Customer Reviews The North Face Borealis

I purchased this backpack for my fifth grade daughter. After five months of use the connection point between the backpack strap and backpack at the top is 80% ripped. My daughters backpack is in her locker most of day and she uses it to transport her books to and from home/school. She never swings it around Or treats it inappropriately and after five months the strap is almost completely broken. When I called at North face to inquire what they could do, I was told at first to pay my own postage for the shipment back to them at which point they would send it to be investigated and that they might fix it thereafter -but this process would take eight weeks if they deem it a construction issue. I told rep that this was unacceptable because I did not feel as if I should pay the postage on damaged goods -which she ultimately decided to fund - but more importantly, that my daughter would be without her school backpack for eight weeks. The representative could not have cared less and gave me standard issue comments. Very disappointed in quality of foods and customer service.

I purchased this backpack two years ago. I have used it everyday for school and then i went to buy a new one. When it came, i was very dissapointed to see that the second largest pocket only went halfway down. I know they added this laptop pocket in the back, but i have lost so much space by them cutting that large pocket in half. I don't think i would purchase this again just because of how much smaller it has gotten. If they make it how they did two years ago where there were two big pockets and the main pocket included the laptop pocket, then i would happily buy it again, but it is too small for me to buy again. BRING BACK THE TWO BIG POCKETS AND MAKE THE HALF POCKET A FULL POCKET. I MISS THE OLD MODEL.

The backpack shows "black camo" but when I received it, it was black camo with basically sparkles in it. I got it for a boy and I now have to return it. I'd go with the regular black if it is for a male. Looks very girly with the sparkles (cannot be seen in pictures)

I used this originally for my first year of high school, used it throughout the first quarter and it was always too small. I could only fit a few notebooks, a chromebook, and a planner in it. Everyone always talked about how it was such an amazing backpack, but you can't fit anything in it. Not only that, but when you put some stuff in it, it's ugly, all deshaped. It's ridiculous for how much I spent on it. Even with all that, your water bottles will constantly fall out of it. It ripped already, too. DON'T BUY FOR SCHOOL!

I am a nurse and use this bag to carry my laptop and other items to and from work. Like most North Face products, the bag is very durable and well made. It does offer a lot of space for belongings, but I have a few major issues with this bag: 1) the straps are incredibly thick and bulky, certainly not conducive to female use. 2) the laptop sleeve/compartment is so large that it appears to be the main compartment of the bag... I feel that this is a waste of space. 3) with a laptop or with no laptop in the bag for added weight, the front pockets are useless. If you put anything in them, the bag topples over. Unfortunately, this bag was a gift and I have no way of returning it. I will be going back to my smaller jester that has served me well over the last couple of years.

I used this product for college. It has been great in terms of durability and size, but the fabric and cushion on the back have pilled and ruined the fabric on ALL of my clothes, not matter the material. Even when wearing a shirt with this backpack for one day, it pillled. Many other college students have reported the same problem with their North Face backpack. No matter how tight you put the straps to reduce friction from the hard cushion backpack, it will not reduce pilling. Conflicted because I love the features of this backpack, but do not want it to ruin my clothes even more.

Bag felt as if the back board was sticking into my shoulder blades.

This is a great backpack except for the fact that it almost can never stand up by itself if you have anything in the top pocket. I am a student in college which is why I got the backpack, (based on the many good reviews). Unless you have the perfect amount of items and never take them out, you will not be able to sit this backpack up by itself, and even more frustrating is that I still have a hard time leaning it up against my chair or desk because it likes to slide underneath itself due to the weight distribution. I also cannot fit many items in the main compartment because the half pocket takes up much of the space. I like the small pocket in theory, but it's just not practical. I regret buying this backpack.

I purchased this bag a few weeks ago to carry my laptop and a few books. I quickly learned how awkward the compartment gonfiguration was. My 15 inch laptop fits nicely in its compartment. But my heavy power cord can only go into the front pocket, which is shallown causing that part of the back pack to be top-heavy. I do not want to put it in the main compartment because my books are there. It makes the bag very awkward. Also, the shoulder straps come out at a weird angle, almost angled too far. The quality is good but it seems not much thought went into this design. I really wished I had a different bag.

I purchased this pack based on it's size and the descriptive that says "highly-protective laptop sleeve". The sleeve has NO padding around the parimeter of the device. This means that if you dropped the pad, the laptop inside has no protection on any edge other than a layer of canvas.

First week the cinch sterap tore. within 1st year both water bottle pockets had holes so cant hold anything in them. My last TNF lasted 10 years. I purchased this for the upgraded organizational pocket. Very dissattisfied with the construction of this. I drive a topless Jeep Wrangler so need bag to hold everything no matter where I'm going...work, school, gym, yoga. Not practical. The water bottle pockets are essential to me. Cannot either due to cheap gaping holes

Always used TNF Daypacks. Horrible construction on this one. Doesn't stand up. Both H20 pocks ripped, cinch belt rip in 1st few weeks

I bought this backpack a year ago for my junior year. It has never stood up on its own. I would always have to lean it against something . PLEASE BE MINDFUL WHEN BUYING THIS BAG. It's going to fall over .

I find this backpack very uncomfortable- it is rigid and honestly very heavy. I feel like the compartments are narrow which makes it hard to use.

This backpack is very stiff heavy looks great but not enough room it won't Carrie hs books and both ebooks at the time the pudding for the computer is in form of arch and it won't mold to the body I think maybe other model will work better but I bought 2 of this for hs and middle school kid and it's a disappointment maybe surge model would work better for their needs to late and it's very expensive for the need of school kids now after spending the $ maybe will buy Jean sport big student that is super roomy and way cheaper

I bough this for my middle school kid and one for my high school kid is so stiff hard and heavy

After 6 months of owning this backpack, the pockets on the sides of the bag for water bottles ripped. I can no longer carry bottles in this backpack, they fall through the large holes that formed in the bottom of these pockets. A different material should be used, the mesh wares too quickly.

I pretty recently purchased this backpack for use in college and the material at the bottom of my backpack has almost deteriorated from rubbing on my clothes. This has resulted in my leggings, shirts, and more clothing items to have rough patches and balls of pilling. I am really disappointed in the quality and have sustained economic loss for more than just the backpack itself. I am surprised this product is still on the market and hope that others do not experience the same as what happened to me. It does look pretty, but it is not made for long term use and will result in damage to your clothes!

I am a college student and bought this backpack for class, specifically because of the laptop sleeve. I carried this backpack during a rainy day, figuring it would offer SOME protection for my laptop. I pulled out my laptop once indoors, and found it SOAKING wet, with $755 worth of water damage. DO NOT PURCHASE if you are looking for a protective backpack.

It was very useful for school and I totally love North Face products as a whole, but this bookbag wore out my shirts out and messed them up because it would rub up against them and create little lint balls on the back of my shirt that would render my shirt basically useless.

I really wanted to ignore the reviews on this backpack and love it. But man I really regret buying this backpack. Overall it's really cute (I got the all teal color) but the middle pocket is so poorly designed. Usually backpacks have one main big pocket, one medium pocket, and a small one for maybe headphones or small items. Well the middle pocket stops midway down the backpack. I normally keep my keys, wallet, coin purse, medicine, laptop charger, and charger in this pocket in any other backpack. But I can barely fit half of those things because the depth is honestly unacceptably shallow. And because it only goes midway, when I open the main pocket of my backpack the front just flops to the ground and everything sitting right at the top of the main pocket falls out (such as pencil pouch). Honestly if the middle pocket was deeper or they had two muddle pockets (one on top and one on bottom which would also probably fix any weight distribution problems that I think they were very terribly attempting to fix when they decided a shallow middle pocket) I actually would like this backpack. It just does not fit everything I need it to fit. And on top of that, because the middle pocket only goes halfway, all my spirals in the main pocket get smushed under the ridge of the middle pocket. Everything gets stuck in that area that wouldn't even exist if they had just made the pocket deeper. AND it's not comfortable because most of the weight is now at the top/middle of my backpack because of the shallow middle pocket and it strains my back really badly. I seriously wanted to like this but I really wouldn't recommend this backpack unless they fix the flawed design they have.

I recently bought a BOREALIS backpack I have a major problem with it: it cannot stand on the floor by itself. When I am packing it I have to put in my lap to fill it with my stuff. It seems to be a problem with the design that it always collapse on the front. I contacted the customer service (TNF support) and this is their reply: "I am sorry to inform you that our backpacks are not advertised to stand on there own nor can they stand on their own". I cannot recommend this product unless this design problem is fixed !

Most of the people write reviews soon after getting the product and a couple of uses. This is coming from a person who has had this back pack for 2 years. Invest in a different backpack. I used this mainly for school. I would carry my laptop, notebooks pencil case etc. I was very happy with the inside of it having many pockets, I would actually lose stuff in it.I also used it when I went traveling and camping as a daypack. After a year of using it its right strap came off. North face has lifelong warranty so I sent it to warranty department and it is a hussle. It said it would take 6-8 weeks to get it back. It took 11 weeks. And after getting it back the strap came off again a month later. I called customer service they said to take it to the shop and they could swap it for me. I went to the North Face shop they said they can't do that and sent it to warranty again. I've spent less time wearing this backpack than I did waiting for its warranty. I thought maybe it was the way I used it but my best friend who has the same backpack has the same problem. She also sent it for warranty. These are expensive backpacks so I would say invest in another backpack if you don't want to deal with sending it off to warranty every month. So here I am spending another 80 dollars on a new backpack because my backpack is at warranty.

High quality backpack but the laptop sleeve was much smaller than described. Did not fit my laptop. I had to return. Please update specifications to reflect actual laptop sleeve dimensions.

I bought this product because my previous Borealis backpack was stolen. The new line of Borealis is not like the old line, and every time I put something in the smaller pocket, the backpack folds in on itself. The backpack also no longer has three straps that were in the middle of the backpack. Honestly would never buy this backpack again even though this is my 4th time buying a North Face backpack. I use this backpack for school and it just is not a practical backpack for school.