Customer Reviews The North Face Women's Borealis

Would be great but that is not what was sent to me. Want what is pictured- White but got grey.

This is our third borealis. First got my daughter through 4 years of high school. Second was going great for college, she just wanted a different look. Unfortunately the look is really different as the design has changed. She isn't a fan. More "turtle" shape and doesn't stand up well on its own. No more stretch pockets. Really disappointed in the changes.

The front-most large zipper pocket isn't deep enough. It's good for pens and smaller personal items, but doesn't go down the height of the bag it stops half way. Makes the bag top-heavy.

It's a nice bag. Not as big as we thought. But it is nice and great quality!

It looks nice, but it's awkward and doesn't fill properly. When I use the accessory compartment, and put my glasses in the hidden front zipper, the top portion of the pack becomes too "fat". It turns into a choke point, making the larger, middle compartment too tight, even though there is a lot of unused space at the bottom.

I had a North Face backpack that I loved and used for 20 years, from college to grad school (engineering, lots of textbooks), to hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, to traveling on every continent including Antarctica, to carrying my children's diapers. Even after all that, it was still in great shape when sadly it was stolen from a rent-a-car. As I am starting a new graduate program, I purchased the updated version of the same thing I used for many years to replace the one that was stolen. Unfortunately things have changed. While the quality still seems good, the overall layout of the main pockets is a horrible utilization of space. The drink holders keep the overall depth of the bag small, so that there really isn't a good capacity for books and binders, like there used to be. They must think that women don't need to carry many books! This one fits a binder, a textbook, a notebook, a laptop (and yes, the laptop pocket in back is nice), and some small things like sunglasses, keys, calculator. It's just too small for me. Fortunately my 4th grader doesn't have as many books, so hopefully it will still be a useful purchase.

Doesn't hold as much as I thought. Not a good choice for high schooler. Cute though.

Nice backpack, but the pictures are a bit misleading. Expect six to eight lengthy straps to be dangling from the bottom of the bag. My daughter refused to have that much dangle, so we had to return it.

The smaller pockets have great organization. The main large pocket sucks. It's hard to fit items all the way to the bottom, making the backpack top heavy. The price doesn't match the design effort.

This bag is super cute, but when it comes to being functional it is not cute at all! The spacing in it is horrible, and it cannot hold a 2 inch binder with a few notebooks, while holding a Owala water bottle. Very disappointed.

I wound up returning this item for 2 reasons. 1- the bag did not have enough volume for all of the this college textbooks I need to fit. I am taking a class with several incredibly heavy books. It should be fine for a normal day bag, good for a K-12 student, but not if you have to carry more that a couple medium size books. 2- the padding in the straps was barely there. 12+ ago i had a backpack from this company that was incredible. It had a silicone grid style padding and the straps were all very supportive and it lasted a long time, until it was stolen from my car. The quality appears to not be the same. I will say that this bag was super cute and the hydration pocket was perfect for my laptop. The backing had a decently ergonomic structure, and the waist and chest straps were nice. It's an ok bag, but not if you need to carry excessive weight or have any shoulder pain issues because the shoulder straps are so poorly padded. I wish I would have gone to a store in person to look at it more closely before I purchased it.

I had a Borealis Backpack years ago, and I absolutely loved it! Eventually it was time to get a new backpack, and I saw this one. I liked it at first, then I noticed I felt pain on my left side whenever I use this backpack. The more I use it, the less I enjoy this version. I can't fit my laptop case inside the laptop pocket is another issue that bothers me. I like to use my case as a holder for my laptop.

This was bought to replace my old 2013 Borealis that I loved to its full death (insides peeling, handles breaking). I've used this for two workdays and I hate it. It's like NorthFace didn't consider any functionality of the product. I brought it to work with my normal: tampons, deodorant, ibuprofen, computer + charger, phone, badges, and a change of clothes for my workout. The extra pockets are such a bad design that I struggled to fit anything into the main compartment and ended up shoving everything in once I changed for my workout. I couldn't find anything in either of the smaller pockets because there wasn't room for my hand to fit. I'm so disappointed, because it was a gift, but delivered late, so it's too late now to even return. I just want the old design back.

It's beautiful, but way too small of a compartment to actually put items in like books for my daughter school.

The backpack was two toned with beige and a light green. Backpack was not exactly like the picture online. Returning the item.

too small for high school student without a locker. oddly big up top and small down bottom

Nice appearance, but quality was lacking. The shoulder anchor strap on the very first use. Compartments are a bit small if you need to carry much more than a laptop and a few folders. If carrying mulitple notebooks, or books etc, it is very tight and awkward.

Planned to use this as my daughter's high school book bag but it's simply too small. Doesn't stretch or have any give like my older Borealis. She can barely fit her essentials in there and no room for anything extra.

literally holds nothing, not roomy at all if you're a high school student.

Daughter loved the style & color, but doesn't expand to fit books & gear like the older Borealis packs do (we have 2). I'm usually a bargain hunter, but paid full price because she really, REALLY wanted it. Too small for school, so unfortunately hangs on a hook now. Good quality, but not a great pack overall unfortunately. Totally bummed about this one.

I loved the durablility and layout of this backpack. I also appreciate the lighter colored interior so you could see easily. It was everything I wanted EXCEPT the incredibly stiff, hard back to this. Almost like a wood backboard is inserted into the back panel. The straps are very stiff and cut into my clavicular area. It was not at all or even slightly comfortable to wear. I tried adjusting but to no avail. Stiff and hard as a rail. It also does not stand up. I do not know where that claim comes from. Maybe if you stuff it equally so it is a perfect rectangle it might stand but I could not get it to.

in just 2months the strap broke. The bad thing you cannot tie it back. Super heavy too. With the high price I paid I will never buy this Borealis backpack again because of the poor quality. Warranty poor you have to prepay shipping for repair.

I was completely disappointed given how well recommend this was to me. The bottle compartment tore and a hole was inside that lead into the main compartment.The strings also tore

My daughter and her friends all bought this for middle school. The design is odd in that it's hard to use all the lower space in the main interior, and the top small pocket makes it unbalanced. It's hard to push water bottles into the side pockets, although it is nice to have two water bottle pockets. The main problem is that it cannot handle the weight of school books; one of the straps broke after less than a year of use. We will look to a different brand for a replacement.

This is a beautiful backpack, but very very narrow. It does not have the depth to accommodate more than my daughter's one 2-inch binder in the main compartment. We can squeeze her laptop into the back section, but that it is and no more. I would not recommend this backpack for a student in school that needs to bring binders, books and notebooks back and forth. It is better for a simple computer user with maybe 1-2 small books.