Customer Reviews The North Face Recon

After about 1 week I noticed a small fraying where the strap attaches to the main body of the backpack. After 2 weeks the strap had frayed so dramatically it was barely attached. I was told normal wear is not covered under warranty. The backpack held only a laptop and two folders so to hear that was "normal wear and tear" after two weeks was VERY disappointing. I replaced (purchased) the women's recon and after a month of use have noticed part of the strap, in a different area, has new stitching coming apart.

This product is horrible the straps began separating and ripping within the first week of use. Normally a great product, but quality went out the door. Don't waste your money.

This is a pretty good backpack overall. I use it to carry laptop/books/notebooks around my neighborhood and on short trips. It has two deep water bottle pockets and two smaller compartments for holding stuff like pens, chargers, jackknife, sunglasses, etc. That said, this was bought to replace an earlier edition of the same pack, and the design changes aren't good ones. The front closed pocket zipper aligns too closely with the front open pocket, making access harder. Plus the front closed pocket zipper is now set too low, wasting a lot of upper space and making it easy for things to fall out.. Overall there's less room for various sundries. I also miss the front bungee cord, now gone. And the choice of colors is poor.

I purchased this from MEC Canada (2019), previous Recon version. The features are good, but there are 2 critical design flaws: A) straps are lousy, mostly worn and torn after couple years because of this thin breathable fabric, which doesnt help much. B) the seam where the fabric meets the cushion back panel, all the pack weight is focused on that strip of fabric providing rigidity. But because all the load stress is concentrated there, every time place the pack down on rough surfaces or have any weight, it continuous wears this tighten fabric. My previous pack (also North Face, 2006) lasted way longer and aged better than this. I echo other comments: quality of NF packs have declined. Considering the cost, this recon pack should 1/3 of the price.

Had the old recon for a decade. That understandably wore its course. Thought I would give the new one a shot because I liked the old one so much. This pack is a meaningful step down. Product team took the most important feature that gets the most use and absolutely destroyed it. The straps used to be much more comfortable with this awesome I think honeycomb style insulation that was durable, breathable and extremely comfortable on your shoulders. New straps are this thin rubbery padding that are clearly not nearly as durable and much less comfy, and they are attached to the pack via a thin strip of fabric, whereas old straps were sewn directly into the bag. Water bottle holsters are deeper but now so tight against the bag it limits space within if you have a lot of stuff. Outside mesh pocket is imperfect elastic in that it doesn't snap back to retain old shape when stretched a bit. Oh and the zippers have this flimsy string attached to them as opposed to a sturdy metal fly, like why lol. The whole thing reeks of cost cutting measures and they came at the expense of quality.

Purchased for student. Strap completely came off of the backpack less than two weeks into the new school year. Sent to warranty department (paid for shipping myself) only to be told this is not covered under warranty as it is normal wear and tear. Extremely disappointed in North Face's customer service and how they have handled this. Purchased an Adidas backpack that is holding up great.

It came out broken on one side

High quality material will surely hold up for a very long time. Fits a large size laptop with 17 inch screen which was a requirement. Comfortable against your back. Good for taller people.

The shoulder strap came completely undone after 2 weeks of school. Usual high school student books and gear in the bag. Real disappointment.

I bought one of these 20 years ago and it finally wore out. The new one is great- nice features, including the laptop pocket.

Strap fell off after three weeks of use.

I've used Northface packs for 25 years, and this is the first one I've been disappointed in. It fell apart after ONE week of use! The front mesh pocket is super thin material. You might be fine if you don't put anything in the pocket. But if you do, it will wear holes in the mesh. The water bottle pockets are terrible. They don't expand, so to put a water bottle in the bag, it takes up the interior space of the pack. You can't fit a water bottle and a trapper keeper-style binder in the bag at the same time. And if you have a binder, you can't also fit books. The fabric is so stiff, the bag doesn't expand when you add things. Terrible design.

The back portion of the backpack (3rd zipper) holds my laptop! Previous review mentions it not fitting! Fits inside my NF duffle on top of all my kids stuff!

I bought this as a freshman entering high school hoping it would fit all my books and folders. It cannot fit anything. All I have in it at the moment are a couple small notebooks, 4 empty folders, and a small 1" binder. There's barely any room for a pencil case or lunch box. Do not waste your money hoping it fits your supplies. There's a "laptop compartment" that if it wasn't there, it would be so much more spacious.

Overall I think this backpack is amazing and well thought out. The key factor for me was it had a laptop and ipad sleeve. However, my ipad doesn't fit the sleeve (even without my iPad case) It's too tall. I have the 2020 11 pro. This is a big con to me because this was my selling point so I didn't have to cram my iPad in with laptop in one sleeve.

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I'm a teacher and use this bag for work. It has worked out great for me. It's comfortable to wear around campus or all day at Disneyland. I am 6'2" 240 lbs and I did not have any discomfort wearing it all day. The compartments keep things well organized and the ease of access to the computer pocket and quick access pocket in the front is very useful.

Many easy to access small pockets. The laptop space keeps any 8" x 11" documents unfolded during travel.

Work backpack, great for commuting and storing everything I need. Has plenty of room; I throw groceries in it after work too.

the pack has ample room for everything needed for a plane trip. Can not wait to take it out on the trail. Feels well built.

Overall the quality of this backpack seems good. I like the organization and the water bottle pockets. However, I just cannot get over how droopy and sloppy the front mesh pocket looks. It was already droopy when I received it and I suspect may get more stretched out over time. Returning.

The backpack is very sturdy and can carry a lot of items! The stretchy pouch at the front is very versatile. The backpack does stand up on its own, as long as you pack items towards the bottom of the bag. Worth it!

I use this backpack for work and school and so far it's probably my favorite backpack in a really long time! Im 6ft tall and this bag doesn't look goofy on me like some bags often can. It's not really a complaint but I just wish they had more color options other than that I'm a huge fan of this bag hopefully y'all keep the same features and style for a long time!

Product is amazing

Great quality and design!