Customer Reviews The North Face Women's Surge

Perfect color, size, and great options for organization.

My backpack is the perfect size for me. I'm headed to Colorado to visit my daughter and her fiancs and we will be hiking. I can't wait to try it out. Love the color combo too!

Use it for work and school. Perfect has enough pockets for me to carry everything needed and has more than enough room.

Best backpack I have ever had.

Hiking, travel and outdoors. There's too much interior padding which cuts down on the roominess. You can't put as much stuff in it as I would like. Like the pockets!

I bought this for use when I travel and it's perfect for carrying on the plane to store all my electronics, toiletries, and other items!

I was looking for a large capacity backpack to use when traveling and bought this. My luggage didn't fit as much as I expected.

Love! I've had this backpack for 2 years now and have no complaints. It's held up well and has great pockets/compartments to hold different things. Definitely worth the high price tag and I anticipate I'll use it for many years to come.

This backpack is very sturdy and spacious, yet remains comfortable when jam-packed with school supplies. It has held up well, almost two years after purchase.

I was using this bag for my round the world trips until it was stolen somewhere in Bali. I'm a light packer - tablet, running shoes, anorak and some clothes for half week trips. Airports to jungles, five star hotels to bunk beds, city's to remote villages - it served me with its durability and aesthetic looks - I wasn't feeling judged or followed by anyone while carrying it around with me all the time and everywhere. Sometimes I wished it could be a bit bigger thou then it would not have been that comfortable when hiding under the table in some small romantic restaurant down the streets of Paris or at the local bar in Cambodia. Sometimes it was that the souvenirs wont fit thou with a time I made a rule - if it doesn't fit I don't need it. Will definitely get a new one for my next trip.

I spent five months traveling around the world with this backpack and it held up wonderfully. It was the perfect size to carry on planes. My 23 pounds of stuff that I was carrying around made it a tight fit, but I never had any major issues. If I were to travel in a similar way again, I wouldn't hesitate to take the same backpack.

I have owned this backpack for 2 1/2 years and I use it 5 days a week. It still looks just a good as it did the day I bought it. No signs of wear and tear. I use it for work and it has plenty of room for everything I need without looking like I am trying to stay overnight somewhere.

I used my my Surge for about a year before it was unfortunately stolen. I loved it, very durable and excellent internal organization. I could put my huge gaming laptop and by giant calculus textbook in there along with all my school supplies without breaking my back- super comfy and nice suspension. The only flaw in the design is where the compression straps attach, in FRONT of the laptop compartment. When you have a heavy load and cinch it down tight, all that force pulls against the sides of your laptop instead of on the rigid pack panel. Over time, this caused damage to my laptop, messing up the screen and breaking the case. Now I have to deal with a few lines of dead pixels on my nice gaming machine, which is a huge bummer. I'll be replacing my backpack with the Router instead of the Surge for the sole reason that the compression strap attaches BEHIND the laptop compartment.

I had the original Surge from the mid-late 2000s - did a ton of domestic travel and some international - absolutely loved the bag - I'm in IT and the primary use for this is hauling my ungainly 15" Lenovo W540 around and a variety of cables and other tech stuff. Unfortunately after 10-11 years or so, the zipper to the laptop compartment started to tear. I used it for about 6 months until the zipper finally broke at which point I sent it in for repair (lifetime warranty). Sadly, they were unable to repair the bag and sent me the latest version. By far the biggest issue with this bag is the laptop compartment and specifically the sleeve within the compartment for securing a laptop. It says it can hold a 15" laptop but understand that they're referring to a MacBook Pro or some other ultra-svelte, very thin mid-size machine. While I understand that I have a hog of a laptop (it is a bit over an inch thick) it's not even close to fitting in the sleeve which means I have to throw my machine in unrestrained. The issue with that is there is zero padding at the bottom of the bag so the laptop is essentially hitting whatever you set the bag on (the floor, the ground, etc.) For me this is a non-starter for basically everything. Yes you can open the bag flat but unless you have a thin machine, it's not going to fit in that pouch (which does offer great protection). Anyway, something to keep in mind if you have a thick laptop. The second issue I have are the zippers. They feel really cheap on the laptop and front pouch. In my opinion, I feel that they're very undersized for the laptop. Also a downside of the lay flat design is when you open the bag the whole thing wants to flop open (the zippers don't lock in their position, they want to tear open). I don't have enough space to continue my review but the other thing to mention is they removed the dedicated power brick compartment at the bottom which really stinks. Having to fish it out of the main compartment is a drag.

Very nice organizational pockets for packing, i would like to see you all make a surge backpack thats extra larged sized to use a backpack suitcase for packing 3-4 days worth of the clothes. 1 other complaint plz make brighter colors lime green, yellows, oranges, blues, purple, pink would be neat

I had recieved this backpack for school purposes, and i was so excited that i had a cool backpack. But when it came time for school some mishaps had occurred due to my bag. So one day i was walking throught the hallway and out of no where the top zipper of my bag comes undone and my whole bag goes collapsing onto the floor for all to see, and i have never been so embarresed. And all people did was laugh and makes jokes, so i suggest that you think before buying the backpack of embarrassment!!!

This bag is outstanding. The material and the build is really quality. It feels like a bag that will last a lifetime that also comes with a lifetime warranty. The bag is really good looking (i got the grey and orangey-red color) and no matter how heavy the bag is extremely comfortable to wear. What else I like: - the strap on the front, use it all the time especially on a plane - the TSA approved laptop section - the covered zipper of the middle section gives it a premium feel (the cover the zipper so well that I didn't even realize for two months that there was another (ironically the main) compartment) - Excellent pockets both inside and out What I don't love: - the balance of the bag is not good, almost impossible to get it to stand up without leaning it against something - I wish you could remove the chest harness - I wish it was slightly roomier - the bag is not as big as it looks. All the compartments and paddiing make all 3 sections kind of tight All in all, this bag rules. Get it, you wont be sorry.

I have owned the Surge II (older model) for 5 years and still I have had no problems with it! My go to bag: carry-on, hiking, camping, school... you name it. Highly recommend for middle/high school and college. The only problem I've had with it is one of the lower buckles snapped after 4 years (most definitely my fault) but TNF was quick in replacing it anyway! Can't recommend enough!!!

Purchased as walking commuter bag fur 15.6” laptop. Fits only up to 15” despite description which states up to 17”. Also very heavy and very stiff and uncomfortable.

I usually have to carry a very heavy laptop to work everyday, and using my regular backpack made my shoulders sore. I switched to Surge on hubby's insistence, and boy did it help! It distributes the weight very well and is extremely comfortable for everyday use. I've used this is a carry-on bag in flights and found it very comfortable. It has tons of pockets and sections to store all kind of small/big items which you can quickly access. The loop/handle at the front of the bag is more handy that you'd think! The only improvement I'd love to see is that the side pockets to carry bottles should have an elastic band or loop to secure the pocket, my bottles keep falling out of it otherwise (and I've lost a handful of bananas stored there too!).

I needed a durable backpack for school and the reviews pulled me toward this backpack. It has plenty of space and held all of my notebooks and folders, but this backpack is so heavy even without books in it. My skin on my shoulders get tore up from the uncomfortable straps and heavy weight. I do not recommend this backpack.

I absolutely love this backpack for school. I currently commute to school 5 days a week and work right after so I needed a backpack that was spacious and not super bulky. This backpack has 3 big divisions, one where I can neatly put my MacBook 13" in the computer sleeve and it isn't loose. I also have a 2.5" binder as well as notebooks. In the smallest of the divisions, I have my tablet as well as all other electronics cords. There is a zipper pocket on the front that holds my phone and pens with a lot of room and 2 separate pockets in the front. There's so much room I have in this backpack that it was a great investment as I plan to travel and this will be perfect for traveling. The backpack opens all the way for TSA searching which is great. You don't HAVE to open it up all the way either, I haven't had to open it it fully and it won't open all the way unless you do it purposely. This is a great overall backpack and worth the price. I got the black and light blue design and it looks incredibly sleek and doesn't get dirty.

Held all our essentials during our hikes in Patagonia. It was also perfect as a carry-on at airports. A backpack everyone should have!