North Face Hot Shot Back Pack Opinions..............

K

knivesngear

Joined
Nov 23, 2010
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Hey guys I am looking in to buying a backpack for hiking, mostly like 3-4 hour day hikes. I saw the North Face Hot Shot and really liked it. I just wanted to get your guy's opinions on the bag. thanks.

-kng


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You can do better than Northface - I'd suggest looking into the Kelty Redwing 3100 which can be found at a great price these days.
 
The North Face puts out good gear.

Ive had a couple of their bags, and theyre pretty solid and hard-wearing. Dont expect too much of their cheaper bags. IMO theyre primarily built for urbanites who want to look wilderness chic. But the more expensive line-up, is pretty good. There are some serious technical hiking packs to be found.

I dont know how much it costs, but if youve tried it and like it, then go for it. Especially so, if its going to pull double duty as a daily edc bag. But if you want the best there is for hiking-duty only, then you can do much better. Take a look at Osprey.
 
yea i am aware of that. The bag costs about $100 from their site. it's a day pack. pretty much like a bag i'm going to use on the trail and off it too.

-kng
 
that's roughly 35 liters, right? first thing i look for is whether it fits my torso length and if the waist belt is substantial enough. that pack doesn't look like the waist belt is meant to carry the load but just for stabilizing the pack on your back. it looks more like a school backpack than a true hiking pack.

i have a lot of experience with the north face terra 65 - i've packed it anywhere from 25-45 lbs and hiked for several miles with it and it was very comfortable because the waist belt put most of the load on my hips instead of the shoulders. it also has load lifters on the shoulder straps and delta straps on the waist belt (for pulling the load closer to your body). with that said, you'd probably be better off with the terra 35 (roughly the same capacity as the hot shot). although i've only seen that pack in a store and haven't actually used it, it has the same type of waist belt as my terra 65.
 
I usually prefer more "MOLLE" attachment capability and more functionality.
Maxpedition all day long. Heavy duty double stitching and pockets for EVERYTHING.
My Maxped Lunada holds A LOT and only cost me about $80.
 
PropThePolecat said:
The North Face puts out good gear.

Ive had a couple of their bags, and theyre pretty solid and hard-wearing. Dont expect too much of their cheaper bags. IMO theyre primarily built for urbanites who want to look wilderness chic. But the more expensive line-up, is pretty good. There are some serious technical hiking packs to be found.

But if you want the best there is for hiking-duty only, then you can do much better. Take a look at Osprey.
Click to expand...

I could not have put it better myself and and in terms of cost you will be hard pushed to find anything better than Osprey.

Backcountry.com have excellent pictures of this pack (http://www.backcountry.com/the-north-face-hot-shot-backpack-2015cu-in) which allow you to see the weaknesses, and for a pack with that capacity both the should straps & waist belt are terribly lacking, another deal breaker for me would be the defined purpose of this pack: Recommended Use: school, work

A well designed backpack will hug your body (ergonomically) whilst still allowing freedom of movement and very importantly, allow your body to breath! Maintaining the weight close to your center of gravity, and over your hips significantly increases efficiency.

If a pack fails to do this it simply adds additional inertia to every step, and over a 3-4 day hike it will become uncomfortable. Given the relatively short length of the pack, and considerable depth means that you will be carrying the weight higher on your back, not such a problem going from car to office or office to subway but on the trail could be terrible, and you will be too far from civilization to do anything about it.

I personally would not take that Northface on the trail since I think it's too small. I have three Osprey backpacks and it is really hard to find fault with any of them.

Same capacity, better form factor and much lighter:

http://www.backcountry.com/osprey-packs-kestrel-32-backpack-1800-2000cu-in

Two packs which I think are more suitable for 3-4 day hikes:

Very lightweight & more edc friendly, however not quite as durable as the next
http://www.backcountry.com/osprey-p...in?rr=t&cmp_id=&rrType=ClickEV&rrProd=OSP0188 (You could EDC this as well)

Still lightweight, not as edc friendly but much more durable and more suitable for 3-4 day hikes, I have this and it's an incredible backpack

http://www.backcountry.com/osprey-packs-kestrel-38-backpack-2200-2300cu-in

The Osprey packs are more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

;)
 
I'm not too sure about that particular pack; however i do own the North Face Recon backpack (in black).

http://www.thenorthface.com/catalog/sc-gear/recon_3.html

I normally use mine both for school/carrying my laptop, as well as short hikes and it does very well.

Its well made, comfortable and i do recommended it. From the looks of it, the pack you're inquiring about looks very similar to my Recon, so it should fit your needs just fine.

However, i do enjoy my Gregory Baltoro 70 much more when I'm hiking ;)
 
for 3-4 hour day hikes, you don't need really a lot of volume- I'd be looking at something more in the 15-20 liter range, possibly even smaller

if you need to double duty w/ school (big books/laptops/etc) then 30- ish would be more appropriate

I don't think there is anything wrong with North Face packs, however I do think that for hiking, Osprey offers more
 
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