Customer Reviews The North Face Recon

Solid pack back, just the upper pocket is a little small.

Like the backpack, excellent quality. Wish it could have been custom made, to my liking.

High school senior loves this backpack with all the pockets, padded laptop insert, and overall feel. Just wish the interior had a bit more depth/width to fit all his textbooks, notebooks and laptop.

Great quality, fits everything a student would need, and the many compartments provide great organization. The straps also keep the pack slim, so when it's not completely full things don't move around. One thing is that the pack does not stand upright, but other than that it has been great.

This is an everyday pack. It is durable, solid and relatively lightweight. The soft, cloth pocket is perfect for my glasses. The zippers are a huge improvement from earlier packs - easy to grab and smooth. I love that the orange stripes can be seen if I am biking at night.

Yellow version shipped was different than picture on site. Much more yellow than black. Ok, just different than expected. TNF support is assisting with resolving. Great customer service as always. Excellent redesign of this pack either way.

I bought the Recon backpack for my teenage daughter, and overall, it's a solid, functional school bag with plenty of room. We are loyal North Face customers and love the brand's quality. However, there's a concerning design flaw with the sternum strap whistle. Unlike some of our older North Face packs where the whistle is securely sewn into the strap, this model uses a plastic glider mechanism, which allows the whistle piece to slide along the strap. Unfortunately, the whistle part came completely off not long after we got it. I'm not sure if this has happened to others, but it's concerning that a safety feature can detach so easily. The rest of the backpack is great, but this particular design choice is a definite weak point.

Great packbag! wish they made a smaller version, as it is too big to fit under the seat on an airplane

Straps need to be thicker and the bottom needs to be thicker to protect the computer that I carry

I am replacing my Recon from abt 20 years ago. This bag is worse quality in many ways. - fabric is cheaper, thinner - straps and back have less padding - stitching and zippers not as good

Looks nice but uncomfortable. The straps are way too thin for a backpack. My 20 year old Jansport is more comfortable.

I like the computer section. I like the side bottle pouches. I like the front elastic pouch. I don't like how items stored in the the center zipper area push into the front zipper pouch area, and vice versa.

Plenty of space for laptop and necessary school supplies, however the front netting has ripped and now I will have to find something more reliable for long term use.

This pack is terrific except for one significant flaw: it will not stand on end unless you fill the main compartment with books or bricks. Just packing clothing or a notebook does not make the main compartment heavy enough for the bottom to sit flat, meaning that this pack is forever needing to be leaned against something in order for it to remain upright. On its own, it will flop over onto its front or back, something not exactly optimal for the laptop inside.

This backpack is great - roomy with good pockets and internal organizers. The one drawback were the straps around the exterior water bottle pockets. They just added an unnecessary gizmo that was cumbersome and distracting. I returned and purchased the Borealis backpack instead.

i purchased this as a gift for someone who needs more space in the pack. This was too small.

This backpack is not large enough and I am returning it.

There are a lot of great things about this backpack - it's light and comfortable to wear, lots of pockets and fits larger water bottles on the sides. If you are carrying a laptop there's a dedicated zippered area in the back instead of the normal pouch inside the main compartment. The problem is that by adding a new zippered area and not increasing the size of the backpack, the main compartment storage is very small. My son is keeping this one for now but it's a real stretch to get everything he needs to take to school in it.

The bookbag was for my son for school. The bookbag looks big but it did not hold up to his everyday school life.

Great backpack, but my daughter chose the Borealis.

Does not fit all My sons stuff for school

Good design, but not enough interior space for school use.

Sad to return this bag-- Nice style, good sensible placement/size pockets for organization, and especially liked the easy access to the nicely padded laptop compartment. But the straps are so stiff, with an odd curvature. They are contoured to fit a specific body type. maybe a built man with thick shoulders and upperbody? Was not comfortable for a medium built, 14 year old teen boy, 135 lbs., about 5'7. Otherwise a nice bag!

backpack straps too close for a men's. i'm 6'2 1/2 and in my opinion the borealis men's fits me better. Recon is still comfortable just lacks in the department. kind of unfortunate considering the backpack costs more but is different in sizing. If you're on the smaller end i would say recon is better not to say that the recon isn't good for big guys either but if you like to hike or wear it A LOT then the borealis may be better. The colour on the grey and black is also very light. in direct sunlight it almost looked like a light blue. Take from my mistake and find the better bag for you.

I haven't bought a north face backpack in over 19 years. The last one I used was a hotshot and it finally fell apart and is discontinued. Recon was by best option. It's nicely made from recycled materials but no where near the build quality of the old north face backpacks. Feels cheap/thin. Straps are not the most comfortable and back padding isn't the softest. A little disappointed compared to my last backpack, but if it's your first you will like it.