should be engineered (...) Also note: eventually the zipper will tend to habitually snag on the "rain flap/deflector" for the zipper - which isn't uncommon given the heavy use/wear but this too could/should be engineered better.

I wanted a backpack that was big enough for all my stuff and had multiple organization pockets and this bag is perfect for that! I'll admit sometimes it does been hard against my back but chest and hip straps help aleve some of that pressure when I use them. Overall a good purchase

I am a student and I have had this backpack for 3 years. This backpack doesn't have enough space for many of the textbooks that I use in school, but I can fit a 3 inch binder with a couple of folders with out the backpack geting too bulky. The zippers snag frequently, but this backpack is made out of good material since it hasn't torn yet. All in all, I give this backpack 4 stars.

I bought this backpack to mainly carrry my books, tablets, etc... to work or to study. However, I found it is very comfortable when riding my bike with my gear. Also, the space of this bag allows me to pack for weekend trips. Finally, I have taken out my work and school items and thrown in my 10 essentials, binoculars, camera equipment, and a water reservoir and taken on some day hikes. The only thing I wish the Recon had was a way to lash my trekking poles to it when I don't need them. The Recon is a great multifunctional backpack.

I bought this for my sister who is in college and she loves it.

Got this backpack for school. The color is not as bright and vibrant as the picture indicates which is disappointing but still a good backpack. Even my camera makes the backpack look more vibrant than it really is. The main color is more a darker purple.

Great product. I bought the TNF black and assumed it would be all black like the picture but some of the straps are grey.

I frequently use this backpack for light travel, such as as hiking. It is very lightweight and easily able to hold a full days worth of food and clothes. It is comfortable, but the long straps that hang down are from the tightening clips are unnecessarly long. I would reccomend this backpack for anyone who takes small hikes, commutes daily, or needs an inexpensive bag for occasional use.

I use this product for school and I love it very much. Lightweight and can hold multiple binders. Many pockets for all my school supplies.

Used this backpack for day trips to Disneyland. It is comfortable and holds a lot. The backpack is slightly heavy without anything in it.

Overall I am satisfied with this backpack and plan to use it for the rest of college. However, there are a few things about this backpack that bother me. 1) I ordered the surf green color, in the picture it looked more mint colored, when I got it, it was more of a pastel neon green, if you can imagine that. Overall I was very disappointed with the color. 2) The bag is smaller than I thought it would be. I am a college student and needed a large bag, I find myself having to chose which things to leave each day because this backpack just cannot fit it all. Despite these issues I have been able to continue using this backpack and I would recommend it as long as the buyer is awareness that it is smaller than other bags.

The color is a turquoise color on the website. When I got it, its more of a teal, yes they are similar but I am very strict with my colors, i like things to be matched.

I use this for my commutes to work and school, so I have a lot of my everyday needs in it. I thought the carrying capacity would be higher, but if you really stuff the bag it expands to fit everything, and it stretches out a bit. The bag is super lightweight and comfortable, I just have a few issues with the general design, but they aren't a big deal by any means.

Very comfortable

My daughter is a law student and needed a durable but good looking back pack for school. She has had other brands of back packs but prefers North Face because they will last through Nebraska Winters and heavy books.