Customer Reviews The North Face Router

I wish there were more pockets available right away, as opposed to being nested in pockets.

Not the right fit for me. It needs about 2 more inches in depth. I wanted to love it and I liked it but not the best for every day carry for taller/bigger people. I need it to carry MacBook 1 iPad 1 notebook Small to medium size cables organizer with battery pack. Bose headphones Sunglasses. 32oz water bottle 1-3 pens Nintendo switch in slim case Miscellaneous snacks. North face message me and let's make a backpack that taller/bigger people can use daily and for travel.

Had the Surged before. It had more zipped compartments.

Bought this for my son to use for school. After 10 months of use the stitching on the strap came undone. I thought the warranty dept. was warranty & repair, but it's not. We were able to get the backpack returned to us and I've repaired it.

I needed a bigger bag for my day to day and went for the Router. I really do like it for its overall design, size and layout but my main Con for it is very annoying. Pros: Fits everything you need and has plenty of space. The Laptop sleeve protects your electronics well and has a fair enough off set to not have them slam the ground when putting your bag on the ground. The front lower zipper has plenty of cargo space for quick access and is great for chargers/cords etc. The side pockets fit a Nalgene bottle comfortably and are deep enough for other smaller things to not spill over when moving about. Cons: The zipper design and material design for the zippers causes the zipper to grab material too often leading to stuck zippers. The material is too flimsy and the zippers often collapse and will grab the liner material from inside and bunch up. I've had a few instances when I first got my bag where I thought I was going to have to rip material to un jam the zipper. This is a great bag with amazing space, fit, and pockets for the price and size. I give it three stars as the zippers catch about every other day for me and it gets annoying trying to get them unstuck.

It's not as big as the router transit, which is unfortunate. It looks great, but have not tested the shoulder straps yet. However, my guess is this pack cannot be loaded and moved quickly. But the design and feel are great and very comfortable. Just need to a better shoulder strap situation and a bigger bag like the router transit. Thanks!

Bought two. One for my 7th grader and the other for my freshman. Within a year the "reinforced" shoulder straps started to fray at the connection to the back. I forgot to use the warranty to get it replaced the summer after that school year so we made it through the second year with just a few threads holding the straps to the pack. Just submitted a warranty claim today. My kids are nerds and bring home a load of books and binders every night. If your kid is a slacker this will probably hold up just fine with the weight of a tablet, some pencils, and a lunch.

I already have the previous version and decided to buy this version. It is a liter smaller and has fewer pockets and different lengths of zipper openings. I will definitely use it but for different reasons than I intended to. I will miss the mesh pocket that was on the inside of the large main compartment, and the opening of the main compartment was larger. The design also changed a pocket setup I liked, on the front, there were two pockets that sat on top of each other. One was microfiber lined and the other was polyester lined. This new version is just zipper d shaped opening with two mesh pockets. I still hope for this bag for years to come even though it is very different from the previous version.

The Router Backpack is a good backpack in theory. I like all of the pockets. It is well-constructed. However, it was not big enough for my high schooler. He was not able to fit his laptop & laptop accessories, plus a binder, plus his lunch, plus any smaller things he carries like a padlock, etc. The backpack is too narrow! Fitting a binder plus anything else in the main pockets is a challenge, because the backpack is too narrow. Also, the way the main pocket zippers are designed, they do not zip down all the way to the bottom of the backpack, barely half-way (zoom in to see what I mean), therefore, it is difficult to fit larger items in those pockets. This backpack has a lot of straps. A ridiculous amount. I'm sure those straps are useful to maybe hikers, or people using the backpack for something other than school. We cut most of them off because there were so many that my son would never use, they were in the way, and made him look like he had 10 tails coming out of his back.

I order the black one and they give the blue one

I used this bag to do some traveling hoping to fit everything but the design of the bottle holder on the sides is horrible does not allow the bag to actually open up. Making the straps on the sides pointless, if you put a bottle on the side pockets makes it hard to load the bag. Also if you put enough things in the bag to make it somewhat heavy, the thin straps on the bag put a strain on your shoulders not distributing the weight properly. Advertised as a 40L but i wouldnt say that accurate.

Hey @thenorthface, I recently had to say goodbye to my North Face Router Backpack after just six months of use, and it's safe to say it was not a fond farewell. Here's my take on the experience: **Durability Woes:** Unfortunately, the seams of the backpack blew out within the first six months, and attempts to repair it were futile. This was a major letdown, and it seriously called into question the overall durability of the product. **Not So Travel-Friendly:** I initially got this backpack for travel, but it didn't quite live up to expectations. When fully loaded, it struggled to fit comfortably in overhead compartments during flights. Not the smooth travel experience I was hoping for. **Useless Small Pockets:** The smaller pockets, which I had hoped to use for organizing, proved to be useless when the bag was fully packed. A missed opportunity for better organization on the go. **Customer Service Letdown:** Sadly, my attempts to get assistance from North Face customer service didn't yield much help. A bit more guidance or some viable solutions would have gone a long way. In conclusion, the North Face Router Backpack fell short of expectations, especially for travel purposes. While it might work for books, it left much to be desired as a travel companion. @thenorthface, I hope you take these concerns into consideration for future designs. #NorthFace #BackpackReview #CustomerExperience

As a healthcare professional, teacher, and student I used this bag for my tablet and books. I have owned it for less than a year and a half and the shoulder straps and handle on it started to come apart. I sent it in for a warranty claim, as I was told when I purchased this bag, they stood behind their product. Received communication that they would not cover fixing the bag as it was due to normal wear and tear.

I had an older model of the Router, and I really liked it. Broke after ages, couldn't be repaired. Got a gift card for this one, which disappointed. 1. Says it's the same size as the old Router, but my typical loadout just does not fit as well. Dimensions vs volume also don't really match up. 2. Pocket design is, uh, bad. The front pocket opens all the way up/on 3 sides, meaning when I try to open it only partway it'll sometimes just fling itself open, flinging all my stuff with it. The fleece lined pocket is kind of silly, since it goes upwards? so if you open the pocket your stuff will just come out of it. I like the organizer pocket though. 3. no more hanging loop on the back :( however there are some improvements: 1. grab handles! good! 2. more compression straps! good! 3. improved laptop sleeve! good! 4. improved organizational pocket! good! however the bag just feeling smaller plus 2/3 pockets being not useful for me makes this a return I think ;(

I use it for work and travel. I have two of the previous versions. The first one was EXCELLENT. Tough material. Great pockets. YKK zippers all around. I mistakenly stepped on the connector piece plastic for the chest strap and it broke. I bought another one. They completely changed the material and reduced some of the pockets in size. Still had YKK zippers all around. This one has string and plastic at the zippers (???) that will undoubtedly break. Why the change?

The Made-to-last Northface of the past is gone. In it's place is a company that makes products designed to a short time before needing to be replaced. I guess being a Buy It For Life company wasn't profitable enough for the VF Corp shareholders. Buy a different brand, a more responsible one that doesn't heap our landfills with sub-par products to pad their profit margin. I will never buy North Face again.

The quality of this bag from one generation to the next has fallen off a cliff. The fabric and stitching, the foam back padding and the finish is significantly different and of much lower quality than previous iterations.

The front bottom pouch is essentially an upside down pouch, very weird and not efficient. Also need at least one compartment to fully open, the bag has all slim pockets making it hard to get into.

Person who designed this backpack either never used any backpack in their life or did not know what they are doing Large side pockest should have some kind of elastic so the stuff does not fall out out them. Main compartment is really small. If you put something in frot pocket then you will have roubles to acces or remove stuff from main compartment. Same applies for top pockets. When backpack is fully stuffed it feels rigid and unatural to wear.

Pros - None Cons - No zippered organizational front pocket - Ripstop material is cheap and doesn't match the color of the backpack - No side buckle straps to hold water bottle in place - Etc.

Sad that the strap of this bag ripped at the seam and that North Face will not replace it because it was not purchased directly from them even though it is their product.

After about 3 months of use (high school student), one of the shoulder straps has started to separate from the bag. The only option NF offered was to ship it off to be evaluated for repair or replacement and that it could take 6-8 weeks. I had to buy another backpack while that is being done.

Ordered this Router to replace a Borealis which NF claims they could not repair. Out of the bag, the quality of the router seemed considerably less than that of my older Borealis. Less than three weeks later, the stitching started separating. Called customer service and the guy I talked to was rude. Not sure why NF cannot send me a replacement. Every time I do this review I get a follow up email to leave another review. My review has yet to show up on the NF website.

Poor quality. After a little over 3 months of use as a high school student's backpack, one of the shoulder straps is detaching from the backpack. Customer service refused to replace.

I order the black one and they give the blue one which I didn't like the color at all