Customer Reviews The North Face Borealis

Always a fan of Northface backpacks. I bought this to complete a set of Recon and Borealis in same design and color. Protects gear well and is lightweight and breathable. I do wish the pockets on northface backpacks were wider like Jansport designs.

Always a fan of Northface backpacks. I bought this to complete a set of Recon and Borealis in same design and color. Protects gear well and is lightweight and breathable. I do wish the pockets on northface backpacks were wider like Jansport designs.

I've had this bag for almost 2 weeks now and primarily use it for traveling to and from work in the city. I love the design and all the storage options. The 2 water bottle bottles, which are part of the bungee system, hold both of my water bottles, The design has taken stress off my back and it provides lots of storage options.

This was a replacement for my earlier Borealis pack, which I loved and had traveled with me all over the world, but had become damaged. But the laptop compartment in the old pack had a pocket with a locking strap that secured the laptop in place. But for some inexplicable reason, that feature has been eliminated in the new model. The new "laptop compartment" is too big, with no locking strap to secure it. I was very unhappy about that and had to modify the new pack by cutting the locking strap out of the old pack and having it sewn into the new one. This was a dumb, annoying modification to what was a great backpack.

New borealis after having one for 6 years or so. My 2 complaints would be to bring back the old fleece lined pocket-way better than the new one. Also liked the straps on the sides to compress the bag

I wanted a backpack that I could take on business trips or leisure trip. The Borealis backpack has exceeded all of my expectations. It is comfortable, durable, and versatile. I am buying two additional bags for my family members.

Great price backpack can hold a lot of things

The zippers could be a little easier to zip otherwise I like it quite much

Love it. Perfect size for travelling. Nice material and great design

Love it! My daughter's backpack is so fully and heavy for middle school, this hiking backpack does the trick. The straps are designed so they are MUCH more comfortable for her and the firm back panel feels better on her back as well!

I am very disappointed about this product. First and foremost there is very little space for anything. But most importantly it broke during my first trip, a week after I got it! I will return this item for sure.

Great backpack. Aesthetically pleasing but functionality suffers a little when it comes to space.

The tablet sleeve needs to be about a half inch deeper. It cannot hold an iPad Air 5. The sleeve is just barely too small to where you can not zip it shut. Other than that the bag is fine. Total design flaw and oversight.

I love this backpack! It is light weight, the color is vibrant, and it carries well when full

I bought 4 over a year... one for each kid. I actually got one with a voucher from TNF after I sent in my 30yr old backpack that tore vs lifetime guarantee! Wow

I like the size of the backpack. There is so much room to store things.

Plenty of storage and compartments. A little bulky though especially if you're short

This is a staple of the north face lineup, but it feels lighter and potentially less sturdy than earlier models. The lightness is good, but I appreciated the thicker straps on the earlier models. This bag has thinner straps and overall I just hope it will hold up over time.

The backpack is great, but my first impression is that it's a bit less sturdy than earlier models. This could be good because it is lighter, but I hope it holds up over time.

Honestly I still have my 2017 version compare to the 2023 version it's very different overall I love it the padding great, the material is different but feels stronger, and can't wait for the next

I use this backpack for college. While the material quality and construction are very good, the design of the backpack is super annoying. Non-stop annoying. It's designed like a hiking backpack. As in, load up 50 lbs of gear in the morning, hike all day long, then unpack everything at night. So the pack is intentionally designed to create a high center of mass, close to your back. It tapers down the bottom. The external organizational pocket, which is too small, is located high up on the back. It has an complicated system of straps and elastic and cinch straps that are meant to pull the load tight together, pull it in towards your back, and keep it high. What this means is that the compartment you put your wallet, phone, pencils/pens, calculator, etc in flops around all over the place (and again, it's too small). Then, if you put anything smaller than a book in the main compartment, it drops down to the bottom. Your access to the bottom of the main compartment, however, is pinched off by the bottom of the external org compartment, which is pulled in tight against the back w/ straps, elastic, etc. Basically, you have to fight against the backpack to get anything out of the bottom. Another annoying thing - the organizational compartment, being so high and being constrained at the bottom, is constantly flopping around when you're trying to get stuff out of it. It's like a triangle sitting up on one edge. It wants to tip forward, pivoting on the over-strapped bottom edge. If you're packing and unpacking once a day, this might not be an issue. But when you're constantly getting things out all day long (calculator, pens, phone, wallet, keys, watch, etc) it's very annoying. Then, because of the tapered bottom, the high weight distribution, and the flopping organizational compartment, it's easy for the COG to get out past the bottom edge of the bag, and the whole thing tips over. Bottom-line, this backpack is designed for all-day hiking, which results in a backpack that is very annoying as a school-work backpack. Choose accordingly.

The backpack is quite nice, the problem is space, it has 2 pockets that practically nothing fits. I think the space could be optimized better since smaller backpacks fit more things than this one.

The backpack is quite nice, the problem is space, it has 2 pockets that practically nothing fits. I think the space could be optimized better since smaller backpacks fit more things than this one.

Got this for daughter starting high school. She loves it. Says it will be the right size. It really does look cool. Haven't actually used it yet though

Got this for daughter starting high school. She loves it. Says it will be the right size. It really does look cool. Haven't actually used it yet though