u/IndependentFolks1

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Coming from a Gregory Compass that I've had for ~8 years. Truly fantastic pack, and sadly Gregory doesn't make it anymore.

Tldr: Mountain Equipment Company Outpost 40l had the best combination of size, packability, comfort and convenient layout.

My test: I tried packing the lot of the following items in each of the following bags to see how they packed, and whether they were true to size.

T-shirt x 6

Polo Shirt x 4

Long sleeved button shirt x 3

Long sleeved warmer shirt x 1

Pants x 2

Shorts/swim short x 4

Dock shoes x 1

Flip flops x 1

Underwear x 5

Socks x 7

Toiletry (full) bag x 1

Bags Tested:

Gregory Compass 40l (my existing bag as baseline)

The North Face Voyager Pro (36l)

Thule Landmark 40l

Fjallraven Farden 42l

Mountain Equipment Company Outpost 40l

Patagonia black Hole MLC 45l

Priority: for me, packability was paramount in as small a bag as possible, secondary was quality shoulder straps, third was compression straps. Use case is travelling in, and to and from airport, on public transit within towns largely to hotels.

Results:

-Gregory Compass - fit it all with room to spare.

-TNF Voyager Pro 36l - Surprisingly, I was able to pack everything except for three long sleeved dress shirts. It is a very decent bag, the straps and back panel were all great. I purchased with the additional 15l pack that you can attach. However, for me, because the bag is not very tall and not all that wide it packs outwards quite a bit and was not keen having an extra pack protruding so far from the bag.

-Thule Landmark 40l - Worst of the bunch. Packed the least of all of the bags, was left with three dress shirts and two short that couldn't fit. The bag is awkward when trying to fill in the main compartment. I think the 'hard Shell' pocket on top of the bag wastes a lot of space that could have been better utilized if it were a soft pocket, allowing more fill in the bag's interior.

-Fjallraven Farden 42l - packed everything save for three dress shirts. I was really surprised by this given its 42l volume rating. I can't explain where the room is lost in the bag or what the issue is. Otherwise, I really liked the bag. I found it quite comfortable, and generally easy to pack. Would highly recommend.

-Mountain Equipment Company (MEC) Outpost 40l - packed everything and had room to spare for another 6 t-shirts and likely another pair of short. I found the bag had just enough compartments, and the bag was easy to pack. The shoulder straps are decent, not the best, but certainly good enough.

-Patagonia black hole MLC 45- packed everything but with not much room to spare, less than the MEC Outpost for sure. This was a huge surprise. The pack feels huge dimensionally (unpacked), and yet it appeared larger than the MEC Outpost when packed. The straps were quite comfortable.

Overall Observations: from a materials perspective, each of the bags seemed well made with solid durable materials and zippers. All the bags had decently good straps and padding. Though, from a materials and comfort perspective the Thule would have trailed all those bags tested. The fjallraven was perhaps the biggest disappointment only because I thought at 42l it would be the perfect size, and I really liked the bag/comfort.

Verdict: MEC Outpost had the best combination of size, packability, comfort and convenient layout.

Overall Rank Order:

1. MEC Outpost

2. Fjallraven Farden

3. TNF Voyager

4. Patagonia Black Hole

5. Thule Landmark