Customer Reviews The North Face Recon

I like the backpack but the front most compartment when it has a normal amount of stuff in it will squish down and make it harder to get things in and out of the big pouch and it opens up at the bottom which makes it awkward a little sometimes

I use the product for my college classes. I like that it has a variety of compartments and helps me to stay organized with my many classes as a nursing student. I'm confident this backpack will last me years like my last one did!

Great quality as usual from The North Face. Size was a bit smaller than expected with main compartment not as spacious as I hoped for. Also the number of straps is overwhelming for normal use. Half of them could likely be eliminated without affecting the core functionality of the backpack.

It works well; it just has some minor blemishes on the material that expose some parts of the backpack.

I really like the comfort of the backpack. I don't love the pocket placement and size. The small front one doesn't go to the bottom of the bag. As this is where I place all my knickknacks, I would have liked it a little deeper. I also feel the front stretch pocket could get loose after a while.

Overall material is thinner than previous version of Recon. Quality control is lacking too. But good enough and looks cool for everyday use. Won't be using it for hiking though.

I bought this backpack for college, and to be honest I haven't gotten to use it for that purpose yet, and I haven't gotten to test it against inclement weather. But I've used it for a SCUBA trip and for a road trip, and in both cases it has been amazing. It kept all my clothes and devices dry on the boat, and it has ample pockets for all my chargers and toiletries I've needed on my roadtrip. I was in between this one and the Borealis, and I'm happy I bought this because that mesh pocket in the front is so incredibly useful and convenient. Also a very comfortable bag.

I love it, the color is my favorite, perfect pockets for everything. The water bottle holders in the side are durable and fit my bottle great. I also love the mesh pocket on the front for storage

Backpacking and to work

I use this backpack for school and it's honestly great quality, the straps may be a little too narrow but overall it's a great backpack

Good for everyday

The newer Recon backpack has good storage but is not as flexible in shape as older Recon models. It is longer in the height direction but not as deep extending back from your back. Overall it appears more durable than previous models but isn't as comfortable to wear on my back. I'm happy with it but miss some of the older features like storable waist straps compared to the now removable waist straps.

Great backpack, a good replacement for my trusty Heckler that lasted 12 years. I do wish that the straps were a little further apart and there were more options for securing the excess strap lengths

Haven't used it yet but my husband loved the upgrade to this pack. Would be perfect if all the pockets were deep.

Nice, has a good mixed of compartments to store different things. Front elastic cover is great to storing a smaller piece of clothing. Can get top heavy when yo store the smaller top front pocket.

The backpack is really high quality and well made. Unfortuanely, I was hoping that it would be slightly bigger. It's not small by any means but was not big enough for what I needed. I would recommended if not looking for something bigger than usual.

Two front pockets don't go down all the way. I do like the deep side pockets. Back of pack is comfy but overall it's pretty stiff and I'm hoping it will break in over time.

Honestly I love this bag it has nice room and it looks good I would definitely buy again

It's a quality product for sure. Great zippers. All that. However it's heavy and storage is smaller than I expected. Probably because of the dedicated, zippered laptop sleeve. If you want that then okay. But I sent mine back for a refund.

I haven't used the backpack yet but the design is beautiful

Great

This item is wonderful and is of high-quality material and works as described. The only suggestion would be to be a slight redesign in order for the pack to stand on its own.

Overall very solid backpack replacing my older Surge north face. I love the aesthetic and quality of materials. Very deep excellent side pockets for my 46oz yeti. Only gripes is compared to the surge there is significantly less usable space (obviously a smaller pack). The pocket w the mesh organizer is only halfway deep as opposed to full clamshell opening. Due to this, it stuffs up very quickly and protrudes significantly into the top half of the main compartment which reduces usable space. Also I wish the laptop compartment was more like the surge w the extra organization flap. Overall happy w it though and like the look, function, and silhouette

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.

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.